Schubert: Gretchen am Spinnrade, D118

“Schubert's secular choruses are among his least-known works, so a warm welcome for these charismatic performances of music beautiful enough to make you cry.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 *****

“This disc most delightfully extends the small number of Schubert's part-songs that has been recorded and these beautifully sung performances, very well recorded, capture the intimate spirit of music written primarily for friendly gatherings […] Robert Tear sings his part with lovely tone […] A contralto solo part woven into Ständchen is beautifully sung by Helen Watts […] this lovely disc gave me intense pleasure” Gramophone Magazine (Partsongs)

“Der Hirt auf dem Felsen is marvellously clean and instrumental in execution” Gramophone Magazine (Danco)

“'Gretchen am Spinnrade' is a model of how a middle-weight voice can scale the song's peaks thanks to an inner conviction and trusting how the notes and words can shoulder the dramatic weight...So beautiful is her enunciation in the Swedish-language Sibelius songs that you could take phonetic dictation...The Grieg songs show signs of vocal tiring...In 'Die verschwiegene Nachtigall', though, one can hardly imagine a more alluring nightingale song.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012

“a lovely, beautifully balanced recital...In an opening Schubert set, Persson, for all the natural brightness of her voice, achieves the right aching heaviness in Lied der Mignon, and a beguiling sense of gentle repose in Du bist die Ruh.” Sunday Times, 15th July 2012

“Persson is beautiful and so is her voice, so she starts with a big advantage. But that is only the start...I did find...that there was a danger of monotony, undercharacterisation and reliance on sheer undeniable vocal beauty. Roger Vignoles is an ideal accompanist, setting the mood with a few notes or chords” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ***

“Persson clearly relishes the possibility of characterization particular songs...The voice is light and lyric throughout but there's power too when required, so the final lines of Du bist die Ruh are radiant...However - and this is possibly a subjective caveat - what Persson lacks is the kind of rounded warm tone and inner conviction that makes the best Schubert recitals so warmly satisfying...Hosford is the perfect partner up on the rock” International Record Review, September 2012

“Time and again Wang shows us why she’s become the world’s darling, whether shading dynamics poetically in a morsel of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, clarifying the multiple layers in Albéniz’s Triana, or romping with the preposterous glitter of Horowitz’s Carmen Variations.” The Times, 23rd March 2012 ****

“A disc of encores needs a compelling executant to justify itself, but this young pianist’s technique is quietly transcendent, her musicianship zestful and profound. The sequence itself is satisfying.” Sunday Times, 1st April 2012

“In the Saint-Saens-Horowitz Danse macabre Wang storms the heights and her playing is of an unquenchable virtuosity. She herself declares all these pieces to be among her most cherished encores, and she has been superbly recorded in them.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012

“No point trying to fault anything: the lightness and flexibility of her touch takes the breath away, and her sound is at every moment transparently controlled, each piece displaying insight and affection...Given that these bonnes bouches were never designed to be consumed in bulk, this young virtuoso has pulled off a remarkable feat.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 *****

“Schwarzkopf and Fischer make a magical partnership, with even the simplest of songs inspiring intensely subtle expression from singer and pianist alike. Fischer left few records more endearing than this, and Schwarzkopf’s colouring of word and tone is masterly.” Penguin Guide

“Royal is on fine form in the Schumann and Schubert Lieder, with Malcolm Martineau at the piano stage-managing the show admirably, as indeed he does throughout.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 ****

“Royal's idea of combining songs of disparate eras and styles to tell a single love story works beautifully...[She] sings with radiant beauty and powerful emotional immediacy. If the golden warmth of her voice shows a hint of tightening when pushed on her high notes, it doesn't detract from the overall impact.” Classic FM Magazine, April 2011 ****

“Royal, with Malcolm Martineau at the piano, finds a character and colour for each of her 28 songs...William Bolcom’s gentle “Wait in” at the start and finish is well justified, and her Bridge and Britten are heartfelt, but the gem is Amy Beach’s winsome “Ah, Love but a day!”.” Financial Times, 11th February 2011 ****

“Kate Royal's beautifully sung new album, with finely characterised piano-playing from Malcolm Martineau, ranges imaginatively across a spectrum of composers who have captured the first pangs, the heartaches and the dashed hopes that can make life such a maelstrom of emotion.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2011

“Royal is generally in fine voice...luscious warmth is much in evidence. Royal is an exception among the majority of lyric sopranos these days in boasting an especially substantial middle range, which really glows throughout this disc.” International Record Review, March 2011

“An intriguingly fresh and unhackneyed programme...Kate Royal proves herself a compelling recitalist, colouring words with feeling and creating vivid atmosphere and character.” The Telegraph, 6th March 2011 ****

“Barbara Bonney’s Schubert recital is clear-eyed, simple and eloquent” BBC Music Magazine

“Arleen Auger brings her special quality of chaste intimacy to gentle, small-scale performances of 23 of Schubert's most popular songs” BBC Music Magazine, October 2010 ***