Julian Rhodes: reviews

CRITICS' REVIEWS of JULIAN RHODES:



Julian Rhodes plays at Tonbridge School Chapel
'Fire, technical ability and sheer daring...
brilliant and inspired musicianship'

   Gramophone

'Deeply and genuinely emotive'
   BBC Music Magazine

'Flamboyant, characterful and unfailingly
musical, gripping the listener's attention
from first note to last... real
edge-of-the-seat stuff... sheer bliss'

   Organ Club Journal

'Crystalline webs of sound
reaching deeply into the soul'

   The Observer

'Astonishing musical and technical capabilities...
complete and unique mastery...
an extraordinary rapport with an enthusiastic audience'

   France Midi Libre

'Hauntingly beautiful... technically flawless...
superbly performed... just stunning'

   The Organ

'Not reconstruction so much as total reinterpretation...
a dramatic approach to the music... dazzled the audience'

   Early Music Today

'Infectiously different'
   Classic CD


And a complete review from Trierischer Volksfreund (Germany), 1996:

DAZZLING VIRTUOSITY

Julian Rhodes gave a concert at Himmerod Abbey that was in every way out of the ordinary. His technical and above all musical brilliance put much that has recently been heard - not only at Himmerod - well into the shade.

From the first of the Hymns by Mesomedes of Crete (c.130 A.D.) - single part melodies over drone basses - much more than historical interest was aroused. Articulation was polished to the last note, ensuring that even in Himmerod's acoustic not one note was lost. Rhodes filled these pure melodic lines with vibrant life. Peter Warlock's "Capriol Suite", arranged - like the preceding hymns - by Julian Rhodes, was entertaining in the best and most refreshingly musical sense. The series of six dances was never dull: now thoughtfully elegant, now bursting with fiery brilliance, registered throughout in glowing, fascinating colours.

In Philip Glass's minimalistic "Mad Rush", despite the slender means given by the composer, the interpretation carried a broad sweep of tension. Particularly impressive was the perfect clarity of duplets against triplets over seemingly endless stretches.

In Vierne's "Clair de Lune" metrical rigidity was seemingly dissolved and, gently breathing a transcendental, almost unreally ethereal accompaniment, the organ sang an impressive, deeply affecting melodic line. Then with dazzling virtuosity, first in Vierne's "Naïades" and then in Franck's "Choral No.3", Rhodes yet again gave proof of the rare mastery of his accomplishments: a synthesis of a highly cultured technique and a musicality that came from the innermost heart.


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Electronic music - Turkish Rondo by Mozart

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