Chen Reiss’s debut album 'Liaisons' was internationally acclaimed for both the repertoire selection and the sheer brilliance of the musicianship displayed by Reiss.
Gramophone magazine called her performances of arias by Haydn, Mozart, Salieri and Cimarosa "standard-setting" and BBC Music magazine called it "top-drawer".
For her second ONYX CD Chen Reiss and pianist Charles Spencer have assembled a wonderful collection of songs on the subject of 'The Nightingale and the Rose' – songs that convey the magic of being in love, the heartbreak of love lost, the memories, the fun, the fantasies all associated with that strange, mysterious, dangerous and all-powerful condition –
love.
In repertoire that ranges from Purcell to Krenek, Hahn to Meyerbeer and Rimsky-Korsakov, and ends in Berkeley Square in London, this is a programme tailor-made for Chen Reiss’s remarkable voice and it will seduce you.
“Reiss fields a supple, vernal lyric-coloratura that soars without strain or hardness into the stratosphere. Discerningly partnered by Charles Spencer, she can spin a pure legato and always phrases musically, with rubato growing naturally from the curve of the line and the flux of the harmony...this is a more-than-promising recital from a soprano whose vocal ease and allure make her an artist to watch.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013
“It is a measure of her gifts that Chen Reiss takes all these composers in her stride. That vocal stride is impressive: sustained lyric tone that is only rarely forced...Charles Spencer is as ever the perfect partner” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 ****
