Browse: Presto Recordings of the Year, Barber (composer)

The persistent ‘Baroque specialist’ label hardly sums up this distinguished French soprano. With her distinctively radiant, secure tone and cut-crystal upper range, her repertoire has always... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2018, More…

Veteran Rosalind Plowright, moving down from soprano to mezzo repertoire, is an effective Baroness; Edgaras Montvidas is a fine Anatol with a handsome presence, if not quite in Nicolai Gedda’s... — Fanfare, January/February 2020 More…

Veteran Rosalind Plowright, moving down from soprano to mezzo repertoire, is an effective Baroness; Edgaras Montvidas is a fine Anatol with a handsome presence, if not quite in Nicolai Gedda’s... — Fanfare, January/February 2020 More…

individually, they play with attractive timbre and immaculate intonation and articulation. Collectively, they blend their colours with great finesse, within dynamics ranging from cushioned pianissimo... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2014, More…

In this work, Trifonov staves off potential sentimentality and produces – as usual – an exquisite tone…Some listeners will undoubtedly miss the epic nature of the original orchestration, but... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2017, More…

This is the finest performance of Barber's Agnus Dei I've heard by any choir, live or on record…a wonderful recital, not to be missed. — BBC Music Magazine, August 2015 More…

In his orchestrations Matthews makes inspired and sensitive use of string colour and intimate solos…and in Schubert's Ständchen for vocal ensemble, the demure-sounding girls' choir, supported... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2017, More…

[The Strand Settings] already seems a classic with its declamatory vocal ardour, orchestral finesse, and communicative confluence of styles, from tinkling minimalism to a snatch of mock Handel.... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2017, More…