| "The complete Butterworth songbook", Stone Records, March 2010 |
|
Stone treats the songs with the seriousness they deserve, helping them spring to life in fresh and surprising ways. He makes every word count, every emotion real, and resists any temptation to fall back on pastiche folksiness. There’s an improvisatory freedom in his singing too. In the very first song, Loveliest Of Trees, he slurs his sound as if intoxicated with the beauty of nature; in Haste On, My Joys! he pushes his tone almost to breaking point to create a sense of rapture and ecstasy. It doesn’t hurt that his gloriously smooth voice is on top form and his command of vibrato as expressive as ever, nor that Stephen Barlow’s accompanying is precise yet unfussy.
Warwick Thompson, Metro, 26 March 2010
EDITOR'S CHOICE - This very enjoyable Butterworth selection, on Stone's
own label, finds him at the top of his game - secure and expressive.
James Inverne, Gramophone, June 2010
CONNOISSEURS' CHOICE - Wonderful in every possible way
David Mellor, Classic FM New CD Show, 27 Mar 2010
The label is Mark Stone's, his the informative notes, and he is of course the very good singer: we are much indebted to him.
John Steane, Gramophone, June 2010
In many ways, this is one of the most significant CDs of English Music to have been issued for a long time. In the first place, it contains every song George Butterworth wrote, which makes it a particularly valuable disc. In addition, the performances are all first-class... All texts are included, and there are really informative booklet notes as well. To round this off, we have - would you believe? - a bonus track of a little piece of film made in 1912 of Butterworth himself dancing the Field Town Morris jig, Molly Oxford, discovered in the early 1980s. This alone is worth buying the CD for!
Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion, Apr 2010
This release will certainly reward those who seek to get to know Butterworth’s surviving song output; it could not have better all-round advocates. Mark Stone and Stephen Barlow clearly have a great investment in the composer and his music, which extends to the handsome booklet, with its detailed and illuminating analysis of each song.
Richard Nicholson, The Classical Source, 17 April 2010
For
the performance of singer and pianist, who work well together, and for
the chance to hear many songs that most of us will not have encountered,
I recommend this very well-presented CD with its attractive booklet.
John T
Hughes, International Record Review, April 2010
A fine performer, well supported by Barlow - and a thoughtful one, as his sleeve notes confirm
Michael Scott Rohan, BBC Music Magazine, July 2010
Stone and Barlow have done a great service to British music in particular and music in general by setting down fine performances of music that deserves to be better known. The production is also well designed, with handsome photographs of the composer and the performers, extensive notes, and full texts. The production values are also high on the sound end, and the performances could scarcely be bettered.
Art Leonard, Leonard Link, 24 March 2010
Connoisseurs Choice. Wonderful in
every possible way.
David Mellor, Classic FM New CD Show, 27
Mar 2010
Stone and his pianist, Stephen Barlow, treat the songs with intelligence and sensitivity
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 25 February 2010
The baritone Mark Stone makes the most of the opportunities given him by
the grateful vocal lines; his expressive phrasing and diction
throughout are truly commendable. His generous range of tonal colour,
superbly matched by Stephen Barlow, the pianist, encapsulates the unique
quality of each song whether the theme is love, betrayal,
disillusionment, tenderness, rollicking bravado, or the poignant sense
of life's brevity... The recording quality throughout is excellent, the
balance between voice and piano nicely judged.
eter Naylor, The Peter Warlock Society Newsletter, Spring 2010
A must for anyone into English song, as well as for anyone who likes Stone's elegant baritone... Mark Stone and Stephen Barlow realize that what makes Butterworth is sincerity: more restrained and introspective than RVW but assertive... Stone's clarity blends well with the delicacy of Barlow's playing... What makes this recording important, though, is because it includes rarities, even Requiesat, a miniature based on Oscar Wilde juvenalia which Butterworth makes surprisingly touching... Stone's voice is more flexible than XXXXX's, so Stone's performance is more nuanced... These ditties [the folksongs] aren't "simple". Stone's singing gives them dignity. For these alone, this disc is signifigant.
Doundou Tchil, Classical Iconoclast, 19 Feb 2010
|