MusicWeb International critics have released their list of recordings of the year, and two have selected SOMM releases! See the full list and links to full reviews at MusicWeb-International.com. Façades: Music by William Walton and Constant Lambert “A typically excellent disc from SOMM. Skilfully programmed, wonderfully played and beautifully presented. A disc that combines listening […]
BBC Music Magazine gives Simon Callaghan’s George Dyson: The Open Window recording a four-star review: “even with the fingering is simple and the length very brief, Dyson usually packs in plenty of substance, with tricky rhythms, surprising harmonies that belie his conservative image and considerable authentic charm. …in the Open Window set of 1920, Dyson […]
Gramophone Magazine’s David Threasher reviews Hoffmeister’s Magic Flute, Vol. One from Boris Bizjack, Lana Trotvšek, and the Piatti Quartet in the November 2020 issue: “In a recent blog for the Gramophone website, Bizjak writes that this music ‘is well composed, flows so well and has such freshness and originality’. Certainly the Quartet that opens the disc revels […]
Clélia Iruzun, Jac van Steen, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s new Oswald & Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos recording is in the Gramophone Awards Issue: “ I was at least charmed by the … reading by Clélia Iruzun and Jac van Steen. I warmed to the slow movement, with its echoes of Fauré, and thoroughly enjoyed the tarantella […]
BBC Music Magazine gives a four-star performance and recording review for Paul Spicer and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir’s Rosa Mystica: “The programme concept here is a familiar choral conductor’s standby, music in honour of the Virgin Mary: but the selection is anything but hackneyed. … The experienced choral director Paul Spicer is an […]
Andrew Achenbach reviews Roderick Williams and Susie Allan’s new recording of Sir Arthur Somervell: A Shropshire Lad & Maud in the August issue of Gramophone Magazine: “Superbly partnered by Susie Allan (whose deft touch and ingratiating tone are a constant source of pleasure), Roderick Williams gives an outstandingly sympathetic rendering, his consistently perceptive characterisation especially […]
Simon Heffer celebrates SOMM’s 25th Anniversary with an article titled “In classical music, there’s one label I can always count on” in The Telegraph: “One of the glories of classical music today is Somm Recordings. Established in 1995 and celebrating its silver jubilee, Somm has concentrated on discovering and rediscovering British composers, while also producing […]
“While certain pianists approach Mozart sonatas in the manner of visual artists who favour pastels and subtle hues, Peter Donohoe often applies primary colours in broad brushstrokes. … Donohoe’s full-throated yet stylistically contained Andante cantabile corroborates the composer’s essentially operatic DNA. … The A major K331’s theme-and-variations first movement seems to play itself by virtue of Donohoe’s simplicity, […]
BBC Music Magazine gives a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Performance and ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Recording rating to our new Penelope Thwaites: From Five Continents recording in the July 2020 issue: “All except one of these choral compositions and songs receive their first recordings in this set and to say they are lively, catchy and imaginative is probably not saying enough. […]
The June 2020 issue of Gramophone Magazine features reviews of our new Treasures from the New World and British Violin Sonatas recordings: “Howick’s flexible tone is well suited to the fragile dissonance of Walton’s harmony and the prevalence of seventh intervals in the composer’s thematic shapes (rather similar to the Violin Concerto of 1939) is […]