Britten: Nocturnal, Op. 70

Mark Padmore is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest tenors working today, celebrated in the opera house, the concert hall and as a peerless recording artist. He is admired—among other things—for his ‘extraordinary diction and whispering chamber-like intimacy … [his] joy in conveying the emotional core of each situation’ (Gramophone)

“Padmore provides context by singing Dowland's original song before Craig Ogden steals in, alert to the Nocturnal's every nuance, and with a palette of colours both caressing and disquieting. Completing the frame, 'Flow my Tears' is beautifully inflected, though finer still is 'In Darkness let me Dwell' where in the final bars Padmore's enrapt engagement seems to conjure up the very chill of death.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ****

“Mark Padmore again shows why he is one of today's finest tenors. The quicker songs, like "Away with these self-loving lads", gain in clarity from a semi-declamatory approach, while the slower are eerily viol-like.” Gramophone Magazine, Janurary 2008

“Jérémy Jouve is a vital and robust player who makes the most of the many dramatic and lively passages but he can also spin thin threads of golden tone in quieter music… I have still to hear a merely good player on a Naxos guitar disc. They have all been superb and Jérémy Jouve is no exception.” Musicweb International

"Ogden's playing oozes class, but always at the service of the music. He really does seem to be absolutely one of the very best of the new generation of guitarists, a real musician of style. The Bagatelles (William Walton) are known to contain their technical difficulties, yet listening to this player you'd never think it." Chris Kilvington, Classical Guitar Magazine August 1996