Roderick Williams

“Among the 26 Ireland songs on this disc are two cycles devoted to Thomas Hardy, dating from 1925 and 1926. Settings of Hardy's poems were of course at the heart of Gerald Finzi's output of songs, and there is nothing in these Ireland cycles that approaches the fine-honed responses and harmonic imagination of those, sensitively though Williams and Burnside present them. In fact it's hard to pin down a distinctive creative personality in any of these songs, and ironically it's the cycle We'll to the Woods No More from 1927 that seems the most individual, with texts from that favourite source for early 20th-century English composers, AE Housman, that has the most character.” The Guardian, 20th June 2008 ***

“Roderick Williams, with his sympathetic, warmly rounded baritone, and Iain Burnside are eloquent advocates of all these songs. Even they, though, cannot dispel a sense of sameishness, with pastoral-tinged melancholy too rarely relieved by something more impassioned or invigorating.” The Telegraph, 14th June 2008

“Another irresistible volume in The English Song Series: a compilation of John Ireland which reveals the sheer breadth of emotional experience and variegated piano writing within his songs. Every word is tasted, pungently flavoured and given rigorous new life, with Iain Burnside's piano playing sentient to every second of Williams's singing.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 *****

“Roderick Williams is such a good singer he can make the voice part sound vocal and natural in a way not many have succeeded in doing. …the pianist, Iain Burnside, plays with a sureness of touch to match the highly skilled naturalness of Williams's singing.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

“…the singers of The Sixteen evoked an unearthly expressiveness. Fauré once said: ‘here it was as if we had stumbled upon some private memorial, and caught a haunting glimpse of paradise.’" The London Independent

“The soloists form a well-balanced team, with Roderick Williams assured and expressive in his major solo in the Fauré, and Elin Manahan Thomas true in intonation and charming in gesture in 'Laudate Dominum'” BBC Music Magazine, June 2008 ***

“Roderick Williams… is entrusted with all but five of these 20 songs - and a sterling job he does, too, with intelligent word-pointing and the voice sonorous, firmly focused and evenly controlled. Iain Burnside provides immaculate support.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

“…all four singers acquit themselves with credit… while Iain Burnside's accompaniments are past praise in their scrupulous sensitivity.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2008

“Frustrated by the lack of access audiences has to his operas, Vaughan Williams arranged these selections for small-scale performance with piano accompaniment, fluently played here by Iain Burnside. Sarah Fox and Roderick Williams are seasoned Vaughan Williams exponents, her clear, soaring tone ideal for Mary, his gently mellow baritone for the Pilgrim's Progress songs. Altogether, recommendable to enthusiasts, agreeable listening generally.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 ****

“Roderick Williams is a national treasure. Not only is he an intensely musical singer, acutely responsive to the sound and meaning of words, but also his approach to the English Romantic song repertoire is…revelatory. (Susie Allan) lingers tellingly over an important detail in the piano writing just at the right moment to complement Williams’s exquisite interpretations. Recordings…balance singer and instruments to something like perfection…Strongly recommended.” Stephen Johnson, BBC Music Magazine

“Roderick Williams’ elegant and delicate performances reveal the heart of this music without forcing anything… and Iain Burnside is an excellent partner… his gentle pointing of the surprising harmonic shifts in ‘The self-unseeing’ is judged to perfection.” BBC Music Magazine