“…This is not music that hinges on sudden shifts and sharp contrasts. However, at its core lies the age-old dichotomy between freedom and control, head and heart…Mullova brilliantly manages to tease out these dichotomies on this new recording…In Fratres, she approaches each variation from a different angle. Sap and rosin fly off the bow in the coruscating arpeggio figurations of the opening chord sequence.”

“Page offers a stylish glimpse into one of Mozart’s earliest works.” ****

“… full, richly textured recording. Sasha Cooke, as Mary, is the soloists’ shining light.” ***

Album of the Week

“…Cooper’s technical command and musical insights are up there with those of her mentor, Alfred Brendel, or Stephen Kovacevich, and her thoughtful, melancholy delivery of the famous, enigmatic Für Elise is a delectable encore.”

“Brüggen's… interpretation is on an impressive scale, the recording excellently balanced, bass-lines deep and clear.”

“…in this live period-instrument interpretation tempos are finely judged and the many expressive effects in Haydn's depiction of the last words of Jesus are recorded in the gospels are powerfully underlined.”  ****

“… the work is given a fine, stylish performance by singers and instrumentalists alike. Highly recommended and well worth hearing”

“… the nature of the Paschal season has rarely seemed so evocative in this work as in Frans Bruggen's profoundly rooted and reflective reading. Even the opening instrumental music inspires a gradual and unpresumptuous curtain-raising, the Sinfonia more one of contained ritual than demonstrative rejouissance …”

“Steering clear of more obvious repertory choices, this collection mixes big-boned and intimate Schumann. .. Bavouzet identifies with the music intensely … Bavouzet's Faschingsschwank aus Wien is robust …  With so much adrenalin and changing emotional theatre, so many fingers in swirling, dazzling races to the finish, the two late cycles, lyrically pointed, benefit from tender, discerningly judged balancing… The final bar of the last of the rarely-heard Gesänge der Frühe (Songs of Dawn) is one of elevated artistry …” ****

“...fascinating.. the singing is excellent.. the acoustic and engineering first class. .overall a disc worth buying for the singing alone ” 

Discovery of the Month

“The Marian Consort’s singing is never less than polished and beautifully crafted … the opening account of Gabriel Jackson’s declamatory Stabat Mater was enough to make this Renaissance-attuned reviewer spill his coffee”