Ian Partridge
tenor |
Vaughan Williams On Wenlock Edge
CBSO Centre, Birmingham |
...But one wished the song-cycle On Wenlock Edge could never have ended... Standing democratically among his colleagues, Partridge marshalled his vocal resources with skilful subtlety, and brought a striking Mahlerian intensity to "Is my team ploughing?" Birmingham Post, 5th December 2003 |
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English Song Recital St Cyprian's Church, Marylebone 6th March 2003 |
Ian Partridge is both elegant and eloquent in songs by Ivor Gurney. Yeats's Down by the Salley Gardens has rarely sounded better, with a diminuendo on the final phrase, 'and now am full of tears', that all but capsizes the listener with the poet's sorrow. Christopher Cook, International Record Review, November 2003 (concert released on CD) |
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Handel: Ode to St Cecilia St George's, Hanover Square London Handel Festival |
Among its many pleasures were the eloquent cello obligato of Katharine Sharman to (Emma) Kirkby's finely arched account of "What passion cannot music raise and quell" and the ever-clear diction and ease of tone of the ageless Ian Partridge in the tenor solos, plus the nuanced shadings and dancing rhythms Mackerras found everywhere in the score.
Bayan Northcott, The Independent, 4th June 2002 |
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Britten's Canticles, staged at Westminster Abbey 21st/23rd May 2002 |
Guardian review Independent review |
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William Walton Centenary Concert at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford 8th Mar 2002 |
Ian Partridge – one of our best and best-loved lyric tenors – eked out Walton's regrettably small solo repertoire with songs by contemporaries Warlock and Vaughan Williams – outstandingly, the latter's unearthly "The New Ghost". Laurence Hughes, The Independent, 14th March 2002 Full review |
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Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise at Schubertfest, RNCM, Manchester 13th/14th Jan 2002 |
To both cycles he brought a straightforward, honest musicianship and vocal artistry allied to penetrating interpretation of the texts, conjuring up the naively lovelorn youth of the first and the world-weary wanderer of the second. But there was no self pity in this "Winterreise", making its final group of songs all the more harrowing. In "Müllerin" his accompanist was Jennifer Partridge, her playing perfectly tailored to her brother's requirements yet retaining individuality, and in "Winterreise" David Owen Norris on the fortepiano, starkly revealing how the accompaniments become barer to match the deepening gloom. Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph, 20th January 2002 |
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