Hyperion Records

CDA67239

Recording details: September 2000
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: March 2001
Total duration: 58 minutes 39 seconds

GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE

'There have been several excellent recordings of Façade, but Hyperion's now moves to the head of the class' (Fanfare, USA)

'Eleanor Bron and Richard Stilgoe make an excellent pair of reciters, and the recoding in a natural acoustic balances them well. [Stilgoe] is the most fluent Façade reciter I have ever heard, with phenomenally clear articulation, starting with a virtuoso display in the opening poem, "Hornpipe" … Under David Lloyd-Jones the brilliant sextet of players from the Nash Ensemble … could not be more idiomatic, with rhythms delectably pointed' (Gramophone)

'I can’t imagine a clearer, more virtuosic account of the score’ (International Record Review)

'The playing of the Nash Ensemble is quite outstanding. Eleanor Bron, as one might expect, purrs her way contentedly through her texts’ (Hi-Fi News)

'This outstanding group of musicians has recorded a definitive and, for the first time on disc, totally complete Facade. David Lloyd-Jones, one of the great conductors of British music, elicits fabulous playing from The Nash' (The Yorkshire Post)

'Eleanor Bron and Richard Stilgoe make excellent reciters. The Nash Ensemble could not be more idiomatic in pointing the young Walton's sparkling parodies' (The Guardian)

'The Nash, as one would expect, is second to none in this music, extracting every last whiff of wit and textural audacity' (BBC Music Magazine)