Buxtehude: Cantata BuxWV 97: Sicut Moses

“Kirkby seems to go from strength to strength and here I was particularly struck by the warm resonance of her mezzo range... an outstanding release” BBC Music Magazine

“Those enamoured of opulent voices may wonder why Emma Kirkby is the undisputed first lady of early music, but this anthology of Buxtehude's music for solo voice and instruments captures much of what makes her so special: she has acute awareness of dance forms in her delivery of rhythms (even in slower music), a crystalclear tone, superb agility in quick passages, and a marvellous sense of rhetorical communication.
The mournfully sublime Klaglied (BuxWV76 No 2) is movingly performed. Also superb is the lovely 12-minute O dulcis Jesu.
Ritornelli are beautifully articulated by violinists John Holloway and Manfred Kraemer, and Lars Ulrik Mortensen's organ continuo is delightful. The programme is 100 per cent authentic Buxtehude, spellbindingly performed, with an excellent essay by the leading authority Kerala Snyder (although sung texts are not included). Emma Kirkby and her accomplices do more to illustrate why he is the supreme genius of the generation before JS Bach.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Kevin Mallon and his Toronto-based Aradia Ensemble have chosen seven well contrasted vocal works with a Passacaglia arranged for strings providing an interlude. The expressive radiance with which so much of this music is suffused is conveyed with affection and a firm stylistic sense...” BBC Music Magazine, November 2004 ****