Gramophone Magazine’s Alexandra Coghlan gives a rave review for Papagena’s new recording, “Hush!” in the May 2020 issue: “Taking a King’s Singers approach to mixing repertoire, the group slip easily from Georgian and Sephardic folk songs to English part-songs, music by Scarlatti and Tchaikovsky and a generous selection of new works, with even a cheeky […]
Jennifer Bate – November 11, 1944 – March 25, 2020In loving memory of a consummate artist and a true friend.—Siva Oke, SOMM Recordings British concert organist Jennifer Bate died of cancer on 25 March. Having been a friend and colleague for nearly 40 years, I was deeply saddened to hear the news. I keenly remember the […]
“in a Sor recital that tapers sensitively from sets of variations through fantasies to pieces of sweet repose. Giglio has a remarkable ear for the latent expressivity of a single tone, whether in isolation or in the company of its brethren. Moreover, his playing throughout is as lyrical as it is expository. But it is […]
The March 2020 Gramophone issue reviews the Dante Quartet’s Stanford: String Quartets, Volume Three recording with a rave for the whole set: “Hats off, folks: the completion of the first full recorded cycle of Stanford’s string quartets deserves a moment of acknowledgment. … the more you listen to this music, the more distinctively Stanford’s own […]
The Strad Magazine Reviews Janet Sung, Simon Callaghan, Britten Sinfonia, and Jac van Steen’s recording, The Deeper the Blue…, in the February 2020 issue: “this enterprising programme focuses intentionally on music more celebrated (rightly or wrongly) for its stylistic flavours and colours than for its architectural rigour.… Indeed, it is Janet Sung’s deft ability to […]
Gramophone Magazine names Kathleen Ferrier In New York the February 2020 Reissue/Archive Editor’s Choice! “A treasure, to be sure. Four years before Bruno Walter’s celebrated, indeed classic Vienna recording (1952) with Kathleen Ferrier, the man who conducted the world premiere of Mahler’s pantheistic symphony with voices takes his newest discovery from the Edinburgh Festival to […]
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ BBC Magazine Review “Janet Sung shines in the lyrical episodes of Vaughan Williams’s Violin Concerto, most especially in the beautiful Adagio – Tranquillo central movement. … Kenneth Hesketh’s richly colourful and evocative orchestral soundscapes… complement Sung’s by turns gleaming harmonics, bird-like song and yearning lyricism. … Sung and the Britten Sinfonia play Ravel’s lush […]
Founding SOMM in 1995 felt like a kind of homecoming after a long and fascinating journey through music study and performance, family life and the record industry, all closely interwoven. The SOMM logo of acorns leaves and acorns symbolises strength, the acorn being the seed of the mighty oak. My late husband Keith drew it […]
TWO SOMM releases have been named MusicWeb International Recordings of the Year! We also have to share this wonderful quote from critic Nick Barnard: “I am glad to be able to include a disc from SOMM again this year – their recordings, repertoire and performances are always a delight.” “Mark Bebbington has an astonishingly wide […]
“A treat for fans of English music: two piano concertos by two ladies, Dora Bright (1862-1951) and Ruth Gipps (1921-1999). Bright’s writing in the concerto is highly Romantic, gesturing towards Schumann and Brahms, but the material is undeniably English. … [Samantha] Ward is a fine player… finding just the right flow for the appealing melodies. […]