Vivat
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Decades: A Century of Song Vol. 3 1830 - 1840
John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Lorna Anderson (soprano), Alexey Gusev (bass-baritone), Angelika Kirchschlager (mezzo), Soraya Mafi (soprano), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Kirchschlager, a singer incapable of being boring, has the lion’s share of the German Lieder here…With accompaniments that are often discreetly supportive, it’s too easy to take for granted... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2018, Editor's Choice
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Art and poetry infuse this intricate, powerful and beautifully-performed disc…Her richly-textured compositions take flight from a kaleidoscopic range of extra-musical sources…Firsova’s scores... —
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2018, Editor's Choice
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Gugliemi's disc gives a lively snapshot of what at least might have been heard; and, thanks to an instrument built in the year before Bach's death…how it must have sounded too…thoughtfully programmed,... —
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2015, Editor's Choice
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the Allegri Quartet is still alive and well, and the first thing that needs to be said about the performances is how likeable they are: the playing has all the intelligence, energy and expressive... —
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BBC Music Magazine, September 2013, Chamber Choice
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A Century of Song Vol. 1 (1810-1820)
Malcolm Martineau (piano), Michael Schade (tenor), Sylvia Schwartz (soprano), Lorna Anderson (soprano), Ann Murray (mezzo), Florian Boesch (baritone)
Schade is always an involved, communicative singer, eagerly responsive to mood and verbal detail, and excelling in tenderness and intimacy…the diamond-bright Spanish-English soprano Sylvia Schwartz... —
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The Prelude of the First Suite is unusually spacious...But it's in the dances that de Hoog is outstanding. They retain their essential character...but they're full of nuances in rhythm and phrasing...The... —
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Decades - A Century of Song Vol. 4
1840-1850
Florian Boesch (baritone), Alexey Gusev (baritone), Samuel Hasselhorn (baritone), Anush Hovhannisyan (soprano), Oliver Johnston (tenor), Nick Pritchard (tenor), Ida Evelina Ränzlöv (mezzo-soprano), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Dargomyzhsky outstays his welcome a little, but there are gems such as Franck’s’ finely crafted songs, nicely delivered by Nick Pritchard. Oliver Johnston’s Donizetti is tender. I particularly... —
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Impossible not to add to the praise that has greeted this beautifully performed collection...The settings are mournful but consolatory. —
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Mendelssohn: The Two Cello Sonatas & Trio in D minor
Viola de Hoog (cello), Marten Root (flute), Mikayel Balyan (piano)
Viola de Hoog is persuasive in Mendelssohn’s two cello sonatas, too, though perhaps she’s slightly on the reserved side in the dramatic recitatives of the Second Sonata’s slow movement...The... —
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Decades: A Century of Song Vol. 2 1820 - 1830
John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Luis Gomes (tenor), Robin Tritschler (tenor), Anush Hovhanissyan (soprano), Sarah Connolly (mezzo), Christopher Maltman (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
The singers have been well chosen. Portuguese tenor Luis Gomes is impassioned in Bellini’s small domestic substitutes or operatic arias, while Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannisyan brings vitality... —
