Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

“There's a grand romanticism about Trpceski's interpretations… The hectic sweep in the Sonata's first subject drives ahead with a feverishness against which the second subject is allowed to relax, glowing deep and tender; and Trpceski's phrasing of the songful trio embedded in the manic second movement is simply magical.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 *****

“He quickly displayed the compelling hallmarks of his style: light but devastatingly punchy octaves; well delineated rhythms (he can pounce on chords with a drum-like vigour when he chooses); a gossamer touch in lyrical episodes; and an impeccable ear for internal balance.” The Times

“From Simon Trpceski, a relatively new star in EMI's firmament, Chopin's music boils with a Heathcliff-like defiance. Here is no drawingroom dandy but a composer who truly rages against the dying of the light. Yet just as awe replaces critical scrutiny when faced with Trpceski's formidable mastery, you remember how such towering virtuosity is complemented by an equally remarkable refinement. If few pianists have stormed the Second Sonata's first movement more heroically, even fewer have played the Funeral March's central Elysian Trio with such poise and concentration.
The four Scherzi, too, offer a similar combination of superlatives, one where a thrusting youthful impetuosity is balanced by lyrical introspection (try Chopin's central molto piùlento reworking of the Polish carol 'Sleep little Jesus'). Such unfaltering style and assurance are enough to make lesser pianists weep with envy and, more generally, there is an almost palpable sense of Chopin's irony, when he called three of his most savage utterances 'scherzo' (literally meaning a joke). Trpceski's dizzying voltage and aplomb, superbly recorded, represent the finest modern alternative.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“there’s a genuine feeling of spontaneity about these performances, yet he’s still able to bring out little details and emphasise lines you might not have noticed before...Personality in spades, yes, but there’s also integrity, and that really matters. You get the feeling that Trpceski really identifies with this composer-pianist...Sheer delight from end to end.” Andrew McGregor, bbc.co.uk, 2nd April 2007

“Right from the opening appassionato phrase on the G string, Jean-Jacques Kantorow goes for broke… Kantorow can be delicate too, while his brisk speeds… ensure that nothing sags - the second movement, which Cooper calls a 'floating barcarolle', is precisely that, and the finale fizzes with nervous energy.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 *****

“Villazón's virtues include an engagement with the texts, and some genuine touches of style. Conductor Domingo, who was born into zarzuela troupe, enters fully into the spirit as well as the latter of some often delightful material.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 ****

“Fischer always knows when to lighten the mood, or how best to judge the tension and release of a musical paragraph, and in this she is supported to the hilt by a personable but never too overbearing Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Yakov Kreizberg... In the Concerto's vivacious finale and the headlong Valse-Scherzo, Fischer makes light of the technical difficulties with spot-on pitching throughout; there isn't an aspect of any of these works in which this world-class virtuoso fails to excel.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 *****

“Julia Fischer brings fearsome concentration to a concerto that is so often an excuse for selfindulgence. She brings absolute control of colour and tone. Fischer realizes that you don’t have to wallow in romanticism for the piece to work its magic. Kreizberg and the fabulous Russian National Orchestra provide superb support.” Gramophone Magazine

“Judith Bingham is that seemingly rare thing in contemporary music. A composer whose music has the ability to connect and communicate with its audience on an immediate and direct level.” MusicWeb International

“Judith Bingham is a composer with a special gift for vocal setting and a wealth of experience in what can be sung: for 13 years she was a permanent member of the BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers (for whom she is Associate Composer).
All five works on this new disc reveal a distinctive voice writing in a recognisably modern idiom which combines clarity of thought and complexity of vision. Bingham's music draws audiences in, without alienating them or com- promising her expressive integrity. Salt in theBlood (1995) is a prime example, a large musical – at times theatrical – tapestry of British seasong, weaving in existing shanties and invented hornpipes to retell the tale of two sailors' rivalry as to who was the better dancer. Bingham thinks convincingly in long spans, as her 2004 Prom commission The Secret Garden confirms (given here in a live performance). FirstLight (2001) and the brief The Darkness is noDarkness (1993) engage with the English choral tradition to an unusual degree, the latter – a reinterpretation of a Wesley hymn – in particular.
The performances all round are first rate and the recorded sound is excellent, which is no less than Bingham deserves. The BBC Symphony Chorus sing with gusto and Fine Arts Brass relish some fine brass writing, not least in TheSnow Descends (1997), an atmospheric paraphrase for brass of one of Bingham's choral works. Recommended.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Mackerras's reading, recorded in live performance, is slightly more expansive than his benchmark Vienna version… but the passionately lyrical urgency and sense of mystery drive it along just as compellingly. Cheryl Barker has the right kind of imperious soprano for Emilia Marty... This doesn't outclass Mackerras's Viennese set... But this is more vivid and dramatic, and its immediacy also offers English-speaking listeners easier access to this strange but rewarding masterpiece.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 ****

“This is Mackerras's second recording. The first, in 1979, in his series of groundbreaking Janácek recordings for Decca (above), had the Vienna Philharmonic in radiant form accompanied a fine cast singing in Czech. It says much for the quality of the ENO Orchestra that for this new version in English the playing is equally polished, and often outshines that of the Viennese in its extra dramatic bite.
The recording brings an advantage, too – not as plushy as the Viennese version and with extra separation and clarity in a clearly focused acoustic.
Those qualities suit the work better, which, as Sir Charles points out, is 'a different kind of music': Janácek emphatically did not want to sound like Strauss or Puccini. That extra clarity and separation means the words are astonishingly clear.
Cheryl Barker rivals Elisabeth Söderström on Decca in dramatic bite and when in Act 3 Emilia is at last given a sustained solo, Barker is even more powerful, aptly abrasive and less moulded.
Though the American Robert Brubaker cannot quite match Peter Dvorsky on Decca, it is a focused, compelling performance. In some of the smaller roles the Czech singers had an advantage but their counterparts here run them close. On any count both versions have one marvelling at the score's emotional thrust and dramatic compulsion, original in every way and one of Janácek's supreme masterpieces.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Mackerras’s insight and grip are as powerful as ever, and the ENO Orchestra’s playing is remarkable...Cheryl Barker captures Emilia’s essential coldness, and the way she handles the final scenes is superb – you feel her desperation, and her imperious disdain...this performance certainly doesn’t suffer for being in English, and that in itself is quite an achievement.” Andrew McGregor, bbc.co.uk, 16th March 2007

“One can listen to Gilels’s Beethoven for hours on end without wishing a single passage to be differently phrased or moulded.” (Sunday Times)