Reviews

Boyle Arts Festival.........."His playing is expressive and fluid. In performance with soprano Dierdre Moynihan, majestic in her interpretation of two Gibson song settings (one based on German poems, and the other on the work of Emily Dickinson) and violinist Richeal Ni Riordain, Gibson performs his own music which ranges from the light and delicate to the dark complexities of his Nijinsky-inspired piano sonata. While his performance of the Chopin Nocturne is magnificent and the highlight of the evening, a selection of five Irish Airs, including Anach Cuain, with Richeal Ni Riordain, is unusually moving." Irish Times

Hugh Lane Gallery........."Gibson's music is largely diatonic and full of melody, making it difficult to assess him against his contemporaries. His music is always well written and immediately attractive." Sunday Tribune

Aula Maxima, UCC......."Pianist-composer John Gibson gave a most pleasing recital of music by three other pianist-composers at the Aula Maxima, UCC. Part of the charm of Gibson's playing is the wide range of colours he draws from the piano. He began with Field's most celebrated Nocturne and from the first note the piano sang, gently, calmly, sweetly." Irish Examiner

CD - Reflections in the Water......."John Gibson is Ireland's most versatile composer and pianist. A long list of important compositions stand to his credit, some of them performed by him on this disc."

Cork School of Music......."The Elgar Sonata in E minor though, is a masterpiece. The performance matched the music. This was real chamber music, real conversation between two equals. John Gibson has a big, powerful tone yet he never drowned the violin. The pizzicato chords in the Romance were clear and ringing, a sheer delight."
Irish Examiner

CD - Out of Ireland ......."The live recordings on the album have an excitement to them, an element of danger absent from much recorded sound. For those with limited experience of 20th century piano music it's a very good introduction.

Two very simple, immediately appealing pieces, I see his blood Upon the Rose and The Music Box, are deliciously played but do not prepare you for the essential theme of this album which is traditional music as heard and re-interpreted by Gibson." Irish Examiner

RIAM, Westland Row......."One of John Gibson's compositions towers over the other two we heard on Saturday. This was his Cycle of Five Songs to various German texts. I was very impressed by these songs when I heard them premiered at the 20th Century Festival last January, and see no reason to feel otherwise about them now. The songs show the composer's continuously maturing style."