Crescendo-magazine 18/10/2024: Un hommage choral pour les 100 ans de la disparition de Stanford
- Son : 8 ,5 Notice : 10 Répertoire : 8,5 Interprétation : 10 - …Les Sixteen sont impeccables, de bout en bout, dans ce répertoire enregistré à Londres, dont ils cisèlent toutes les nuances et les couleurs, souvent raffinées, avec un métier affirmé. Les amateurs de chant choral y trouveront leur miel en termes d’interprétation fervente et circonstanciée…. Jean Lacroix - Article
Gramophone October 2024: CD STANFORD Partsongs, Pastorals and Folksongs - These artists have already served notice of their commitment to this exquisitely wrought repertoire with an uncommonly beautiful recording of Stanford’s Op 119 set of Eight Part-Songs – by far the best known of which remains the indestructibly lovely ‘The Blue Bird’. Now they lavish their superlative skills on its companion collection (also composed in 1910) of Eight Part-Songs, Op 127 –…. , this is an outstanding album. Andrew Achenbach – Review in full
Ritmo January 2024 – Palestrina, Missa Ut re mi fa sol la, etc - *****
… dando como resultado una misa de una belleza apabullante, belleza que aun reluce mas con la limpia y expresiva interpretacion de The Sixteen. En tiempos en los que cada vez se graba menos polifonia, perseverar en la obra de uno de los grandes maestros del Renacimiento interpretandolo a cappella, de manera que la perfeccion sin excepciones de su contrapunto quede expuesto sin veladuras, como un cuadro recien restaurado, es de una valentia admirable. Mercedes Garcia Molina
Limelight-Arts 6/11/2023 : Editor's Choice - December 2023 - Sirens’ Song - The Sixteen blows the dust off the Victorian partsong tradition.
…Arthur Sullivan’s The Long Day Closes, the recording’s epilogue, sets the high-water mark: a sumptuous, bittersweet ballad, no emotion left unwallowed. But Christophers keeps a tight hold on his forces; this is an exercise in understated luxe, letting a stately tempo and the group’s pillowy blend do all the work until the last phrase finally unbends into the subtlest of hairpins.
… The Blue Bird is, of course, the headliner – an evanescent musical moment captured beautifully here in a heat-haze of lower voices, unison sopranos denying us the sharply etched silhouette of a soloist, but giving the composer’s soaring bird a softer-edged, pastel outline….
.…it’s Finzi’s Seven Poems of Robert Bridges where we finally feel the choir start to stretch their legs, given (for the first time) substantial musical ground to cover. Each song is carefully delineated – the joyful intake of breath that is My spirit sang all day, the blossomy sweetness and simplicity of I praise the tender flower, the ravishing lyricism of Nightingales – but there’s also a real sense of arc through a cycle that gets as idiomatic and persuasive an account here as it has ever had. Alexandra Coghlan – Review in full
Gramophone October 2023 : CD Siren’s Song
One would have to travel very far to find an album of British a cappella (mostly) music as beautifully sung as this. …. The Sixteen’s singing, like Mike Hatch’s recording, is as excellent as one would expect. This is truly an album to transport one to another place, though perhaps not in Stanford’s clattery Train! Highly recommended. Guy Rickards – Review in full
Classical Music.com 5/09/2023: CD Sirens’ Song
The Sixteen’s beautiful performance is an ideal way of getting to know them. Immaculate vocal blend and intelligent phrasing are a given when The Sixteen sing, and make their ‘Blue Bird’ one of the most mellifluously attractive on record. But it’s the way the technically difficult corners – the staccato accents in ‘The Witch’ and the abrupt rhythmic hairpins in ‘The Train’, for instance – are executed, combining minimal fuss with maximum exactitude, which truly sets their interpretations apart as exceptional.
Imogen Holst’s ‘Welcome Joy’ and ‘Welcome Sorrow’ -… A set of six partsongs to Keats’s poetry, its delectable combination of harp and women’s voices is vibrantly captured by The Sixteen’s soprano and alto sections. ...
The spurting accelerandos in Finzi’s ‘I have loved flowers that fade’ are superbly timed and implemented, … …, Sullivan’s ‘The Long Day Closes’ is the most impressive – the choir’s eloquence bringing this outstanding album to a moving conclusion. Terry Blain – Review in full
Gramophone September 2023 : Palestrina - Masses Vol 9
… After a somewhat tentative Kyrie, both Palestrina and these singers find new energy in the Gloria, which is full of joyful homophonic textures with a strong rhythmic profile. Harry Christophers has an affinity for upper-voice sections, and there is a lovely example in the Credo starting on ‘Crucifixus etiam pro nobis’.
Further on there are many thoughtful and nuanced moments … … the finest moments are in the motets from the Song of Songs, which seem to catch Palestrina at his most sensuous. Those falling phrases in ‘Descendi in hortum meum’, for instance, are ravishing. Edward Breen – Review in full
Bachtrack 21/06/2023 : Heavenly sounds from The Sixteen with Harry Christophers in Dublin
…Right from the start of Byrd’s psalm, I was struck by the luminous sound of the voices, each crafted into a mellifluous whole by Christophers. The sonorous depths of Philip van Wilder’s O doux regard and the smooth, concentrated phrases of Byrd’s Ne irascaris, Domine were impressively executed, while the wisp of sound on “inquitatis” (sinfulness) was feather-soft. This sense of desolation increased in the Civitas sancti tui, something Christophers elicited in the plaintiff repetitions of “desolata” (forsaken) highlighting the composer’s sense of anguish at the fate of Catholicism in England at the time. The ending was beautifully hushed.
Philippe de Monte’s O suavitas et dulcedo and Byrd’s Vigilate -… These were expertly handled by The Sixteen, …Andrew Larkin – Review in full
The Guardian 20/04/2023 : The Sixteen: Choral Pilgrimage review – Byrd celebration hits the heights *****
Byrd’s genius is perennial, but the particular interest in the programme that conductor Harry Christophers has so meticulously put together is the interlinking of works by Dutch and Flemish composers who specifically influenced Byrd, as well as two new pieces commissioned from Dobrinka Tabakova in memorial tribute. … Standing just forward of Hereford Cathedral’s corona, the Sixteen’s always immaculate delivery seemed to take on a gilded quality here, bringing a glow to the less familiar works by Philip van Wilder, Philippe de Monte and Jacobus Clemens non Papa. Rian Evans - Article
Classical-music 18/04/2023 : CD A Watchful Gaze
…Christophers’s juxtapositions are always rewarding, and The Sixteen is on ravishing form. There’s an unmannered generosity to the singing whose wide-eyed freshness enables Christophers to keep the counterpoint buoyant and uncongested, all the time sensitive to unobtrusively registering key words in the texts. De Monte’s enveloping eight-part O suavitas et dulcedo, exquisitely poised, is the perfect foil to the desolation of Civitas Sancti tui, the incarnation of Byrd’s recusant grief – its lower voice repetition of ‘Sion deserta facta est’ as sumptuous as it is heartfelt. And concluding with a performance of the Vigilate whose contrapuntal density is kept well-oxygenated, A Watchful Gaze is a quadricentennial tribute beautifully judged and exquisitely executed. Paul Riley – Review in full
Crescendo-Magazine 12/04/2023 : Intégrale du Songbook de 1611 : le radieux chant du cygne de Byrd
…Eu égard à la qualité d’inspiration d’un tel corpus, ce recueil d’une heure et demie reste étrangement peu visité par la discographie, hormis quelques songs puisés dans des anthologies. On sait gré aux Sixteen d’Harry Christophers, rejoints par les archets de Fretwork, de nous en livrer un complet aperçu, abordé avec toute la finesse requise. Une interprétation fluide et subtilement colorée, … Christophe Steyne - Article
Crescendo-magazine 24/02/2023 : Réunion en un album des Messes brèves de Bach par The Sixteen- …L’interprétation des Sixteen privilégie le dépouillement et la simplicité, le recueillement et la clarté, mais aussi la transparence, et elle suscite une émotion que les sopranos Grace Davidson et Julia Doyle, les altos Robin Blaze et William Purefoy, les ténors Jeremy Budd et Mark Dobell et les basses Ben Davies et Eamonn Dougan entretiennent avec une certaine pudeur. … Les chœurs et les instrumentistes de Sixteen font preuve d’une belle cohésion, sous la baguette noblement attentive de Harry Christophers. Jean Lacroix - Article
Bachtrack 7/12/2022 : Exalted Messiah: The Sixteen and Harry Christophers at St Martin-in-the-Fields
…But we heard a realisation of Handel’s work that suggested it was written yesterday, and the performers were exhilarated revealing it to us, …
Those delights began with the opening Symphony, the strings buoyant in the bustling polyphony, the Baroque instruments played with dead-centre tuning – nowhere to hide with so few players – a pleasure in themselves.
…The eighteen choral singers were splendid, precise in fast music, sustaining line and tone in slow music, keeping sections balanced in the polyphonic moments.
Harry Christophers’ ballabile style of direction meant the music danced, and he clearly knew this expert team could manage a challenging tempo. Invigorating freshness was the hallmark of the whole performance, so it was surprising to read in the programme that Christophers has conducted Messiah two hundred times, mostly with The Sixteen.. Roy Westbrook – Review in full
Gramophone November 2022 : BYRD Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets of 1611
…So what better ensembles than The Sixteen and Fretwork to navigate us through the varying combinations of voices and viols that Byrd expected to likely be his swansongs? …This is deeply impressive consort-singing, the sort where the silence between the phrases is pregnant with meaning. Then there’s the slippery, modulatory five-voice ‘Come woeful Orpheus’, where Harry Christophers’s tempo navigates the ‘strange chromatic notes’ of both lyrics and music with a serenity that allows Byrd’s unusual harmonies to carry the message to a final, shimmering chord. …
I particularly enjoyed the virtuoso three-part music, with bright, agile solo voices from The Sixteen emphasising the sparkling, soaring soprano parts and dexterous tenorwriting. There is also a world of contrasting emotion between, for instance, ‘In winter cold’ with text by Geffrey Whitney and the psalm-setting ‘Sing ye to our Lord a new song’, with its nifty triple rhythms. The singers are certainly animated by this music but never overwhelmed: despite several lines spanning two octaves and demanding much agility from each performer, it always sounds luminous and free. …
This is a landmark release finally addressing one of the most obvious oversights in Byrd’s recorded catalogue. It’s an exquisite album of unparalleled beauty that will bear repeated listening long past the anniversary year, …. Edward Breen – Review in full
Gramophone July 2022 : A Meditation: St John Henry Newman
As with all of The Sixteen’s releases, this new one manages to magically bridge the old and the new with ingenuity and complete integrity. The concept of building an album around the Meditations of John Henry Newman has, to my knowledge, not been attempted before.
The five new choral works are the fruits of the generosity of the Genesis Foundation. Will Todd’s I shall be an angel of peace is cast for double choir (which automatically heightens the opportunities for luscious textures, fully realised). It is further enhanced by a wonderful violin obbligato, which stitches the text together, played with utmost poise and intensity by Sarah Sexton. Anna Semple’s A Meditation weaves close harmonies, clear changes of texture and a fondness for reiteration into a rich, contemplative tapestry…
Of the longer-established works, a trio of Elgar’s anthems are given first-rate performances. …
A generous programme both in length and breadth and a joyful inspiration. Congratulations to Harry Christophers, his wonderful singers.. Malcolm Riley - Review in full
Bachtrack 4/04/2022 : The Sixteen's captivating Choral Pilgrimage reaches Winchester Cathedral
…The Songs of Farewell may not have been conceived as ecclesiastical repertoire, but there’s little doubt of their pertinence in a religious setting. Their noble grandeur found a natural home in Winchester Cathedral, where Parry’s soaring phrases seemed to mirror the nave vaulting. Clarity can be a problem in a building that has the longest nave of any Gothic cathedral in Europe, but for those fortunate to sit relatively near the singers, miracles of a cappella virtuosity were much in evidence. Harry Christophers coaxed each telling phrase, always with an ear to accommodate the cathedral’s problematic acoustics. The final cadence of There is an old belief was exquisitely judged, its rapture bringing a glimpse of paradise tantalisingly close. …
By way of contrast, the rest of the programme was occupied with several medieval carols and three anthems by the Renaissance poet and lutenist Thomas Campion, all sung with exemplary clarity and rhythmic precision. For an encore, The Sixteen closed with the patriotic hymn A Prayer for Ukraine by Mykola Lysenko, their singing a model of refinement. David Truslove - Review in full
Pizzicato.lu 30/09/2021 : Ruhige Lämmerherde
…Twenty settings of the prayer ‘Lamb of God’ are offered by choir and orchestra ‘The Sixteen’ and its director Harry Christophers on their latest recording. …The palette of arrangements ranges from monophonic to polyphonic and is presented by the choir in its usual quality. It succeeds in maintaining the tension throughout all the works, although the possibilities for shaping are limited due to the lack of major tempo fluctuations. But vocally the choristers, some of whom can shine here and there with soloistic parts, know how to present themselves with brilliant singing that emphasizes the intimate character of the prayers. Uwe Krusch - Review in full
Stretto 29/09/2021 : CD “Agnus Dei” - Magistraal!
De unieke klankwereld van “The Sixteen”, rijk aan klankvariëteit en expressieve nuance, ….
Of het nu gaat om het uitvoeren van een eenvoudige, eenstemmige, middeleeuwse hymne of het uitdrukken van de complexe muzikale en emotionele taal van hedendaagse koormuziek, “The Sixteen” doet dat met de kwaliteiten die alleen de beste ensembles hebben, warmte, ritmische precisie en een onberispelijke intonatie….. Superieur! Niet te missen! Michel Dutrieue - Artikel
Klassik.com 13/09/2021 : CD Purcell: Royal Welcome Songs Vol. IV - The Sixteen, Harry Christophers - Vielfalt in Fortsetzung
…Ein feiner vierter Teil der Royal Welcome Songs von Henry Purcell. Es ist wie stets ein musikalisches und programmatisches Vergnügen, Harry Christophers und The Sixteen bei ihren Purcell-Explorationen zu begleiten. Dr. Matthias Lange - Resenzion
LimeLightMagazine 6/09/2021 : CD Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II Volume IV - Another rich selection of Purcell’s stylish music stylishly performed.
Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue to mine the rich veins of Purcell’s seemingly endless creativity in this absorbing series. This latest instalment offers the royal welcome songs of 1681 and 1682, together with an astute selection of vocal and instrumental items. …These stylish performances of Purcell’s stylish music can only make the listener eager for more. Tony Way - Review in full
The Classic Review 21/04/2021 : Review: “Good Night, Beloved”
Harry Christophers and The Sixteen have a talent of making the humblest of music sound as important as some of the finest choral music ever written. In this latest release, entitled “Good Night, beloved”, they take a varied and intriguing snapshot of over 500 years of choral music, mostly from the British Isles, including the old and the new, familiar and unfamiliar. Most of the album has The Sixteen performing A cappella.
Throughout, the most consistant element is the distinguished sound of The Sixteen. The sopranos have a clear purity; altos — a mix of male and female voices – have a distinctive sound; the tenors show their strength when penetrating the textures, and the basses’ sonority underpins the choral blend. What shines through in every piece is the sheer technical assurance of the group. The choir for most of the works are only 18 in number. Intonation is flawless, the blend of voices judicious and the diction pristine — the uniformity with which consonants are placed is nothing short of impressive.
… A captivating listen from beginning to end. Leighton Jones – Review in full
Cultuurpakt 12/04/2021 :Good Night, Beloved – Middeleeuwse woorden, hedendaagse dromen
Poëzie blijft dood tot iemand het leest om het van het papier af te halen. Dat was de insteek van koorleider-dirigent Harry Christophers toen hij dit album vulde met vijfhonderd jaar aan zoete woorden en gedichten, gezangen uit vervlogen tijden door The Sixteen, de koorgroep naar waar zijn hart uitgaat. Hun accurate opvoering en vooral sfeervolle overdracht, vullen het vacuüm op tussen werken en componisten van toen en nu. Er ontstaat een tijdloze en kwaliteitsvolle belevenis van verzen en woorden waarbij we ons allemaal beelden van toen en nu voor de geest kunnen halen. …Een mooi portret van het Britse koorrepertoire,…. Knopskaya - Artikel
LimelightMagazine 12/11/2020 : Royal Welcome Songs for King Charles II Volume III - Christophers serves up more musical puffery to please the Merry Monarch.
…Musical standards are top notch. Christophers’ octet of singers and dozen strings, to which he adds a pair of recorders and a continuo of organ, harpsichord, theorbo and harp, may not be quite as many musicians as Purcell had at his disposal, but the spirited performances pack the necessary punch and there’s a winning clarity brought out in the orchestral and vocal textures. … this is another fascinating and appealing release in a highly collectable series. Clive Paget – Review in full
Planet Hugill 14/10/2020 : Author of Light: The Sixteen in an engaging and uplifting programme of Tudor music at Temple Church
Campion's Author of Light - …The ensemble's sound was beautifully smooth, enlivened by crisp detail in the moving parts. … a performance full of felicitous detail.
William Cornysh's anthem Woefully array'd - …The piece received a wonderfully strong and sober performance,... We finished with Cornysh's Ave Maria, Mater Dei sung by the men (ATTB), a strong direct performance, for all the melismatic detail of the vocal lines. And then we came full circle with another Thomas Campion work, this time the choral version of Never weather-beaten sail. A lovely end to an imaginative concert. Robert Hugill – Review in full
Diapason Septembre 2020 : CD The Sun Danced
Le chœur répond par un commentaire tout en simplicité homophonique et transparence ; avant d’être sollicité pour quelques interjections à l’heure de la danse instrumentale qui accompagne le « miracle du soleil ». ….Harry Christophers, ses Sixteen (et les jeunes chanteurs auxquels ils transmettent leur flamme), et le flexible Britten Sinfonia, servent avec éclat un « consonant moderne » au sommet de son art. Cette 5ième chorale est un nouveau jalon après le poignant Stabat Mater (Diapason d’or de l’année 2017). Benoît Fauchet
Bachtrack 20/09/2020 : “The waiting is long...”: The Sixteen provide welcome Music for Reflection in difficult times
In the Anerio, Harry Christophers built the dynamics from a soft, smooth beginning through to a punchy “causa nostra”, and ringing sopranos for the repeated Reginas. The Victoria in contrast was bright and lively from the outset, with its beautiful rising soprano lines pealing out. …
… From Pärt, we had The Deer’s Cry, with its slow, pulsing chords in the lower voices, resonantly rich here, and the sopranos’ intensity leading the build to a resonant climax. Da pacem Domine, also has a slow harmonic pulse, with long chords, some held, some broken up, and bell-like tolling from the sopranos contrasted with the low resonant basses. The deep bass part also provided anchoring in Morning Star, with high voices undulating on top, its final shift to the major a sudden ray of sunlight. Christophers judged the pace of Pärt’s pieces well and the rich lower voices provided firm grounding throughout.
Josquin’s O Virgo prudentissima was given welcome swing and energy, with expert shaping from Christophers. I…Sheppard’s Libera Nos I was the emotional highpoint, with its low bass cantus firmus underpinning the glorious soaring and falling sopranos.…, selections from T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral were delivered with impressive intensity by Antonia Christophers. …
After rich choral textures, the encore was an unexpected masterstroke – the Agnus Dei from Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices. Opening with just two entwined voices, then three, then four, and beautifully performed here by a solo quartet, this was a perfect, intimate and reflective conclusion. Nick Boston – Review in full
Crescendo-magazine 13/08/2020 : Les Sixteen à la Sixtine : de Josquin à Allegri, chant sacré à la Chapelle papale
Son : 9 – Livret : 10 – Répertoire : 10 – Interprétation : 9
Les Sixteen enchaînent sur un des plus émouvants Répons des ténèbres de Victoria, celui pour le Samedi Saint. Le disque se refermera sur le magistral Salve Regina, un des plus touchants exemples de déploiement polychoral du compositeur espagnol.
Du même Gregorio Allegri, ce récital inclut bien sûr le célèbre Miserere qui dès le XVIIe siècle devint une des attractions touristiques de la Chapelle Sixtine, …les Sixteen proposèrent en 2012 un travail de spéléologie, concrétisé par une performing edition (Ancient Groove Music) : une approche sédimentaire du Miserere qui reflète l’évolution de sa pratique à travers les âges. Chaque séquence, depuis la psalmodie en faux-bourdon de l’original, correspond à une strate de stylisation. Exercice absolument fascinant, et exécution de haute volée ! À l’instar de la prestation de l’équipe menée par Harry Christophers durant ces soixante-douze minutes. Droiture, pureté, impeccable justesse. L’unique menu regret concernerait l’acoustique un peu sèche de la Church of St Augustine où fut réalisé en novembre dernier l’essentiel du CD ; le Miserere capté à St Alban the Martyr sept ans auparavant dévoile une spatialisation bien plus épanouissante, garante d’une parfaite émotion. Christophe Steyne - Article
De Gelderlander 4/01/2020:Topkoor The Sixteen staat voor de hogeschool van de ensemblezang
Vanaf 2011 heeft Harry Christophers met zijn topkoor The Sixteen op zijn eigen label CORO een mooie collectie missen en motetten van Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) opgebouwd. De serie bereikte eind vorig jaar de achtste aflevering, waarin met name de Paastijd en Witte Donderdag centraal staan. …Ongelofelijk knap zoals de zangers en zangeressen hun weg vinden in dit web van polyfone muziek. Frases worden moeiteloos eindeloos uitgesponnen. Met optimale zuiverheid en transparantie
Verstild - …Het werkt bijna bedwelmend, zoveel beheersing en kleureffecten als The Sixteen ons voorschotelt. Ontroerend is het Et incarnatus est , het middendeel van het Credo. Hier bereikt de vocale expressie een verstild hoogtepunt, alvorens de klagende tonen van het Crucifixus inzetten.
Ook motetten als Victimae paschali met zijn ritmische variatie en Caro mea worden als klankjuwelen gepresenteerd. Opvallend plechtig klinkt het Pater noster , bijna als een processielied. Heel intens ook. Maarten-Jan Dongelmans - Artikel
Klassik.com 10/06/2019 : CD Händel Acis und Galatea HWV49a - Delightful
…Diese Ausgewogenheit, die Agogik und spielerische Leichtigkeit, mit der alle fünf Solisten agieren, lässt nur noch staunen. Nicht minder glanzvoll, virtuos und farbenreich werfen sich die Instrumentalisten von The Sixteen ins Zeug. Das hat Stil und Eleganz und nebenbei eine unüberhörbare Spielfreude. Benjamin Künzel - Resenzion
Klassik.com 27/05/2019 : CD An Enduring Voice - Marianisches - Ein Ensemble von Klasse
…Mit derselben Begeisterung stürzen sich The Sixteen in jedes moderne Abenteuer, mit subtilem Verständnis, mit wachen Ohren und der Überzeugung, Kunst zur Entfaltung zu verhelfen, die kostbar ist und reich an Substanz. Natürlich basiert all das auf Kernkompetenzen, die unhinterfragbar vorhanden sind: Fabelhaft profilierte Register, makellose Intonation auch da, wo es entweder wegen ausgreifender Architekturen oder heikler Akkordik eine besondere Herausforderung ist, in dieser Hinsicht zu reüssieren, dazu eine große Bandbreite an dynamischen Aussagen und die Fähigkeit, auch große Linien und ausgreifende Entwicklungen verlässlich so zu substantiieren, dass nie Spannung verloren geht. Dr. Matthias Lange – Resenzion
Pizzicato.lu 2/03/2019 : Graziös und lichtvoll – CD Händel: Acis and Galatea
Christophers legt eine lichtvoll leichte Aufnahme vor, in der die liebliche Musik mit der harschen Rhythmik in der Darstellung des Riesen kontrastiert. Unter Christophers Leitung musizieren die Instrumentalisten absolut hinreißend, und der Chor ist nicht weniger begeisternd….
…This is an absolutely charming and luminous recording of Handel’s Acis and Galatea. Fine instrumental playing, gorgeous choir singing match the quality of a good cast of soloists. Remy Franck - Article
The Arts Desk.com 13/02/2019: Monteverdi Vespers – majesty on a modest scale - Well-established team brings a passion for clarity and colour
The Monteverdi Vespers are usually a grand affair, but Harry Christophers showed they can work just as well on a smaller scale.
Christophers always adds spectacle. …, he was free to wander around the front of the stage, leaning deeply into the continuo section, or waltzing across to some distant instrumental soloist, to offer their cue in person…. His extravagant arm gestures are usually about articulation and phrasing in the choral writing, and the sheer impact of the tutti numbers is always aided by the crisp, precise consonants he draws from the singers.
The Orchestra of The Sixteen …. given lightness and grace by the pair of recorders. In fact, for most of the work, the chorus or vocal soloists are accompanied just by continuo and this group was solid throughout, a stable bass over which Monteverdi’s elaborate melodies could flourish.
The vocal soloists were all drawn from the ranks of The Sixteen, which contributed to the feeling of an ensemble performance, all about close communication between the players and with little bravura from the soloists. The exception, of course, is Christophers himself, whose personality was all over this performance – his passion for clarity and colour, his sometimes angular but never harsh take on period performance conventions. And it all comes together in the grand choral numbers, the final Magnificat in particular a spectacular showcase for the ensemble’s talents – the focussed tone and cleanly articulated singing, suitably majestic, even at this modest scale. Gavin Dixon - Article
Scotsman.com 5/02/2019: CD Handel: Acis and Galatea
Youthful zeal and translucent intimacy inform every page of Handel’s pastoral entertainment, Acis and Galatea, as they do this airborne performance by the skeleton cast of The Sixteen under director Harry Christophers. … With only five singers and nine instrumentalists, and lightness of rhythmic step, Christophers gives the narrative a freedom that is fresh and teasing on the ear and uplifting in every sense. There is complete symbiosis between the characterful soloists, the rich and seamless continuo, and those tantalisingly whimsical instrumental obligatos that give scintillating illumination to such famous arias as “O Ruddier than the Cherry.” Ken Walton - Article
top |