Browse: Search results for: 'ian venables'

This isn’t music to shake mountains, but its craftsmanship, sincerity and ability to stir the more tender emotions – well reflected in this performance – remains undeniably appealing. — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas Issue 2022, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Williams is in stellar form throughout (his lustrous tone beautifully captured by the microphones), and he enjoys outstandingly sympathetic support from Graham J. Lloyd (whose pianism is of a... — Gramophone Magazine, September 2015 More…

[Venables] manages to create worthwhile new artefacts within his conservative idiom. Expertly crafted, the results offer something genuinely personal and at times profound...Andrew Kennedy is... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2010, 5 out of 5 stars More…

In the songs themselves, the vocal line seems central, not as in so many modern compositions added to accommodate the text, and they show a feeling for the singing voice...Andrew Kennedy does... — Gramophone Magazine, October 2010 More…

I would commend this CD to all British music enthusiasts. It is the perfect complement to the increasing number of CDs that showcase Ian Venables’ undoubted mastery of English song and chamber... — MusicWeb International, 22nd May 2013 More…

Ian Venables is a curiosity, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Born in 1955, he composes in a style that for many would appear hopelessly outdated...Yet he carries this off without the results... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2011, 4 out of 5 stars More…

A highly reflective, mournful set of songs and cycles interpreted with dramatic flair by Bevan and Clayton. Venables’s intuitive vocal writing is fraught with emotion. — BBC Music Magazine, July 2020, 4 out of 5 stars More…

[Williams] has a mellow, refined tone, distinctively poetic delivery, and is keenly sensitive to the words. And with Allan’s lively support, he can unleash sufficient vigour in the emotional... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2018, 4 out of 5 stars More…

These six superbly assured works…reveal the same, lacerating frankness in diverse chamber contexts as Venables’s groundbreaking opera, 4:48 Psychosis…Most graphically urgent is Illusions…Supported... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2018, 5 out of 5 stars More…

The absolute technical ease, as natural as breathing itself, on display in the two Cyril Scott works here show that this was a composer who could do anything — BBC Music Magazine, October 2015 More…

Roderick Williams is a national treasure. Not only is he an intensely musical singer, acutely responsive to the sound and meaning of words, but also his approach to the English Romantic song... — BBC Music Magazine More…

Vale and his accomplished colleague Paul Plummer start with an unpublished song by Gurney, the spirited, stirring On Wenlock Edge with a grand tune…Immediately one is made aware of Vale’s clarity... — International Record Review More…

Directed by William Vann, the Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with its clear, ringing tone, provides beautifully nuanced performances, especially of the a cappella items, Stanford’s numinous... — Gramophone Magazine, December 2018 More…

The cycle's five songs are exceptionally well sung by Alessandro Fisher, who convincingly encompasses emotions stretching from the balmy pastoralism of the opening ‘The Lark Ascending’ (with... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2023, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…