Strauss, R: Ich liebe dich Op. 37 No. 2

“For all the power and musical intelligence she brings to Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder and Wolf's Mignon songs, the second half signals a complete change of mood in the Britten and John Carter's spiritual- based Cantata. This is singing of rare charm and versatility, at both ends of a vast emotional spectrum.” Sunday Telegraph, 22nd June 2008

“Already in town for jury duty on the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition, [Christine Brewer] gave on Saturday a recital of radiant passion and power … generous sound, long phrases effortlessly controlled, subtle gradations of tone … The music’s emotional volatility was admirably caught. Clamour capsized into sorrow; voice and piano kept questioning and shading each other. Vignoles’s subtle gifts proved vital here … In the four Britten-Auden cabaret songs Brewer was at her unbuttoned best. After cabaret came spirituals, packaged by the American John Carter into a baroque-tinged cantata. Vignoles’s elaborate fingerwork never interfered with Brewer’s exultant glow.” The Times Concert Review

“Recorded at the opening concert of the current Wigmore Hall season, this is very much a recital of two halves. The first finds the American soprano’s glorious, soaring voice in Isolde mode: it is the ideal instrument for Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder, and Brewer is in rapturous form here, making as much of the words as she does of Wagner’s music. It is rare, and wonderful, to hear this kind of voice in Wolf’s dramatic setting of Mignon’s Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, but Brewer’s tone is perhaps too fruity in his other three songs for the waiflike heroine of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister. In the second half, she lets her hair down in Britten’s Cabaret songs, and sings the negro spirituals of John Carter’s Cantata with heartrending empathy and simplicity.” Sunday Times, 1st June 2008 ***

“American soprano Christine Brewer is blessed with both a huge and beautiful voice, and the intelligence to make good use of it. …a thoroughly enjoyable recital.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2008 ****

“Fassbender is an understanding, sympathetic and, above all, straightforward guide to this music. The recording… deserves hearing for both its interesting juxtaposition of repertoire and the unaffected sincerity of the performances…” Gramophone Magazine, April 2008

‘Could there be a more enticing title stamped across a CD than Strauss: The Complete Songs – 1? Richard Strauss the man may be widely resistible; but it would take someone extraordinarily hard-hearted not to take any delight in his luxuriant imagination and succulent harmonies … each planned CD in the series will be shaped around the talents of different singers, and Brewer’s disc marks a tremendous start’ (The Times)

"The value of this boxed set lies partly in its completeness, partly in the opportunity it affords of following this part of Strauss?s work from beginning to end, and partly in the consistently high standard of performance.... The company has every reason to be proud of its work; if any of its issues deserves a new Ode to a Nightingale, this one does." (J.B. Steane in Gramophone)