"the conducting of Harry Bicket, who knows better than anyone how to make a modern orchestra understand baroque music ... made for 4½ hours (including intermissions) of musical and theatrical bliss ... The evening was paced with superb sensitivity by Mr. Bicket" Read More...
"members of the opening-night audience rose to their feet after midnight to give an exuberant ovation to the excellent cast, headed by the countertenor David Daniels in the title role and the coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra, and the excellent conductor Harry Bicket" Read More...
"The splendid 25-member ensemble, with Mr. Bicket leading from the harpsichord, brought pungent clarity and rhythmic swing to this 1720 score, a classic Handel cornucopia of varying moods and characters." Read More...
"the fine period-instrument band English Concert deftly conducted from the harpsichord by Harry Bicket ... magnificently rendered ... nothing but gorgeous." Read More...
"supremely approachable, engaging music, and sweetly played ... buy this disc and experience them for yourself. Eloquent performances in glowing sound." Read More...
"the scale of this performance manages a robust energy of the concert hall fused to the musing interiority of the salon, quite a sophisticated achievement" * * * * Read More...
Jeannette Sorrell leads the acclaimed Baroque ensemble Apollo's Fire. Their new holiday disc imagines a vesper service combining chant, dance, and Celtic carols. Read More...
— Julie Amacher, Minnesota Public Radio - New Classical Tracks
"an artist to watch out for ... sensitivity that maintained an acutely tasteful sense of tone and scale ... Alexandra Silocea proved her Mozartian credentials with phrasing of supreme elegance" * * * * * Read More...
"Inon Barnatan’s most recent album, 'Darknesse Visible,' is intelligent and moving ... Mr. Barnatan’s recital on Thursday evening brought the 'Darknesse Visible' program to thrilling life." Read More...
"ably navigated by Luiza Borac ... the premiere recording of [Lipatti's] five-part 'Fantasie' demonstrates the range and intelligence ..." * * * * Read More...
"the young South African makes light of its technical rigours ... Pienaar skates with brilliant insouciance through tantalisingly brief prestos ... while giving due weight and depth to the slowest sections." Read More...
"the wonderful performances are matched by the recorded quality ... Barnatan is moving into the world-class arena ... he can already be counted as one in the top echelon" Read More...
"Technically assured, brimming with confidence and bravura, he also produced a singing tone that ranged from sweetness to emphatic assertion according to what the music needed." Read More...
"Played here by the excellent Orchestra of the Swan under Kenneth Woods it casts the twentieth century in a new light, one of obstinate cheerfulness and determined optimism, a refusal to be bowed by contemporary events" Read More...
""a pianist with strong fingers, sure rhythmic control, and a cool emotional approach, who nevertheless has the capacity to play tenderly or mistily when she considers it appropriate" Read More...
"Avie continues to bring the music of Hans Gál to light with the world premiere recording of the Third Symphony conducted by committed advocate Kenneth Woods" Read More...
"a total pleasure on all fronts
... one of the best recitals I've heard this year ...
and it marks Phan's entry as an artist who must be heard." Read More...
For Hadelich, these are all works that recall Paris, "you can hear how they influence each other. You can hear a little bit of Debussy in Stravinsky and Poulenc" Read More...
"These bleakly beautiful, sometimes satirical and stunning settings of eight Thomas Hardy poems prove ideal for Nicholas Phan, the sweet-voiced young tenor" Read More...
"dream team ... Petrenko delivers terrific pace and imagination, combining drama and sensitivity ... [Trpceski] can dance and dream, cry and console to the demands of the music with subtlety and style." Read More...
"Latham-Koenig certainly rouses his Strasbourg players to alternately silken and impassioned heights ... Remarkably clean-sounding this disc, refreshed in its sonics enough to warrant audiophiles to hear it" Read More...
Conductor Kenneth Woods explains his passion for championing the music of Hans Gál as he embarks upon a project to record all four symphonies for Avie. Read More...
"Bicket leads the orchestra in a spirited performance that brings out the melancholy beauty of the score, as well as Handel's edgy, almost dissonant harmonies." Read More...
"reunites Sellars with the British Baroque specialist Harry Bicket following their celebrated collaboration on Handel's "Theodora" at Glyndebourne ... The chamber orchestra plays immaculately under the conductor's 's stylish direction" Read More...
"There are many reasons not to miss the production" ... Bicket "drew an insightful, urgent performance ... [he] brought his authoritative knowledge to the entire project." Read More...
"the all-male vocal quartet has relied on grassroots networking, innate talent and old-fashioned luck to become, in just four years, one of this country's best-known early-music groups" Read More...
"Heggie instinctively 'gets' the music of words and through melody ... carries the emotional memory of a moment, a connection, a feeling, forward" Read More...
Apollo's Fire - a tireless front-runner among America's finest Baroque orchestras - is set to make its first transatlantic tour culminating in a concert at London's Wigmore Hall on 30th November 2010. Read More...
Wednesday's [Seattle Symphony] audience, encouragingly diverse in age, leapt to its collective feet in vociferous applause for Augustin Hadelich's performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto ... [he] deserved the cheers. Read More...
Italian Baroque instrumental music is much more than Vivaldi's Four Seasons. In "Flights of Fancy," violinist Monica Huggett and members of the Irish Baroque Orchestra capture the remarkable diversity and sometimes outlandish color of this era in music. Read More...
Jon Lord's most recent recording, "To Notice Such Things," features several classical miniatures and a suite for flute and string orchestra written in memory of a dear friend, Sir John Mortimer.
Simon Trpceski "proved himself a master of Chopin's subtle shock tactics ... it was impossible to remain unswayed by Mr. Trpceski's careful consideration and thoroughness". Read More...
Hadelich played the solo part with complete mastery, a creamy tone and grand expression...For an encore Thursday, he played Paganini's spirited Caprice No. 17 with an effortless musicality that here confirmed reports of an important career in the making. Read More...
"Adrian Chandler and La Serenissima make a convincing case on Vivaldi's behalf. By bringing to light some of Vivaldi's rarely heard concertos, this period-instrument ensemble helps to prove that he was one of the most original and innovative composers of th...e Baroque era. Their performances are nimble and exhilarating, fit for "Gods, Emperors and Angels," or for regular folks like the rest of us." Read More...
