Press

Gramophone Editor’s Choice for Guillaume Du Fay

“These are all top-rate singers with pure and excellently focused voices: every one of them appears here as a soloist in one of the duet sections, and the intonation and ensemble are beyond reproach…[A]ll serious collectors will want this issue of all four works, beautifully sung, beautifully recorded, beautifully presented, and always exhilarating.”  –David Fallows

(review of Guillaume Du Fay)  

Diapason d’Or for Guillaume Du Fay

Fanfare

“All four [masses] have been given exemplary performances…using eight mixed voices with countertenors that blend perfectly with the other voices…Rodin’s tempos are brisk, consistently the fastest on record, yet the voices respond so well to his direction that there is no sense of being rushed…Rodin’s livelier readings are another way of appreciating this masterly music…Rodin’s notes concentrate on details of harmony, rhythm, text setting, and vocal interplay with readouts from the timer to make it easier to hear them. The discs are slipped into the board covers of a 60-page book of ordinary CD size, now normal for this label. It is lavishly illustrated with seven illuminated manuscript pages and a contemporary Flemish ‘Annunciation.’ This is the most splendid early Renaissance recording in some years, an absolutely essential acquisition for every collector.”  –J. F. Weber. (review of Guillaume Du Fay)

Mittelbayerische.de

(translated from German) “For attendees at the night concert in the Dominican Church, it is an image that will remain: the singers of the American ensemble Cut Circle crowded in front of a large choirbook, shoulder to shoulder. Jesse Rodin positions himself in front of the lectern as ‘primus inter pares’, providing the impetus and flipping the huge pages of Guillaume Du Fay’s ‘Missa Ecce ancilla Domini.’This is authentic performance practice at its best; it produced…a new, dense sound.” (review from Tage Alter Musik, Regensburg)  

Rondo Magazine (Germany, 5/5 stars)

“Outstanding…The realization is beautiful and sonorous as well as transparent and structurally clear.” (review of Guillaume Du Fay)    

Bayerischer Rundfunk (Germany, highest rating)

“Stunning craftsmanship…music of breathtaking artistry…Without falling into mannerisms, the fantastic singers of Cut Circle illuminate [even the most complex passages] with energy and balance.“ (review of Guillaume Du Fay) (audio recording of review)    

Music Web International 

 “Most impressive…The transparency, even in the most dense pieces, is remarkable.” (review of De Orto et Josquin)  

Diapason (5/5)

  “Lively and expressive…Quality, accuracy, and homogeneity of the voices, with stylistic mastery of expression and tempo. A landmark achievement.”

(review of De Orto et Josquin)

 

Early Music America

  ”Rodin…interprets these pieces perfectly. The tempos and shaping are spot on and bring life to this great music, which is often performed with a lack of vitality.”

(review of De Orto et Josquin)

 

All Music

  “Cut Circle…delivers performances that are both tonally confident and musically sensitive. The rousing motifs in Josquin’s music…receive their full measure of energy, but the singers never obscure the contrapuntal intricacies. Strongly recommended.”

(review of De Orto et Josquin)

 

La Libre

  “Driving, direct singing, with perfect intonation.” (review of De Orto et Josquin)

San Jose Mercury

“Fabulous….Each note floated through the air like a globe of silver…a weightless push-and-pull, an alchemist’s balancing act…The performance massaged and startled the soul, like the Dalai Lama applying a mild and beneficial form of electroshock…Like light coming through a break in the clouds in a Renaissance painting.”

(San Jose Mercury, concert review)

Culture Université de Liège

(review of De Orto et Josquin)

The Art Server

(review of De Orto et Josquin)

Le Soir

(review of De Orto et Josquin)