Flos Campi, performed by Roger Benedict with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Joseph Jongen Andante Espressivo
Schumann – Sonata in A minor Mvt 1 op 105
Schubert – Winterreise: Auf Dem Flusse
Recording Reviews
For Volupté (Melba Recordings):
Selected by the theclassicalreview.com as one of the ten best CDs of 2010
“It is hard to imagine more compelling advocates of this repertoire than Benedict and Young. The viola/piano repertoire is not sufficiently well endowed with worthwhile music to allow works of this quality to pass under the radar, and if nothing else Benedict and Young are to be praised for bringing this to our attention. But they have done much more than that. They have brought to this music their own powerful stamp of individuality, producing duo playing of exceptional unity” (The Classical Review, US/UK)
“Voluptuous indeed are the sounds embedded in this recording of music from the fin de siècle. Benedict captures the music’s elusive atmosphere, dressing it in the velvety sounds of his Testore and taking the occasional virtuoso flights easily in his stride” (The Strad, UK)
“Benedict’s playing is mesmeric, conveying moods varying from languorous to ruminative, and is always darkly beautiful” (Limelight magazine, AU)
“Superlative, glowing performances by an expressive, discerning, musically consummate duo partnership… a truly outstanding recital, magnificently recorded. It takes a giant imaginative leap to recall or envisage a more superlative, commanding viola and piano recital than Volupté” (Music and Vision Daily, UK)
“It is impossible to overstate the merit of this recorded recital; it brims to overflowing with good things, not least the stream of often exquisitely mellow tone which Benedict conjures from the instrument” (OzArtsReview, AU)
“The performances are outstanding: forceful and commanding in Jongen’s Concertino and Allegro, stylishly playful in Koechlin’s Scherzo and Jongen’s Introduction et Danse, deeply affecting in the final movement of the Viola Sonata. Roger Benedict has a superbly focused, ringing tone and gets first-rate support from pianist Timothy Young” (Audiophile Audition, US)
“From the start the finesse of Benedict’s playing, his sense of phrasing and the opulence of the sound justify the title of Volupté” (Classique News, France)
For Voices in the Wilderness (Melba Recordings):
“Roger Benedict is a player after my heart, drawing from his instrument a gorgeous, dark-hued tone that’s completely free of any nasality in the higher positions, and he wrings from the Gál pieces a tearful but tasteful expressivity without turning them into treacly tear-jerkers” (Fanfare,US)
“Roger Benedict makes a convincing case for this rare repertoire, which he plays with an ideal mix of intellectual acumen and seductively sensual tone, in close rapport with Timothy Young. The CD is beautifully recorded…” (The Strad, UK)
“played with real affection…the recording quality is ideal…all Gál’s works are disc premières. In every way a splendid release.” (Music Web International, UK)
“an intriguing and beguiling album that blends soulful, troubled music with that of truly optimistic, romantic spirit” Limelight (Australia)
“Benedict brings an authoritative voice to Krenek… worthily recorded here for the first time.” (Courier Mail, Australia)
“Gal’s Suite…finds both Benedict and Young in impressive form…I listened three times to the concluding burla…a delight.(Ozartsreview, Australia)
For Arcadia Lost (Melba Recordings):
“Flos Campi has Roger Benedict’s stirringly recorded viola: auburn, amber and russet in tone. The music is given a passionately taut surge rather than a flaccid sigh” (Musicweb International)
“A first-rate version that captures by turns the elegiac and sensuous elements of this masterly but too-little-performed score. Violist Roger Benedict offers a languorous, buttery rendition of the solo part” (Fanfare, US)
“Outstanding viola playing” SA-CD.net (UK)
“Wonderfully coloured and sensuous” (BBC Radio 3 CD review)
“There’s plenty of perception, spontaneity and ardor, too, in Flos campi, which finds Roger Benedict in hugely eloquent, technically flawless form, his burnished tone a joy to encounter…” (theclassicalreview.com)
For A Winter’s Tale (ABC Classics):
“This version will sit happily alongside my treasured recording by cello maestro Mstislav Rostropovich and Benjamin Britten from the early 1960s” (Daily Telegraph, AU)
“The music survives these reinterpretations with flying colours. The performances are first-class” (Limelight magazine, AU)
“the remarkably eloquent playing, supported by Benedict’s insightful notes, conspire to make the endeavour entirely successful… breathtaking… completely convincing” (The Strad, UK)