Butterworth, G: Bredon Hill and other songs (Cycle of Five Songs)

“A hefty bass-baritone in every sense, he's inevitably compared with Bryn Terfel, but his voice seems darker and somewhat smoother, less given to pianissimi but still expressive...Songs of Travel has a notably virile energy, reinforced by veteran accompanist Eugene Asti's unusually driven reading...A very worthwhile recital.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 *****

“Rutherford brings his Wagnerian bass-baritone to bear on the song repertoire with uncommon skill and sensitivity...The only serious drawback comes at the top of the voice, where Wagnerian bluster and a slow vibrato sometimes detract from the beauty of his singing...but Rutherford has given notice of a very appreciable talent for song. With accompaniments of exemplary precision, this disc is highly recommended.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012

“Rutherford's full tone, dark, possibly bass-baritone rather than BIS's designation of baritone, is released with the vigour to resemble somebody, here the vagabond, striding purposefully along the lane...Asti's playing gels with Rutherford's singing in these Gurney songs, as it does in the other pieces...Rutherford's enunciation is all one could wish for.” International Record Review, September 2012

“The quality of the Gurney songs may be a bit uneven, but Rutherford handles them all with great tact, his tone fined down, his diction immaculate, and without a hint of extraneous pathos. In the authentically great Butterworth sets Rutherford's approach is exemplary.” The Guardian, 15th August 2012 ****

“The title is deceptive, for these songs exude anything but a warlike mood. Almost all are English: the idiom is winsome, romantic and often quite innocent, as in Vaughan Williams’s “Youth and Love” and Bridge’s “Thy hand in mine”. At the heart of the recital – beautifully vocalised and artlessly characterised by Keenlyside – is Butterworth’s cycle of songs under the title “A Shropshire Lad”.” Financial Times, 5th November 2011 ****

“Despite the title, most of the songs in this admirable collection are anything but warlike. There is no place for patriotic bombast here; instead, these polished miniatures yearn for a vanished pastoral England...a beautifully judged recording, exquisitely sung; poignant but never sentimental.” The Observer, 13th November 2011

“At 52, the British baritone is in peak vocal health, and certainly young-sounding enough to portray the men in their late teens and twenties who leave their homes and loves...I can’t think of another baritone who can match him for beautiful tone, nuance of expression and immaculate diction...Keenlyside is incomparable here, in one of the song records of the year.” Sunday Times, 13th November 2011

“it’s not damning with faint praise to say that you don’t really notice the music at all – it’s Simon Keenlyside’s impeccable delivery that registers. Housman’s bittersweet musings are heartbreaking, notably in the penultimate poem; just listen to Keenlyside's mention of "the lads that will die in their glory and never be old"...A sober, intelligent CD, beautifully sung, immaculately accompanied. Keenlyside's sleeve notes are intelligent, insightful and touching.” The Arts Desk, 26th November 2011

“A sense of the mannered or precious can debase these songs; Keenlyside's sweeping, robust lyricism is deceptively effortless and exactly right...Dr Johnson once said that every man thinks worse of himself for never having been a soldier; Keenlyside has evidently thought deeply about this, making for a robust and involving recital.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 *****

“Keenlyside's mark is everywhere apparent and full marks to him for persuading Sony to indulge his choices...He is indeed a remarkable singer. He can encompass tragedy and irony, heroic and tender, he has magical half-tones, introduces a thrilling touch of head voice in Warlock's The Night, he can tell a story...Keenlyside's impassioned, almost overwhelming rendering of Frank Bridge's Thy Hand in Mine is, I think, the core and key to this compelling collection” International Record Review, January 2012

“One can imagine a more poignant account of the ghostly voices in 'Is my team ploughing?' but 'The lads in their hundreds' is all the more moving for Keenlyside's robustness...The rest of the programme is equally rewarding and Keenlyside's diction is perfect.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2012

“The wonderful refinement and care with every morsel of text that Williams has shown in his earlier contributions to this series pay dividends here again – his musical poise and sheer beauty of tone in the very first phrase of Loveliest of Trees sets the standard for the 11 songs that follow, and Burnside is a model partner.” The Guardian, 1st July 2010 *****

“In a vivid musical partnership with pianist Iain Burnside, Roderick Williams captures the mix of jauntiness and melancholy, adding tender flashes of wit.” The Observer, 4th July 2010

“Williams, accompanied by Iain Burnside, proves a winning advocate, thanks partly to his crisp, fresh baritone, but mainly because of the way he distinguishes between the character of each song, so that this recital never loses momentum.” Financial Times, 3rd July 2010 ***

“Roderick Williams [is] rapidly becoming the voice of this repertoire - and not without reason.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2010 *****

“Their qualities of melancholic reverie and suppressed yearning are quite beautifully rendered” The Telegraph, 16th July 2010 *****

“Williams's engagingly fresh delivery, secure technique, eloquent turn of phrase and variety of tone are a joy throughout, as is his crystal-clear diction. Burnside, too, is at his customarily unmannered, attentive best, the crispness and poise of his pianism a pleasure to encounter.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010

“Stone and his pianist, Stephen Barlow, treat the songs with intelligence and sensitivity” The Guardian, 25th February 2010 ***

“The label is Mark Stone's, his the informative notes, and he is of course also the very good singer: we are much indebted to him...Stephen Barlow is his excellent pianist and together they give a particularly fine performance of "On the idle hill of summer"...A truly enterprising tribute to Butterworth's subtle art.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2010

“[Stone is] a fine performer, well supported by Barlow - and a thoughtful one, as his sleeve notes confirm” BBC Music Magazine, July 2010 ****

“There's a touch of genius about Bryn Terfel.
To those who've known most of these songs since childhood and heard them well performed innumerable times, it will come not quite as a revelation but more as the fulfilment of a deeply felt wish, instinctive rather than consciously formed. As in all the best Lieder singing, everything is specific: 'Fly away, breath' we recite, thinking nothing of it, but with this singer it's visual – we see it in flight, just as in Sea Fever we know in the very tiniest of gaps that in that second he has heard 'the seagulls crying'. As in all the best singing of songs, whatever the nationality, there's strong, vivid communication: he'll sometimes sing so softly that if he'd secured anything less than total involvement he'd lose us. There's breadth of phrase, variety of tone, alertness of rhythm.
All the musical virtues are there; and yet that seems to go only a little way towards accounting for what's special.One after another, these songs are brought to full life. There's a boldness about Terfel's art that could be perilous, but which, as exercised here, is marvellously well guided by musicianship, intelligence and the genuine flash of inspiration. Malcolm Martineau's playing is also a delight: his touch is as sure and illuminating as the singer's.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010