Simon Keenlyside

“The most opulent discographic discovery of the decade” Fanfare

“A highlight of last year's Edinburgh Festival … a memorable experience … gorgeous … an extraordinarily voluptuous and erotic affair. Joan Rodgers sings ravishingly … Ossonce brings this exciting rarity to throbbing life” Sunday Telegraph

“For those who heard Chabrier's incomplete magnum opus at last year's Festival this recording will need no recommendation … fabulously rewarding” The Scotsman

“Step into Victorian Birmingham with Paul McCreesh’s “authentic” recording of Mendelssohn’s epic Old Testament oratorio...The thumping grandeur of the big choruses is magnificent. But against that must be placed McCreesh’s tendency to insert wallowing rallentandos before every transition, and fuzzy choral diction.” The Times, 1st September 2012 ***

“the choral singing is a marvel.” Sunday Times, 2nd September 2012

“one of the striking aspects of the performance is the way that Paul McCreesh so naturally places the great set pieces within the context of a multifaceted expressive whole...familiar moments in Elijah sound newly minted here, McCreesh approaching them with polished, fluent phrasing and using the period instruments of his orchestra to underpin emphases and to add vibrant colour.” The Telegraph, 15th September 2012

“McCreesh here totally re-imagines it: the big choruses are transparent as well as massively impressive...and there is no danger of religiosity in the fresh-voiced solos of Rosemary Joshua, Sarah Connolly and Simon Keenlyside...In all, a spectacularly successful reinvention of the British choral tradition.” The Observer, 23rd September 2012

“Connolly sings with mellifluous tone and Simon Keenlyside is an Elijah of spirit and intelligence: he may not have the sheer weight of a Bryn Terfel, but he's alive to every shift of meaning and his diction is, as ever, impeccable. The gut strings, unimpeded by vibrato, bring splendid urgency to the texture” BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 ****

“Miraculously, McCreesh succeeds in relating Elijah’s sound world to Mendelssohn’s more familiar, lighter-sounding works while never underplaying the performance’s staggering heft. The combined choirs produce a sonority which has to be heard to be believed. The doomy, dramatic numbers are simply terrifying...McCreesh’s Berlioz disc was a highlight of 2011; this Elijah is even better. Flawless, in other words.” The Arts Desk, 6th October 2012

“There’s a definite histrionic side to the role and Keenlyside doesn’t short-change us but when listening to him I was reminded again and again what a fine lieder singer he is...[Ward is] clear and accurate and shows excellent breath control. Furthermore, his pitching is spot-on...The orchestral playing is superb...This is a marvellous recording of Elijah...Anyone who cares about this fine work should try to hear it.” MusicWeb International, October 2012

“unashamedly committed and thoroughly dramatic…this a reading to make one hear Mendelssohn’s masterpiece anew…The recording is beautifully presented in an exquisitely designed ‘book format’” Choir & Organ, November/December 2012

“The sound is massive when required, but the articulation is never unwieldy and there is delicacy too … [the organ is] a splendid beast and, except in one instance, you would never know that it was dubbed on electronically...Sarah Connolly and Rosemary Joshua are both excellent. From the crib of ‘Death and the Maiden’ at the opening to the final ‘Amen’, this is a triumph.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012

“Noseda proves a more than worthy substitute [for Colin Davis], easily encompassing the dramatic scale of the work...Sabina Cvilak has a bright, silvery penetrating timbre. Ian Bostridge’s tenor is as individual and idiosyncractic as Pears’s in its own way. Simon Keenlyside, too, is magnificent, while the two choirs relish their grateful, inspiring music.” Sunday Times, 15th April 2012

“The LSO and its Chorus are on cracking form, and the soloists are as good as you will get…No one should be without the composer’s recording, also with the LSO, but half a century later, Noseda’s Dramatic, pulsating account represents another landmark.” Financial Times, 28th April 2012

“Noseda offers an account rich in drama...forging a sense of momentum and cohesion..Few singers deliver text with as much conviction and engagement as Bostridge, who finds the right tone for the bitterness of war...[Keenlyside] sounds every inch the soldier, conveying the pain of war and a bleak sense of loss...Cvilak is very good, particularly fine in floating her high notes in the 'Lacrimosa'..this performance is incredibly moving” International Record Review, May 2012

“the two-CD set certainly captures the thrill of the moment in a reading notable both for its hushed intensity and dramatic sweep. Noseda’s an Italian, after all, and the clamorous Dies irae and supercharged choral prayers wouldn’t disgrace a Verdi opera...The LSO and the London Symphony Chorus are the performance’s rock: they start on top form and stay that way. Another essential recording, with or without the Britten centenary.” The Times, 4th May 2012 ****

“[Noseda] brings a strong sense of Italianate lyricism to bear on the score, reminding us of Britten's conscious debt to Verdi's Requiem. The choral singing is fervent and intense, the playing fierce and sensitive by turns. Sabina Cvilak is the thrilling, hieratic soprano, though her male counterparts” The Guardian, 10th May 2012 ****

“[Noseda] delivers it afresh as a scintillating achievement...Sabina Cvilak's soprano has the focus, though not always the required gravitas, while tenor Ian Bostridge brings a piercing sincerity to all his solos...Keenlyside takes a different approach: sonorous, commanding, but sometimes lacking the necessary bitter edge...Nevertheless, this is an important issue: Noseda's judgement of pace is unerring, and the orchestra and chorus simply superb.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 ****

“Noseda conducts the most blazing War Requiem I have heard in any circumstances...The LSO’s brass section rips into the score’s martial elements with full-blooded ferocity...This is a searing recording, a match for the very best and more powerful than any other version I know in communicating Britten’s anti-war agenda. Fifty years on, here is a War Requiem for our own troubled times.” classicalsource.com, 31st May 2012

“In some ways this is the most affecting and emotionally draining reading the work has ever received — and that includes the premiere recording by Britten itself, which established a high benchmark for many years. This is a considerable achievement.” CD Choice

“Noseda's live performance seeks to take the audience on a journey from the edge of consciousness to the blazing fires of the battlefield...Bostridge spins a beautiful line in the tenor's lyrical passages...Keenlyside is excellent throughout...Decisive and confident, the soprano Sabina Cvilak has the Slavic edge to her voice that has seemed hard-wired into the part since the incomparable Vishnevskaya” Gramophone Magazine, July 2012

“the LSO Live account has great clarity and tonal sophistication. The Eltham choir is crisp and well balanced...The LSO certainly play well and the brass in the Dies irae are especially thrilling...All else pales next to Bostridge’s deeply moving, extraordinarily nuanced singing in Futility...The LSO chorus deserve a mention in dispatches. Their quiet singing in Pie Jesu is ineffably beautiful.” MusicWeb International, July 2012

“Puccini's romance shines brightly, with plenty of detail and lively conducting from Riccardo Chailly, Gheorghiu, Alagna, Keenlyside and D'Arcangelo provide highlights.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 *****

“The husband-and-wife partnership of Gheorghiu and Alagna is formidably demonstrated in Decca's more recent recording...Gheorghiu's glorious singing is powerfully matched by the heroic tones of Alagna, culminating in a deeply moving death-scene.” Penguin Guide, 2010 edition ***

“The title is deceptive, for these songs exude anything but a warlike mood. Almost all are English: the idiom is winsome, romantic and often quite innocent, as in Vaughan Williams’s “Youth and Love” and Bridge’s “Thy hand in mine”. At the heart of the recital – beautifully vocalised and artlessly characterised by Keenlyside – is Butterworth’s cycle of songs under the title “A Shropshire Lad”.” Financial Times, 5th November 2011 ****

“Despite the title, most of the songs in this admirable collection are anything but warlike. There is no place for patriotic bombast here; instead, these polished miniatures yearn for a vanished pastoral England...a beautifully judged recording, exquisitely sung; poignant but never sentimental.” The Observer, 13th November 2011

“At 52, the British baritone is in peak vocal health, and certainly young-sounding enough to portray the men in their late teens and twenties who leave their homes and loves...I can’t think of another baritone who can match him for beautiful tone, nuance of expression and immaculate diction...Keenlyside is incomparable here, in one of the song records of the year.” Sunday Times, 13th November 2011

“it’s not damning with faint praise to say that you don’t really notice the music at all – it’s Simon Keenlyside’s impeccable delivery that registers. Housman’s bittersweet musings are heartbreaking, notably in the penultimate poem; just listen to Keenlyside's mention of "the lads that will die in their glory and never be old"...A sober, intelligent CD, beautifully sung, immaculately accompanied. Keenlyside's sleeve notes are intelligent, insightful and touching.” The Arts Desk, 26th November 2011

“A sense of the mannered or precious can debase these songs; Keenlyside's sweeping, robust lyricism is deceptively effortless and exactly right...Dr Johnson once said that every man thinks worse of himself for never having been a soldier; Keenlyside has evidently thought deeply about this, making for a robust and involving recital.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 *****

“Keenlyside's mark is everywhere apparent and full marks to him for persuading Sony to indulge his choices...He is indeed a remarkable singer. He can encompass tragedy and irony, heroic and tender, he has magical half-tones, introduces a thrilling touch of head voice in Warlock's The Night, he can tell a story...Keenlyside's impassioned, almost overwhelming rendering of Frank Bridge's Thy Hand in Mine is, I think, the core and key to this compelling collection” International Record Review, January 2012

“One can imagine a more poignant account of the ghostly voices in 'Is my team ploughing?' but 'The lads in their hundreds' is all the more moving for Keenlyside's robustness...The rest of the programme is equally rewarding and Keenlyside's diction is perfect.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2012

“Purcell at his most theatrical and most domestic in two celebratory odes. New College Choir's sound is the main draw in a recital that never quite breaks sweat.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 ***

“For those to whom Purcell’s unfailing sensitivity and inventiveness in the setting of English texts is a constant miracle, the problem with this series is knowing where to start” Gramophone Magazine

“Highly desirable additions to any Purcell collection” The Times