In October 2020 tenor James Gilchrist and pianist Nathan Williamson opened their three-volume survey of the less well-traversed byways of the British song repertoire, One Hundred Years of British Song,…
Category: Recordings
Grayston Ives’s engaging Requiem
There’s a degree of inevitability that a composer who has made numerous contributions to the repertoire for church and cathedral choirs spanning some fifty years might want to add a…
Heart & Hereafter: Elizabeth Llewellyn shines a lustrous light on the songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Last September, soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn made her belated Wigmore Hall debut, an occasion which introduced me to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Six Sorrow Songs – settings of Christina Rossetti’s poetry which I…
Russian pessimism, potently performed by countertenor Hamish McLaren
There was no musical equivalent in Russia of the outpouring of Romantic lieder which occurred in Western Europe, as, inspired by the greatest poets of the day, song after song…
El Nour: impressive debut CD by Fatma Said
There cannot be many sopranos whose debut CD takes the listener on a cultural tour around the Mediterranean. And what a fascinating exploration this is by a rising star who…
The Sixteen release their fourth volume of Purcell’s Welcome Songs for King Charles II
Harry Christophers and The Sixteen have now reached volume 4 in their ongoing exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. Like the previous discs in the series, evolving…
Mixed performances in a recent St Matthew Passion from Accentus
Claims to create ‘a new and fresh perspective’ in the pre-release publicity for this St Matthew Passion are bold. We are led to expect ‘raging choirs, intimate chorales and emotionally…
Rewarding performances from Philippe Herreweghe in three of J.S. Bach’s choral works
Every freshly minted disc from Philippe Herreweghe’s Collegium Vocale Gent prompts a rapturous fanfare. We take for granted the quality of each recording venture from this 74-year-old Belgian, but how…
Lucile Richardot – a class act in Berio To Sing
This recent disc of Luciano Berio’s vocal music showcases the talents of the French mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot and the vocal and instrumental ensemble Le Cris de Paris. It begins with…
The music of celebrated American organist/choirmaster Gerre Hancock
This recent recording from New York’s Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is an affectionate tribute to the work of Dr. Gerre Hancock (1934-2012). The Texas-born musician was a…