“a scintillating achievement…Sabina Cvilak’s soprano has the focus … Bostridge brings piercing sincerity … Keenlyside – sonorous, commanding … an important issue: Noseda’s judgement of pace is unerring, and the orchestra and chorus simply superb. (BBC Music 4*) “LSO and Chorus are on cracking form, the soloists are as good as you will get…No one should be without (Britten’s) but 50 years later, Noseda’s dramatic, pulsating account represents another landmark.” (Financial Times) “Noseda seeks to take the audience from the edge of consciousness to the blazing fires of the battlefield…Bostridge spins a beautiful line … Keenlyside is excellent throughout…Decisive and confident, Sabina Cvilak has the Slavic edge that has seemed hard-wired into the part since the incomparable Vishnevskaya” (Gramophone) “[Noseda] brings a strong sense of Italianate lyricism to bear on the score, reminding us of Britten’s debt to Verdi … choral singing is fervent and intense, the playing fierce and sensitive ” (The Guardian 4*) “Another essential recording” (The Times 4*)
