“Craig and Alison celebrate their 10 year partnership with a sunshine-infused concoction of charming pieces. There are musical snapshots of Greece, Colombia and Spain included in this heady, multi-cultural brew."
**** Presenters Choice ****
John Brunning
Classic FM Magazine - October 2009
“A beautifully performed disc that is brimming with fun and fire. “ Souvenirs” is a seriously fun disc: fun because of the festive nature of much of the music and of the obvious musical chemistry between Ogden and Stephens; serious because of the outstanding artistry and technical proficiency displayed by the two artists. Ogden and Stephens bring out the distinctive qualities of their respective instruments while exploiting to the full the potential for colour and drama within an ensemble context.
The pairing of guitar and mandolin isn’t especially unusual; but listening to “Souvenirs”, there can be no doubt that what Ogden and Stephens do with it is.”
William Yeoman
Gramophone - October 2009
“The mandolin’s plectrum-crisp metallic honey topping blends surprisingly smoothly with the fruitier, creamier, liquid sound of nails-and-flesh guitar nylon and wound metal. Especially when played with such poise, vitality and seamless understanding by two brilliant performers. There are two ‘special effects’ pieces: Boudounis’s dramatic guitar solo vividly imitating a belly-dance and Muñoz’s curio of solo mandolin impersonating a flamenco guitar. Alongside are delightful unpretentious, well-crafted tunes in a popular style, played with impeccable dynamic control, superb balance, and infectious sun. Hard to believe it’s only two instruments… Altogether enjoyable stuff.”
Performance ***** Recording ****
Rob Ainsley
BBC Music Magazine - November 2009
“Stephen’s graceful execution of rippling arpeggios in Nawata Masaji’s Sakura is a real treat, while Ogden shines in Miroslav Tadic’s driving Walk Dance. Their coupling of mandolin and guitar process to be as adaptable as it is charming. While the standard of playing will give fans of these instruments much to appreciate, general listeners buying this as a soundtrack to a sunny summer holiday will find they’ve struck gold." ????
Carl Herring
Muso - August/September 2009
*****
Thankyou for high resolution download, everything was fine with that; however, upon returning to your site and looking for studio 24/96 opera I was disappointed to find that only a very small portion of 24/96 selection was indeed 24/96 or higher. I'm trying to build a high resolution only library so it's really quite time consuming to sift through reams of music with no positive result.
Further , I would not limit my next comment to just your web site. I've noticed that the release date of many opera albums does not even vaguely resemble the actual recording date because some of these performers have been dead for years. It would be nice to have the actual recording date and to be able to cut off a lot of old recordings in which I'm not interested nor ever will be. If you want people to buy, don't waste their time.
I hope these comments are of some help in your decisions.
w steeves
3 Ratings
