Dowland: In darkness let me dwell

“Carolyn Sampson’s pure soprano cossets the words, savouring their expressive implications, relishing their shifts of rhythm and subtly sighing with bliss, yearning or heartache, depending on the circumstances.” The Telegraph, 29th January 2010 ****

“One of the chief delights... is the opportunity to hear the theorbo at close quarters...in the skilled hands of Matthew Wadsworth it takes centre stage, both as a solo instrument and as an exquisite companion to Carolyn Sampson's sweet, lyrical soprano...a ravishing programme of beguiling melancholia.” The Observer, 7th February 2010

“It might not be evident in Sting's versions, but the music of the 16th-century composer John Dowland involved an appreciation of the way despair could be surmounted by its transformation into melancholy artistic expression. That shines through the "Seven Shades of Melancholy" captured in these 15 interpretations by lutenist Lee Santana and a consort of viola da gamba led by Hille Perl, with soprano Dorothee Mields giving full account of the "despaire, griefe and sorrowe" in Dowland's lyrics.” The Independent, 13th February 2009 ****

“Mields's slight accent aside, the songs are a pleasure to listen to: the voice - full yet light and with just a hint of vibrato - blends fully with the sonorous, well balanced and highly musical Sirius Viols… while yielding to the gentle majesty of Santana's expertly played lute...” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009

“Smart, sophisticated and opinionated, Anne Sofie von Otter has become a star by doing exactly what she wants” Opera News

“Padmore provides context by singing Dowland's original song before Craig Ogden steals in, alert to the Nocturnal's every nuance, and with a palette of colours both caressing and disquieting. Completing the frame, 'Flow my Tears' is beautifully inflected, though finer still is 'In Darkness let me Dwell' where in the final bars Padmore's enrapt engagement seems to conjure up the very chill of death.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ****

“Mark Padmore again shows why he is one of today's finest tenors. The quicker songs, like "Away with these self-loving lads", gain in clarity from a semi-declamatory approach, while the slower are eerily viol-like.” Gramophone Magazine, Janurary 2008

“A simply brilliant disc. I can’t praise it enough. A bronze Liz Kenny should be on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square, in my opinion” Early Music Today

“Since Emma Kirkby’s first recording in the late-1970s, we have known what to expect from Dowland’s lute songs. Some fine discs have followed, but not until Mark Padmore and Elizabeth Kenny’s new release has there been one as radical in its potential impact on our understanding of the music. With tonal purity intact, voice and lute add subtle decoration, rhythmic fluidity, drama and rich poetic sensibility to these songs” The Independent on Sunday

“... extraordinary diction and whispering chamber-like intimacy … [Mark Padmore] joy in conveying the emotional core of each situation” Gramophone Magazine

“Robin Blaze has the special ingredients to transcend any latent prejudice [of countertenors], especially in a recital as wide-ranging and intelligently programmed as this. Blaze has the means to colour his texts, not just with superior diction, but timbral variation to keep the listener hearing each song afresh … there are too many highlights to list … superb. Another fine achievement from two of Britain’s brightest and best” Gramophone Magazine

“Robin Blaze has the versatility and range of nuances needed to encompass such an eclectic repertoire and the precision of focus in his limpid countertenor makes even a trifle like The delights of the bottle an invigorating experience … an enterprising recital disc” International Record Review

“Can be recommended without reservation … the wonderful By beauteous softness, from Queen Mary’s Birthday Ode of 1689, given this performance, I could quite easily listen to for ever … there’s a remarkable technical ease and innate literary intelligence about Blaze’s singing which together with the astounding beauty of his voice makes this one of the most outstanding recitals of its kind on disc” BBC Music Magazine

“Wonderfully performed … among the new generation of countertenors, Robin Blaze is the genuine article. Blaze [has] poised intensity, unswerving intelligence and sensitivity to the sheer, melting beauty of his instrument” BBC Music Magazine

“I so admire Robin Blaze. He possesses an entirely natural sounding instrument, a polished technique, a subtle refined musicianship. Here, with his delicately soft timbres, he draws us into the world of each piece … the most delightful and intoxicating experience … I was entranced” Gramophone Magazine

“Zazzo's interpretation of the text and tasteful shaping of melody would grace any kind of performance style, and it is intriguing to hear some tenderly realised polyphonic lines delineated by the Paragon Saxophone Quartet. Byrd's "Lullaby" and Gibbon's "The Silver Swan" get an attractive alternative life here. ...a rare example of successfully reinventing "early" music.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2007

“…the elegant phrasing and sumptuous tonal character of the Paragon Quartet's playing… combines the warm intimacy of a viol consort with the fruit richness of shawms and crumhorns. Zazzo has one of the most flawless, beautifully-controlled voices you could wish to hear. ...his sound and technique rival even Scholl's and his diction is excellent in this astute mixture of familiar and lesser-known pieces.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007 ****

“The collection might have sounded like a bit of a hotchpotch were it not for the fact that Dowland's celebrated Lachrimae pavans are woven through the sequence, giving the whole a sense of unity and shape. All in all, it makes a nostalgic and inspiring testimony to Dowland's versatility.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2007 ****

Scholl's voice rushes through the bloodstream' -The Times.