Browse: Challenge Classics (label)

There’s inventiveness and a sense of adventure in these burnished performances – utterly refined, yet warm and tender too. — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2023, 4 out of 5 stars More…

The Pavans are played on virginals, the rest on harpsichord. The right decision, but Demeyere hits a bad snag in a closely miked recording that masks the differences in timbre between the instruments.... — Gramophone Magazine, May 2014 More…

Rowland is a magnetic advocate in a bold interpretation that emphasises the f lighty, bird-like quality of Richter’s looped phrases with a headlong quality of abandon. — BBC Music Magazine, May 2024, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Like all cycles, it has had ups and downs, but overall it has been as fine as anyone conducting Bruckner at present would be. — BBC Music Magazine, October 2015, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Isabelle van Keulen and Ronald Brautigam are artists of keen insight, immaculate musicianship and culture… Moreover they are accorded first-rate sound… — BBC Music Magazine, December 2007, 5 out of 5 stars More…

No rival version is better and few are as good...for a fresh, immediate statement that compels one's attention from start to finish, I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed by this new release — Gramophone Magazine, May 2013 More…

Prégardien can always be relied upon to approach art song thoughtfully and adventurously… [He] sounds like he’s in his element, striding assuredly through this hit parade and savouring each word.... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2019, 3 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Sound) More…

Prégardien never allows the novelty of a new incarnation to distract him: his singing here is full of imaginative insights...the tenor's courage and imagination triumph. — BBC Music Magazine, January 2012, 5 out of 5 stars More…