Anima Eterna

“[Immerseel] sees beyond the mere timbre itself and looks to the bristling impact that the music must have made when it was new...the freshness of Debussy's imagination is underlined by performances that have a strong dramatic impulse inflected with all manner of expressive subtleties that bring the music to life...Anima Eterna's disc approaches it with a compellingly rejuvenated outlook.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2013

“Van Immerseel's approach can seem a bit too deliberate; there's something ponderous about Prélude à l'Après-Midi...it's the orchestral Images that gains most from the brighter, rawer colours of this performance, with the myriad subtleties of Debussy's scoring more beguiling than ever.” The Guardian, 1st November 2012 ****

“Woodwind, brass and strings are highly individuated: the solo flute is blanched in tone, the trombones broad and warm. For sound alone, it is a fascinating experiment, though van Immerseel’s tempi are somewhat indulgent.” The Independent on Sunday, 25th November 2012 ****

“Bruges's finest have made a stunning attempt to create the 1930s Parisian sound. As well as the orchestral poster-colours, they employ Erard pianos to give the Double Concerto an entrancing mix of overtones, adding an extra dimension to its gamelan effects...Everything is beautifully played; the only weakness in the performance is a stolidity about the wilder passages.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2011 ****

“Immerseel's enthusiasm for this music is evident from the explosion of tension and excitement in the opening of the Concert for Two Pianos...His chosen keyboard collaborators share his energetic quest to reveal the sharp contrasts between the old and the new in this music, especially in the delightful twists of the Concert champêtre.” Classic FM Magazine, September 2011 ****

“The Concerto for Two Pianos is part music hall romp, part Mozartian pastiche: Immerseel and Claire Chevallier play it for all its worth. The Suite Française for nine instruments is Poulenc’s touching tribute to 17th-century dance: a sensitive performance from Anima Eterna Brugge” Financial Times, 2nd July 2011 ****

“the Erard's mellow French polish does add a warm halo of colour to the central Larghetto, and by no means dampens the joie de vivre of the final. The orchestral playing is finely moulded to the pianos' spectrum of sonority so that after the initial shock of hearing something out of the ordinary, the performance yields up much in finesse, fluency and fun.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2011

“Katerina Chrobokova's performance in the Concert Champetre is attractive in itself, assured and with a wide range of articulation.” International Record Review, July/August 2011

“Of prime interest here are the instruments: Immerseel and his fellow pianist, Claire Chevallier, play on Erard concert grands dating from 1896 and 1902. Katerina Chrobokova eschews Wanda Landowska’s heavy-sounding 1912 Pleyel harpsichord in favour of a modern copy of a 1749 French instrument that sounds like a continuo rather than a soloistic voice...Poulenc’s wistful melodic nostalgia, sensual timbres and quirky wit guarantee illicit pleasure.” Sunday Times, 12th June 2011 ***

“[The Concerto for Two Pianos] is brilliant, witty music. Slightly slower speeds don’t lead to heaviness, and Poulenc’s gamelan references are more pointed than usual. The slow movement’s Mozart pastiche is suavely elegant...The orchestral playing in the Concert champêtre is again brilliant...Wit and charm are present in spades.” The Arts Desk, 6th August 2011

“The dryest of kettle drums introduces a piquant "Concerto". The Mozartian accents are delivered with pithy wit, while Immerseel and Claire Chevalier play on flirty Erards. "Suite Française" sees the orchestra raid a stylistic dressing-up box, with shades of Berlioz and Bizet. "Concert Champêtre" has an urban tartness that belies its coy title.” The Independent on Sunday, 26th June 2011

“'Fantastique' indeed as the symphony has all its original colours via the stunning period instruments of Anima Eterna” Classic FM Magazine, November 2010

“For its combination of unique orchestral size and recording quality, and overall Werktreu-ness, this new performance sits easily alongside, maybe even slightly ahead of, the other authentic contenders.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2010

“...it is the sheer raw clarity of every line and colour in these Flemish players’ performance, and its effect on the rhythms, that strikes you, especially in their revelatory account of the opening movement.” Sunday Times, 24th January 2010 ****

“Immerseel's approach, his choice of tempi and phrasing, are relatively conservative...but the raw edge that the period instruments bring to Berlioz's soundworld is often viscerally exciting, with a pair of ophicleides adding a feral growl to the brass bass lines” The Guardian, 28th January 2010 ***

“The forces are small, the sound translucent in Rêveries/Passions and Un Bal, brittle and dusty in the Marche au Supplice. Two Erard pianos replace the bells in Songe d'une Nuit du Sabbat, an odd, alluring sound. Scène aux Champs is particularly poetic” The Independent on Sunday, 24th January 2010

“Wiry strings, characterful woodwinds, an original Erard harp and pianos tolling instead of bells — all reasons for pinning the ears back as you listen to the Symphonie Fantastique from Jos van Immerseel’s esteemed period instrument orchestra.” The Times, 13th March 2010

'In the Left Hand Concerto, Claire Chevallier’s technique fully matches her musicianship. Whatever recordings you may have of these works, this disc is a must, balancing opulence against clarity in the orchestral sound and respecting the diamond-hard construction on which Ravel lavished so many sleepless nights.' Roger Nichols - BBC Music Magazine

“…the left Hand Concerto Claire Chevallier does not match Krystian Zimerman's brilliance and drive. The point is, she is not trying to. Her interpretation… is more lyrical and reflective and at times more sheerly beautiful - in fact much closer to that of Ravel's chosen interpreter Jacques Février. Whatever recordings you may have of these works, this disc is a must, balancing opulence against clarity in the orchestral sound and respecting the diamond-hard construction on which Ravel lavished so many sleepless nights.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006 *****

“…the perfect showcase for period instruments from early in the 20th century. …the 1905 Erard piano used in the Left-Hand Concerto, with its rather clangy, clattering tone, gives extra clarity to the flourishes in the piano part. With Claire Chevallier a most sensitive soloist, very French in style, the piano is the more clearly defined over the highly original, generally low-lying orchestration, growling up from nowhere at the start.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2006