Elgar: Romance, Op. 62

“Not even Sir John Barbirolli or the much underrated William Boughton quite captures the same sense of strings merely breathing on their instruments in the way Goodwin memorably achieves here. …while the strings of the ECO capture to glowing perfection the barely restrained emotions of the sublime Elegy. An outstanding programme.” International Record Review, March 2001

“Bassoons rarely equal best-sellers: that could be about to change… Chandos have a real find on their hands with Karen Geoghegan.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2008

“Natalie Clein's opening statement is confident and clean: this is an Elgar with pace and portamento, but rather thin on poetry. The upside is the delightful selection of salon pieces at the end of this disc. In the impish La capricieuse and the touching Sospiri, we glimpse the mature, distinctive artist.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2007 ****

“Clein’s playing has an especially warm tone and smooth phrasing; her cello treats each note with the same love, and these qualities make hers a particularly unique interpretation. Elgar’s sense of loss is conveyed powerfully under her fingers, but with a gentleness that du Pré’s tempestuous-to-the-point-of-rough delivery never gave.” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 14th September 2007

“Clein demonstrated the lyricism on which she’s building a solid reputation, her instrument … blossoming into a rich, burnished voice. Threads became soaring melodies, fragments made textural sense.” The Independent

“As digital Falstaffs go, Sir Andrew Davis's 1995 account with the BBC SO remains arguably the front-runner. If both Elgar himself and Barbirolli impart the greater vulnerability and compassion to the illimitably moving closing pages, the irresistible symphonic current coursing through Davis's meticulously observant conception provides ample compensation. The figure. Rodney Macann as the Watergnome tends to steal the show, his dark, incisive bass very characterful. Ann Howard is wonderfully menacing as the Witch, while the fluttering vibrato of Phyllis Cannan as the Foreign Princess adds to the exotic image (in Act 2, when most of the characters are dressed in white, she stands out in a crimson gown). The three Woodsprites are lively, and incidental characters are well taken.
Mark Elder draws warm incisive playing from the orchestra, adding to the dramatic impact and underpinning the moving final scene, when the Prince kisses Rusalka, knowing it will mean his death.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…James Judd… gives Elgar's early overture an enhanced sense of seriousness and nobility that gives an individual slant to what is undoubtedly a highly competitive performance. The ensuing programme of miniatures makes for attractive listening, expounded with affection and a fine sense of Elgarian style. Above all Judd seems to understand the mercurial fluidity of rhythm and tempo that gives Elgar's music its distinctive life.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 ****