“… Roderick Williams makes the most of these songs with his excellent lyric baritone, clear diction, and flair for the theatre. The sound is first-rate, as are the notes by Conor Farrington… “

**** (Excellent)

Recording of the Month

“… this is a masterly rendering of the main work, Falstaff … Sir Andrew Davis exceeds oven his own high standards in moulding this most subtle and complex of scores to perfection… The rest of the SACD is a very satisfying find… Roderick Williams is at his magnificent best here …”      Dave Billinge – February 2018

 

“… The playing is warm, refined and responsive throughout as expected… Williams is a distinguished artist with an impressive baritone voice which he deploys with both subtlety and power, when and as requires. He characterises the songs superbly. It is hard to imagine them better done.”   Rob W McKenzie – 21 June 2018

“… Although hardcore Elgarians will have snatched this up already, you don’t need to be one yourself to enjoy all of this immensely.”

Diapason D’or

Sound 4.5/5       SACD Sound 4.5/5

“... This one of the finest Falstaff’s I have heard for years. It is beautifully played and recorded and Sir Andrew judges the mercurial changes in tempi and Elgar’s sound to perfection. I need add little to the comments above about Roderick Williams. His diction is immaculate and the way he shades his voice to cover the various and very different songs is magical. These are some of the finest performances of opus 59 and 60 I have heard and, in these capable hands (Williams, Davis and the BBCPO), Elgar emerges as a great songwriter. Thank you Chandos; this is a superb recording!”

“...the BBC Philharmonic plays as one of the World’s great orchestras. Yet it is of course Sir Andrew Davis who commands this performance as being superior in every way to any I have heard or can imagine. He achieves clarity of texture rarely revealed by any other conductor, including Boult, and all within an account of great affection and musicality. In grandeur and breadth, at times titanic strength, the warmth and tremendous emotional impact go deeper and far beyond any other in my experience. Davis’s tempos vary from the magnificently broad and firm to the subtlest and most gracious filigree expression, organically evolved to create a characterisation such as we can imagine the figure of Falstaff, in all his moods and situations, to be a living human being – as Elgar must have considered him to be when writing the music.This is a performance that brings out all of those musical qualities with great clarity.”  *****

Editor' Choice - Orchestral Section

“... The performance of Falstaff itself is very idiomatic indeed. Davis finds huge detail ... The SACD recording itself is simply beautiful, the BBC Philharmonic sounding burnished and lush... Baritone Roderick Williams has just the right voice for the three restrained Op 59 songs ... All of the vocal contributions are sterling ... To end the disc with the 49-second Smoking Cantata is pure genius.” *****

Performance ****          Recording *****

“...This profusely inventive late score is so full of brilliant, colourful atmospheric music ... The performances of the songs are ardent, warm and full of conviction. As ever Roderick Williams sounds completely on the composer’s side... A fine effort all round, recording very much included ...”