"... In these days of period or aspiring to original instrumentation it is refreshing, just once in a while to encounter a performance which harks back to the earliest Brandenburg recordings of the 1930s and 1940s ...
"... I find expressive delicacy of that order quite captivating, with sensitive playing from all three protagonists – flautist Daniel Pailthorpe, violinist Maya Koch and pianist Florian Uhlig ...
"... Soloist Emily Pailthorpe has an even, rounded tone, an apposite feeling for ornament and an ability to phrase with sprightly elegance ...
"... Emily Pailthorpe and the London Conchord Ensemble playing what always strikes my ears as being one of Bach’s most radiantly communicative concertos ...
"... These musicians seem to have an intuitive sense of a just tempo in their Bach playing. I felt this particularly in their performance of the lyrically sustained slow movement of the D minor Concerto for two violins and strings. The soloists, Maya Koch and Daniel Rowland declaim the limpid, song-like melody with sensibility and proper regard for eighteenth century expressive restraint ...
"... an attractive pair of CDs ..."
--CD Review on BBC Radio 3, 18. November 2006
"... enjoyable performances ... animated and clean-lined, and with a finely controlled sound from Pailthorpe as solo flute"
"... attractively played with Emily Pailthorpe as the fine soloist ..."
"... a fresh bright approach ..."
"... horn solosist in (Brandenburg Concerto) No 2 is a delightful idea and it works very well here with Nicholas Korth as a nimble soloist ..."
--International Record Review, January 2007
****
"... the refreshing sound of the London Conchord Ensemble ..."
--Classic FM Magazine, January 2007
"... equipped with modern instruments but plenty of awareness of period style, and with their well chosen tempos and clear textures they give plenty of easy enjoyment ..."
"... If you want stylish Bach orchestral music on modern instruments ... this little Bach collection could be for you"
--Gramophone Magazine, January 2007
REVIEW FOR "PARIS" WITH MAYA KOCH AND JULIAN MILFORD
Paris chosen as "Strad Selection of the Month"
"Sumptuously engineered and glowingly played, this recital disc simply oozes class...."
"... Maya Koch and Julian Milford really have their fingers on the pulse, ... tantalisingly infusing this glorious music with about as much warmth and interpretative vim as it can take without losing its neo-Classical poise..."
"... playing with an elegance and natural warmth that is delectable..."
"... Milhaud's Le Boeuf sur le toit ... is also fiendishly difficult ..., yet Koch and Milford hardly seem to notice, so infectious are their fine-honed musical responses. Bravo!"
--Julian Haylock, The Strad, April 2007
REVIEW FOR CONCHORD @ CHICHESTER FESTIVAL
"A young orchestra full of vitality and infectious enthusiasm produced a concert of music by Mozart and Bach which was as near perfection as it is possible to get. The distinct feeling was that each musician was a superb soloist in their own right.
The highly accomplished soloists were Maya Koch (violin), Daniel Pailthorpe (flute), Emily Pailthorpe (oboe) and Nicholas Korth (horn) whose individual playing was impeccable. Outstanding was the delightful andante trio of flute, oboe and violin. The total empathy between Maya Koch (violin) and Emily Pailthorpe (oboe) in Bach’s Concerto in C minor for Violin and Oboe was almost tangible. Their playing of the Adagio movement against the pizzicato playing of the rest of the orchestra was sublime. The delicacy and exquisite beauty of tone of the harp playing of Lucy Wakeford together with the interpretive mastery of Daniel Pailthorpe (flute) produced a delightful and impressive performance Mozart’s Concerto in C for flute and harp."
Graham Hewitt, Chichester Today, July 06
OTHER REVIEWS
“The ensemble clicks perfectly, the playing seemingly effortless and a regard for precision never stifling the musicians natural feeling for life and breath. All very enjoyable.”
--BBC Music Magazine on Conchord's "LOEFFLER, PIERNE, DURUFLE" CD (ASV DCA1139), February 2003
“Conchord revel in the strange, pictorially evocative sounds that can be drawn from exploiting the resonance of a skilfully amplified piano, from gently strumming or dramatically plucking its strings, from chanting or whispering into it and from using extended techniques not merely to imitate the voices of whales but to evoke their habitat, to reflect on their antiquity and to point up kinships between their music and that of the East ... this beautifully recorded disc will be an ideal introduction to Crumbs hypnotic world.”
--Gramophone Magazine on George Crumb's Vox Balaenae, November 2002
“They offer glittering performances. One is compelled to listen.”
--International Record Review, April 2004
“The flexible chamber group Conchord has made this work something of a speciality and one felt it had this music in its bones, coping ably with all the advanced playing techniques and taking the theatricality in its stride”
--The Daily Telegraph on George Crumb's Vox Balaenae at the City of London festival, June 23, 2004
“What emerges is a vivid impression of the size and majesty of these animals, and of a different way of measuring time. The polished performance from three members of the chamber group Conchord was a huge help.”
--The Guardian on George Crumb's Vox Balaenae at the City of London festival, June 23, 2004
“This poetic eco-work of 1971 ... beautifully coloured, was the evenings highlight. It received a poised reading.”
--The Evening Standard on George Crumb Vox Balaenae at Conchord's Wigmore Hall debut
“Wind-driven wonder”
--Time Out Magazine
“Its a poignant experience, superbly realised by Conchord”
--The Wire
“With a pungently characterised account of Brittens dazzling and nervy Temporal Variations (1936), this makes a very rewarding anthology.”
--Gramophone Magazine on Though Lovers be Lost (Oboe Classics CC2008), June 2004
back to top