Gluck: Berenice, che fai?...Perché, se tanti siete (from Antigono)

“on this disc Cecilia Bartoli makes clear that Gluck was a formidable musical dramatist even in his early, pre-'reform' works...This CD, in short, is a tour de force of dramatic singing, in the widest sense of the term: and it is also full of really beautiful sound; rich, warm, out.” Gramophone Magazine, 2001

“The three singers here all make a good showing, Ailish Tynan with her direct engagement with recitative...and as a sentient, fearful Euridice...[Stéphany] scores highly as Clytemnestra in Iphigénie en Aulide, her smoky timbre encompassing the anger of Agamemnon's wife...Sophie Bevan cuts a charmingly determined figure as Colette” BBC Music Magazine, September 2010 ****

“...there is some first-rate dramatic music here...Sophie Bevan sings the Tito excerpt with such intensity as to make one almost sympathise with Sesto...'Che Faro' [is] taken at a cracking pace by Ian Page and sung with desperate urgency by Anna Stephany...This is a terrific, unmissable disc.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2010

“Conductor, instrumentalists and singers alike, mirroring Gluck's reformist aims from the 1760s onwards, make sounds the servant of the sense, with stylish, eloquent and dramatic music-making of the highest order” International Record Review, September 2010

“[Gluck's] music is fiery. Ian Page understands this, as his live recording of excerpts from a dozen operas bears witness. His soloists deliver the long-breathed melodic lines expressively, and Anna Stéphany is a strong Clytemnestra.” Sunday Times, 23rd January 2011 ***

“Ian Page's subtle survey explores the development of certain textures...Ailish Tynan, Sophie Bevan and Anna Stéphany blend beautifully in the brief trio from Paride ed Elena...the playing is consistently incisive.” The Independent, 23rd May 2010

“In January, Ian Page’s young British troupe ransacked the [Gluck] treasure house with delightful results in a Wigmore Hall concert. And here it is, with Sophie Bevan wonderfully anguished in her aria from Alceste, Anna Stéphany darkly dramatic...[Page's group are] incisively suave.” The Times, 26th June 2010

“This is something very much out of the ordinary. These eight arias, taken variously from Gluck's early operas (those preceding his 'reforms' that began with Orfeo in 1762) or his non-reform later ones, are almost wholly unfamiliar, but they have great power and character; and they're sung with an extraordinary emotional force and technical skill, not to say a sheer beauty of tone, that can't be matched by any other singer today. Cecilia Bartoli's range is formidable. In the first aria, from La clemenza diTito, she sings with trumpet-like tone and brilliance of attack, throwing off wide-spanning arpeggios with evident abandon and dispatching coloratura with fluency and precision, each note articulated and perfectly tuned. The second, an elegantly pathetic little piece from the later IlParnaso confuso, is a tour de force of delicate, tender pianissimo singing. The third, from Ezio, begins with an orchestral recitative of thrilling dramatic urgency and goes on to an aria of great passion. Bartoli is described as a mezzo-soprano here, and her voice does indeed chiefly lie in that range; but most of these are soprano arias, and she happily goes well above the stave – there's one slightly squally high C sharp in the first aria but she's usually pretty comfortable in her top register. The accompaniments are splendidly sensitive and alert. A quite outstanding disc that no one who loves fine singing can miss.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010