Jonathan Lemalu

“These singers have come up with some of the most absorbing recorded experiences of a composer who, for all his unmistakable voice, had an extraordinarily broad range of expression and poetic choices...Jonathan Lemalu has two cameos, embodying solemnity and wry fun...Martineau is the binding presence as he responds to both songs and singers with a transparent understanding of character.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2011 ****

“[Lott's] artistry and feeling for the French language remain as impressive as ever...Best of all perhaps are the two miniature cycles: first Tel jour, telle nuit, nine songs to words by Paul Eluard, beautifully sung by Felicity Lott. The other cycle, Le travail du peintre, fascinatingly gives us Poulenc's reaction to seven painters...Signum again provides excellent notes by Roger Nicholls and full texts and translations.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2011

“[Toreador] is finely sung here by Christopher Maltman and Martineau captures the colours and mischief of the piano part very nicely...[Deux Poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire] are taken by Robert Murray and the rapid-fire setting of the first song reveals a singer who is able to get around this tricky piece very efficiently...The recordings all have a fine natural balance between voice and piano” International Record Review, September 2011

“this generous culling of 25 songs from 20 albums released in the past 15 years has a delectable cast of British and Irish voices in songs from Beethoven to Weir.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2013 ***

“Martineau's apparently limitless wisdom about the musicians, the music, and indeed the piano continues at full stretch. The uneasy postlude to 'Voyage', frmo Calligrammes, makes for one of his most breathtaking moments, but the level of intensity is there at all levels” BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 *****

“Sarah Fox opens this third volume in Signum's comprehensive series of Poulenc's songs with a bright, tidy and stylish performance of Airs chantes...The contribution throughout this disc from Martineau is outstanding: his voicing of Poulenc's pulsating chords is just one of the features of his playing that makes for absorbing listening. The recording captures both voices and piano with a natural-sounding warmth and clarity.” International Record Review, February 2012

“any slight piano dominance comes from the sheer character of Martineau's playing. This is immediately effective in the opening group of four Airs chantes, sung with engaging character and immediacy by Sarah Fox...With eight outstanding singers and the pianist all on top torm, this is the most attractively inviting of these Poulenc anthologies so far issued.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2012

“The best performances... - Murray in the early Cocteau cycle Cocardes, Maltman in the Chansons Gaillardes, Milne in Fiançailles pour Rire – are very fine, even if it remains a disc to sample piecemeal rather than as a whole” The Guardian, 17th March 2011 ***

“This is a delightful project...Plus factors include national treasure Felicity Lott, divine in the 1960 cycle La Courte Paille. There’s also the masterly accompaniment of Malcolm Martineau, who helps to confirm Poulenc’s belief that his songs contained better piano music than any of his solo pieces.” The Times, 26th March 2011 ***

“Poulenc's singular mix of whimsy, religiosity and cool wit guarantees plenty of variety, and each song has a characteristically elaborate, note-rich piano part. Malcolm Martineau accompanies with judicious, sharp-eared facility and experience.” The Observer, 3rd April 2011

“Alongside Malcolm Martineau's searching piano, the singers find a consistent character: considered, spacious, unaffected but cumulatively intense, to the extent that you may need to pause and catch your breath every so often...Anderson finds a deadpan, butter-wouldn't-melt character for Vilmorin's more suggestive lines, while Maltman brings good humour and a poker face to the earthy Chansons galliardes” BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 *****

“these are songs that benefit greatly from the kind of musical intelligence Lott has in abundance...The early Chansons gaillardes are eloquently sung by Christopher Maltman...Lorna Anderson gives straightforward and very attractive readings...Lisa Milne is similarly excellent in the cycle Fiancailles pour rire and the slightly later group of three Metamorphoses” International Record Review, May 2011

…it’s a most beautifully written piece, as Paul Watkins was eager to reveal. The Times

“It's hard to imagine a more beguiling start to this series or a more appealing introduction to Richard Rodney Bennett than this CD. It begins with a Partita that has a spring in its step and the breeze of the countryside blowing through it.
Bennett's way with fashioning long strands of melody is a special feature of his lyrical writing.
It's a gift he may owe, in part, to the songwriters he admires, like Kern and Arlen. In the Lullaby second movement there's a glorious outpouring of instrumental song ravishingly realised by the Philharmonia under Hickox's fervent direction.
The finale has players paired off in the manner of a concerto for orchestra.
A chanson by Josquin provides the theme for the Reflections on a Sixteenth Century Tune, which enshrines a homage to Peter Warlock, whose Capriol Suite similarly drew on Renaissance music.
The scoring is breathtaking, with soloists highlighted against the muted string ensemble. Jonathan Lemalu characterises Before Sleep well with colour, dynamics and some exquisite quiet singing in the upper voice, notably in Bennett's memorable setting of 'Twinkle, twinkle, little star'.
Reflections on a Scottish Folk Song ('Ca' the yowes') was written in memory of the Queen Mother. It's the most substantial piece here, with a formidable cello part played with great feeling by Paul Watkins. There is a Scottish lilt in some of the variations, a beautiful Interlude, and a brilliant finale that concludes pianissimo, like a Scottish mist enclosing by stealth. It's hard to imagine anyone not being enraptured by this CD.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Where Harnoncourt succeeds is in blending dramatic intimacy and scale –hence the three discs and a three-hour playing time – with a widescreen approach to the music that is exuberant and alive, orchestral details leaping to the foreground, textures polished and gleaming with new-spun vitality, and topped by luminescent choral singing.” Michael Quinn, bbc.co.uk, 18th December 2009