A "thrilling new recording" - reactions to new Bach and Pergolesi CD

Tim's most recent CD release of Bach solo alto cantatas and Pergolesi's Stabat Mater continues to be enthusiastically received. As well as enjoying critical acclaim the CD has also been selected as Editor's Choice in Gramophone magazine and Album of the Week in the Sunday Times. You can buy the album here.

"this thrilling new recording from La Nuova Musica… In Lucy Crowe and Tim Mead the ensemble have both period specialists and singers with enough muscle and tone to temper stylistic precision with human drama. Together they lead a performance that is both meditation (a Quando corpus morietur of infinite restraint, whose legatos seem endless; the opening Stabat mater dolorosa) and a vivid sacred drama (Crowe’s nervy, fretful Cujus animam gementem; the urgency of duet Fac, ut ardeat cor meum)…. Widerstehe doch der Sünde and Vergnügte Ruh! beliebte Seelenlust! performed by Mead. Both showcase a countertenor voice going from strength to strength, powerful but never pushed, pure but not affectedly so."
Gramophone (Editor's Choice, June 2017)

"Lucy Crowe and Tim Mead withstand comparison with the finest on disc. Their voices blend ideally... the alto's Fac ut Portem is sublimely phrased by Mead, easily a match for David Daniels and Andreas Scholl in earlier versions... [in the Bach] he sings a serene, rich-toned Vergnügte Ruh... a superb disc of baroque vocal music.”
Sunday Times (Album of the Week)

“Crowe and Mead are both in sumptuous voice, and both fiery in the most dramatic moments of the Stabat Mater… He sounds beautiful in the cantatas, though, searching out all the most resonant corners.”
Guardian

"It's about Tim Mead, who governs this CD, where the Stabat Mater is framed by two Bach cantatas written for alto voice ... Tim Mead’s voice is highly admirable: legato, colorful and virtuosic with remarkable articulation ... Tim Mead’s mastery thrives [in the Bach]. Imbued with the meaning of what he sings, the line he unfolds has an extraordinary length of breath and incontestable agility… Rustic vigour combines with rare elegance. The phrasing is superb…"
Forum Opera

"He displays admirable agility in the final aria of Widerstehe doch der Sünde... there is certainly much to enjoy in Mead's account; not only his mellifluous tone but the fine playing of La Nuova Musica... Vergnügte Ruh! beliebte Seelenlust! (BWV 170) also demonstrates Mead's affinity with Bach's musical idiom through his unforced vocal technique..."
Limelight

"... a balsamic timbre, lyrical tone… Widerstehe doch der Sünde or  Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen are outstanding interpretations that revive the spiritual core of this music with vocal glamour. In the Stabat Mater, Lucy Crowe and Tim Mead find a bewitchingly beautiful sonic symbiosis. Thus, in addition to the famous entrance duet, the Quis est homo qui non fleret, Inflammatus et accensus and Quando corpus morietur are highlights of contemporary baroque interpretations. In their unyielding, free-flowing simplicity, these recordings are superior to all the attempts of great primadonnas in this repertoire..."
Die Neue Merker

"A vivid and breathtaking rendition of Pergolesi’s masterpiece… this performance stands out in every regard"
Audiophile Audition

"Tim Mead gives this music thrilling life, thanks to a seductive timbre… Technically masterful, virtuosic, expressive: everything is there…"
Musikzen

"…a CD to enjoy breathlessly. Not least due to the excellent, rich toned solo singing of Tim Mead in the Bach Cantatas BWV 54 and 170"
de Gelderlander