Browse: Purcell - By beauteous softness (from Now does the glorious day appear, Z332)

Watkins’s cycle shares Britten’s ability to meld text and musical gesture with an acuity seemingly effortless, almost plucked ready-formed out of the air...An exquisite release touched with poignant... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2023, 5 out of 5 stars More…

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... — BBC Music Magazine More…

This terrific, imaginative debut recording from the young British quartet is built around the eponymous 2011 work by Thomas Adès, which is interleaved with the group's own arrangements of works... — Katherine Cooper, Presto Music, September 2021 More…

Mead’s theatrical experience comes through most clearly in his dramatic rendering of some of the songs from the odes…The stage songs are often presented with an affecting fluidity, as in William... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2023, 3 out of 5 stars More…

taken whole this is a classy and interestingly varied recital, with unfailingly sensitive contributions from both performers. — BBC Music Magazine, July 2023, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

every number here has something particularly arresting within it, all supported by persuasive and committed singing, and playing of intense charm. — BBC Music Magazine, June 2014, 5 out of 5 stars More…