Reviews

'Măcelaru shows himself a master of the score in a reading that crackles with aliveness and presence.'

'I listened to this whole thing with a great deal of pleasure.'

Recommended: 'Vocally, he encompasses all the technical demands and the beauty of tone as well as the dramatic requirements.'

Album of the Week: 'This recital is masterfully constructed, and Appl's caressing voice never bores ... Pianist James Baillieu is his intelligent accompanist and fellow narrator.'

'Throughout the disc, Appl’s wonderfully wide-ranging vocal technique, his alertness to meaning, and his frequent twinkles of knowing humour, are constant joys, and he is partnered superbly by Baillieu: together, they make a formidable team.'

'It is an essential release of two of the greatest lied cycles by Schumann.'

'There is no doubt that the members of Phantasm perform with great subtlety and understanding of these contrapuntal works ...'

'This is strong Brahms, tough and bracing ... is it well played and exciting.'

'This recording of the composer's most popular song-cycle plus the Zwölf Gedichte von Justinus Kerner is already receiving critical acclaim.'