Frank Bridge

“A mood of poignant intensity characterises the three works here, played by Steven Isserlis with two different orchestras...Some ridiculed [Schelomo] as suitable only for a Hollywood epic but Isserlis conveys its simple, urgent message.” The Observer, 7th April 2013

“Isserlis's spellbinding advocacy of Bridge's raptly compassionate masterpiece in particular has acquired an extra richness of experience and plangent intensity...both performances [the Hough and the Bloch] really are tremendously compelling in their articulate composure, nourishing intelligence and clear-sighted purpose.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2013

“this profoundly engaging reading [of the Bridge] sets a new standard. [in Schelomo] nothing is forced or overdone, no rhetoric or posturing gets in the way of the work's own soulful expression...What he has achieved in this beautifully balanced recording with Hugh Wolff is a breathtaking new fluency and freedom.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 *****

“Roocroft is impassioned in outgoing songs such as Bridge's ecstatic 'Adoration', where accompanist Joseph Middleton is really able to let himself go, but she can sound strained elsewhere...The choice of songs, though, is its own strong selling point.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2013

“Listening to this comprehensive Chandos set, Bridge’s position as a shadowy transitional figure comes into sharper focus, the early Edwardiana yielding to a much more sharply defined mature style...Despite this being a six-disc compilation, there’s little filler. The lighter pieces charm. The performances are consistently inspired, and the recorded sound is refulgent.” The Arts Desk, 29th September 2012

“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

“even within such a collection of miniatures and occasional pieces, which ranges right across Bridge's composing career, there is still enough to show what a remarkable and, in the context of early-20th-century British music, unique figure he was...Bebbington plays [Gargoyle] and other radical pieces, such as the mysterious A Dedication, with the same poise and clarity he brings to the more obviously Edwardian salon music here.” The Guardian, 16th June 2011

“Bebbington brings out the opalescent harmonies and wayward phrases of these pieces to perfection, and deftly charaterises the various songsters in The Hedgerow. Perhaps the expressive high-points of the disc are the desolate Winter Pastoral of 1925 and the enigmatic A Dedication of the following year...performed here with rapt attentiveness and beauty of tone that reveals the expressive impact of these works.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 *****

“Best of all are the early works: Berceuse (1901), Bridge's first piano miniature, and Thre Pieces (1901-02), have an immediate appeal to which Bebbington appends affection and the same lustrous tone-colouring common to all 22 separate titles...Those with a penchant for the piano's left-hand-alone repertoire will be drawn to Three Improvisations” Gramophone Magazine, October 2011

“These piano pieces show an astonishing range of influences, from Chopin to expressionist Schoenberg to Debussy to English pastoralism, sometimes within the space of one piece. To make it all cohere requires a firm structural grasp, which Bebbington certainly has, but he catches the sensuousness of the music too.” The Telegraph, 22nd September 2011 ****

“[Enter Spring] is a brilliantly extrovert display of his skill as a colourist, sustained by an irresistible rhythmic energy. The Hallé plays it with fabulous finesse, and the orchestra is equally assured in Arnold Bax's quasi-symphonic Spring Fire” The Guardian, 14th April 2011 ****

“Elder's grasp of [Enter Spring's] structure is idea, the pacing convincing...The golden glow of the strings and the ripe, thrusting brass are extremely satisfying...There is no finer orchestra with a pedigree in this repertoire than the Hallé” International Record Review, July 2011

“Firstly, the Hallé's stellar playing: it's genuinely hard to imagine how music of this English vintage could be performed better. Not only is everything beautifully idiomatic and clear, there's also strong characterisation in every department, with a particularly vivid response to Bridge's intricate solo woodwind writing.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2011 ****

“Not only is Elgar adept at teasing out the myriad details in Bridge's meticulous orchestral canvas, his bracingly cogent conception also manages to stress this music's more daringly progressive, "continental" features without stinting on its gorgeous local colour...a truly cherishable account of a great work to crown a collection that bids fair to be one of my records of the year.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2011

“There couldn't be better advocates for this neglected corner of the repertoire than the Halle and Elder. His conducting is superb in the way it teases out the detail through the overall drive, balancing out the galvanising passion with attention to hummingbird-like flashes of colour. Where there's a danger of galumphing - heavy scoring, supposedly bouncy rhythms - he manages to make the music dance instead.” Classic FM Magazine, August 2011 ****

“Brilliant orchestral playing throughout and ripe sound.” Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk, 21st May 2011

“It is her ability to reduce her sound that enables her to avoid bringing too much power to 'The Last Rose' and to put across Bernstein's 'Some other time' in a relaxed and intimate manner...Brewer's own [encore], 'Review', has the final word...It's fun and provides a final encore for which it was well worth staying till the end.” International Record Review, April 2011

“unlike many dramatic sopranos, Brewer here demonstrates a clarity of enunciation and a variety of tone that suits this lighter material...Irresistable.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 *****

“Brewer, in tremendous voice, carves out a niche as [Flagstad, Farrell, Traubel and Steber's] successor, partly because the majestic quality of her delivery equals theirs, but more importantly because she, like they, has the ability to make this repertoire live and breathe without sounding mawkish...And Brewer's pianist, Roger Vignoles, sounds as if he's thoroughly enjoying himself.” The Guardian, 14th April 2011 ****

“Brewer hosts her party with flair, unselfconscious enjoyment and unerring style. Never do we sense the opera singer trying to appropriate an alien domain...Vignoles is indeed unfailingly sympathetic, but so much more: an animator and colourist whose rhythmic energy and legerdemain contribute crucially to the success of the whole delightful, offbeat recital.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2011