Browse: First Hand (label)

With a mix of traditional songs and contemporary works, this disc explores the varied potential of the recorder. The ensemble creates a controlled sound and clean tone. Lots of fun. — BBC Music Magazine, January 2018, 4 out of 5 stars More…

[Baines] shows us that familiar tunes being reduced to nubs or slots and then brought back to life by an artist can turn into gorgeous confections...Baines and Amyas brilliantly evoke the character... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Yes, there are vocal quibbles. Yes, the sound quality varies between songs. But the recording deserves five stars for vision and determination. It is well worth buying, not only to celebrate... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2023, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Kentner’s playing...is very strongly characterized. His tone is lucent, but with slowish tempi, allowing the music to unfold spaciously, the effect is of a dark lucidity...A souvenir of a conductor... — MusicWeb International, August 2012 More…

[Boult] sees the Second Symphony as a "bright and dramatic" work, and that's how he conducts it, with fast tempi in the outer movements...However, the middle movements, none of them rushed, are... — Gramophone Magazine, January 2011 More…

The core works are a set of six cello duos and a cello sonata by the Naples-born, Dublin-based composer Tommaso Giordani. They are simple but attractive works, reminiscent of Boccherini and Haydn,... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2023, 4 out of 5 stars More…

This very cheaply priced and well-packaged set shows what the London Mozart Players were like in the years before they had competition...These recordings, made in the late 1950s...show not only... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2010, 4 out of 5 stars More…

How refreshing and deeply compelling to encounter Alexandra Papastefanou’s no-holds-barred, red-blooded, freely yet subtly pedalled responses to this era-defining compendium. As if entranced... — BBC Music Magazine, October 2018, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…