Browse: Somm (label)

'I strongly believe that contrast is one of the most important aspects of art,’ writes the composer (and in this piece, conductor) in the accompanying note. Stark evidence of that conviction... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2023, 3 out of 5 stars More…

The six musicians featured on this disc are all principal players of the London Handel Orchestra. Their consummate musicianship is consistently delightful: sparkling violin-playing (often with... — Gramophone Magazine, September 2006 More…

Tenuous links to alcohol apart, there is some fine music-making on this disc. A rapt performance of Peter Warlock’s The Full Heart opens it, the discomfiting harmonies and eerie suspensions... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2018, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Rather than adopt contemporary period instrument rhetoric and fleet-footed tempos, Uys and Schoeman set their interpretative compass around the mid-20th century – I was reminded on more than... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…

In terms both of precise co-ordination and engaging interplay, the performances are state-of-the-art. — BBC Music Magazine, July 2022, 4 out of 5 stars More…

A delightful programme of Brazilian works that is every bit as vibrant as the previous volume…The duo has a deft sense of ensemble and Iruzun is a secure and expressive presence throughout. Flint... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2021, 3 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Mark Bebbington's… approach to the brooding and combative Piano Sonata is to give the harmony time enough to breathe, in order to go more intensely into its emotional life. The depressive aspects... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2008, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Iruzun’s sensitive interpretations take Mompou’s stark introspection at face value…she unravels the two little gems based on ‘Au claire de la lune’, the exquisite Trios Variations and the elusive... — Gramophone Magazine, May 2016 More…

Donohoe is particularly attentive to this [operatic] side of Mozart’s expression, prioritising a cantabile tone, vivid articulation and songful phrasing. Although, realistically enough, he eschews... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2022, 4 out of 5 stars More…