Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

“Most flute concertos are lightweight, so it isn't surprising that flautists are keen to expand the repertory, adapting more ambitious works.
That's how, on the suggestion of the composer himself, Jean-Pierre Rampal in 1968 came to prepare a brilliant transcription of Khachaturian's Violin Concerto. In the concert-hall a softgrained flute can't cut through orchestral tex- tures in the way a violin can, but on disc careful balancing has produced a successful result.
The flute naturally lacks the required incisiveness for the first subject, but there are obvious gains in the lyrical second subject: Emmanuel Pahud's gentle tone and fine shading bring out echoes of Dvorák in New World vein, where the violin had more of a gypsy flavour. Rampal and Pahud effectively replace the cadenza's doublestops with little arpeggiated flourishes, and surprisingly little seems changed. Better still is the slow movement, where Pahud's exquisitely hushed playing finds a mystery and tenderness in the hypnotic, Satie-like melody. In place of the finale's brilliant extroversion on the violin, Pahud's flute offers a cheeky lightness.
Ibert's unaccompanied Pièce makes an interlude between the concertos: a work which owes its easily improvisatory flow to Debussy's Syrinx.
The Flute Concerto was written for Marcel Moyse in 1934; the finale's mix of 6/8 and 3/4 metres brings a sharp, jazzy flavour. What sets Pahud's performance apart is the depth of feeling he conveys in the slow movement: poignantly mysterious, with breathtaking pianissimos matched by the strings of the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman. The long, slow middle section in the finale, too, has a slinky quality, as in a valse grise. The recording is full and clear.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Meurig Bowen's notes observe that choral pieces composed in the 1990s suggested Pärt was moving into 'more complex, exotic harmonic territory'.
Some of his music began to give a glimpse of what was described as 'an attractively post- Minimalist aspect' of the composer's recent work.
All rather premature, perhaps, since, as Bowen acknowledges, Pärt subsequently returned to a more strictly diatonic, triadic approach.
Even so, the staccato, carol-like episodes bracketing Dopo La Vittoria, commissioned in 1991 and delivered in 1997, come as a shock, but the bulk of the piece is more recognisably by Pärt, and the Nunc dimittis, with its lovely, lambent solo part for soprano Elin Thomas, evoking Allegri's Miserere, assuages all doubts.
The idea of Pärt setting Burns might surprise, but My heart's in the Highlands, with its serene, Pachelbel-like organ line and pellucid vocal by countertenor David James, is a triumph. In the hymn-like Littlemore Tractus and Salve Regina, warm melodies and bursts of colourful chords mellow Pärt's sound without detracting from its sublime, ethereal beauty. Polyphony's performance is gorgeous.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

Gramophone Editor's Choice Award, November, 2003

“A remarkable voice” The Telegraph

“This first solo recital…is a fine portrait of a lovely singer.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2003

“Netrebko projects some of the bigger parts with a power that would have been hard to predict just a few years ago.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2006

“He [Gregson] speaks to a large audience, without sacrificing integrity. With superb performances and sound... this is a release of vital, attractive and immensely likeable music” International Record Review