[Brahms String Quintets - Onyx 4043]
"The Nash Ensemble are nothing less than the London regiment of chamber music's crack troops... Both discs present this joyful, compelling music in its best light; the Nash are on crecking form..."
Gramophone, November 09
[Maxwell Davies 75th birthday concert, Wigmore Hall]
"True to its title, 'The Last Island', written for string sextet and played with poised authority by the Nash players who commissioned it, is a journey to a pretty remote outpost... delivered by a group who clearly relished their chance to pay homage to a very genial master."
The Times, October 09
[Maxwell Davies 75th birthday concert, Wigmore Hall]
"'The Last Island' evokes the atmosphere of a mysterious islet off Sanday, where he [PMD] lives. It's a haunting piece, full of glassy harmonics and treacherously exposed string-writing that the Nash players negotiated superbly."
The Guardian, October 09
[BBC Prom No.66, Royal Albert Hall & BBC Radio 3 - George Crumb]
"Haunting performances ensured the music got under everyone's skin. Wonderful."
The Guardian, September 09
[BBC Prom No.66, Royal Albert Hall & BBC Radio 3 - George Crumb]
"The Nash Ensemble certainly made the best possible case for him [Crumb], playing with the same beautiful tone and care for balance that they bring to everything."
The Daily Telegraph, September 09
[BBC Prom No.66, Royal Albert Hall & BBC Radio 3 - George Crumb]
"But the Nash Ensemble, conducted by Diego Masson, revealed his [Crumb's] genuine imagination and lyric fire, especially in 'Ancient Voices of Children', one in a loose cycle of works inspired by the beauty and violence of Lorca's poetry. Claire Booth was on volcanic good form singing into Ian Brown's piano. Philippa Davies's flutes and Paul Watkins's cello made equally effective contributions to the more decorative beauty of 'Night of the Four Moons' and 'Vox Balaenae'."
The Times, September 09
[BBC Prom No.66, Royal Albert Hall & BBC Radio 3 - George Crumb]
"Under Diego Masson's direction, the Nash Ensemble (plus soprano Claire Booth and mezzo Hilary Summers) brought all their artistry to bear on 'Night of the Four Moons', 'Vox Balaenae' (Voice of the Whale)", and Crumb's Lorca-homage 'Ancient Voices of Children', bringing out the full subtlety of his games with timbre and texture."
The Independent, September 09
[Brahms String Quintets - Onyx 4043]
"These Nash accounts are exalted and exalting, alive with subtlety."
The Sunday Times, August 09
[Brahms String Quintets - Onyx 4043]
"These recordings prove that the Nash Ensemble, Britain's peerless chamber group, is in better shape than ever. I can't remember a keener musical pleasure in recent months than hearing violinists Marianne Thorsen and Malin Broman in the allegretto of the F major Quintet, as gracefully entwined as a pair of dancers on an ancient Greek vase. My other favourite moment is the finale of the G major, where the two viola players, Lawrence Power and Philip Dukes, add such subtle swoops to the melody you almost don't hear them. But really, it's all wonderful from beginning to end."
The Daily Telegraph, August 09
"The Nash Ensemble is among the world's great chamber groups, capable of giving its core repertoire the level of grace and insight one more usually associates with excellent string quartets such as the Amadeus or the Budapest."
The New Statesman, August 09
CD OF THE WEEK [Brahms String Quintets - Onyx 4043]
"The Nash achieves immaculate and transparent playing throughout. Violinists Marianne Thorsen and Malin Broman and cellist Paul Watkins step in and out of the limelight as this most democratic of musical combinations demands, but the violas [Lawrence Power and Philip Dukes] are allowed to star. The complex harmonic layers never become heavy or clotted and the recorded sound balance, expertly engineered by Will Brown and produced by Andrew Keener, brings out every hushed pizzicato or syncopation... This is a superb performance: stylish, expansive, imaginative and exuberant."
The Observer, July 09
[Beethoven Chamber Music - Hyperion CDA76645]
"The Nash Ensemble give wonderfully polished performances of all three works, beautifully recorded, but special mention must be made of Ian Brown's piano-playing in the delicious galloping 6/8 rondo finale of the Piano Quartet, totally infectious."
Gramophone, August 09
[Brahms String Quintets - Onyx 4043]
"The Nash achieves immaculate and transparent playing throughout. Violinists Marianne Thorsen and Malin Broman and cellist Paul Watkins step in and out of the limelight as this most democratic of musical combinations demands, but the violas are allowed to star. The complex harmonic layers never become heavy or clotted and the recorded sound balance, expertly engineered by Will Brown and produced by Andrew Keener, brings out every hushed pizzicato or syncopation."
The Guardian, July 09
[Beethoven Chamber Music - Hyperion CDA76645]
"This is a very useful disc and it's beautifully played too... The performance by the Nash Ensemble is very stylish... Recorded sound on this new disc is intimate and realistic - just right for chamber music - and both the performances and the programme deserve a warm recommendation."
International Record Review, June 09
"...the superb musicianship of conductor Lionel Friend and the musicians of the Nash Ensemble (with special kudos to pianist Ian brown and the astonishing harpist Lucy Wakeford): they dug into this thorny program with tremendous vigor and technical command"
Washington Post, May 09
[Nash Inventions at Wigmore Hall, 5 March 09]
"Moreover, the Nash Ensemble's concert gave the lie to another piece of received wisdom, in that its five world premieres reflected a new music scene in the rudest health: no one should talk about the impending death of the classical tradition... the Nash Ensemble, for whom all these works were created, is a chamber group beyond compare"
The Independent, March 09
[Nash Inventions at Wigmore Hall, 5 March 09]
"It says much about our perception and consumption of classical music that a concert devoted to six living composers should seem so unusual. In any other medium it wouldn't be, and this Nash Ensemble programme needed no justifying beyond the excellent performances it inspired. Heard together, the seven works added up to far more than the sum of their parts."
The Financial Times, March 09
[penultimate concert of The Nash Ensemble's Wigmore series 'From My Homeland']
"in the intense concentrate of Janacek's 'Kreutzer' Sonata and the lyrical introspection of Brahms's Clarinet Quintet, the playing of Marianne Thorsen, Malin Broman, Lawrence Power, Paul Watkins and Richard Hosford was incisive, transparent and beautifully shaped. Chamber music doesn't come any better."
The Independent On Sunday, February 09
[Brahms Piano Quartets Nos 1 & 3 - ONYX4029]
"This is one of the finest CDs of the past year... Anchored by gigantic virtuosity from Ian Brown at the piano, they give performances that we shall surely still be hearing in 50 years."
The Strad, February 09
[Beethoven String Quintets Op.4 & Op.29 - Hyperion CDA76793]
"Space and clarity abound in flawlessly performed and recorded quintets"
Gramophone, February 09
[Brahms Piano Quartets Nos 1 & 3 - ONYX4029]
"The Nash Ensemble's performers soar through both works as if their lives depend on it. Close, long-term colleagues, these players know each other well enough to relax into the music and let it shine. It's far more unified and natural a rendering than the competing release of all three quartets... the Nash Ensemble players sound as though they love every note."
Classic FM Magazine, February 09
[Beethoven String Quintets Op.4 & Op.29 - Hyperion CDA76793]
"I can't envisage a more satisfying account of these works."
Performance: * * * * *
Recording: * * * * *
BBC Music Magazine, January 09
[Beethoven String Quintets Op.4 & Op.29 - Hyperion CDA76793]
"[The Op.29 Quintet] is a work of conspicuous originality, power and wit (only a little indebted to Mozart and Haydn), as the Nash Ensemble demonstrate in their eloquent, sprightly performance..."
The Sunday Times, January 09