Sea pictures

"Alice Coote, partnered with exquisite grace and scrupulous care by Mark Elder and the Hallé, gives us a Sea Pictures of arresting character and flawless technical control ... An altogether most invigorating release, this, and not to be missed".

"Alice Coote is a formidable artist, but not everybody warms to her edgy, truth-stripped-bare expressive style ... Mark Elder's handling of the orchestra, however, is wonderful, and where nescessary discreet".

"The Latvian mezzo leaves a most alluring impression, even if her delivery of the text falls fractionally short of the idiomatic, intuitively illuminating ideal. Both 'Sabbath Morning at Sea' and 'The Swimmer' in particular are endowed with an imposing, scena-like grandeur, the mood almost Wagnerian in its brooding intensity. Daniel Barenboim and his excellent Staatskapelle Berlin provide consistently poised, affectionate and flexible support ... Fallstaff launches with a playful swagger and snapping vigour that really make you sit up ... An urgently expressive, strongly characterful and agreeably compassionate Falstaff".

"The competition's tough but this new performance of The Music Makers ... can hold its head high. Simon Wright steers a commendably clear-sighted course and coaxes an idiomatic response from his Bournemouth forces ... Sarah Connolly ... singing with glorious radiance, security and richness of tone ... Connolly also steps up to the mark in the Sea Pictures ... a gripping, intelligent display, combining keen poetic and dramatic instinct with clarity of diction ... Demands to be heard".