Catherine King - Selection of Reviews
"It's a knock-out."
"Everyone interested in baroque opera or accomplished singing in general needs to hear this disc, which
functions as a mental equivalent to a vitamin injection at the health centre."
“Catherine King is anything but the anaemic thin-voiced creature one sometimes associates with the
baroque. Hers is a large vibrant voice with superb technique, wide range and an almost animal intensity in
the more forceful music...She throws herself wholeheartedly into the text music with marvelously assured
singing. There are obviously no technical obstacles for her.”
Galuppi: Forgotten Arias / Avie CD / Musicweb International
“What is certain is the near-flawless singing of Catherine King…King, whether in intricate passaggi or less
ornate fare, is a pleasure from start to finish.”
Galuppi: Forgotten Arias / Avie CD / Early Music
"Catherine King sings stunningly on her new disc of Baldassare Galuppi arias with Il canto di Orfeo. She's
got an amazing range. There are moments when her voice is completely recognisable because it's just as
she speaks, and there are other times when she can be tremendously operatic."
Galuppi: Forgotten Arias / Avie CD / Emma Kirkby in BBC Music Magazine
"...Galuppi's work, as exhibited here, has a directness and drama that is most compelling. In Catherine
King, bell-voiced and committed, he has a most worthy champion."
Galuppi: Forgotten Arias / Avie CD / The Gramophone - Editor's Choice
"Catherine King sings these attractive arias with firm, clear tone (her predominantly 'straight' sound
selectively warmed with vibrato), elegant phrasing and agile, precise coloratura. She is splendidly vehement
in the virtuoso castrato aria "Benché giusto a vendicarmi" from Antigono, tenderly musing in "Voi che
languite", and smoothly negotiates the wide leaps between registers in the Scipione aria."
"Il canto di Orfeo accompany with verve and imagination"
Galuppi: Forgotten Arias / Avie CD / Richard Wigmore in The Gramophone - Editor's Choice
" A CD as it should be: thrilling and trailblazing .... Catherine King’s nimble and mature mezzo does justice to
Galuppi’s arias. Even in the acrobatic passages, the voice latches on and holds fast; she is clearly
committed to promoting the blazing passion of a music that at first hearing could be labeled sweet and
pleasant, but little more." ("Un disque comme on les aime : palpitant et défricheur... le mezzo agile et habité
de Catherine King rend justice aux arias galuppiens. Même dans les passages acrobatiques, la voix
s'accroche et tient bon : elle a visiblement à coeur de défendre l'embrasement passionnel d'une musique
qu'une première écoute, étiquetterait comme suave et agréable... sans plus.“)
Galuppi: Forgotten Arias / Avie CD / Classique News
"Time and time again, I thought to myself that it was as if Galuppi had known her voice, so perfectly suited
was the music to the range and colours she produces.... Catherine King is radiant in a way that should lead
the way for others in this sadly neglected repertoire."
Galuppi: Forgotten Arias / Avie CD / Early Music Review
"Galuppi, Handel's young rival on the London scene in the 1740s, wrote over 100 operas. King's fruity
mezzo does justice to the extravagantly inventive writing."
Galuppi: Forgotten Arias / Avie CD / Classic fM Magazine
"Mezzo-soprano Catherine King's voice astounded with its power and its full body which filled the concert
hall, yet in the more lyrical pieces she attained the greatest lightness and delicacy."
Galuppi, Hasse, Mozart / Parma Festival Concert / Gazetta di Parma
Catherine King - Selection of Reviews
“Of the soloists, particularly outstanding was Catherine King, mezzo soprano, whose voice was rich and full.”
Verdi Requiem / Tunbridge Wells / Christopher Harris
“The singer, Catherine King, delighted us with the high quality of her singing (as would be expected of a
British singer). A light mezzo-soprano, with ample, skillfully controlled volume and a rich resonance, she has
a wide range with beautiful top notes and an easy bottom register. Stylistically she is multi-faceted; brilliant
yet subtle vocal acting and a youthful and personable presence besides – what more could a lover of lieder
ask for (and there were certainly plenty of these gathered here this summer).”
Scottish 20th & 21st century Song Recital, European Festival of Lieder, Warsaw / Ruch Muzyczny
“King exhibiting her pleasingly resonant timbre with great assurance in ‘Zum reinen Wasser’ from Cantata
112; this is where her sense of linguistic colour and unequivocal commitment to the paraphrase of Psalm 23,
‘he leads me beside the still waters’, is most infectiously conveyed.”
Bach: Arias / Linn CD / The Gramophone
“King reveals a wide–ranging mezzo of considerable power…”
Handel Flavio: Vitige / Early Opera Company / The Guardian
“…her account of Vitige’s jealousy aria, ‘Sirti, scoglio, tempeste’ was particularly fine.”
Handel Flavio: Vitige / Early Opera Company / mvdaily.com
“Catherine King singing ravishingly…”
Dowland: Lachrimae / Naxos CD / Early Music Review
“Catherine King is a splendid singer of the songs here. She is unaffectedly sensitive to the mood of each
(Lasso vita mia is a delight) and clear in tone.”
Dowland: Lachrimae / Naxos CD / The Gramophone
"Catherine King . . .is the mistress of all she purveys, particularly impressive in the solemn songs (of which
there are more than a few), enhanced by her skilful shading of timbre..."
Dowland / EMI Virgin CD / The Gramophone
"Catherine King, the group’s mezzo-soprano, has a lovely tone that suits the plaintive mood of Dowland’s
songs perfectly. She also seems comfortable with current thoughts on how English sounded in
Shakespeare’s day, and she offers a primer on the subject in the first song on the disk, "Come again"..."
Dowland / EMI Virgin CD / New York Times
“King’s mezzo rose with the sun to a central ecstasy of melody for which not even the beauty of earlier
pieces by Hildegard had prepared us.”
Hildegard of Bingen / Spitalfields Festival / The Times
“Catherine King has a voice that many singers would die — or even kill for. It is absolutely flawless,
stunningly accurate, and its quality has a uniformity across the range that would make any other singer spit.”
Milán: Songs and Solos / ASV CD / Early Music Review
“Catherine King, with her agile, velvety mezzo–soprano voice, is an ideal interpreter of these refined and
charming songs”
Milán: Songs and Solos / ASV CD / Alte Musik Aktuell
Catherine King - Selection of Reviews
“…the sheer beauty of sound here is profoundly moving. Through six verses of a melody which has haunted
me for days, King subtly increases the decoration and intensifies the emotion…A superb disc I’ve found
compulsive listening.”
Airs de Cour / Linn CD / BBC Music Magazine ‘Pick of the Month’
“Catherine King sings beautifully.”
Airs de Cour / Linn CD / Classic CD
“The voice of the mezzo–soprano Catherine King is warm and involving and her musical sensitivity
exquisite.”
Airs de Cour / Linn CD / Goldberg
“Catherine King, in particular, was in spectacular form, with her superbly expressive tone lending just the
right degree of passion and emotional depth to the texts.”
Intavolatura de li madrigali / Wigmore Hall / Early Music Review
“Catherine King’s mezzo–soprano effortlessly shouldered some of what have now become Hildegard’s
greatest hits. ‘Then your walls blaze with living stones’ she sang in O Jerusalem: words and music melded,
the vocal line soaring, the tone burnished.”
Gothic Voices / Spitalfields Festival / The Times
"Catherine King's pure mezzo reveals an equal sense of ease with this lovely music"
Mudarra / ASV CD / BBC Music Magazine
"King sings six of the original forty stanzas (close to eight minutes of music),and the listener is drawn into the
telling of the poetry. One would welcome the whole poem, if King were reciting it."
Mudarra / ASV CD / Fanfare
"Catherine King's velvety voice strokes and caresses every musical phrase with a beauty which takes your
breath away."
Verdelot / Linn CD /Sunday Herald
"stylishly sung by Catherine King and Charles Daniels with beautifully shaped phrasing and admirably clear
words"
Verdelot / Linn CD / Telegraph