Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique / Rameau: Suite de Hippolyte et Aricie

"Harding's own Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra are stylish in both. There's some brazen playing to enjoy - the low brass in March to the Scaffold sound like a foghorn - but the impression of a lack of refinement is deceptive: the balance and pace are always tautly in check." The Guardian, 1st September 2016 ****

"Daniel Harding's gilt-edged Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra…[find] exceptional detail and expressiveness in these searing readings of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie suite. The Rameau is crisp and precise with venomous fire in its belly…the Berlioz is ripe, explosive and furiously exciting" The Scotsman, 3rd September 2016 *****

"I like the combination; the way it emphasises Rameau's sense of colour and dramatic daring … an audacious coupling, I enjoyed it a lot, not just the idea but also the execution" CD Review, 27th August 2016

"the performance is a cracker. The Swedes play with a passion, swagger and relish for the grotesque that makes a nonsense of national stereotypes, and Harding's attention to detail is exemplary without impeding the music's drama" The Times, 16th September 2016 *****

"This is my new favourite Symphonie Fantastique on modern instruments, and it should be yours too … Everything sounds superb (sample the church bell in the last movement), and Harding knits everything together with an impressive sureness of intent ... Enormous fun." The Arts Desk, 1st October 2016

"the key seems to lie in the really very surprising string tone that Harding draws from his Swedish orchestra in both works. They have an acidic edge in the Rameau, which reminds you of the period specialists, but Harding's masterstroke is to carry this on into the Berlioz, creating an utterly distinctive soundworld for the Symphonie Fantastique … fascinating on both a musical and an intellectual level" MusicWeb International, October 2016

"vibrant, pointed, stylish Rameau…more massive than our ears are used to but still quick on its feet … Harding's Berlioz is resilient, pliant, conducted with a temporal freedom that always seems ambitious but ends up feeling electrifyingly right … Turn from Harding to his current peers - perhaps even to Charles Munch or Igor Markevitch - and it's like going from IMAX cinema to living-room black-and-white." Gramophone Magazine, Editor's Choice October 2016

"an arresting juxtaposition … Smart work from the uncredited harpsichordist and taut direction by Daniel Harding anchor the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra's performance of the suite from Hippolyte et Aricie … With vibrato selectively applied, Harding's Symphonie Fantastique rivals Philippe Herreweghe's in its translucency, yet he has a Mahlerian quality, at once highly detailed and expansive." BBC Music Magazine, December 2016 ****

"The dances from Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie are sprightly in rhythm and crisp in articulation. The overall effect is one of highly sculpted music-making, though not without moments of impressive, full-bodied vehemence. The Berlioz is volatile, with Harding relishing the surprises that come from his refusal to smooth out rough edges." The Irish Times, 19th October 2016

"a crisply enunciated, stylistically credible performance, from artistically deployed harpsichord continuo to the last double dot … be privileged to hear Harding commanding a detailed instrument-by-instrument understanding of Berlioz's scoring, expressive and dynamic markings meticulously detailed and enthrallingly expounded to form an awesome aural portrait of the 'heroics', terrors and 'poetics' pervading this extraordinary work." Classical Ear, 4th November 2016