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Conducting "A real sense of commitment from Graham Ross's sharply focussed direction" Gramophone| November 2011 Marc Rochester on The Dmitri Ensemble's third disc for Naxos; Judith Bingham's organ concerto Jacob's Ladder
"The stand-out work on this disc was the mini-concerto Jacob's Ladder performed by The Dmitri Ensemble, conducted by Graham Ross." Classical CD Review | August 2011 Gavin Dixon on The Dmitri Ensemble's third disc for Naxos; Judith Bingham's organ concerto Jacob's Ladder
"An exciting new release of works for organ and strings ... stunningly played" Yorkshire Post | July 2011 on The Dmitri Ensemble's third disc for Naxos; Judith Bingham's organ concerto Jacob's Ladder
"Opening the disc is the instantly memorable Jacob’s Ladder for organ and strings, ... a highly illuminated musical depiction of the Biblical story. Very potent contribution by The Dmitri Ensemble ... stunningly captured ... " David's Review Corner | July 2011 David Denton on The Dmitri Ensemble's third disc for Naxos; Judith Bingham's organ concerto Jacob's Ladder
"Throughout, the four soloists and The Dmitri Ensemble under Graham Ross give passionate, committed performances. The stabbing staccatos and syncopated rhythms of Magnificat I bounce of the original Senegalese material with tremendous vigour, while in The silent land voices whisper and throng around Raphael Wallfisch's sometime pained, sometimes ecstatic song like terrifying angels. After such a tumult, the sweet sounds of Ave verum corpus descend like gentle rain before the climactic, tension-filled Stabat mater - though not without moments of pure, transcendental beauty, such as that depicting the death of Jesus as Mary looks on - rings with solo and choral singing of raw, magnificent power and sympathetic eloquence. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a better performance." International Record Review | March 2011 Robert Levett on The Dmitri Ensemble's second disc for Naxos; Giles Swayne's Stabat mater; The silent land
"As celebratory and exhilarating as one could wish... the result is enthralling... This disc is a hugely impressive achievement from The Dmitri Ensemble and conductor Graham Ross, showing great sympathy for Swayne’s music. The performances are technically accomplished, profoundly satisfying and vividly expressive. This is contemporary choral music at its best." MusicWeb international | February 2011 (Bargain of the Month) Robert Hugill on The Dmitri Ensemble's second disc for Naxos; Giles Swayne's Stabat mater; The silent land
"I had heard a performance of MacMillan's Seven Last Words led by the composer, and, frankly, it bored me. I thought it bloodless. It never occurred to me that it could have been the account, rather than the piece. The performance by Graham Ross shows me my mistake. Ross and The Dmitri Ensemble transform what had seemed like bland piety into an intensity that burns. What seemed a major mistake now strikes me as a highpoint of MacMillan's catalogue.
Classical CD Review| January 2011 Steve Schwartz on The Dmitri Ensemble's debut disc for Naxos; James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross
"The silent land for 40 voices and cello, modelled on Tallis' Spem in alium, makes the deepest impact with a powerful performance. * * * * " Classical Music Magazine | January 2011 on The Dmitri Ensemble's second disc for Naxos; Giles Swayne's Stabat mater; The silent land
"Everything is held together by a sense of sustained, muscular line rare among modern British composers. A very worthwhile disc, foregrounding a composer who should be more widely appreciated. Excellent performances and recordings. Performance * * * * * / Recording * * * * *" BBC Music Magazine | January 2011 Stephen Johnson on The Dmitri Ensemble's second disc for Naxos; Giles Swayne's Stabat mater; The silent land
"The Dmitri Ensemble champions Giles Swayne's works. ... A rock-steady fine-tuned choral sound." Gramophone | January 2011 On The Dmitri Ensemble's second disc for Naxos; Giles Swayne's Stabat mater; The silent land
"[This] has to be heard to be believed. ... Brilliant playing by the reliable Raphael Wallfisch ... The singing from The Dmitri Ensemble is superb and we salute the soloists. Listeners with any interest in contemporary choral music should seek out this recording at their earliest convenience and rejoice in the fact that it is available at a very reasonable price." Cross Rhythms Direct | November 2010 Steven Whitehead on The Dmitri Ensemble's second disc for Naxos; Giles Swayne's Stabat mater; The silent land
" The Dmitri Ensemble, containing some of the UK’s finest professional singers, stick to their task with dedication and a sense of achievement, while Raphael Wallfisch adds the sad-voiced cello. Excellent sound." David's Review Corner | November 2010 David Denton on The Dmitri Ensemble's second disc for Naxos; Giles Swayne's Stabat mater; The silent land
"An orchestra of single strings, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn brought Mozart's details into crisp focus, while conductor and fortepianist Graham Ross put some cute gags into the continuo recitative." The Independent | August 2010 Anna Pickard
"The first thing that struck me about this recording is that [Ross] is as much interested in the orchestra as he is in the choir. [Stephen] Layton's orchestra is fine (Hyperion), but one senses that it has been left rather in the shadow of the choir in which he feels totally in control. Ross's orchestral detail shines and it transforms the work. I find it to be a truly engaging performance which has an edge to it which is wholly lacking in Layton's manicured version. Layton cannot endure the lengths of [MacMillan's] silences but Ross shows that they heighten the drama considerably. The quality of all the orchestral playing is outstanding and the crucial final minutes of the work are simply mesmerising."
"The Dmitri Ensemble under Graham Ross are simply magnificent, the singing and playing are utterly committed and cannot be more highly praised. This is a masterpiece of our time perfectly captured by a profound performance."
"I was stunned (no other word for it) by the sophistication, chic, and sheer musical brilliance of this little show. ... The best thing was the band which... delivered playing of astonishing refinement under a young conductor, not long out of Cambridge, by the name of Graham Ross. Directing from the keyboard with assurance, wit, style and a sense of mischief in the recits that somehow kept everyone awake until the show came down at 12.40am (that's Mediterranean festivals for you) Ross was very much a star; and I suspect we'll all be seeing a lot more of him in the near future."
"An exceptional performance of MacMillan's masterpiece. As far as posterity is concerned, performances like this confirm that Seven Last Words will be seen as a masterpiece. ... This is the work's third recording - following on from those under the composer himself and Stephen Layton - and, on balance, the most compelling and inexorable-sounding yet. Graham Ross secures outstandingly fervent and finely disciplined results from the youthful Dmitri Ensemble, while the three remaining items are just as impressive. ... The disc is little short of a triumph in its combination of truthful sonority and wholly natural perspective. Richly rewarding listening, all of it, and a classy 50th-birthday tribute to MacMillan." Andrew Achenbach
"This disc is in a class of its own. I recall not really grasping the work on first hearing it, finding it rather diffuse, and though repeated listenings brought it more into focus, this recording shows exactly what was missing - that very physical sense of being inside the music. There is a tremendous immediacy to The Dmitri Ensemble's performance, a tautness to the instrumental work and a feeling of intimacy in the vocal sound. ... There is also a very effective balancing of the knife-edge of sweetness with organum-like austerity. ... It can rarely have been performed as movingly, but not cloyingly, as this. ... An essential contribution to the MacMillan discography." Ivan Moody
"[Kingston Choral Society's] second concert under their new Music Director, Graham Ross, showed what a difference this young and dynamic conductor has already made...as they gave some of the best singing that I have heard from them in many years." Helen Jones
"Anyone looking for an alternative to the usual diet of Passiontide choral music could do a lot worse than turn to this inspired and inspiring CD of MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross, together with three shorter independent pieces, two of which here receive their first recordings. The Dmitri Ensemble, under conductor Graham Ross, rises ably to the challenges of MacMillan’s sound world. The disc provides a fitting tribute to the composer, 50 this year. * * * *" Philip Reed on The Dmitri Ensemble's debut disc for Naxos; James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross
"Considering the many excellences of the included shorter works, this wonderful album by the newly formed Dmitri Ensemble—celebrating the composer's 50th birthday—may easily turn out to be the preferred medium for buyers to acquaint themselves with this seminal, and fabulous, piece of music. Don't end the year without making its acquaintance! * * * * *" Steven Ritter on The Dmitri Ensemble's debut disc for Naxos; James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross
"The work of the youth-based Dmitri Ensemble comes with a ringing endorsement from James MacMillan himself, and within a few seconds of Seven Last Words from the Cross it becomes clear why. Singing and playing are polished, focused and alert; but it‘s the controlled intensity that’s most striking here. The first movement’s lamenting string figure – like the hushed breathing of the sea – carries an emotional charge out of all proportion to its apparent means. Above it the chorus’s chanting, keening figures grow steadily in power: the sense of a strong sustained line behind the men’s overlapping speech-like comments is potent. The massive block-like chords of ‘Woman Behold Thy Son!’ are impressive enough, but the silences between them are still more gripping. And the contrast between the sweet Celtic-inflected lyricism of ‘Verily, I say unto you’ and the uncompromising non-tonal harshness of ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?’ has never been made quite so forcefully in my experience. Nor has the journey of Seven Last Words ever seemed to be over so quickly – at the same time urging one to reflect on why these words (and those of the three shorter pieces) can still mean something even to faithless ears. Until now I’ve been happy enough with the Polyphony version on Hyperion, but in comparison with The Dmitri Ensemble’s contained heat it now sounds just a little cool. The Naxos recording too is outstanding, with the church acoustic savoured but never allowed to swamp details. Performance * * * * * / Recording * * * * *" Stephen Johnson on The Dmitri Ensemble's debut disc for Naxos; James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross
"An inspiring performance from a young British ensemble of admirable contemplation and commitment. The French composer Arthur Honegger expressed an aim to ‘write a music which would be understandable to the great majority of listeners and at the same time sufficiently free of banality to interest the connoisseurs’. Today, that description easily applied to the music of Scottish composer James MacMillan, celebrating his fiftieth birthday this year, and this recording is a fitting birthday present. Vocal tone and diction are sonorously clear, textures transparent, and the passion of the cross almost palpably evident. The addition of a previously unrecorded motet, the contemplative Nemo te condemnavit, is a special treat. I didn’t want this to end. 4.5 / * * * * *" CG on The Dmitri Ensemble's debut disc for Naxos; James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross
"Fine performances by the Dmitri Ensemble, conducted by Graham Ross." Geoffrey Norris on The Dmitri Ensemble's debut disc for Naxos; James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross
"MacMillan deploys a rich palette of harmony in evoking both anguish and consolation. But the variety of means is underpinned by the music's seamless strand of emotional sincerity, establishing, in this radiant performance, a profoundly affecting balance between awe and dramatic, human narrative. * * * * * " John Fleming on The Dmitri Ensemble's debut disc for Naxos; James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross
"Graham Ross, with his outstanding choir and string ensemble on this, their debut disc, gets right into the heart, soul and spirit of MacMillan's great work. Of course it's a sacred piece, but Ross and The Dmitri Ensemble bring to the music exactly the human and emotional dimensions critically missing in Layton's earlier recording. The balance of string and choral forces is infinitely better, with greater clarity of text and texture, a richer, more vibrant sound, and a compelling and deeply authoritative emotional commitment. It's all very well having a masterpiece on your hands, but it has to have masterly forces to bring it off the page into sound and into life. And this is exactly what this impressive group does in this gripping, harrowing, beautiful and profoundly moving account. Like me, you may not have heard of The Dmitri Ensemble before. We know them now. The message about this new disc is unequivocal: get it. It's an amazing performance." Michael Tumelty on The Dmitri Ensemble's debut disc for Naxos; James MacMillan's Seven Last Words from the Cross
"The Elgar concerto with cellist Soo-Kyung Hong became a unique and unforgetable experience in collaboration with the young English conductor Graham Ross. It was impressive that [he] managed to get the big orchestra [Aalborg Symfoniorkester] to give Hong the necessary space. Everybody submitted to the organic whole with Soo-Kyung Hong as the indisputable and natural centre. Previously Ross had demonstrated a gift for conjuring up an organic orchestral sound in Britten's Four Sea Interludes,... with clear lines and distinct structures. His reading of Carl Nielsen's Symphony no. 2 was again a unified whole, with beautiful and clarified orchestral playing. * * * * " Tore Mortensen
Cambridge Local Secrets | January 2008 Mike Levy
"There was something about the works that was awe-inspiring and reverential. ... The Dmitri Ensemble sounded gorgeous, especially the cellos, and the singers were exceptional. They played and sang with strength and conviction throughout. In the choir, the sopranos were high and sweet, and there were some really lovely solos. The altos were a mix of contraltos and counter tenors which is a sound I really like. The tenors were gorgeous – again, there was a very accomplished soloist. But the basses were exceptional. They were one of the main reasons why I wanted to stay for the second half: I wanted to hear that sound again. It was such a big deep sound, like the lower registers of a bassoon or cello. They must be the most beautiful bass section I’ve ever heard." Primi Divi | March 2008
"The Dmitri Ensemble’s 24 singers, ably and unobtrusively directed by its founder Graham Ross, coped admirably with the sometimes complex ornamentation and wide range of dynamic and textural contrasts. ... This was an assured performance of a technically challenging work. The performers demonstrated a well-blended sound and tight togetherness, led with sensitivity by Jamie Campbell (who also provided a beautifully sweet-toned solo line in the third movement). There was no doubt that the performers gave their all to a very challenging piece and MacMillan seemed genuinely pleased with the performance. However, the star of the evening was the Dmitri Ensemble itself." Classical Source | March 2008 Gill Redfern
Composing " Webern's Two Pieces for Cello and Piano (arranged here for string quartet and cello by Graham Ross) with its glossy, Brahmsian feel, was the pick of the first half." The Australian | August 2011 Gillian Wills on the arrangement for the Australian Chamber Orchestra
"A favourite and currently little-known carol is Graham Ross’s I sing of a maiden. The text, written in the late Middle Ages, is of supreme beauty and Ross has captured the essence of the poem at least as well as Britten and Hadley. The music depicts the demure and almost mystical figure of the Virgin, through a harmonic palette of gentle but permanent unresolved dissonance and a daring refusal to submit to traditional soprano-alto-tenor-bass texture. The melodies are achingly beautiful and this carol is something new, fresh, stimulating." BBC Music Magazine | December 2010 Adrian Partington on BBC Music Magazine's 'Six of the best ... unknown carols'
"Graham Ross's rearrangement of the original work for piano accompaniment [Schubert's Rondo Brilliante D895] into a setting for chamber ensemble was particularly successful in deepening the range of tonal colours underpinning the alternating savage arpeggios, lyrical lines and dance-like motifs on the violin. Interweaving clarinet and cello sonorities were particularly complementary, creating a satisfying emotional intensity and precluding sentimentality. " Canberra Times | September 2010 Jennifer Gall
"This new version [of 'I sing of a maiden'] by the prodigiously talented Graham Ross deservedly won the 2009 John Sanders Memorial Prize. It centres round the stillness of ‘he came al so still’, with a moment of utter immobility the final time those words are sing – out of which erupts the conclusion that ‘well may such a lady Goddes mother be’. This is a musical setting that heightens the familiar words so that they become charged with fresh significance. " Royal Schools of Church Music | September 2010 James L Montgomery
"The Solstice [Quartet], winners of this year's Royal Over-Seas League competition, also brought considerable conviction to Graham Ross's new Quartet No 1, premiered in Suffolk two weeks earlier. Written as a set of 11 variations on an opening theme, the work plays on the contrast between fast, intricate tuttis and much slower, contemplative, sometimes anguished passages. Not only was Ross's material effectively characterised, but the transitions from one mode to the other were seamlessly achieved. * * * * " Rian Evans | September 2009 The Guardian
"A tremendous performance. His inspirational leadership produced some very fine effects. Ross ably fashioned a fine sense of shape and scale in these heartfelt and devout masterpieces. The voices soured effortlessly to create a jubilant and uplifting concert." The Herald | January 2009 Katy Gould
"Farnham Youth Choir showed sensitivity to the delicate word-painting of Silver, a setting of Walter de la Mare by ex-member Graham Ross, a composer of rare promise." The Herald | March 2009 Graham Noakes
"Ayurvedic Pulses made a big impact on the audience...how best to describe it? The Marmite effect...love it or hate it...understand it or query it... it was a great talking point, nobody expected anything like this, it perfectly matched the mood of the evening of being different, original and relevant. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience!" Hymans Robertson: Club Vita launch | November 2008 Nick Flint "It suited choral singing beautifully." The Choir, BBC Radio 3 | April 2006 Deborah Catterall on Come to me in the silence of the night
"It was a unanimous decision. … Just looking at the rehearsals, the piece that the choir had the most problems with was Graham’s [Come to me in the silence of the night], and that’s the piece that won. I think that’s absolutely fascinating, and right - I think it has to be like that. If the purpose of a composition competition is to create something new, or to foster a new voice, there has to be that dialogue, that element of challenge. You see them animated, you see them disagree. … For me that was a magical moment." The Choir, BBC Radio 3 | April 2006 Tarik O'Regan on National Youth Choir of Great Britain's inaugural Composition Competition
"There are 10 new commissions at the Proms this year; I decided to hand out a few more. The brief? Write a piece of music of no more than three minutes’ duration that takes a classic piece of Proms repertoire and ‘rewrites’ it. ... That’s what I got; Graham Ross’s astounding blend of Ravel’s Bolero and Pavane pour une infante défunte." Times Online | July 2008 Nicola Christie on Pavane pour un Boléro défunt |
