Interpretation ****     Sound Quality ****      Repertoire value ***      Booklet ****

“… James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook add their persuasiveness and expertise to an absolutely worthwhile overall picture.”

“… Recommended.”

“A most rewarding recital which I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I have.”

"... Thanks to the interpretative intelligence and emotional immediacy of James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook, most of the music seems current, and becomes even more so from reading Gilchrist's own passionately written booklet notes... Gilchrist's fine-etched clarity with the vocal lines and Tilbrook's extraordinary sympathy with piano-writing - along with the Dove cycle -making this disc an apt acquisition for any musical shut-in."

Performance ****      Recording ****

“There’s much food for thought in this collaboration of songs on the theme of solitude. Purcell starts us off, with his much-loved, hypnotic ‘O Solitude, my sweetest choice’, a perfect start in James Gilchrist’s sweet-toned, heartfelt performance… The swirling texture of ‘Fair Ship’ suits Gilchrist’s silky legato perfectly. Anna Tilbrook’s handling of the range of pianistic textures is magnificent, from virtuosic turbulence to dignified stillness. It gets still better with ‘Calm is the morn’, Gilchrist’s tone acquiring both warmth and transparency in response to Tennyson’s moving words, with Tilbrook’s pulsing accompaniment beautifully weighted to match… Tilbrook shines … bringing an exciting vividness to the accompaniments to match Gilchrist’s spirited performance.”

“… Equally compelling is Solitude (Chandos) by James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook, a well-established and ever brilliant tenor-piano duo: in addition to Schubert, Barber and Purcell (arr. Britten), Jonathan Dove’s cycle Under Alter’d Skies, a restless and beguiling setting of Tennyson, is the rewarding centrepiece."

“…a rewarding programme that repays concentration. Gilchrist is, as ever, a hugely clear and communicative singer, in perfect balance with Tilbrook’s sense of focus and poise, even if at some moments in the Barber the piano seems a bit tasteful when something gaudier is called for. As a team, they are highly effective at building slow-burning tension, shaping long crescendos while holding just a little bit back. In that way, it’s the Purcell that’s arguably the highlight; its ending, with Gilchrist holding the final note as if he’ll never let go, is quietly devastating, a sting in the tail that might be felt especially by those who have recently experienced solitude not by choice. ****