“A warm welcome to a superb collection of Wolf-Ferrari's sparkling
orchestral music...The Suite-Concertino in F is a great rarity - and
what a charmer it is, with Chandos's recent find, the superb bassoonist
Karen Geoghegan, bringing out all the colour of this score...The Chandos
recording is first class, with the deep, resonant bass-drum in L'Amore
medico marvellously captured.” --Penguin Guide, 2011 edition
“…Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic weight and pace these often
featherlight textures to perfection, particularly in the several
delightful song-based movements with plucked or strummed accompaniments.
But where this disc scores over most comparable compilations is in... a
substantial 20-minute bonus in the form of the 1933 Suite-Concertino
for bassoon and strings (plus two horns). This is something different,
at least in the opening Notturno, where Karen Geoghegan exudes a tender
melancholy as the so often clownish bassoon puts on its sad face and
wails its lonely lament through the night, even if it awakes more
predictably to a bubbliness for the remaining three movements.” --BBC
Music Magazine, August 2009 ****
“The Suite Concertino, beautifully played by Karen Geoghegan, is
ravishing and original, and the extracts from Il Campiello and L'Amore
Medico have a seductive charm. Noseda conducts it all with quiet
passion, and the BBC Philharmonic's playing is finely judged in its
combination of virtuosity and restraint. A treat.” --The Guardian, 10th
April 2009 ****
