Champs Hill Records
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This Other Eden: A Landscape of English Poetry and Song
Kitty Whately (mezzo), Joseph Middleton (piano), with Kevin Whatley, Madelaine Newton, Magnus Johnston, Brian O'Kane
Navarra Quartet
Whately's choice is eclectic…[and] she sings them with attractive brightness and fervour. Her tone is not yet as distinctive as Janet Baker or Sarah Connolly, say, but there's a plangent shading... —
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Both trios of pre-war miniatures by Bridge and Britten are superbly done. The Piatti demonstrate their acute sensitivity to mood and texture right from the first of Bridge’s Idylls…A most enterprising... —
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these are careful and insightful performances of pieces whose identities are predicated upon profoundly different principles...In fact, all three sonatas are conjoined by [the] need to combine... —
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Brahms: Romanzen aus Die Schöne Magelone
Roderick Williams (baritone & narrator) & Roger Vignoles (piano)
Williams delivers the narration naturally, while proving once again to be a thoughtful exponent of sung text, an interpreter consistently attentive to its meaning. As an accompanist, Vignoles... —
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Wolf, H: Italienisches Liederbuch
Joan Rodgers CBE (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone) & Roger Vignoles (piano)
Rodgers and Williams are equal partners, flitting effortlessly between enchantment and cynicism...Williams's command of these acerbic mini-dramas is superb but the most impressive aspect is... —
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The whimsical performance of Charles Ives’s ‘The Children’s Hour’ which opens the recital sets high standards of interpretation, John’s mellifluous singing offset by Vann’s tenderly undulating... —
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Emily Pailthorpe: Better Angels
Emily Pailthorpe (oboe)
BBC Symohony Orchestra & BBCSO Soloists, Martyn Brabbins
Brabbins nurtures the orchestra’s proliferating counter-melodies, and the recording renders them all clearly, though without ever making the BBC SO sound like the ‘small orchestra’ Strauss specified —
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although Janacek, Ravel and Prokofiev write in such different styles, Gavric draws some intriguing parallels between them, especially their preoccupation with piano timbre and texture....Particularly... —
