REVIEWS

"A wonderful CD…it’s great!”

- CNN Headline News
 

“A fine new CD”

Anthony Tommasini, the New York Times
 

"Gripping! Michael York's narration and voices in dialect are top-drawer artistry and bring the drama and environment, and the ambience of the Victorian era into such a realm that one is completely absorbed--transported back to that time, to live the experiences of the characters. John Bell Young's playing is sensitive and powerful... I have found it one of the most moving audio experiences I've encountered. The production is a gem."

-Hugh Downs, former anchor, 20/20, ABC News
 

“While snow blanketed the city, two concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art over the weekend focused on the warm essence of melodrama. …Enoch Arden occasionally emerges as a vehicle for a star actor. On Friday it was Michael York, who has recorded the piece with the able young pianist John Bell Young, and is now taking it around with him as a kind of calling card. Mr. York…did a wonderful job of bringing the poem to life…

Anne Midgette, the New York Times
 

“A stunning new recording – very different from any ‘Enoch’ I’ve ever heard. A subtle and inward performance…a heck of a fine pianist…a bargain for a performance of this quality for a work of this stature…a terrific recording!”

-Jim Svejda, KUSC, Los Angeles
 

"A passionate performance. York throws himself into Tennyson's melodrama, and his expertise with English accents deftly differentiates between the working class Enoch and the bourgeois miller who marries his wife...Young brings a great sense of conviction to the 66 minute performance...First class packaging, too..."

-John Fleming, the St. Petersburg Times
 

“Michael York has the range and flexibility to deliver the poem with conviction and no sentimentality of histrionics. It is a fine performance from an actor of wide experience.”

-Robert Anderson, Music & Vision
 

“Here is one of the more peculiar rarities in the Strauss corpus, a sprawling accompaniment to Alfred Lord Tennyson's melodrama about a young man, presumably lost at sea, who returns home many years later to find his wife remarried to his childhood friend…Remarkably, two small labels are competing with new recordings of ‘Enoch Arden’ at the same time, each with differing approaches…York's intimate, conversational telling of the tale works far better on a recording …and Young's playing is freer in manner. While York/Young make several cuts in the text…their CD includes a full transcript of the poem, plus Young's informative, hyper- enthusiastic liner notes. “

-Richard S. Ginell, Los Angeles Times
 

“Already in the short, almost hurricane-like program before the intermission - with texts by Walt Whitman and John Masefield to the music by Skrjabin and Wagner - was it clear that this should be an evening where elemental force was wedded to the most sensual intimacy. The sheer breadth of expression in York’s recitation was fabulous, and his flexibility in setting tempos and phrasing an inspiration. [Enoch Arden] is an incredible story of pathos, dreamy melancholy, ardent romanticism and endless despair. But most impressive was York’s boyish passion in combination with John Bell Young’s brilliant pianism.”

-Martin Nystrom, Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm
 

“It is clear from the detail included in this production that it was a labor of love. Pianist John Bell Young was eager to record both the poem and the music Richard Strauss wrote specifically for it. He brought British actor Michael York on board and the two wrote essays for liner notes that nearly amount to a book. The entire poem is also included, as well as biographies of all involved and the history of the poem… if you are not acquainted with the story, with its contradictions and bitter ironies, then this passionate and quite beautiful production makes for the perfect introduction. York displays the crisp diction and precise pacing that keep him frequently employed as an audio book narrator. He approaches the material with the appropriate degree of warmth and vigor, but does so with great finesse, matching the spirit of the material without overstating the obvious. Strauss’s music, as presented by Young, is vital and undeniably dramatic.”

-Rochelle O’Gorman, The Boston Globe
 

“Enoch Arden is seldom performed, and the few recordings include one by pianists Glenn Gould with Claude Rains as narrator…English actor Michael York and American pianist John Bell Young have just recorded it in an expressive rendition that matches the dynamic contours of the music…York conveys an array of vocal colors with clarity and dramatic energy. Young captures the changing moods with rhythmic momentum and subtle changes as the text progresses. The chemistry between York and Young can be heard in the pensive opening measures, and it continues throughout…As the music and poetry climax in the Prelude and Allegro agitato sections of part two, the piano intensity is beautifully balanced with the narrative. The charisma, attention to detail, and intimacy of this disc make it something to share with friends.”

Leonne Lewis, Clavier Magazine
 

‘My goodness, it is a wonderful performance...It brought tears to my eyes..."

- Stephen Hough, pianist, recording artist

More information

Press Release: www.enocharden.net/Enoch_Arden_Press_Release.doc

Articles: http://www.mvdaily.com/articles/2002/09/arden1.htm

Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem, Enoch Arden: www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Tennyson/tennyson_contents_enoch_arden.htm

Audio samples from CD: www.enocharden.net/enoch_sample_1.mp3
www.enocharden.net/enoch_sample_2.mp3
www.enocharden.net/enoch_sample_3.mp3

To order the CD of Enoch Arden, go to www.americuscd.com

CNN Headline News Interview www.enocharden.net/jby/cnnmyhires.wmv

Contact details

E-mail IMCA