Wayne Marshall Plays Bach, Liszt, Brahms BBC Music Magazine Stereofile Records To Die “This astonishing recording [is] theatrical, emotionally charged, and [has] dynamics up the wazoo! Forget Puff Daddy remixes and other basshead fare. Fire up the system, set your subwoofer on Stun, insert this disc in your player, and let your neighbors hear what deep, clean bass is all about.”
Taverner Choir - Out of the Night Sony Classical BBC Music Magazine Pick of the Month Performance 5 Sound 5 "The Taverner Choir's performances are about as good as you could get. Pärt's Magnificat Antipbons - the powerful, ringing discords, splendid Russian-sounding basses descending impossibly low, and heart-stopping silent bars in 0 Immanuel- are outstanding."
Kirkby, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra - Bach Cantatas Carus "Emma Kirkby is perhaps at her best in this kind of long­breathed‚ melodically sublime music in which sheer beauty of vocal sound counts for so much. The support of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is total‚ combining tightness of ensemble with such flexibility and sensitivity to the job of accompaniment that you really feel they are ‘playing the words’. Add a recorded sound which perfectly combines bloom‚ clarity and internal balance‚ and you have a CD to treasure.” Gramophone
Atalante - Mortale, che pensi? Destino Classics "I have never heard accompanying continuo played so dramatically or for that matter such committed singing in this repertoire. These are dramatized performances. Not only have these singers and players brought this forgotten music to light they are performing it surely as it must have been done four hundred years ago: to move the audience to tears and to bring the story to life. This CD is beautifully recorded." Music Web International
Atalante - Caro Sposo Destino Classics "It is ‘Piango la sua sventura’, in which a Roman soldier laments the saint’s impending death that effectively inaugurates the final drama. Atalante and its inspired director must be congratulated for bringing together musicianship and scholarship in a way that is, in the end, truly revelatory." Early Music
Atalante - Caro Sposo Destino Classics "Technically, the recording quality is superb, with exquisite resonance and balance throughout. A well-deserved bravo goes to the recording technicians as much as the musicians. Another one of those CD's that deserve a cornucopia of stars instead of a mere 5. I highly recommend this recording - you will not be disappointed by the music and the musicians." Amazon
Harp Consort - Missa Mexicana hmusa "One of the most refreshing, illuminating and downright beautiful cds of early music I've heard for months, and I've already lost count of the number of times I've played it. The warm, atmospheric recording with its background of distant birdsong is a bonus. It's one of the discs of the year, without a shadow of a doubt." BBC "The sound is ideal. Don’t miss this very special, incomparable release, one of the outstanding discs of the year." Classics Today
Andy Hamilton - Silvershine World Circuit Andy Hamilton MBE, whose debut album Silvershine at the age of 72 was the biggest selling jazz CD of the year in the UK, the Times (London) Jazz Album of the Year and one of the 50 Sony Recordings of the Year.
Oumou Sangare - Ko Sira World Circuit "The mix is excellent and Oumou's voice has a warmth and sensuality that is beautifully offset by her chorus...beautifully recorded (in Berlin) but not overly hi-tech. Just sheer Wassoulou at its very best." Folk Roots
Romanesca - Biber: Violin Sonatas hmusa Winner of Gramophone Award "This is amongst the finest baroque chamber music to have appeared in recent years." Gramophone "Perfectly balanced, warm, luminous sonics make this one of the finest recordings of all time." Classics Today
Hille Perl, Lee Santana - Marais: Les Voix Humaines Sony/dhm "Die magischen Ohren von John vermitteln dem Musiker das Gefühl, für die ganze Welt zu spielen, nicht nur für ein Mikrophon - seine Geduld, zur Not bis in die späte Nacht zu warten, bis die Atmosphäre stimmt, der Klang für sich spricht, macht ihn zu einem der größten Tonmeister für die ich je arbeiten durfte." Hille Perl www.hillenet.net
Paul O'Dette - ¡JÁCARAS! hmusa Stereophile CD of the Month - Performance ***** Sonics ***** “As good as the music and performances on Jácaras are, it is the sound of this disc that makes it so very special.” Stereophile
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/ The Harp Consort - Vivaldi: Seasons dhm "Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's sound has enough polish and punch, plus enough presence, to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end." Allmusic review "The orchestra gains a perc- ussive, spine-tingling, speaker- blowing power that sends the watery, insipid, gut-stringed memories responsible for your involuntary tic at the words ‘period instruments’ to a happy oblivion." Amazon.com
Atalante - Lamentarium Destino Classics "Music of the highest invention and emotional sophistication. The rich accompaniment by Atalante, not least the unique sound of the lirone, surrounds the voices like luxurious Baroque embroidery. Both vocal and instrumental works are given a wonderfully vivid recorded sound." International Record Review
Romanesca - Biber: Violin Sonatas hmusa Dear John, I just heard that the Biber CD won the Gramophone Award. So firstly, CONGRATULATIONS! and secondly, THANK YOU: not many people can know how much an award like this is won by you, but I hope you know how much Romanesca (and none more than I) value your talents, patience and psychological skills! Yours, Andrew [Manze]
Piotr Szewczyk - VIOLIN FUTURA Navona Records The Violin Futura Project is a collection of commissioned miniatures for solo violin that highlights over thirty international contemporary composers and how they are re- imagining the solo violin.
Florida State University Symphony, Jiménez Dohnányi: Symphony No. 2 / 3 Songs Naxos "I must give high praise…to the Florida State University Symphony musicians for their thoroughly professional handling of this huge, complex score (Symphony No. 2), and to conductor Jiménez for doing the absolute best he can with this music. Their playing is not only technically impeccable but also well-phrased, well-blended, and emotionally moving. They are, in a word, superb." Fanfare
Atalante - Mortale, che pensi? Destino Classics "Rossi's three-voice madrigal Mortale, the pensi? is a melancholic contemplation of the fleeting nature of mortality, sung gorgeously by sopranos Katherine Watson and Nadine Balbesi and tenor Samuel Boden. This laudable enterprise will continue to offer manna from heaven to composers who remain unfairly lost in the wilderness." Gramophone
Tragicomedia - Domenico Mazzocchi: Lagrime Amare Teldec Das Alte Werk "The seven singers are all superb in the total commitment brought to the performances. The continuo playing has a spine- tingling depth of sonority that is allowed to make its full impact in a recording of demonstration quality. Unquestionably a magnificent achievement." Early Music Review
Romanesca - Uccellini: Sonatas hmusa Artistic 10/10 Sound Quality "First rate renditions of music that demands the utmost flexibility and imagination. Weird chromaticism, sudden key changes, and shifts of tempo combine with lyrical melodies and improvisatory passages to make for one of the more exciting and unusual programs of Baroque music anywhere." Classics Today "The instrumental sonorities are rewarding, and this aspect of the performance has been very well captured by the sympathetic recorded sound." Gramophone
Tirami Su - Che soave armonia Vanguard Classics "The 17th century must have given at least as warm a welcome to this kind of playing, which gives prominence to lyrical beauty and a gentle, subtle interplay between parts. [The continuo] sound the genuinely improvisatory note of responding sensitively to the melodic parts (instrumental or vocal) and to the acoustics of the parish church where the recording was made - a warm and hospitable space in which the producer John Hadden, using a simple stereo pair, somehow achieves both roominess and intimacy." Early Music Review
Susan Chan - Echoes of China Naxos "Susan Chan plays with tremendous musicianship and technical mastery throughout the recording. Her commitment to this music, to which she alludes in her program note, is audible in every phrase she plays. The disc’s sound quality is impeccable." Fanfare
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra - Pisendel: Dresden Concertos Carus "The ensemble, as we’ve come to expect, is absolutely world- class. The sound is vibrant and detailed, allowing the horns a delicious bite and the strings a reedy warmth. Baroque orchestra fans shouldn’t miss this one." Classics Today
Atalante - Lamentarium Destino Classics "The performances on this first disc are exquisite—a more powerful and persuasive advocacy for these pieces could hardly be imagined. The instrumental group is also heard to full advantage in the three short instrumental pieces by Luigi Rossi, taken from vocal originals (as was standard practice at the time), which punctuate the recording." Early Music
enhakē - Gulfstream Naxos "enhakē show that they can handle the demanding requirements of 20th-century music with equally great skill and aplomb...The recorded sound is crisp, clear and clean, and you hear everything each instrument does without losing the impact or flavour of the whole." Gramophone
Andrew Lawrence-King - Bach: Secret of the Semitones DHM "With delightfully poised, beautifully positioned recorded sound this is a relishable recording indeed. More please!" Gramophone
Los Otros - Aguirre dhm "Little is known about Aguirre, who is thought to have died in 1720. But his legacy is one of the most rhythmically vibrant recordings of Central American baroque music. From the simple elegance of Marizapalos to the Jimmy Paige excesses of Balona de bailar, Los Otros will enchant any fan of Early or World Music." Independent
Ali Farka Toure - Source World Circuit "Last Christmas we were selling as many Ali Farke Toure albums as Eric Clapton's 'Unplugged,' and more than Nirvana's 'Nevermind'...Beyond Rye Cooder's support it was the sound of the record." Billboard
Wayne Marshall Plays Bach, Liszt, Brahms BBC Music Magazine Stereofile Records To Die “This astonishing recording [is] theatrical, emotionally charged, and [has] dynamics up the wazoo! Forget Puff Daddy remixes and other basshead fare. Fire up the system, set your subwoofer on Stun, insert this disc in your player, and let your neighbors hear what deep, clean bass is all about.”
Taverner Choir - Out of the Night Sony Classical BBC Music Magazine Pick of the Month Performance 5 Sound 5 "The Taverner Choir's performances are about as good as you could get. Pärt's Magnificat Antipbons - the powerful, ringing discords, splendid Russian-sounding basses descending impossibly low, and heart-stopping silent bars in 0 Immanuel- are outstanding."
Kirkby, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra - Bach Cantatas Carus "Emma Kirkby is perhaps at her best in this kind of long­breathed‚ melodically sublime music in which sheer beauty of vocal sound counts for so much. The support of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra is total‚ combining tightness of ensemble with such flexibility and sensitivity to the job of accompaniment that you really feel they are ‘playing the words’. Add a recorded sound which perfectly combines bloom‚ clarity and internal balance‚ and you have a CD to treasure.” Gramophone
Atalante - Mortale, che pensi? Destino Classics "I have never heard accompanying continuo played so dramatically or for that matter such committed singing in this repertoire. These are dramatized performances. Not only have these singers and players brought this forgotten music to light they are performing it surely as it must have been done four hundred years ago: to move the audience to tears and to bring the story to life. This CD is beautifully recorded." Music Web International
Atalante - Caro Sposo Destino Classics "It is ‘Piango la sua sventura’, in which a Roman soldier laments the saint’s impending death that effectively inaugurates the final drama. Atalante and its inspired director must be congratulated for bringing together musicianship and scholarship in a way that is, in the end, truly revelatory." Early Music
Atalante - Caro Sposo Destino Classics "Technically, the recording quality is superb, with exquisite resonance and balance throughout. A well-deserved bravo goes to the recording technicians as much as the musicians. Another one of those CD's that deserve a cornucopia of stars instead of a mere 5. I highly recommend this recording - you will not be disappointed by the music and the musicians." Amazon
Harp Consort - Missa Mexicana hmusa "One of the most refreshing, illuminating and downright beautiful cds of early music I've heard for months, and I've already lost count of the number of times I've played it. The warm, atmospheric recording with its background of distant birdsong is a bonus. It's one of the discs of the year, without a shadow of a doubt." BBC "The sound is ideal. Don’t miss this very special, incomparable release, one of the outstanding discs of the year." Classics Today
Andy Hamilton - Silvershine World Circuit Andy Hamilton MBE, whose debut album Silvershine at the age of 72 was the biggest selling jazz CD of the year in the UK, the Times (London) Jazz Album of the Year and one of the 50 Sony Recordings of the Year.
Oumou Sangare - Ko Sira World Circuit "The mix is excellent and Oumou's voice has a warmth and sensuality that is beautifully offset by her chorus...beautifully recorded (in Berlin) but not overly hi-tech. Just sheer Wassoulou at its very best." Folk Roots
Romanesca - Biber: Violin Sonatas hmusa Winner of Gramophone Award "This is amongst the finest baroque chamber music to have appeared in recent years." Gramophone "Perfectly balanced, warm, luminous sonics make this one of the finest recordings of all time." Classics Today
Hille Perl, Lee Santana - Marais: Les Voix Humaines Sony/dhm "Die magischen Ohren von John vermitteln dem Musiker das Gefühl, für die ganze Welt zu spielen, nicht nur für ein Mikrophon - seine Geduld, zur Not bis in die späte Nacht zu warten, bis die Atmosphäre stimmt, der Klang für sich spricht, macht ihn zu einem der größten Tonmeister für die ich je arbeiten durfte." Hille Perl www.hillenet.net
Paul O'Dette - ¡JÁCARAS! hmusa Stereophile CD of the Month - Performance ***** Sonics ***** “As good as the music and performances on Jácaras are, it is the sound of this disc that makes it so very special.” Stereophile
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/ The Harp Consort - Vivaldi: Seasons dhm "Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's sound has enough polish and punch, plus enough presence, to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end." Allmusic review "The orchestra gains a perc- ussive, spine-tingling, speaker- blowing power that sends the watery, insipid, gut-stringed memories responsible for your involuntary tic at the words ‘period instruments’ to a happy oblivion." Amazon.com
Atalante - Lamentarium Destino Classics "Music of the highest invention and emotional sophistication. The rich accompaniment by Atalante, not least the unique sound of the lirone, surrounds the voices like luxurious Baroque embroidery. Both vocal and instrumental works are given a wonderfully vivid recorded sound." International Record Review
Romanesca - Biber: Violin Sonatas hmusa Dear John, I just heard that the Biber CD won the Gramophone Award. So firstly, CONGRATULATIONS! and secondly, THANK YOU: not many people can know how much an award like this is won by you, but I hope you know how much Romanesca (and none more than I) value your talents, patience and psychological skills! Yours, Andrew [Manze]
Piotr Szewczyk - VIOLIN FUTURA Navona Records The Violin Futura Project is a collection of commissioned miniatures for solo violin that highlights over thirty international contemporary composers and how they are re- imagining the solo violin.
Florida State University Symphony, Jiménez Dohnányi: Symphony No. 2 / 3 Songs Naxos "I must give high praise…to the Florida State University Symphony musicians for their thoroughly professional handling of this huge, complex score (Symphony No. 2), and to conductor Jiménez for doing the absolute best he can with this music. Their playing is not only technically impeccable but also well-phrased, well-blended, and emotionally moving. They are, in a word, superb." Fanfare
Atalante - Mortale, che pensi? Destino Classics "Rossi's three-voice madrigal Mortale, the pensi? is a melancholic contemplation of the fleeting nature of mortality, sung gorgeously by sopranos Katherine Watson and Nadine Balbesi and tenor Samuel Boden. This laudable enterprise will continue to offer manna from heaven to composers who remain unfairly lost in the wilderness." Gramophone
Tragicomedia - Domenico Mazzocchi: Lagrime Amare Teldec Das Alte Werk "The seven singers are all superb in the total commitment brought to the performances. The continuo playing has a spine- tingling depth of sonority that is allowed to make its full impact in a recording of demonstration quality. Unquestionably a magnificent achievement." Early Music Review
Romanesca - Uccellini: Sonatas hmusa Artistic 10/10 Sound Quality "First rate renditions of music that demands the utmost flexibility and imagination. Weird chromaticism, sudden key changes, and shifts of tempo combine with lyrical melodies and improvisatory passages to make for one of the more exciting and unusual programs of Baroque music anywhere." Classics Today "The instrumental sonorities are rewarding, and this aspect of the performance has been very well captured by the sympathetic recorded sound." Gramophone
Tirami Su - Che soave armonia Vanguard Classics "The 17th century must have given at least as warm a welcome to this kind of playing, which gives prominence to lyrical beauty and a gentle, subtle interplay between parts. [The continuo] sound the genuinely improvisatory note of responding sensitively to the melodic parts (instrumental or vocal) and to the acoustics of the parish church where the recording was made - a warm and hospitable space in which the producer John Hadden, using a simple stereo pair, somehow achieves both roominess and intimacy." Early Music Review
Susan Chan - Echoes of China Naxos "Susan Chan plays with tremendous musicianship and technical mastery throughout the recording. Her commitment to this music, to which she alludes in her program note, is audible in every phrase she plays. The disc’s sound quality is impeccable." Fanfare
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra - Pisendel: Dresden Concertos Carus "The ensemble, as we’ve come to expect, is absolutely world- class. The sound is vibrant and detailed, allowing the horns a delicious bite and the strings a reedy warmth. Baroque orchestra fans shouldn’t miss this one." Classics Today
Atalante - Lamentarium Destino Classics "The performances on this first disc are exquisite—a more powerful and persuasive advocacy for these pieces could hardly be imagined. The instrumental group is also heard to full advantage in the three short instrumental pieces by Luigi Rossi, taken from vocal originals (as was standard practice at the time), which punctuate the recording." Early Music
enhakē - Gulfstream Naxos "enhakē show that they can handle the demanding requirements of 20th-century music with equally great skill and aplomb...The recorded sound is crisp, clear and clean, and you hear everything each instrument does without losing the impact or flavour of the whole." Gramophone
Andrew Lawrence-King - Bach: Secret of the Semitones DHM "With delightfully poised, beautifully positioned recorded sound this is a relishable recording indeed. More please!" Gramophone
Los Otros - Aguirre dhm "Little is known about Aguirre, who is thought to have died in 1720. But his legacy is one of the most rhythmically vibrant recordings of Central American baroque music. From the simple elegance of Marizapalos to the Jimmy Paige excesses of Balona de bailar, Los Otros will enchant any fan of Early or World Music." Independent
Ali Farka Toure - Source World Circuit "Last Christmas we were selling as many Ali Farke Toure albums as Eric Clapton's 'Unplugged,' and more than Nirvana's 'Nevermind'...Beyond Rye Cooder's support it was the sound of the record." Billboard
recording producer & engineer
JOHN HADDEN
recording producer & engineer
JOHN HADDEN