“… This irresistible compilation features nine singers and a pianist who attended and sang in King’s College in their youth. They have now come together to perform the best of British solo vocal music. The results are dazzling, an exquisitely musical emotional journey. Each of the vocalists is first class and the repertoire is enchanting. In each song, a different voice is highlighted; I particularly adored all three countertenors…”
“… This irresistible compilation features nine singers and a pianist who attended and sang in King’s College in their youth. They have now come together to perform the best of British solo vocal music. The results are dazzling, an exquisitely musical emotional journey. Each of the vocalists is first class and the repertoire is enchanting. In each song, a different voice is highlighted; I particularly adored all three countertenors…”
Susan Miron - artsfuse.org – 9 April 2021
“… Excellently engineered, this disc allows Dego - and Leonardi, in the four pieces they play together – to savour the hall’s acoustic and to project Il Cannone to its fullest advantage.”
“… Excellently engineered, this disc allows Dego - and Leonardi, in the four pieces they play together – to savour the hall’s acoustic and to project Il Cannone to its fullest advantage.”
Jonathan Woolf – MusicWeb-International.com – 14 April 2021

Pizzicato Supersonic
“… The leaders of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra have now come up with something particularly fine. First of all, they engaged a lot of well-known soloists for the concertos themselves, such as Mahan Esfahani, Ante Weithaas, Hakan Hardenberger, Tabea Zimmermann, Pekka Kuusisto, Göran Fröst or Claire Chase. And they commissioned six composers to write a supplementary work for a particular concerto, to be heard after the first five Brandenburgs and before them in the case of the sixth. These new pieces were to have more or less the same instrumentation as the Bach concertos. It is also striking that these new compositions are not short commentaries, as one has experienced with such Bach modern projects, but substantial works … the interpretations of the Bach concertos alone could have served for an exciting complete recording. This is due to the cast of soloists, who without exception tackle their tasks with great playfulness, and provide, together with Dausgaard’s very personally conducting, one of the most lush, ornate, contrasting, flourishing, detailed, colorful, and dancing interpretations I know … All in all, a grandiose result has been achieved in this production, a feast for the ear of a kind one all too rarely gets to hear, a subtly and differentiatedly realized performance whose effect one cannot escape, not least because Bach has more to say here than I ever got to hear. Dausgaard’s conducting is phenomenal. But the new works are also worth hearing and ultimately then make the project something very special…”
Pizzicato Supersonic
“… The leaders of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra have now come up with something particularly fine. First of all, they engaged a lot of well-known soloists for the concertos themselves, such as Mahan Esfahani, Ante Weithaas, Hakan Hardenberger, Tabea Zimmermann, Pekka Kuusisto, Göran Fröst or Claire Chase. And they commissioned six composers to write a supplementary work for a particular concerto, to be heard after the first five Brandenburgs and before them in the case of the sixth. These new pieces were to have more or less the same instrumentation as the Bach concertos. It is also striking that these new compositions are not short commentaries, as one has experienced with such Bach modern projects, but substantial works … the interpretations of the Bach concertos alone could have served for an exciting complete recording. This is due to the cast of soloists, who without exception tackle their tasks with great playfulness, and provide, together with Dausgaard’s very personally conducting, one of the most lush, ornate, contrasting, flourishing, detailed, colorful, and dancing interpretations I know … All in all, a grandiose result has been achieved in this production, a feast for the ear of a kind one all too rarely gets to hear, a subtly and differentiatedly realized performance whose effect one cannot escape, not least because Bach has more to say here than I ever got to hear. Dausgaard’s conducting is phenomenal. But the new works are also worth hearing and ultimately then make the project something very special…”
Remy Franck – Pizzicato.com – 13 April 2021
“… Karnavicius composed two profoundly romantic pieces, with music that is luminous, sometimes virtuosic, but often very lyrical. The two introverted, soulful Andante movements leave a particularly strong impression. The musicians from Vilnius put a great deal of reflectiveness into these two movements and are thus able to effectively display the great beauty of the quiet passages. But also in the other movements the performance is of the highest tonal purity, of the greatest possible precision and rhythmically well defined as well. In addition, the four musicians also play very expressively and with much spontaneity to keep the listener’s attention intensely during 75 minutes.” ****
“… Karnavicius composed two profoundly romantic pieces, with music that is luminous, sometimes virtuosic, but often very lyrical. The two introverted, soulful Andante movements leave a particularly strong impression. The musicians from Vilnius put a great deal of reflectiveness into these two movements and are thus able to effectively display the great beauty of the quiet passages. But also in the other movements the performance is of the highest tonal purity, of the greatest possible precision and rhythmically well defined as well. In addition, the four musicians also play very expressively and with much spontaneity to keep the listener’s attention intensely during 75 minutes.” ****
Remy Franck – Pizzicato.com – 3 April 2021
“… The Fine Arts Quartet plays the fast parts very passionately and grippingly. The Andante religioso, whose theme Dvorak reused in later works, is interpreted most sensitively. The final short Polonaise for cello and piano is agreeably brilliant and virtuosic.” ****
“… The Fine Arts Quartet plays the fast parts very passionately and grippingly. The Andante religioso, whose theme Dvorak reused in later works, is interpreted most sensitively. The final short Polonaise for cello and piano is agreeably brilliant and virtuosic.” ****
Remy Franck – Pizzicato.com – 3 April 2021
“… Elizabeth Chang and Steven Beck play it [Kirchner’s Second Duo for Violin and Piano] intensely with the utmost commitment, the violinist continually delighting with ravishing cantabile… Chang and cellist Alberto Parrini perform Robert Sessions’ Duo for Violin and Cello with real flair and commitment. Like Sessions’ Duo, Schoenberg’s Phantasy for Violin with Piano Accompaniment, Op. 47 (1949), is the composer’s last chamber work. The dodecaphonic composition is virtuosic and sometimes genuinely dance-like, while being really technically challenging in the violin part. But Elizabeth Chang masters this brilliantly and elegantly at the same time, her playing standing out pleasantly to my ears from the far more brash approach of a Gidon Kremer. And so the line of excellent interpretations runs through a program of transformations….” ****
“… Elizabeth Chang and Steven Beck play it [Kirchner’s Second Duo for Violin and Piano] intensely with the utmost commitment, the violinist continually delighting with ravishing cantabile… Chang and cellist Alberto Parrini perform Robert Sessions’ Duo for Violin and Cello with real flair and commitment. Like Sessions’ Duo, Schoenberg’s Phantasy for Violin with Piano Accompaniment, Op. 47 (1949), is the composer’s last chamber work. The dodecaphonic composition is virtuosic and sometimes genuinely dance-like, while being really technically challenging in the violin part. But Elizabeth Chang masters this brilliantly and elegantly at the same time, her playing standing out pleasantly to my ears from the far more brash approach of a Gidon Kremer. And so the line of excellent interpretations runs through a program of transformations….” ****
Remy Franck – Pizzicato.com – 2 April 2021
“… The orchestration is striking, with Fisher giving the woodwinds an exceedingly important role. The music is joyful, fresh and light-heartedly hearty, not unoriginal, but, pleasant as it is to hear, it leaves few lasting impressions. The fact that the music is so nice and entertaining is also due to the fact that the Pardubice orchestra and conductor Halasz are so decidedly committed to this music, which has never been recorded before. There has definitely been a lot rediscovered that can’t compete with Fisher’s symphonies.” ****
“… The orchestration is striking, with Fisher giving the woodwinds an exceedingly important role. The music is joyful, fresh and light-heartedly hearty, not unoriginal, but, pleasant as it is to hear, it leaves few lasting impressions. The fact that the music is so nice and entertaining is also due to the fact that the Pardubice orchestra and conductor Halasz are so decidedly committed to this music, which has never been recorded before. There has definitely been a lot rediscovered that can’t compete with Fisher’s symphonies.” ****
Remy Franck – Pizzicato.com – 27 March 2021
“… Despite contemplative moments as well, Pilsan’s interpretation is not an introverted one, it is almost playful, good-humored and vital, as well as always eager to make room for the composer’s compositional audacities. Pilsan’s very personal view of things, his excellent playing technique and a superb, very transparent and natural recording quality, make this Well-Tempered Clavier a good 100 minutes of witty and inspiring entertainment.” *****
“… Despite contemplative moments as well, Pilsan’s interpretation is not an introverted one, it is almost playful, good-humored and vital, as well as always eager to make room for the composer’s compositional audacities. Pilsan’s very personal view of things, his excellent playing technique and a superb, very transparent and natural recording quality, make this Well-Tempered Clavier a good 100 minutes of witty and inspiring entertainment.” *****
Remy Franck – Pizzicato.com – 26 March 2021