Anthony Marwood - violin
STRAVINSKY/HYPERION "Then there are the performances, which have a wonderful lived-in quality – unsurprisingly, as Adès and Marwood have played the music on tour. Adès handles the finger-twisting difficulties of the Duo Concertant with total aplomb, and has exactly the right incisive, luminous and chaste sound. Marwood, too, has that springy balletic quality always needed in Stravinsky, but he finds a myriad of colours to go with it: sly and sentimental in the “Chanson Russe” from Mavra, tender in the Duo. In all, it’s a marvel." Telegraphy, February 2010
STRAVINSKY/HYPERION "Marwood and Ades do the music every justice, bringing to their playing a sharp sense of rhythm and attack." Sunday Times, January 2010
STRAVINSKY/HYPERION ".....this masterly recording from the celebrated composer and pianist Thomas Ades and his long-time collaborator; the fine violinist Anthony Marwood" Observer, January 2010
FLORESTAN TRIO "Anthony Marwood is a superbly incisive violinist, stunningly inventive in the way he conjures different timbres." The Times, January 2010
RECITAL/QUEEN’S HALL, EDINBURGH “Marwood's violin tone is like spun gold, and it floated effortlessly over Madzar's crisp and sparkling piano accompaniment.” The Scotsman, April 2009
RECITAL /KING’S PLACE, LONDON “And as that elegant and incisive duo, Anthony Marwood and Thomas Adès, reminded us in their all-Stravinsky bill in the brightly responsive acoustic of the handsome new Hall One at Kings Place, these are no ordinary transcriptions….with the fantastical detail of the "Song of the Nightingale" and "Chinese March" from The Nightingale (1914/1933), the two players found their top form, and their ensuing account of the Duo Concertante culminated in a reading of its final "Dithyrambe" of truly classical sublimity. Then the players relaxed into a hugely enjoyable dialogue in the transcriptions from The Firebird (1910/1933) and the Divertimento (1934) from the Tchaikovsky-inspired ballet The Fairy's Kiss (1928). After a final fizzing account of the "Danse Russe" from Petrushka (1911/1932), the audience went wild.” Independent, November 2008
MENDELSSOHN D MINOR CONCERTO/ICO "Marwood dispatched the solo part with golden tone and surefire musicianship." The Washington Post, April 2008
ADES CONCERTO/EMI RECORDING "Thomas Ades's engaging Violin Concerto finds a brilliant champion in Anthony Marwood." Editor's Choice, Gramophone February 2008
ADES CONCERTO/COE “His three movement Violin Concerto played at the Barbican by the amazingly dextrous soloist for whom it was written, Anthony Marwood….” Sunday Times 2007
BRITTEN CONCERTO/LPO “Anthony Marwood’s….nervous intensity brought out the anxiety underlying the high spirits, and he gave a troublingly sweet intensity to Britten's melodies. In all, he made a brilliant but patchy work seem like a masterpiece.” Daily Telegraph 2007
BRITTEN CONCERTO/LPO “Marwood didn’t spare the angst. His playing was tough and sinewy, his tackling of the tricky passages in harmonics by no means facile. In the devilish double-stoppings and glissandi of the scherzo, he and Alsop raised the spirit of Shostakovich.” The Times 2007
VERKLAERTE NACHT/ICO “Anthony Marwood’s ear for refined sonorities, and his players’ facility in delivering them, ensured a luminous clarity in the performance…The playing seemed to have the best of both worlds – the flexibility of chamber music as well as the extra tonal range and weight of a small orchestra.” Irish Times 2007
MENDELSSOHN OCTET/ICO “The clarity, expressiveness and perfection of ensemble was as near flawless as one could imagine.” Irish Examiner 2007
VASKS DISTANT LIGHT/PRESTEIGNE FESTIVAL “… it was Anthony Marwood's performance of Vasks' violin concerto Distant Light in the opening concert that was outstanding. With Vass and the festival orchestra giving sterling support, the radiant intensity of Marwood's playing had extraordinary emotional power.” Guardian 2006
WEILL CONCERTO/DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA “Anthony Marwood, …brought a charismatic electricity to the virtuoso lines but also a subtle feel for the sinewy lyricism in Weill's soul.” Detroit Free Press 2006
“Marwood's elegant, warm, seemingly effortless playing gave it a feeling of whole cloth.” Detroit News 2006
ADES VIOLIN CONCERTO/LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC/WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL “Anthony Marwood emanated radiance…he played like a spirit, an Ariel, never touching ground whether in the rapid filigree inventions of the first movement, the ghostly, highflying lyricism of the second of the leaping happy dance of the finale.” Los Angeles Times 2006
IRISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA/DUBLIN “The ICO and Anthony Marwood captured the rhetorical flair and subtlety of music that continually astonishes through its inventiveness…stunning music-making!” Irish Times 2005
ADES VIOLIN CONCERTO/CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE/BBC PROMS "The solo writing is scrupulously notated and hugely demanding technically; Marwood seemed to have mastered its every detail." The Guardian 2005
ADES VIOLIN CONCERTO/CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE/BBC PROMS “Anthony Marwood, resplendent in white suit, was a formidable soloist, playing with certitude, polish, spontaneity and a gorgeous sound.” The Evening Standard 2005
ADES VIOLIN CONCERTO/CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE/BBC PROMS
“Anthony Marwood gave an exuberantly committed performance of a work which is surely set to be a much sought-after classic of the violin repertoire” The Times 2005
THE SOLDIER’S TALE “Anthony Marwood combined his virtuosity as a violinist with acting that caught the Soldier's moral dilemmas to a nicety. This was a true ensemble collaboration, disquieting and exhilarating in equal measure, and executed with excellence, economy and élan.” The Daily Telegraph 2005
THE SOLDIER’S TALE “Lawrence Evans’s production of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale has been delighting audiences round the country since originating at Aldeburgh last month. Its “gimmick”, unworthy word for an inspired artistic decision – is to have the fiddle-playing Soldier acted (and even danced) by a genuine violinist. And a superb one, too – Anthony Marwood. That unlocks a whole new dimension to this Faustian fable. And Marwood’s all round performance – as a rueful innocent horribly led astray by Iain Woodhouse’s insidiously slimy Devil – is virtuosic.” The Times 2005
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR/SOMERVELL CONCERTOS (Hyperion) "Anthony Marwood is again the complete virtuoso..." BBC Music Magazine 2005
"If Anthony Marwood, Martyn Brabbins and the Scottish Players learnt the works specially for this recording, then they've utterly fooled me. Totally at one with the idiom, Marwood's unflashy, sweet-toned playing lends just the right note of enchantment and authenticity to these forgotten scores. In short, this is Hyperion at its best"
Gramophone 2005
BEETHOVEN CONCERTO MANCHESTER CAMERATA/BOYD/BRIDGEWATER HALL "Boyd's connection with violinist Anthony Marwood was fascinating to watch; a dialogue of the intensity that one would normally associate with lieder. Marwood's virile account.... made this concerto new again. Wonderful stuff."
The Independent on Sunday 2005
THE FOUR SEASONS/IRISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA/DUBLIN
“Marwood’s playing was nimble and pure, and he drew a tight, well-balanced partnership from the orchestra.” Irish Times 2004
ANTHONY MARWOOD AND FRIENDS/WIGMORE HALL “Anthony Marwood had already been playing for well over two hours…yet, seemingly fresh as ever, he proceeded to lead a marvellously vivacious payoff, sending a capacity audience out into the night, hearts dancing.”
Independent 2003
WEILL CONCERTO/ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS “Anthony Marwood managed to direct the many tricky tempo-changes …while simultaneously holding his silvery-toned own against the more heavily-scored passages – no mean feat – and inflecting the volatile violin line with all manner of expressive nuances. This is a reading one would very much like to have on disc.”
Independent 2003
BEAMISH CONCERTO/BBC SCOTTISH “The performance of this commanding composition was blazing, with Marwood in towering form.”
The Glasgow Herald 2002
SCHUMANN SONATAS/HYPERION Marwood and Tomes make an excellent sonata team (I mentioned their really very satisfying Dvorak CD earlier) and their Schumann lives up to my high expectations. They are, by turns, dramatic, dreamy, playfully spooky, and in general do just about everything one could ask for in these difficult works, with tones that are always beautiful and full. Recommended without reservation.'
Fanfare Magazine, USA 2001
STANFORD CONCERTO/HYPERION “Anthony Marwood is one of the finest young violinists now before the public. His playing here is beautifully lyrical in line and sweet in tone, and he is fully in control of all the music’s technical demands.”
Fanfare Magazine, USA 2001
STANFORD CONCERTO/HYPERION “I cannot think of a violinist better suited to bringing this concerto back to life than Anthony Marwood. He easily surmounts its technical demands, but his distinction as a chamber musician enables him to seek out all its quieter subtleties and pensive asides.” Gramophone 2001
STANDFORD CONCERTO/HYPERION “This is the kind of playing that one can listen to for pleasure simply because of its ravishing, jewel-like tonal quality.”
International Record Review 2001
PROKOFIEV 2/BBC SCOTTISH “Marwood rose to the challenge in fine style, unfolding Prokofiev’s lyrical melodies in sympathetic fashion…”
The Glasgow Herald 2001
BRITTEN CONCERTO/LPO/ALDEBURGH FESTIVAL “…Anthony Marwood’s compelling performance of Britten’s 1939 Violin Concerto…the LPO and Marwood whipped the central danse macabre into a crescendo of terror…”
Gramophone 1998
DVORAK WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO/HYPERION “With confident understatement and unerring teamwork, Mr Marwood and Ms Tomes spin out buoyant themes in an irresistible blend of affection and humour.” New York Times 1998
DVORAK WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO/HYPERION “This delectable Hyperion release enshrines music-making of sensitivity and eloquence…these fine artists at their sparkling best.” Gramophone 1998
DVORAK WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO/HYPERION “The playing of Anthony Marwood and Susan Tomes is vibrant, the quality of the recorded sound wonderfully realistic and fresh, and the balance between the two instruments virtually ideal.”
Classic FM Magazine 1998
UK PREMIERE OF PETERIS VASKS CONCERTO/BBC NOW “From the opening notes of the solo violin….the sound’s tensile intensity grips you. It was hard to tear my eyes away from Anthony Marwood, who gave a sensational bravura display.”
The Times 1998
UK PREMIERE OF PETERIS VASKS CONCERTO/BBC NOW “The luminous star here was concerto soloist Anthony Marwood. His playing was wonderfully assured and moving.” The Western Mail 1998
ELGAR CONCERTO/BBC SCOTTISH “Later in the Violin Concerto he (Osmo Vanska) had the advantage of a soloist with whose virile yet poetic playing he was clearly in sympathy.” The Glasgow Herald 1997
WEST CORK CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL “Anthony Marwood joined pianist Barry Douglas for stylishly unselfish accounts of sonatas by Schumann and Elgar – it’s always heartening to encounter music making where the apparent reticence of the performers’ personalities allows the music’s character to shine all the more clearly.”
The Irish Times 1996
BRAHMS FESTIVAL, ZUG, SWITZERLAND “Anthony Marwood and Susan Tomes did not merely play the sonata, they lived it…..(they) unleashed a passionate account. From the violinist’s first note it was clear that this musician is something extraordinary. His fastidiously graded colour changes, that range from the merest breath to the full cry of the fortissimos, are very rarely to be matched.” Zuger Zeitung 1996
KORNGOLD CONCERTO/HALLÉ ORCHESTRA “The highlight was undoubtedly Korngold’s violin concerto, which was immaculately played by soloist Anthony Marwood.” Manchester Evening News 1995
ALMEIDA FESTIVAL “Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale, with a terrific violinist in Anthony Marwood, fairly crackled.” Financial Times 1994
PROKOVIEV 2/BBC PROMENADE CONCERTS/BBC SCOTTISH “A fine player…he drew a mellow astringency of great beauty from the first movement, the most fragile of lilting songs from the second….” The Times 1993