Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Albert Sammons (1886-1957)

The English Kreisler

Paul Barritt (violin), Catherine Edwards (piano)
Download only
Label: Hyperion
Recording details: February 1999
St George's, Brandon Hill, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: June 2000
Total duration: 65 minutes 59 seconds
 

This delightful record is a throwback to an earlier age, when short salon lollipops were in popular demand and treated with consummate grace and artistry. One of the finest violinists of his generation, Albert Sammons (1887-1957) was known as the 'English Kreisler'; like Kreisler he was self-taught as a composer, drawing on his natural instinct and deep grasp of his instrument's capabilities to create many charming and highly polished morceaux. Many of these pieces (the Dance Caprice for example) exude exhilarating virtuosity, replete with left-hand pizzicato, extensive double-stopping and harmonics, while others have a poignant lyrical simplicity stemming from folk influences. All require great skill from the violinist, and here Paul Barritt and Catherine Edwards pour their hearts into the music, playing with panache and refinement.

Reviews

‘Full of charm and subtlety. Paul Barritt plays with real vividness and sparkle, finely characterising each of Sammons's elegant and picturesque little sketches, and in Catherine Edwards he has found an accompanist of admirable sensitivity and delicacy of touch’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Delectable. Paul Barritt here takes on the Kreisler/Sammons mantle as to the manner born’ (International Record Review)

‘Charming’ (Classic CD)

‘Splendid fun’ (The Strad)
Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...