GUEST CONDUCTING
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with Carolyn Sampson (soprano) / SCHUBERT; MAHLER; BRAHMS
“[McCreesh] opened Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony with a delicious pianissimo. It felt that, if you breathed, you’d interrupt the performance.
From that he managed to build some incredible crescendi, extracting large swathes of colour from the orchestra who obviously responded highly positively.
The slow second movement was quite radiant, understated in many ways, but delightfully rounded.”
Glyn Mon Hughes, Liverpool Daily Post (Liverpool), 14 February 2011
Kammerorchesterbasel, with Sol Gabetta (cello) / DELIUS; DVOŘÁK; ELGAR
“Paul McCreesh and the Kammerorchester Basel were the ideal partners for Sol Gambetta, shaping the orchestral part with just as much sophistication and intensity as she did.
Kammerorchester Basel had already proved itself to be an elite ensemble in the opening piece of the concert, "The walk to the paradise garden" by Frederick Delius. Despite the relatively small size of the orchestra, the strings created a powerful richness of tone, and all the musicians responded to McCreesh's conducting with great flexibility and attention to detail. The maestro, well-known for his collaboration with the Gabrieli Consort and Players, and his mastery of the early music repertoire, proved himself an elegant and refined interpreter of this 'fin de siecle' music. He allowed it to blossom sumptuously, with the radiance of a thousand colours.
After the interval, McCreesh combined his feel for the romantic with the stylistic expertise of the orchestra, well-versed in the performance techniques of the period, for Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No.7 in D minor, Op.70. The performance was expressive in its phrasing and full of drama, with discreet use of vibrato, clarity of form, firm rhythmic command and eloquent development of the motifs and themes. Kammerorchester Basel demonstrated their excellence in this fascinatingly varied score.”
Die Rheinpfalz (Ludwigshafen), 25 April 2010
“McCreesh set a gentle tempo, and deployed a delightful variety of dynamics and tone colours, whilst allowing the brass section to shine through with their fantastic mix of colours. In contrast, Dvorak's seventh symphony in D minor was all about life. The musical themes, structure and mood seem to have come naturally to the Bohemian composer. The violas and cellos opened this rich symphony quietly, skilfully building the tension. McCreesh gave a clear structure to the full-bodied composition, and brought out both the overall phrasing and the lyricism of individual passages. The passages in the major key shone through, and the dance-like passages were treated with a sensitive rubato, reminiscent of the legendary rubatos of which Dvorak was reputedly so keen. The orchestra showed a steely energy in the fortissimo passages, as the musicians willingly pushed themselves to their limits.”
Marianne Kierspel, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (Cologne), 21 April 2010
“Dvorak's Seventh Symphony gave [Kammerorchester Basel] the opportunity to play in a relatively large formation, whilst still imbuing the piece with all the riches of chamber music. Paul McCreesh was like a magician, bringing his precise mental image of the piece, with all its richness of tone colours, to life.”
Olaf Weiden, Kölnische Rundschau (Cologne), 21 April 2010
Münchener Kammerorchester / MENDELSSOHN; MOZART; SCHOECK
“The sensitively performed slow introduction to young Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Symphony No.9, played without a need to over-emphasise every last detail, revealed what an exciting concert this would be.
The expectations raised in the overture were fulfilled in the sparkling first movement, and exceeded in the sharp contrapuntal Andante section. British conductor Paul McCreesh, founder of the Gabrieli Consort and conductor of Rolando Villazón’s Handel CD, had prepared the Münchener Kammerorchester faultlessly.
… Mozart’s Symphony No.20 summed up the qualities of the evening: the playing was full of colour and rich variations of light and shade, without the brute force which so often takes over in historically informed performances.”
Abendzeitung München (Munich), 28 May 2009
Notes appeared out of nowhere and slowly took shape; gradually overlapping and entering into every-changing rapports with one another. The introduction to Mendelssohn’s Symphony for Strings No.9 in C major had an inner tension which gripped the audience in the Prinzregententheater, and seemed to drag them right into the centre of the action. The Münchener Kammerorchester under Paul McCreesh kept this short passage hovering in the ether, held in a fragile but unbroken equilibrium.”
Johannes Rubner, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich), 28 May 2009
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra / HAYDN: Die Jahreszeiten
“... Haydn, the eldest of the Viennese Classics, received a magnificent tribute from the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under the direction of another famed early-music expert, Paul McCreesh.
... The prosaic and lengthy text can make listening to Die Jahreszeiten a test of patience. Conductor McCreesh cannot be faulted for this: he was able to make the performance into a dramatic experience."
Frits van der Waal, De Volkskrant (Amsterdam), January 2009
“Full-blooded, brilliant Jahreszeiten with Paul McCreesh
... The Dutch Chamber Orchestra gave a magnificent performance of the sequel [of Die Schöpfung]: Die Jahreszeiten, conducted by Paul McCreesh.
… Even though this time the forces of the choir and orchestra in Die Jahreszeiten were considerably smaller than in 1801, McCreesh did not compromise on the grand and exalted, the spectacular and the brilliant. In his vision, Die Jahreszeiten are a match for Die Schöpfung. The orchestra was allowed to indulge itself under the command of orchestra leader Gordan Nikolic, one of the most high-spirited musicians on earth. And the excellent soloists - soprano Camilla Tilling, tenor Mark Padmore and baritone Andrew Foster-Williams - were allowed to use their big, expressive voices freely.”
Kasper Jansen, NRC Handelsblad (Rotterdam), January 2009
“Programming around centenaries can have its pitfalls, but any excuse to perform this great oratorio is very welcome. Especially under the direction of a seasoned early music conductor like Paul McCreesh. He was able to elicit ever changing, delightful sounds from the choir and orchestra […]
… the result is overwhelming […]
… With his tall stature he calmly conducted the cheerfully tinkling pianoforte, beautifully integrated with the delicate sound of the string section.”
Kees Arntzen, Trouw (Amsterdam), January 2009
Kammerorchesterbasel / WEBER; MENDELSSOHN; BERLIOZ
“Much-loved and familiar though all these works may be, each was performed in the freshest possible way. The string playing was daring and virtuosic. Intonation faltered occasionally in the Mendelssohn, but it was always responsive to McCreesh’s committed direction.”
Martin Kettle, The Guardian (London), 4 February 2008
GABRIELI CONSORT & PLAYERS
MENDELSSOHN: Elijah (at BBC Proms)
“A perfectly rendered performance of Mendelssohn's greatest oratorio.”
Alexandra Coghlan, The New Statesman (London), 2 September 2011
“Where Mendelssohn excels is in that sweetly consoling edification which the Victorians so loved. But this too needs care if it‘s not to sound sickly, a danger this performance avoided. Conductor Paul McCreesh made sure the tempos never dragged, and he gave the echoing of phrases between voices a dramatic edge.”
Ivan Hewitt, The Daily Telegraph (London), 30 August 2011
“When Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Consort and Players take on a project, they go the whole hog. And the hog here resounded with a massive string section, five youthfully fervent choirs, the beefy Albert Hall organ and the rumble of the world’s only playable contrabass ophicleide, a gleaming monster that rose above the rest of the brass like the tower over Blackpool.
“The combined result was a wall of sound of thunderous depth that almost knocked you over. McCreesh’s arms were kept very busy successfully keeping his forces in step.”
Geoff Brown, The Times (London), 30 August 2011
“In BBC Prom 58, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and Players made a good case for period performance of Mendelssohn‘s magnificent Elijah op 70.
This was an inspired choice, as McCreesh and his orchestra are specialists in period performance, and have attempted to recreate something close to the 1847 Birmingham premiere of this work, so we can imagine its impact at the time.
Orchestrally, this BBC Proms performance was wonderful. […] Furthermore, McCreesh‘s musicians play as if they‘re evoking ancient Hebrew instruments. […] McCreesh and the Gabrieli‘s prove the power of period practice.
Conducting this many singers at once is difficult, but here they were so well drilled, that no-one fluffed an entry. Perfect co-ordination, but even better, great enthusiasm and committment.”
Anne Ozorio, Opera Today (London), 30 August 2011
“Prototype movie. Tropical hurricane. Last night's Elijah was both. But when done well, what Elijah certainly isn't, is a churchy oratorio.
Paul McCreesh played the most gifted auteur, paying attention to every one of the many perspectival details that are carved out through shifting rhythms, pregnant fermatas and ensemble arrangements.”
Igor Toronyi-Lalic, TheArtsDesk.com, 30 August 2011
“… 300 in the assembled choir, plus an orchestra of more than 120, taking in three serpents and three ophicleides – one of them the only playable contrabass ophicleide in the world, normally residing in New York. Visually as well as sonically, this was a mammoth spectacle.”
George Hall, The Guardian (London), 29 August 2011
“…Here‘s Paul McCreesh, a pioneer of the new enlightenment, to show us that with Elijah the Victorians had it right. Around five-hundred performers, including a massive orchestra complete with serpents and assorted ophicleides, gave a performance of it that did indeed knock the audience flat.
…McCreesh had the measure both of the work and of his huge forces. He might have been conducting a madrigal, so extraordinary was his attention to detail; moreover, his interpretation was often revelatory, with the heathen ―Baal, we cry to thee emerging as a confident imprecation rather than a frantic plea. The youthful vigour of McCreesh‘s choirs ensured a warble-free sing, the choristers‘ blend and tonal richness a joy throughout.
This Prom was a great event, an exhibition of magnificent musicianship and proof positive that Elijah is back.”
Mark Valencia, ClassicalSource.com, 28 August 2011
MONTEVERDI: Vespers 1610 (at Christ Church, Spitalfields)
“The church’s austere interior suited Paul McCreesh’s restrained approach to Monteverdi’s “Vespers” well, with modest forces (12 singers and 12 players) […] However, there’s no doubt that the impact of the McCreesh performance-practice was just as overwhelming.
Without being overly expansive, McCreesh let his sequence and Monteverdi’s music unfold, natural and unforced, and, indeed, sat down in the motets and gave the singers their head. The Gabrieli Players were sensational, there is no other word, in the ‘Sonata’, and the musicians produced a broad range of colour in the ‘Magnificat’.”
Peter Reed, ClassicalSource.com, 11 November 2010
HAYDN: The Creation (at BBC Proms)
“The other highlight of the weekend was Paul McCreesh’s Albert Hall-scaled period-instrument per-formance of Haydn’s great oratorio, The Creation […]
The magnificent revelation of light in the opening chorus can rarely have sounded as resplendent as it did here, and McCreesh conjured up one of the most thrilling evocations of the sunrise in the Arch¬angel Uriel’s description of the first dawn.”
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times (London), 26 July 2009
“Paul McCreesh was always bold, but taking Haydn's Creation by the scruff of its neck was an exploit that takes some beating […] The opening was magical, with clarinet, flute and horn making brief solo appearances in a world where everything was in a hushed state of becoming: its explosion into life, as the word "light" was sung, was the first of many spine-tingling moments.”
Michael Church, The Independent (London), five stars, 22 July 2009
“The visceral appeal of the sound was enough. With two timpanists thundering away, the storm scenes were more vivid than ever, the stereophonically separated trumpets gave a new force to the light-filled moments, and the big body of strings playing without vibrato had an extraordinary nobility of sound. All this might have seemed like gilding the lily, had not the quintet of soloists been so strong, the choral singing been so focused and alive, and McCreesh so adept at combining spaciousness with springing energy. Preparing this recreation of the Creation has been a labour of love for him, and it proved to be a triumphant one.”
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph (London), 20 July 2009
“Here, in a version founded on the strengths of the Gabrieli Consort and Players […] the great choruses possessed a weight that never impeded movement or clarity.
McCreesh has revised the oratorio's familiar but ancient English translation, which reads oddly in places. His improvements deserve to become standard for the next 200 years; his enthusiastic approach kept textures clear, and the weightiest passages danced […] a nigh-on impeccable account.”
George Hall, The Guardian (London), 19 July 2009
“McCreesh appreciates this piece as a musician. Conducting from memory, his lucid direction of all the performers made for a superb journey from the primordial chaos to mankind’s jubilant arrival. There are so many good things to say about this performance.”
Chris Caspell, ClassicalSource.com, 18 July 2009
“Paul McCreesh marshalled his colossal period instrument forces to deliver as exciting performance of Haydn’s The Creation as you're ever likely to hear.
Over and over again detail shone through, in no small part down to McCreesh’s total grasp of the work’s architecture, but he was also aided and abetted by playing of such breathtaking beauty and precision by a greatly augmented Gabrieli Consort & Players, that this Prom will linger long in the memory.”
Keith McDonnell, musicOMH (UK), five stars, 18 July 2009
HANDEL: Jephtha (at the Barbican)
“… at last week’s performance of the oratorio Jephtha, Handel’s last major work, it was the drama at the heart of the music that set the evening alight […] McCreesh, as always, was a galvanising force […] fortified by additional singers from the Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir, his excellent Gabrieli Consort and Players had extra punch.”
Richard Fairman, The Financial Times (London), 28 June 2009
HANDEL: Acis and Galatea (at Christ Church, Spitalfields)
“McCreesh and his players kept the score light on its feet.”
George Hall, The Guardian (London), 2 May 2007
“Handel conceived this work for a tiny group of singers plus a small ensemble, and this was how Paul McCreesh and the excellent Gabrieli Consort presented it […] Ninety minutes never passed so fast.”
Michael Church, The Independent (London), five stars, 1 May 2007
RECORDINGS
Gabrieli Consort & Players; Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra; Chetham’s School of Music Brass Ensemble / BERLIOZ: Grande Messe des Morts 1837 (with Robert Murray) [Winged Lion / Signum Classics]
"McCreesh brings new life to Berlioz's choral warhorse. For sure, nothing beats the live Berlioz Requiem experience. But this recording's impact, its rich surface detail, underlying drama and revelatory turns of phrase offer the next best thing.
Anyone in search of a transformative listening experience, Berlioz agnostics among them, should make this release a priority purchase. Expect to hear terrific choral singing and an uncommonly close corporate involvement in the ritual of making music.”
Andrew Stewart, Classic FM Magazine (London), five stars, December 2011
“… this release is a very promising start of Paul McCreesh’s new recording enterprise. As the many Mahler 8s that are appearing on the market at the moment demonstrate, it can be very difficult for a conductor to make his mark on a very large scale work. The practicalities of performance usually end up ironing out the interpretive individuality. But McCreesh has done something genuinely new and interesting with the Berlioz Requiem. If future releases on Winged Lion are as distinctive and accomplished as this, it promises to be one of the more worthwhile of the many own-label projects currently taking over the market.”
Gavin Dixon, Gramophone (London), Editor’s Choice, November 2011
“With 200 singers and massed choirs of period brass, Berlioz’s 1837 Grande Messe has rarely sounded so thrilling or transparent.”
Anna Picard, The Independent on Sunday (London), 23 October 2011
“Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts here receives an interpretation that is impressive not merely by dint of the music’s more monumental statements or its ample sonorities, but also through the subtlety of expression that Paul McCreesh elicits from the massive forces required to perform it.
If we tend to associate McCreesh with the illuminating work he has done in the early music repertoire with his Gabrieli Consort and Players, his reach has been extending much further in recent years, and this Berlioz is a fine example of his sensibility and skill.
In a liner note, McCreesh calls it “a vast and almost impossible project”, but he has brought it off with superb results.”
Geoffrey Norris, The Daily Telegraph (London), five stars, CD of the Week, 13 October 2011
“This Grande Messe from last year’s Wratislavia Cantans Festival is as fine an account as I have ever heard, and, in the warm acoustic of St Mary Magdalene Church, in Wroclaw, it sounds wonderful: overwhelming in the great apocalyptic tuttis, but at the same time beautifully clear in detail, with a lovely bloom on the individual choral and instrumental lines of this paradoxically intimate work. Paul McCreesh, the festival’s artistic director, has a profound understanding of the score and has inspired his Anglo-Polish forces, above all the superb chorus, to feel it with him and take it to their hearts.”
David Cairns, The Sunday Times (London), 2 October 2011
“Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Consort have a fine track record of large-scale Baroque choral works, so it's surprising to find him opening his new label, Winged Lion, with the great monstre sacré of the Romantic repertoire. McCreesh provides pretty much the enormous forces Berlioz demands – 60 tenors at least – singing French Latin, as well as mostly original instruments (including ophicleides), leavened with Polish forces from his own Wratislavia Cantans festival. But he recognises that Berlioz sought more than mere noisy grandeur, and the results are fascinating.”
Michael Scott Rohan, BBC Music Magazine (London), five stars, October 2011
Gabrieli Players / HANDEL: Arias (with Roland Villazón) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“McCreesh and the Gabrielis play it, as ever, with total commitment and a real, driven verve.”
Robert Thicknesse, Opera Now (London), May 2009
Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro Real Madrid / HANDEL: Tamerlano (with Plácido Domingo, Monica Bacelli, Ingela Bohlin, Sara Mingardo, Jennifer Holloway) [Opus Arte]
“Paul McCreesh gets decent playing from the non-period Madrid musicians.”
BBC Music Magazine (London), May 2009
“Conductor Paul McCreesh calls George Frideric Handel’s 1724 Creation one of the greatest operas of the 18th century. Here, in a year-old live performance, he makes glorious work of the orchestra of the Teatro Reál in Madrid and an excellent cast that includes tenor Placido Domingo.”
John Terauds, Toronto Star (Toronto, ON), 28 April 2009
“Tamerlano’s four-hour length is buoyed by the vigour with which Paul McCreesh conducts the meaty, non-Baroque house orchestra of the Teatro Real [...] A fine production of a very fine opera.”
The Times (London), 27 February 2009
Gabrieli Consort / A Spotless Rose (works by Adès, Bax, Desprez, Górecki, Grieg, Howells, MacMillan, Mouton, Palestrina, Tavener, Stravinsky, Swayne) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“This is a collection which is genuinely timeless. Hugely impressive.”
Ivan Moody, International Record Review (London), June 2009
“There can be nothing but praise for the breathtaking assurance and responsiveness of McCreesh's singers throughout [...] the sound is as atmospheric and voluptuous as can be imagined [...] this is indeed a glorious CD.”
Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone (London), March 2009
“It's magnificently sung here by the Gabrieli Consort, whom Paul McCreesh directs with passion and dedication throughout a CD I have no hesitation in labelling essential.”
Terry Blain, BBC Music Magazine (London), January 2009
Gabrieli Consort & Players / HAYDN: The Creation (with Sandrine Piau, Mark Padmore, Neal Davies, Miah Persson, Peter Harvey, Ruth Massey) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“Informed speculation, inspired direction and a collective sense of occasion combine to make this recording amongst the most compelling Creations in the discosphere.
This is no routine run out of a choral warhorse. Rather, Paul McCreesh and company dare to let Haydn’s vivid score off the leash to pursue its joyful take on created nature.
Above all, McCreesh conjures up a cogent, highly personal reading that sounds refreshingly alive and genuinely struck by the wonder of Haydn’s creativity.”
Classic FM Magazine (London), Opera & Vocal Disc of the Month, June 2008
“This recording of Haydn’s great oratorio is sung in English, but with a difference. Paul McCreesh has made changes to the standard English text, ironing out its awkward or obscure moments, and has also altered Haydn’s recitatives to fit.
One of the perennial delights of the work is the illustrative detail of the results of God’s creation – the beasts, birds, creeping things and so forth – that Haydn depicts with such imagination and yet an almost childlike sense of wonder.
Most important of all is McCreesh’s own commitment, which combines a keen sensitivity to sonority – the Representation of Chaos is awe-inspiring – with an ear for detail and a firm yet flexible approach to tempo. The results are exceptional, overtaking even John Eliot Gardiner’s striking version on the same label.”
BBC Music Magazine (London), Disc of the Month, May 2008
“Under McCreesh the choral textures are more clearly focused, the orchestral choirs more cleanly delineated, features as much a credit to the conductor as to the engineering.
The effect is stunning, providing greater clarification of the chromatic richness and daring of the entire section. This release is the ‘period’ version to have ...”
Mortimer H. Frank, International Record Review (London), April 2008
“McCreesh, conducting his Gabrieli Consort and Players, has fine-tuned the English libretto to remove its oddities, but otherwise steers a faithful course through Haydn’s great celebration of divine order: Part 3 (The Garden of Eden) is wondrously done.”
Andrew Clark, The Financial Times (London), 12 April 2008
“… the big celebratory choruses make a more powerful impact than in any of the rival period versions [...] In all the choruses McCreesh's pacing – eager but never hectic – and rhythmic energy are wonderfully inspiriting [...] for a “Creation” in English, this new version – exhilarating, poetic and marvellously sung – becomes the prime recommendation.”
Richard Wigmore, Gramophone (London), March 2008
“Sung in English, this is an exhilarating performance of a breathtaking masterpiece. Paul McCreesh relishes all the illustrative detail and is not averse to broad tempi, as some period-practice conductors are.”
Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph (London), 30 March 2008
“With period instruments tripled in number here and professional singers augmented by Chetham’s Chamber Choir, Paul McCreesh’s reading of ‘The Creation’ adumbrates tenderness, innovation (the libretto has been tweaked), and spectacle [...] strong singing from the chorus and soloists make this a highly persuasive performance.”
Anne Picard, The Independent on Sunday, 23 March 2008
“Forget the notion that “authentic” automatically equals small-scale. Haydn relished large forces when he could get them; and for the triumphant Viennese public première of The Creation in 1799, he pitted a choir of around 80 against a Mahlerian-sized orchestra of 120. Paul McCreesh follows suit in an English-language performance that, uniquely on disc, combines sonic splendour, athleticism and tangy period detail.
While yielding to none in joyous exhilaration, McCreesh gives full value to the mystery and awe of creation. Unlike most period practitioners, he often favours broad tempos, whether in a wonderfully creepy evocation of the primeval slime in “Chaos” or the most majestic of sunrises.
McCreesh's five soloists (Haydn himself never used more than three) are ideally chosen. In "With Verdure Clad", Sandrine Piau's smiling, limpid tone and graceful phrasing combine deliciously with the woody clarinet and buzzy bassoon.”
Richard Wigmore, The Daily Telegraph (London), CD of the Week, 15 March 2008
“The German-language recordings by Gardiner (Archiv) and Harnoncourt (Harmonia Mundi) have their strong claims. But if you want a Creation in English, this new version - sonically thrilling, marvellously sung and characterised – sweeps the field.
It’s an awesome sound – the first climax, with antiphonal drums and trumpets bringing light to the depiction of Chaos that opens the work, is ear-splitting – and McCreesh maintains that theatrical level of drama [...] a performance that really does reinvent one of the greatest works in the choral canon.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian (London), 14 March 2008
Gabrieli Consort / The Road to Paradise (works by Bennett, Britten, Byrd, Harris, Holst, Howells, Parsons, Sheppard, Tallis, Tavener) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“McCreesh’s exquisite programme follows the soul's journey from life through death into Paradise, finding resonances of ancient plainchant in later choral settings [...] the quality of singing is mesmerising.”
Helen Wallace, Barry Witherden, BBC Music Magazine (London), January 2008
“The Gabrieli Consort leaps into the chart with its first-ever ‘concept’ album.”
Mark Forrest, Classic FM Magazine (London), September 2007
“Every performance is beautifully conceived and recorded in an acoustic that gives enough churchy resonance without obscuring the detail.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian (London), 22 June 2007
“McCreesh turns an artistic thread binding the two golden ages of English choral music – Tudor and 20th-century – into a pilgrimage of the soul, from life to death to immortality in paradise [...] There are riches here, superbly sung by the Gabrielis [...]”
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times (London), Classical CD of the Week, 24 June 2007
“There is no doubt that Paul McCreesh has been inspired to draw from his singers performances of unusual sumptuousness in their own right [...]”
Marc Rochester, International Record Review (London), July 2007
“... It is his personal passion for the specific choices that drives the enthusiasm behind the performances [...]”
Caroline Gill, Peter Quantrill, Gramophone (London), July 2007
“As always, the Gabrieli Consort’s singing is of the highest quality and the recording is impeccable.”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times (London), 14 July 2007
Gabrieli Consort & Players / MONTEVERDI: Vespro della Beata Vergine [Deutsche Grammophon]
“… McCreesh’s energetic conception of the Vespers has plenty of vitality, and his musicians capture a sensation of immediacy that eludes many rival performances [...] an admirable and enjoyable achievement.”
David Vickers, Gramophone (London), December 2006
“The results [...] are glorious [...] McCreesh gives us a compelling attempt to place Monteverdi’s settings of the five psalms, the hymn and the Magnificat appropriately amongst the plainsongs and incidental music of a Vespers service […] There are […] some extra rewards in McCreesh’s version.”
Anthony Pryer, Jeremy Pound, BBC Music Magazine (London), November 2006
“McCreesh’s Vespers are [...] a serious, thoughtful and generally very persuasive possible solution.”
Andrew O’Connor, International Record Review (London), November 2006
“McCreesh does it all so naturally that his use of plainchant and the insertions of instrumental movements by other late renaissance composers, as well as an organ improvisation, merely enhance the impact of Monteverdi's extraordinary compendium of choral music and bind it into an organic unity [...]”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian (London), 3 November 2006
“Ravishing McCreesh [...] No weak links exist in Paul McCreesh’s new recording [...]
The Gabrieli Consort recording has the finest instrumental playing I’ve heard, and the most literate and intelligent continuo accompaniment.”
Anna Picard,
Bloomberg News (London), 12 October 2006
Gabrieli Consort & Players / MOZART: Great Mass in C Minor (with Camilla Tilling, Sarah Connolly, Timothy Robinson, Neal Davies) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“From the outset, it is clear that McCreesh's is going to be a performance high on drama.
McCresh’s exceptional ear for balance pays countless dividends.”
Brian Robins, Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ), July 2006
“Paul McCreesh displays passionate advocacy for the strangely neglected Mass in C minor [...] McCreesh couldn't be a stronger advocate.”
Philadelphia Sunday Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA), 5 March 2006
“The performance is absolutely first-class in every respect, Paul McCreesh directs the performance with finely controlled enthusiasm, eschewing the temptation to linger over particularly beautiful details, selecting and integrating convincing tempos, and encouraging both rhythmic precision and telling dynamic gradations. There couldn’t be a better use for that Christmas present CD token that's still lurking on the mantelpiece!”
Peter Branscombe, International Record Review (London), February 2006
“Mozart’s Mass in C minor is given an invigorating performance by Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort.
The choral singing is incisive, the period-orchestra sound is wonderfully warm and McCreesh brings an urgency to the more Baroque choral movements [...]”
Emma Baker, Classic FM Magazine (London), Disc of the Month, February 2006
“There have been excellent period-instrument recordings from Hogwood and Gardiner. McCreesh, sharply responsive both to the Mass's neo-Baroque monumentality and its Italianate sensuousness, is at least their match in drama and colour.”
Richard Wigmore, Gramophone (London), January 2006
“With light-toned singers, period instruments and vibrant tempos, Paul McCreesh's performance brims with freshness and verve [...] few will be disappointed by the performances here, as fiery as they are supple.”
Bradley Bambarger, Star Ledger (Newark), 24 January 2006
Gabrieli Consort & Players / GLUCK: Paride ed Elena (with Magdalena Kožená, Susan Gritton, Carolyn Sampson, Gillian Webster) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“Gluck's third reform opera [...] comes to life in a wonderful performance under Paul McCreesh.”
Richard Lawrence,
Gramophone (London), December 2005
“This magnificent new recording of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Paride ed Elena” from Archiv will doubtless win many new friends for one of the two most neglected works of the composer's maturity […] The conducting of Paul McCreesh cannot be gainsaid [...] In climax after climax, in dance highlight after dance highlight, Mr. McCreesh's dynamic energy seizes us in its grip -- at times, I wanted to jump out of my chair with excitement.”
James Camner, Fanfare (Tenafly), September 2005
“Under Paul McCreesh's direction [...] “Paride ed Elena” comes to life, warmly, energetically, passionately, and with a full palette of colours.”
Max Loppert, Opera (London), September 2005
“The Gabrieli Consort and Players are excellent […] It’s hard to imagine this set ever being surpassed.”
Richard Lawrence, Gramophone (London), Editor’s Choice, August 2005
“A ravishing seduction.”
Richard Wigmore, BBC Music Magazine (London), Opera Choice, July 2005
“Paul McCreesh’s Gabrieli ensemble reminds the listener yet again of the fabulous standard we enjoy these days for early-instrument groups on CD. Rhythmically and tonally the Gabrieli’s contribution is simply faultless; none of the other brilliant groups out there, whether British, French or German, could achieve more in this music.
McCreesh is absolutely at one with his singers, an ultra-sensitive accompanist throughout […]
Roger Pines, International Record Review (London), July 2005
“Conductor Paul McCreesh circumvents the ponderousness that plagues so many Gluck performances.”
David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA), July 2005
“McCreesh’s magnificent cast and crew serves up a veritable rainbow of sounds: dances of billowing softness, throbbing recitatives and tart, lashing (nut unheeded) reminders of civic duties.”
Marion Lignana Rosenberg, Time Out (New York), June 2005
Gabrieli Consort & Players / BIBER: Requiem [Deutsche Grammophon]
“McCreesh makes the best possible case for the Requiem [...] impeccably shaped performances.”
Richard Lawrence, Gramophone (London), February 2005
“McCreesh and his musicians reinforce the expression of joy and grief in this programme […]”
Classic FM Magazine (London), February 2005
“Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Consort are the masters of baroque ceremony.”
Colin Anderson, What’s On (London), February 2005
“... the excellence of the Gabrieli Consort voices and instrumentalists is such that this new version leap-frogs over its illustrious predecessors [...] yet over-all this new version under Paul McCreesh's direction offers greater satisfaction.”
Nicholas Anderson, BBC Music Magazine (London), January 2005
Gabrieli Consort & Players / HANDEL: Saul (with Andreas Scholl, Neal Davies, Susan Gritton, Nancy Argenta, Mark Padmore) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“... the magnificence of the playing McCreesh inspires from his Gabrieli Players places them on a distinctly superior level […]
Handel’s great oratorio gets its finest performance on disc to date.”
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times (London), 12 December 2004
“I expect no more enthralling recording to come my may this year than this breathtaking version of one of the towering monuments of Baroque music [...]
McCreesh brings all of these various strands together with a mastery, sensitivity, and stylistic judgement that match and for the most part surpass anything his predecessors have accomplished in “Saul” [...] the combined richness and lucidity in the textures of McCreesh's performance lend it a power and authority that prove irresistible […]
... you need look no farther than McCreesh.”
Brian Robins, Bernard Jacobson, Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ), September 2004
“A magnificent set, to rank alongside McCreesh's “Theodora” and “Solomon”.”
Richard Wigmore, The Daily Telegraph (London), Classical CD of the Week, May 2004
“… Paul McCreesh giving the score the mixture of spacious grandeur and sharp-edged drama it really demands”.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian (London), 26 March 2004
“McCreesh has an exemplary track record in this repertoire and his cast is well chosen [...]”
The Sunday Times (London), Classical CD of the Week, 7 March 2004
“… the latest Handel release from Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli musicians leaps to the top of the list of recordings of “Saul”.”
Adam Woods, Music Week (London), 6 March 2004
“McCreesh conjures a performance of an unusual power and glory [...] the result is one of the most satisfying Handel oratorio performances for some time.”
Geoff Brown, The Times (London), 5 March 2004
Gabrieli Players / BACH, J.S.: St Matthew Passion (with Deborah York, Julia Gooding, Magdalena Kožená, Susan Bickley, Mark Padmore, James Gilchrist, Peter Harvey, Stephan Loges) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“Paul McCreesh’s performance of the Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is simply a landmark recording.”
Brian Robins, Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ), November 2003
“I absolutely adore this. It was very daring to use just nine solo voices throughout, but Paul McCreesh completely persuades you that it's right and still makes the whole thing sound huge. Besides being musically ravishing, he holds you on the edge of your seat. More tellingly McCreesh never tells you how to feel.”
Douglas Kennedy, Gramophone (London), October 2003
“His latest recording of Bach's “St Matthew Passion” places his work up for comparison with everyone from Furtwängler and Klemperer to Harnoncourt and Gardiner.”
Andrew Stewart, Early Music Today (London), June 2003
“McCreesh knows exactly where he's going and why: this is a tight, clean Matthew Passion, exactly right for an age wary of heavyweight piety. I found it most refreshing.”
Geoff Brown, The Times (London), 15 April 2003
“It’s a stunning interpretation of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Gabrieli Players under Paul McCreesh [...] It’s glorious, uplifting, noble and just the thing to listen to.”
Diana Simmonds, The Sunday Telegraph (London), 6 April 2003
Gabrieli Consort & Players / Music for the Duke of Lerma (works by Cabezón, Gaudí, Gombert, Guerrero, Lobo, Rogier, Romero, Urreda, Victoria) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“Top of my own Christmas list is the ‘Music for the Duke of Lerma’, with Paul McCreesh once again showing his ability to find the most fascinating music, make it sound absolutely gorgeous, and present it in an irresistible package.”
David Fallows, Gramophone (London), December 2003
Gabrieli Consort & Players / GABRIELI; DE RORE: A Venetian Christmas [Deutsche Grammophon]
“Another radiant spectacular from the Gabrieli Consort [...] A gutsy and atmospheric Yuletide celebration.”
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone (London), December 2001
Gabrieli Consort & Players / HANDEL: Theodora (with Susan Gritton, Robin Blaze, Paul Agnew, Susan Bickley) [Deutsche Grammophon]
“A superlative reading of this great work; fine and sensitive rather than merely dazzling.”
Stanley Sadie, Gramophone (London), December 2000
Gabrieli Consort & Players / SCHÜTZ: Christmas Vespers [Deutsche Grammophon]
“A compelling contribution to the Christmas Market.”
Tess Knighton, Gramophone (London), December 1999
Gabrieli Consort & Players / VICTORIA: Requiem [Deutsche Grammophon]
“This is a recording on a grand scale. […] More than any other, this terrific version does all that it can to communicate the pomp and ceremony of a full-blown renaissance Requiem Mass.”
BBC Music Magazine (London), Building a Library, October 2011
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