Handel: Oh peerless maid; Our limpid streams (from Joshua, HWV64)

“We prize Handel’s stage works for their tragic depth, but there is a gentler, nobler strain that explains the title given to this CD. Uniting two stylish Canadians, one a soprano and the other a contralto, it comprises 15 numbers from the English oratorios Handel wrote late in his career.” Financial Times, 15th October 2011 ***

“Gauvin's soprano has a warm timbre that blends beautifully with Lemieux's deep, dusky contralto. Individually, too, they are fabulous - Lemieux's opening 'Destructive war' is a dramatic tour de force. The heart of the disc is the profound, moving duet 'Streams of pleasure'...these polished, beautifully balanced performances are a pleasure to listen to” Classic FM Magazine, December 2011 ****

“Bright, edgy woodwind; neat violins; an ever-purposeful bass line; two healthful, smiling voices and some lovely music. There is much to admire...but there is little sense of dramatic context...If you can put that aside, you can relish the pizazz with which Lemieux and Gauvin attack each oratorio character's emotional state...It's a handsome, stylish, polished performance.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ****

“There is indeed plenty to enjoy, especially where soprano Karina Gauvin is involved...[Lemieux] is a singer with temperament to burn...But in less overwrought music...I wanted less gusty phrasing, more care from true legato...If this is not quite the Handel recital I was hoping for, it's still worth investigating for Lemieux's viscerally exciting singing and, above all, Gauvin's ideal Handelian mix of grace and profound emotional truth.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011

“Part of the attraction of [the] blending of voices is that Gauvin's middle tones have a warmth, almost mezzo-ish, which accords well with Lemieux's rich bloom...I am not one who throws accolades around like confetti, but the enjoyment that this CD has provided brings from me an IRR Outstanding recommendation. The disc is entitled 'Streams of Pleasure' but for me it is a full, flowing river.” International Record Review, November 2011

“The duets selected here… form an attractive programme, especially when the two voices are as well blended and as perfectly in tune as Carolyn Sampson's and Robin Blaze's. …whether the mood is languid and sensual, as in Solomon, spiritual (Theodora) or consolatory (the Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne), the performances, as well as Handel's music, are entirely apt.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2006 ****

“'Great Oratorio Duets'? It seems a strange concept at first – not many of these pieces have made an individual name for themselves just yet.
But then the point of this disc is evidently to bring together in mouthwatering partnership two of the most dulcet-voiced young Baroque singers Britain has to offer, and it does not take long to discover that that is a very good idea indeed. Carolyn Sampson's voice is bright and clear yet warmed by judiciously selected and moderated vibrato, while Robin Blaze has a more distinctively tangy sound, but they fit each other well and in their faultless display of Handelian style, lyricism and warmth they are in total mental and spiritual accord.
The music, meanwhile, does indeed have greatness. The vocal style of Handel's English oratorios does not recreate the virtuoso flashiness of the Italian operas but speaks in a more direct, lyrical manner, expressing with unimpeachable honesty all the sympathy and human understanding for which their composer is so revered. The majority here are love duets, but with what variety, from carefree (examples from Jephtha and Susanna) to chaste (Deborah) to ambiguously melancholy (Joshua and Saul). The forgiveness duet from Esther is indescribably tender (especially in this performance), the duet from Saul in which a love-drunk David is reluctant to leave when warned by his fiancée of approaching danger is effortlessly theatrical, and the two duets for the doomed lovers from Theo-dora are works of pure and noble genius. If the performances in these last do not quite reach the heartbreaking intensity of which Peter Sellars's Glyndebourne production proved them capable, it is hard to see how that could ever be achieved in a recital; Sampson and Blaze surely manage as well as anyone ever could. With intelligent, kind-hearted accompaniments from Nicholas Kraemer and the OAE, this is a truly beautiful Handel recording, a disc to give pleasure for years to come.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Carolyn Sampson's voice is bright and clear yet warmed by judiciously selected and moderated vibrato, while Robin Blaze has a more distinctively tangy sound, but they fit each other well and in their faultless display of Handelian style, lyricism and warmth they are in total mental and spiritual accord. With intelligent, kind-hearted accompaniments from Nicholas Kraemer and the OAE, this is a truly beautiful Handel recording, a disc to give pleasure for years to come.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2006