Gramophone Awards 2005

“The first release in Gardiner's 2000 Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, an extraordinary undertaking - a deeply moving experience that swept up the Record of the Year Award in 2005.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008

“In 2000 John Eliot Gardiner commemorated the 250th anniversary of Bach's death with theBach Cantata Pilgrimage, a year-long European tour by the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir that presented all of Bach's extant cantatas on the appropriate liturgical feast days. Here are the first two instalments of the complete cycle.
Soli Deo Gloria's presentation is first class. The CDs are cased in a handsomely designed hardbound book, complete with texts, translations and Gardiner's extensive, informative notes based on a journal he kept during the pilgrimage.
The interpretations are consistently fine – often superb, in fact – with surprisingly few wrong steps or disappointments, especially given the unusually gruelling performance schedule that produced them. Among the many mind-blowing, beautiful moments is the deliciously syncopated contralto aria from No 30, sung with poise by Wilke te Brummelstroete and graced by playing of magical delicacy from the EBS. And there's the extraordinary opening chorus of No 8, with its seemingly endless melodic tendrils, chiming flute part and plucked strings, sounding like a celestial dance. Special mention must be made of the artistry of tenor Mark Padmore, who maintains his sweet, ringingly clear tone even in the demanding leaps and roulades of his aria in No 95.
It's in delicate or intimate music that Gardiner shines most luminously, and some may find that he unduly emphasises the contemplative.
His thoughtful, refined approach is strikingly similar to Suzuki's cycle on BIS, though Gardiner's versions sound just a bit warmer.
Although his interpretations offer the finest attributes of period practice – transparency and litheness – there's a long-breathed musicality here that can be lacking in other accounts.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This is mostly well-planned and executed recital mixes favourites with extracts from operas that have remained rarities, even with the increased interest in late 19th-century repertory. It begins with Rodrigue's great prayer, 'O souverain' from Act 3 of Le Cid. Rolando Villazón sings this with an attractive quiet introspection to start with, but then there is metal and passion in his voice for the climax. Of the other well-known Massenet items, it's good to hear Werther's 'Lorsque l'enfant' as well as the show-stopping 'Pourquoi me réveiller?'. In 'En fermant les yeux' from Manon, Natalie Dessay provides Manon's brief phrases, and Villazón makes a really sensitive dreamer. 'Ah, fuyez' goes well too, but it will be the arias from Roma, Grisélidis and Le Mage that will attract most listeners. In all Massenet's output is there a more seductive tune than the one that forms the centre of the Roma scene, 'Soir admirable'? This is done very well by Warren Mok in the complete recording, but Villazón outshines him.
Of the Gounod arias, Faust's 'Salut demeure' fares the best, but again it will be the extracts from Polyeucte and La Reine de Saba that will please immediately.
Villazón has established himself as one of the most promising among the new generation of tenors. His French has improved recently, butthere is the odd difficulty still with certain vowels.
Accompaniment, recording and presentation are first-rate.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“It is impossible to exaggerate the beauty of the tone-colours that these four musicians achieve... If late Beethoven is the Holy Grail of quartet playing, then the Takács Quartet has found it” The Guardian (concert review)

“Interpreters of the late quartets have to convey what at times sounds like a stream of musical consciousness while respecting the many written markings. The Takács do better than most. For openers, they had access to the new Henle Edition and have made use of some textual changes – nothing too drastic but encouraging evidence of a good musical conscience. In Op 130 they take the long first-movement exposition repeat, using the Grosse Fuge as the rightful finale (Beethoven's original intention) which, in the context of their fiery reading of the fugue, works well.
Contemporary incredulity at the sheer scale and complexity of the fugue caused Beethoven to offer a simpler alternative finale, in which they again play the repeat, which helps balance the 'alternative' structure.
The Takács evidently appreciate this music both as musical argument and as sound. Try their glassy sul ponticello at the end of Op 131's Scherzo, or the many instances where plucked and bowed passages are fastidiously balanced.
Attenuated inflections are honoured virtually to the letter, textures carefully differentiated, musical pauses intuitively well-timed and inner voices nearly always transparent.
This set completes one of the best available Beethoven quartet cycles, possibly the finest in an already rich digital market, more probing than the pristine Emersons or Alban Bergs (live), more refined than the gutsy and persuasive Lindsays, and less consciously stylised than the Juilliards (and always with the historic Busch Quartet as an essential reference).” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“By any other name, John Browne would surely be recognised as one of the very greatest English composers. The fact that fewer than 10 works survive intact in the Eton Choirbook (practically the only source transmitting his music anyway) only adds to his mysterious aura; the music sends normally dispassionate specialists reaching for superlatives. He stands head and shoulders above the other Eton composers, and it's high time he was accorded an anthology of his own. The discography of early polyphonic music has made such great strides that 'landmark' recordings are fewer and further between; yet this can hardly be described as anything else.
An index of Browne's stature is the variety of scorings he deploys. His eight-voice O MariaSalvatorismater was considered extraordinary enough to be given pride of place in the Eton Choirbook, and each of the three six-voice pieces included here is scored differently. No other Eton composer wrote so much six-voice music excluding trebles. Two of his pieces in this mould (Stabat iuxta Christi crucem and Oregina mundi) are here recorded convincingly for the first time. Phillips's line-up of men's voices (especially on the top lines) is as superb as Browne's must have been, for an exceptional keenness of focus is needed to prevent the thick texture from becoming stodgy; as it is, the sound of six parts jostling in a compass of under two octaves is thrilling.
But the pieces with trebles have long been reckoned Browne's masterpieces; as such, they have been recorded several times before. Phillips sees Browne as a mystical figure, and his choice of tempi in the Stabat mater and O Maria reflects this. His singers articulate it so convincingly as to suspend disbelief absolutely. The Tallis Scholars are to be heard at their best in this repertory; this recording confirms that. If you don't know Browne's music, you simply must hear this.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“the sheer beauty and crystalline perfection of these performances from the Tallis Scholars, with those high-flying treble lines so radiantly recorded, make this an unforgettable and richly rewarding experience.” Andrew McGregor, bbc.co.uk, 7th June 2005

“Boulez is arguably the most influential figure in the world of music today” The Guardian

“This recording in Richard Hickox's Britten series is beautifully played and recorded, and in its all-important central role reunites Hickox with Philip Langridge, so compelling in their earlier set of Peter Grimes. Britten tailored the role of Aschenbach so perfectly for Peter Pears's inimitable tenor that it's unlikely any other singer will find it an easy fit. A few years ago Langridge might have been more adept than he is now at handling some of the high-lying lyrical lines, but the compromises in this department are worth making for a singer who's so penetrating in dramatic insight. Hardly a page of the score passes without his vivid delivery opening up some new dimension of the role. As the drama deepens he progressively strips the soul of Aschenbach bare.
His two main colleagues perform to an equally high level. Alan Opie is still in his vocal prime and all seven of his multifarious Dionysiac characters are sharply delineated. The excellent Michael Chance is more ethereal as the Voice of Apollo than James Bowman, and for that reason is preferable by a whisker.
As always, Hickox takes his time over the score, but there's less sense of self-indulgence than in some of his earlier Britten recordings.
He raws playing of high quality and generosity of feeling from the City of London Sinfonia.
Add an exemplary choral contribution from the BBC Singers and a typically atmospheric Chandos recording, and there's no reason to resist.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“...matches and in many ways even outshines the fine model of the original recording...Langridge proves an inspired interpreter of the role of Ashenbach [sic], more passionate than Pears, and in his death scene he is even more poignant...Add to that Hickox's powerful, finely-timed pacing of a work which is largely meditative, and the result is totally magnetic.” Penguin Guide, 2010 ***

“The Pears/Bedford version tends to emphasise the opera's elegiac side… The Chandos… is certainly not lacking in depth. But it also has an incisive clarity matching Richard Hickox's generally more urgent approach to expression and tempo, and the more anguished Aschenbach of Philip Langridge... His riveting intensity is finely supported by Alan Opie's increasingly sinister evocation of the succession of characters who convey Aschenbach to his doom; easily a match for John Shirley-Quirk on the Decca set, as is the new Apollo of Michael Chance for that of James Bowman.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2005 *****

“Thanks to to Hugh Macdonald's brilliant work for the New Berlioz Edition the 1838 Paris Opéra version of Benvenuto Cellini is once again performable; this adds almost half an hour's music to the Colin Davis recording of 1972 (Philips, nla). It's a splendid achievement.
Macdonald's notes are an exemplary guide to the music's youthful genius, and David Cairns's original translation for the Davis recording is augmented by Lisa Hobbs, alongside the French.
Each of the singers responds with a quick understanding to the unexpected, eloquent contours of the recitatives, none more so than Gregory Kunde, who can phrase elegantly Cellini's wistful aria longing for a shepherd's simple life, but also prove an ardent suitor for Teresa, and challenge his adversaries with an heroic, defiant brio. Patrizia Ciofi can sound a little timid for him, and for Teresa's light vivacity, though she sings fluently and gracefully.
Jean-François Lapointe characterises the devious Fieramosca wittily, and joins the the other two cleverly in the brilliant tour de force of their trio. There's a high-spirited performance of Ascanio from Joyce Di Donato that includes witty imitations of the men, and Laurent Naouri vigorously struts his hour on the stage as Teresa's father Balducci.
Berlioz's reckless demands on the orchestra are brilliantly answered. The recording engineers have done extraordinarily well in conveying so much detail even when matters are hurtling full tilt in the Roman Carnival scene and in the final casting of the Perseus. John Nelson steers it all with a sure hand and total conviction.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“A souvenir-document that all Schubert and Goerne/Brendel fanciers will itch to acquire.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2008

“Every bar blazes with character and conviction...the direct simplicity that conceals a formidable art - a true Legend." (Gramophone)

“In something as familiar as the Moonlight Sonata Fischer is just as fresh and revelatory. Nothing is taken for granted, she finds the idiom and appropriate weight for each piece, so without overdoing the seriousness of Haydn's great Variations in F minor, she leaves us in no doubt that this is an intense and introspective work. ...a disc of constant joys, in decent broadcast sound of its time.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2005 *****

“By tailoring his solo sonatas to fit the styles of six very different violinists Eugène Ysaÿe may have been acting as the ultimate critic, describing his subjects with musical illustrations rather than mere words. For example, there are the winking appoggiaturas in the finale of No 4, dedicated to Kreisler, which Thomas Zehetmair throws off with a mere flick of the wrist, or the rich chord structures of No 1, whose dedicatee, Joseph Szigeti, was a great Bach player. Bach is a particularly strong presence there, the key (G minor) and language so reminiscent of his first solo sonata. Again, the Jacques Thibaud piece, No 2 in A minor, has obsessive repetitions of the Prelude from Bach's E major Partita, played initially by Zehetmair with the lightest touch, though later repetitions gain in intensity. The sinister melding of Bach with the 'Dies irae' chant has to be one of the canniest masterstrokes of the period. There are stylistic parallels between No 2 and No 4, just as there were similarities between the players themselves.
The spicy Sixth Sonata recalls the Spanish fiddler Manuel Quiroga and takes on Latin influences, initially suggesting Ravel's Tzigane (composed at around the same time, though the similarity is probably coincidental) before shifting, a little later, to habañera mode.
As the ultimate thinking virtuoso, Zehetmair is an ideal interpreter of these pieces, delving between the notes, coaxing a wealth of colour, inflection and dynamic shading from each score, always with acute imagination. He is both explorer and demonstrator, his modes of attack as varied as his tone colouring. This is the best possible showcase for some marvellous if still undervalued music.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010