Reviews
Buxtehude - SBCD207
It is all enjoyable music and sounds good on this sweet-toned instrument, whose beauties are wll demonstrated. Booth has an easy command of the French notes inégales style, which gives the playing a naturalness. Recommended. Peter Grahame Woolf Musical Pointers
A player for whom the stylus phantasticus holds no fear or caution is Colin Booth...this is gutsy, unfussy, virtuosic playing with both freedom and control, and I found my feet tapping along more than once. Booth's ability to sustain and project lines brings the music right off the page with an immediacy...compellingly presented. James Davy Early Music Today
Dark Harpsichord Music - SBCD203
Late evening in Devon. Blackbird and thrush sing their last tribute to the dying day. In the medieval splendour of Dartington Great Hall the lights are dimmed, and the sombre but glittering tones of a harpsichord take over from the birds' calls and carry an audience into the gathering darkness.
Colin Booth's CD recaptures the atmosphere, and much of the music, of a recent, memorable concert. It presents, in a continuously linked sequence of diverse but musically related pieces, an introspective exploration of mood.
"This lovely CD...presents a panorama of what this magnificent instrument can do." Michael Church Sunday Express
".. an ingeniously planned evening recital...the high spot is Booth's own transcription of Bach's solo violin Chaconne...a technical tour de force..." George Pratt BBC Music Magazine (Five stars *****)
"..Colin Booth is a clear and deep thinker about music as well as a much respected player...Here all his talents combine to produce an original programme played with unfailing, if understated, taste and skill. ...the strongest of recommendations - it could become cult listening." David Hansell Early Music Review
Did Bach Really Mean That? - DBRMT
"The author's research is overwhelming. Provided the reader is prepared to roll up his or her sleeves, this book gives the performer a wealth of information in a practical and non-didactic way, which will benefit all keyboard-players - pianists included." Stephen Kovacevich
"This book is a 'must read' for all musicians. Booth writes with a rare combination of learning and intuitiveness, practical insight and a clarity of reasoned argument that can only inspire. His elegant prose and apposite illustration make it a joy to read." David Titterington
"Colin Booth's guide to deceptive notation will be invaluable. The book's countless musical examples, drawn from an unexpectedly wide range of sources, are examined step by step for any vital message they may hide beneath their bland surface. This is a book that will tidily fill an almost unnoticed gap between ordinary, moderately informed teaching of Baroque music, and those studies aimed at the already expert." Colin Tilney
Essential Scarlatti - SBCD951
"...his expressive playing gives full reign to the sense of drama of the music. The harpsichord he made himself sings beautifully in the top octave...besides the well-known virtuoso sonatas there are many beautiful lyrical ones, and Colin Booth excels in both." Early Music Review
"The disc as a whole has a freshness and vitality that indicate a musicianly response to this most stimulating of composers" Gramophone
Frescobaldi - SBCD201
CD of the Month:
One doesn’t have to be an Italian to create a sensation by a provocative and extraordinary performance. This is demonstrated here by the English harpsichordist Colin Booth, on a copy of an early Italian harpsichord with two keyboards – which is rare for this type of instrument. The original is in the Germanisches National Museum in Nuremberg, and the maker of the copy is Colin Booth himself. In addition he uses an organ by Robin Jennings on the recording.
The meantone tuning of the instrument is extremely attractive. But the real thrill of the CD is the almost non-conformist approach of the player, which on the one hand brings Frescobaldi much closer to Bach and the Baroque, and on the other shows how a shrewd musician can – to put it rather daringly – play the music as if it were jazz. The range of tonal colour, rhythmic freedom, and creative boldness are all features of jazz.
It is to the great credit of Colin Booth that he has brought a composer from the late-Renaissance much closer to our own age. For this he is to be warmly thanked.
>Alte Musik Aktuell, November 2001
Booth's approach to this music is more intimate and personal than many performers of Frescobaldi's works. In the organ works it can be clearly heard that he is focussing more on the music than the sound of the organ. Rather than choose a grandiose organ in the reverberating acoustic of a church, he plays a small organ in a simple room, much like that where Frescobaldi might have often played his music. This gives the organ works a quality rarely heard - one is not overcome by the force of the instrument; the listener can hear the music for what it is, rather than for the context in which it is played. This is not likely to please those listeners who seek loud, energetic organ recordings, but others who appreciate the subtleties which arise from listening to this type of instrument. Toccata XI, played on organ, is a slow, intense piece, with subtle lines that weave together well on this simple organ. Ricercar III is an attractive, moving fugue, played slowly and with feeling. Booth may be a bit too rigid in this work, lacking in just a bit of energy, but the result is spellbinding nevertheless.
The harpsichord works let Frescobaldi's virtuosity be clearly heard. Booth shows a mastery of the technique, as he negotiates runs up and down the keyboard, yet never loses track of the main lines. The longest piece is the Variations on the Romanesca, exploring many different timbres and rhythms. Booth gives a fine performance of this beautiful work, showing an excellent command of the variety of touch necessary, from a light, subtle touch to a more forceful, energetic and rhythmic approach.
This disc offers a fine a selection of Frescobaldi's works. The originality of using a small organ, and of presenting both organ and harpsichord, is an excellent choice, which makes for an attractive listening experience. Booth's harpsichord especially stands out for its rich, subtle sound.
Classical Music on the Web, January 2002
Colin Booth is one of those really annoyingly talented people who can both build and play harpsichords very well. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is one of the best Frescobaldi recordings I've heard, from the point of view of both the playing (which is excellent) and the harpsichord (which is fascinating).
I'm a fan of the way this CD is put together - the pieces are grouped in pairs or threes, always beginning with a Toccata and ending with a Canzona or other contrapuntal movement. It's an approach which works, and is surely immeasurably preferable to those CDs which give you 75 minutes of straight toccatas. Overall then, a super disc - intelligent interpretations, organological interest, and great music.
Early Music Review, February 2002
Booth builds fine harpsichords, here a rare Italian copy, with exceptionally diverse colours, exhaustively revealed in some striking variations. Meantone tuning creates spine-chilling passing dissonance, delicious sonority in repose. Scholarly approaches to fingering, pitch, and tempo are enriched by expressive playing. Warmly recommended. Performance *****; sound ****. BBC Music Magazine, January 2002
Henry Purcell - SBCD205
"This very generous disc...beautifully played without fuss....a very well-crafted account of the music with excellent technique and sensitive ornamentation." Early Music Review.
J S Bach - SBCD981
"BUY THIS DISC! Chief among its many virtues is an ever-present sense that Booth is playing with the utmost musical sincerity...He uses an extremely individual, identifiable style of articulation. This style, this sense of playing for purely musical expression and not at all for ostentation, comes through equally in fast and slow tempi, in registration cluttered and clear and in interpretations strait-laced and super-imaginative. This personal imprint is every bit as salient as Leonhardt's, or Horowitz's for that matter..." Continuo
"His piece de resistance is his own transcription, in excellent taste, ingeniously inventive, without being over-loaded, of the D minor Chaconne... He plays it with Panache" Gramophone
J S Bach - Goldberg Variations - SBCD210
The general impression one would expect to have from this recording might have been one of scholarly dryness, were it not for Colin Booth’s elegance and style as a performer, and his ability to play Bach’s rhythms with a spring in his step. Variation 7 is a case in point, where our guide clearly relishes the dance element in the music, emphasising the lightness in the upward runs and melodic gestures.
Read more from original review on Music-Web website
Musical Web International August 2011
Booth takes a lighter approach than some, and he reminds us that complete performances would not originally have been envisaged; indeed he urges us to dwell on individual variations and to use the "repeat button". A wonderful disc, which we have listened to in whole and in part several times, with great enjoyment. Peter Grahame Woolf Musical Pointers February 2011
…this brilliant record… CD of the week.The Independent, February 2011
This is a real achievement on Booth's part; and one to which you will warm on repeated listenings to this CD. So it's far from being yet another Goldberg Variations release. Booth's is a significant contribution to the still vibrant debate on historically-informed performance practice. And one which has the merit of producing a highly satisfying and stimulating listening experience. The recording is relatively closely miked in such a way as to concentrate our listening on the music and, secondarily, the mechanics of the harpsichord (always welcome) in a warm acoustic. Well worth looking out and investigating.
Classical.net - full review here
This has clearly been a labour of love and is beautifully recorded on Booth’s own Mietke copy. There is both clarity and warmth in the recording and it would be excellent medicine for an insomniac….
Booth characterises each variation very carefully, adds some subtle ornaments on repeats and gives the music a subtle French lilt in places as well as shortening the appoggiaturas in the aria. He uses a good variety of tempi and registration and generally displays a highly intelligent approach to the music which translates into a sense of security and rightness.
For me this recording stands out in a crowded field.
Noel O’Regan. Early Music Review, August 2011.
Johann Mattheson - SBCD208
"The music is original, tuneful, and inventive; it says much for its quality that each of the twelve suites uses fresh ideas and is clearly differentiated from the others....the suites should certainly be better known.Booth is a fine player with an impeccable technique, who gives very satisfying performances -... It's played on two harpsichords made by Booth himself: one is based on an instrument by Christian Vater of Hannover (1738) and the other is a copy of the 1681 Vaudry in the V&A. ...Both are fine instruments and are a credit to their maker." Richard Maunder Early Music Review, October 2008.
Peter Philips - SBCD992
“For delight in sheer harpsichord sound, this disc is hard to beat.” BBC Music magazine
"Colin Booth is as alert as can be in the slender but resilient emotions of this music. Design of the [CD cover] leaflet is excellent and the notes are extremely informative. Definitely worth exploring. Four Stars." Rob Barnett Classical Music on the Web
Restoration - CDK1002
William Croft - SBCD991
"The harpsichord is rich and sonorous, matching perfectly the spacious, unhurried but nevertheless detailed interpretations...In fact the whole disc is of superb quality and represents the most persuasive and interesting Croft recording I have heard. An impressive disc by any standards." Early Music Review
"Playing a brass-strung harpsichord built by himself, Colin Booth most persuasively presents the engagingly fresh charm of these suites" Gramophone