Die Entführung aus dem Serail

artistic quality 9/10 sound quality

"Alessandra Ammara gives us the best recording of Schumann's Album für die Jugend since Michael Endres' reference version. She plays these teaching pieces like real music, and matches Endres' ability to project both the music's simple sentiments and inner sophistication. (...) Arts Music's surround-sound engineering is marvelously full and realistic, and scarcely less so via conventional two-channel stereo playback. Strongly recommended." Jed Distler

Recording of the Month

"Much impressed by Alessandra Ammara’s recording of Giacinto Scelsi’s Preludes, I was more than enthusiastic about hearing her tackle these ‘essence of Romanticism’ masterpieces.
Given state of the art sound with an excellent piano recording, every nuance of Ammara’s performance is held up for close scrutiny, and to my ears she comes up trumps with just about every aspect of Carnaval. (...) Ammara’s touch makes the notes rounded and small, almost reluctant to leave the soundboard of the piano. (...)

This is a performance which leaves no stone unturned, and which grips from beginning to end, and I am full of admiration for Ammara’s craft in achieving this. (...) To my mind this recording is something rather special. There are magical moments all over the place, and the richness of variety in colour, breathtaking sonorities and breadth of expression which Alessandra Ammara brings from a bunch of hammers and metal strings stretched over a plank of wood is something which remains eternally fascinating. (...)

If I don’t choose this as one of my discs of the year, put it down to administrative error."

"Eternally fascinating and really rather special. "                              (Dominy Clements)

 10/10 Stars: sound quality

 10/10 Stars: artistic ability

 10/10 Stars: overall impression

Audiophile Audition:

"String tone is glorious and silky in the disc, no hint at all of the annoying edginess that afflicts some standard Cds of string ensembles."

"The Italian band, always alluring, bring a ray of Mediterranean sunshine to the proceedings as well. But it’s the soloist who takes the palm, with superb articulation and purity of tone. Whether it’s leaps or trills, high or low, Marzi sails through this music with ease. It’s very impressive, both as a performance and as a recording."

"Performance, sound and presentation all speak of high production values. A feast for all sax fans. "