Matthew Brook is again showing his enormous versatility with three new and varied CD releases this Summer.
Firstly Vaughan Williams’ Sancta Civitas with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and David Hill on Naxos. Stephen Pritchard of The Guardian thought that “[Vaughan Williams] would have appreciated these fine soloists, chief among them Matthew Brook, who turns anything he sings to gold” whilst Piers Burton-Page in International Record Review commented that “There is infinite compassion, in the third movement … from baritone Matthew Brook, whose grainy timbre I can best compare to that of a youthful John Tomlinson”. High praise indeed!
Showcasing Matthew’s comic talent, he sings the role of Friar Tuck in Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Ivanhoe with BBC National Orchestra of Wales and David Lloyd-Jones for Chandos Records. Singing perhaps the most famous number in the piece, ‘Ho, jolly Jenkin’ was “very well-sung by Matthew Brook” (David Laviska, Musical Criticism). John T. Hughes in International Record Review enjoyed Matthew’s characterful assumption: “spiritedly tossed off by Matthew Brook”, whilst Faye Courtney of Opera Britannia praised his “vigorous and spirited rendition”.
Lastly, Matthew’s latest release with the Dunedin Consort is Bach’s Mass in B Minor on Linn Records, in a premiere recording of the scholarly and controversial edition by Joshua Rifkin. It has been described as “a definitive recording” (The Observer), “spine-tingling” (International Record Review) “powerful and beautifully shaped” (Sunday Times), and The Times said “Surely no other recording of Bach’s B Minor Mass bounces along with such joy”. So, another huge success for Matthew and the Dunedin Consort following their award winning recordings of the Messiah, St Matthew Passion and Acis and Galatea.
