Penguin Guide Rosette Winners

“It is, by a mile, the best-sounding Gerontius we have had, handsome in its depth and breadth with great spatial perspectives and a wonderful sense of how the score is layered. Of course, Janet Baker's timbre still haunts every measure of the Angel's music, but the wonderful Alice Coote conveys great confidentiality in her highly personalised reading.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2009

“Paul Groves's sophisticated, elegant tenor is not ideally the sort that should be essaying this role. With Bryn Terfel… sounding a little frayed, Alice Coote makes the biggest impact. It's a lovely sound, but none of her 'Alleluias', from the most hushed to the truly exultant, can compare with those of Janet Baker for Barbirolli or Rattle. Good, then, but not great enough for this extraordinary work.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2009 ***

“For all sorts of reasons Barbirolli's famous Hallé account has lived in everyone's hearts for decades. It still will, because there is something about the immediacy and wholeheartedness of its vision that speaks as directly as ever. Mark Elder's approach is more elusive. He draws us patiently, unerringly, into the profound mystery of the piece, judiciously weighing its theatricality against its inwardness. It is reverent in the best sense, with breathless pianissimi and a potency of atmosphere that takes hold from the moment we enter the dying man's room. Just listen to the Hallé strings in the Prelude, or the introduction to Part 2. The stylistic finesse of the playing, the very particular articulation, the inbred portamento – all these qualities are testament to the fantastic work Elder has done with the orchestra.
It is, by a mile, the best-sounding Gerontius we have had, handsome in its depth and breadth with great spatial perspectives and a wonderful sense of how the score is layered. Onto this impressive sound stage comes Paul Groves's Gerontius with a near-perfect blend of poetic restraint and high emotionalism – though some may feel that the 'operatic' hot-spots, 'Take me away!' being, of course, the hottest of them – are wanting in that last degree of heft. Elder and his sound team might have given us something more startling with that chord of 'utmost force' in the moment Gerontius finally glimpses his creator.
No lack of force or presence in Bryn Terfel's proclamation to 'Go forth!' – the portals of heaven open to that, as indeed they do with the arrival of the heavenly host for the great 'Praise to the Holiest' chorus. The Hallé choir bravely gather momentum in that, thanks to Elder's insistence on clear rhythmic articulation, and he achieves a simply stonking crescendo on the final chord, leaving the organ to plumb infinite depths.
Of course, Janet Baker's timbre still haunts every measure of the Angel's music, but the wonderful Alice Coote conveys great confidentiality in her highly personalised reading. 'Softly and gently' is gloriously enveloping – and maybe that's the word which ultimately best describes this fine and most satisfying recording.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The orchestra and chorus are wonderfully imposing, and Elder's performance never lets you forget this is a work built out of quasi-operatic dialogues...Groves is the perfect embodiment of humanity, neither too English nor too Italianate but with all the power necessary to cope with even the most demanding vocal passages...Coote's performance is a marvel” The Guardian, 7th November 2008 *****

“Alice Coote sings radiantly…Paul Groves is a most affecting Gerontius...and Bryn Terfel is predictably commanding in both his roles...the Halle Chorus is richly expressive over the widest possible dynamic range” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Stile Antico perform without a director, and the use of choral effects (gradual build-ups of intensity, or the opposite) doesn't seem overly staged. They certainly make a confident noise, helped by a sound recording that brings out the natural bloom of their sound. ” Gramophone Magazine, June 2008

“The most striking feature of these performances is how wonderfully varied they are. In some pieces… the presentational style almost enters the realm of musical theatre, while in Tallis's God Grant with Grace the utterly still and simple display of the music is transporting.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 ****

“wonderful music and singing of considerable distinction” International Record Review

“The young singers of Stile Antico, in their second disc of Tudor music, are magnificent... glorious music, gloriously sung.” Sunday Times Classical CD of the Week

“This is a totally Italianate performance of both high drama and moving pathos...Alessandrini's instrumental support could not be more telling, and the recording is made in an ideal acoustic.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“With panache [Gardiner] shows how authentic-sized forces can convey Handelian glamour even with sharply focused textures and fast speeds...the overriding glory is the singing of the Monteverdi Choir. Its clean, crisp articulation matches the brilliant playing of the English Baroque Soloists.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Harry Christophers imbues this account with maturity and assurance as well as a deep understanding of the music's architecture. He inspires some impassioned singing from the choir - plumbing the depths in the Offertory to depict the 'deep pit' and 'the pains of hell', and elsewhere using a range of rhetorical gestures to heighten intensity.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2005 *****

“…The Sixteen's new offering… builds on their previous recordings by complementing the voices with a chamber organ and the wonderfully robust-sounding bajón, an early Spanish bassoon whose use in polyphonic performances of the period is well documented.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2005

“There is no doubt that this new recording is exceptionally fine with the Clare College choir on top of their very considerable form…This CD is another feather in the Naxos cap and is urgently recommended.” MusicWeb International

“Naxos continues its conquest of Cambridge's college choirs and finds that from Clare College on excellent form. I suspect this will be one of those Naxos recordings that sells by the ten thousand rather than merely the thousand.” Gramophone Magazine

“The newest Naxos recording of the Requiem tends to trump all previous versions, even the composer's own very fine account. Recorded in the expansive acoustic of Douai Abbey, Berkshire, it is very beautifully sung indeed...Elin Manahan Thomas is the ideal soloist, singing the Pie Jesu with touching simplicity and rising up celestially in the Lux aeterna.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition