News
Jenkins a5 CD reviewed in Early Music (May 2008)
28/05/2008
Virtuosity abounds as much in the technical demands upon the players as in the musical.... Phantasm plays with excellent line, beautiful balance between the five parts, impeccable ensemble and great verve. The result result is a performance of very high quality and delight.
-- Lucy Robinson
Five-Part Jenkins released
07/04/2008
A finalist for the Gramophone Early Music Award and also for the MIDEM Early Music Prize, Five-Part Jenkins has accumulated a spate of ecstatic reviews, with the London Times praising Phantasm's 'sensuousness' and the Telegraph opining that Phantasm's 'purposeful and sensitive performances leave no room for doubt that Jenkins is one of this country's greatest 17th-century composers'.
Six-Part Jenkins released
07/04/2008
The appeal of English consort music sometimes surprises even the cognoscenti, such as when this Jenkins disc was named by the Daily Mail as one of the top classical albums of 2006.
The early music trade press has been equally kind, with Goldberg calling Six-Part Jenkins 'a magnificent recording'.
Four Temperaments critically acclaimed
07/04/2008
Phantasm's latest recording, Four Temperaments, continues to receive wonderful reviews. The recording was 'Editor's Choice' in this month's Gramophone magazi, where it was described as 'a splendid follow up to last year's Gramophone Award-winning Gibbons collection'
To read this review and others click here
Phantasm work on Jenkins a6 recording
07/04/2008
Phantasm, joined by guests Emilia Benjamin and Mikko Perkola have spent four daysarsing the complete six part works of John Jenkins for their forthcoming recording.
The rehearsal period took place in the fabulous surroundings of Snape Maltings, as part of a residency programme made possible by Aldeburgh Productions.
Phantasm feature as Fanfare Cover Story
07/04/2008
Fanfare, the American magazine for 'serious record collectors' has chosen Phantasm's Four Temperaments CD as the subject of this month's cover story.
The article describes Phantasm as being "firmly established as the most excitingly innovative viol consort playing today" with "high-voltage, passionately lyrical performances".
New Phantasm Recording - Release Date Set
07/04/2008
The next Phantasm CD, entitled Four Temperaments, featuring the music of Robert Parsons, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd and Alfonso Ferrabosco I, will be released on February 23rd on the AVIE label.
Laurence Dreyfus explains the concept behind the disc:"Four Temperaments paints four portraits of Elizabethan composers of consort music based on their predominant personality traits, called the humours or temperaments. Robert Parsons signals the angry choleric, Alfonso Ferrabosco I the wistful phlegmatic, Thomas Tallis the optimistic sanguinic, and William Byrd the profound melancholic.
"Just as painting, poetry and drama invoked the four temperaments to typify diverse characters, so the rich musical world of 16th-century England comes alive when filtered through this contemporary lens."
Full details on the CD available by clicking here
Phantasm Win Gramophone Award
07/04/2008
Phantasm's recording of Orlando Gibbons has been chosen as 'Best of Category in Early music' and as one of six records nominated for the title 'Record of the Year'.
The recording on the AVIE label is a second Gramophone award for Phantasm after they who with their debut recording of Purcell Fantasias in 1997.
This year, six celebrities have been chosen to promote the nominated discs in the national press, radio and television, and Phantasm will be championed by the BBC's world affairs editor, John Simpson.
Mr Simpson, presenting the award to Laurence Dreyfus at the awards ceremony last week described the disc as being "exquisitely scaled" and "like angels singing".
