Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

“Carolyn Sampson's luminescent soprano, with its easeful enunciation, seemingly instinctive ornamentation, and total lack of self-consciousness captures the bittersweet 'affects' of 'Sweeter than Roses', relishes the shifting tones of voice in the long nocturnal, 'From silent shades', and glows against a single theorbo accompaniment in the great 'Evening Hymn'. The instrumental palette, though limited, is exquisitely tuned to Sampson's voice and to the character of each piece.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ****

“It is immediately obvious from the first few songs that this disc is truly special. Carolyn Sampson's singing is deliciously enjoyable for its sweet tuning, flawless intonation, impeccable stylishness, shapely phrasing of melodic lines and textural awareness.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“Her tone is extraordinarily beautiful: natural, warm and unforced, with almost superhuman vocal athleticism” American Record Guide

“…sleek playing from the Berlin period instrument players, though the choir sounds too slim-line for the big moments. As Zadok, Mark Padmore moves around most of the notes with skill. Sarah Connolly is articulate as Solomon, her carefully measured tone combining warmth with dynamism. Susan Gritton is graceful as Solomon's queen and striking as the First Harlot... But Daniel Reuss's conducting is slack, allowing tempos to drag.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ***

“Abetted by his crack period orchestra and 40-strong chorus, Reuss is responsive alike to the oratorio's ceremonial splendour and its fragrant pastoral tinta. …the vitality and refinement of the Berlin choir is always compelling. With terrific controlled raucousness from antiphonal wind and brass, the opening chorus of Act 2 is an elementally thrilling as it should be. At the other extreme, the Nightingale chorus, taken slowly and secretively, is at least the equal of McCreesh's in drowsy amorous enchantment. ...Reuss's solo line-up could hardly be bettered. Handel cast the role of Solomon with a mezzo-soprano. Reuss does likewise with Sarah Connolly, who sings with glowing, even tone, ardour (in the love scene), and rapt inwardness in Solomon's two "nature" arias.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“In her second volume, including 'Chut, Chut' and 'Lo Fiolairé', Véronique Gens does more than confirm her credentials. The voice is bright, forward, notably clear in diction and lightly responsive to nuance, backed by prominent woodwind and lean strings.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 ****

“For her second CD devoted to Joseph Canteloube's vocal music, Véronique Gens has looked beyond the celebrated, much-recorded Chants d'Auvergne, and back to Tryptique, composed in 1913. A setting of three poems by Roger Frêne, its lush, not to say extravagant orchestration anticipates Canteloube's later folksong settings. The first section, "Offrande à l'été" is an ardent love song... The central "Lunaire" has a more mysterious, yearning feel... The finale, "Hymne dans l'aurore" is an ecstatic prayer to Pan, celebrating every wonder of... The final cry, "Mon âme s'ouvre ainsi qu'une aube étincellante! O Pan!" is marked in the score crescendo en grandissant, and Gens, Serge Baudo and the Lille Orchestra rise to the moment with splendid force.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“This is music that demands pianism of superlative quality, and here Yevgeny Sudbin miraculously combines the volcanic intensity of Vladimir Horowitz with the cat-and-mouse tonal reflexes of Mikhail Pletnev.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 *****

“…no pianist of any generation has, in my experience, captured Scriabin's volatility so vividly as Sudbin. All these performances are flecked with personal touches and brilliances above and beyond even Scriabin's wildest demands. Finally, BIS captures Sudbin's astonishing range of colours and sonorities, ranging from the utmost delicacy to an enraged uproar, in crystalline demonstration sound. This, put suitably euphorically, is a disc in a million.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“In the First Quintet Lane and the Goldners manage to communicate the urgency and immediacy of Bloch's musical argument… the opening passage projected with a frenzy that generates considerable momentum and purpose throughout the rhapsodic first movement. ...the performers are equally persuasive in capturing the langour and hypnotic sensuousness of the Andante mistico.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 *****

“A fabulous CD this, easily the best recording of Bloch's chamber music I've heard in years… the music is truly wonderful, the playing entirely sympathetic and the sound perfectly balanced.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“[Piano Quintet No 1] ranks among the finest in the genre … a work of astonishing immediacy, at once lyrical and aggressive, that takes you on a lurching emotional journey before achieving stability in the most serene C major imaginable … the performances, by the Goldner String Quartet and pianist Piers Lane, are tremendously authoritative in their combination of technical daring and expressive power” The Guardian

“…Bartoli…sings everything with vivid personality. The accompaniments are well handled under Adam Fischer.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ****

“This new recital is a brilliant summation of Cecilia Bartoli's art and the special contribution it makes.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“The Austrian composer and conductor Friedrich Cerha's…Cello Concerto, completed in 1996 for Heinrich Schiff, is a work of both substance and originality. Schiff himself is the eloquent soloist ere, casting off reams of golden tone in…work's lyrical central movement and never resorting to coarseness in the more energetic music. Peter Eötvös conducts the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra in a full-blooded, luxuriant account of Schreker's masterly late-Romantic score...” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 *****

“This is the most enjoyable account of Schubert's Octet I can remember, on disc or in concert. It would be hard to devise a more distinguished group, and that is reflected in the freshness of the playing. The Scherzo third movement is wonderfully bouncy and the following Minuet elegant in its phrasing, with a fine spring in the rhythm and nice interplay between clarinet and violin. The finale swaggers along infectiously. In the lovely song with clarinet obbligato, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Malcolm Martineau is the sensitive pianist accompanying the bright, fresh soprano of Ailish Tynan.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007

“What a heart! When Collins recapped the adagio theme in a ravishing hush, time and the world stood still” The Times

“Simon Mulligan is an outstanding piano soloist, combining precision with a beautiful pearly sound in the upper register. The cellist Weng-Sinn Yang isn't always as tight rhythmically, but makes the most of his many opportunities for lyricism. They're expertly supported by Serebrier, the RSNO, and Naxos's engineering.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ****

“The Second Piano Concerto (1951)… has lain dormant until its present revival by Simon Mulligan whose brilliance, ideally matched by José Serebrier, is worthy of Katchen himself. In the Cello Concerto Rorem happily eschews a conventional form… offering Wen-Sinn Yang a rich opportunity, whether playing primus inter pares or revelling in Rorem's alternating nostalgia and effervescence. Finely recorded, it's a clear winner for the Naxos American Classics series.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007