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Plenty of High Quality Music on the Festival Fringe

Seen and Heard International, Simon Thompson

When most music lovers think of the Edinburgh Festival they think of big touring opera productions, visiting orchestras at the Usher Hall or superstar recitalists at the Queen’s Hall; but if you look beyond the confines of the EIF and into the Fringe, then you’ll often find a lot of very high quality music out there too.

Every year at the Fringe, Edinburgh’s branch of the Royal Overseas’ League, at the prestigious address of 100 Princes Street, hosts a series of intimate concerts featuring artists who are on the way up. For those in the know, these are highly desirable tickets, and it helps that they serve refreshments afterwards! I’ve never been disappointed by a concert I’ve attended here, and they’re often pretty experimental in their repertoire.

So it proved with Ferio Saxophone Quartet’s morning concert in their Bach for Breakfast series. It turns out that Bach suits the saxophone rather well!  The Italian Concerto bounded along with tremendous energy, with a soaring soprano line for the central aria, and their chosen prelude from the Well Tempered Clavier was dazzling, as was the G minor prelude and fugue.  Perhaps the instruments suited their choice of Renaissance vocal movements even better. Byrd’s Ave Verum soared richly, and their arrangement of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater integrated the famous walking bass into the rest of the texture very successfully.

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Revoiced
Totally enjoyable

AllMusic, James Manheim

Revoiced
An imaginative programme … I find myself won over

Gramophone, Fabrice Fitch

Revoiced
Two excellent groups blend together very well

London Light Music Meetings Group, Peter Burt

Revoiced
Intriguing and effective arrangements … strikingly effective

BBC Radio 3 Record Review, Andrew McGregor

Ian Farrington's Arrangements - Revive- Ferio - Chandos
Glorious lightness of tone and touch … breathtaking

Quarterly Review: Endnotes, Stuart Millson

Ian Farrington's Arrangements - Revive- Ferio - Chandos
Performed here with panache by this super-versatile group

BBC Music magazine (Brief Notes section), Jeremy Pound ****

Beautifully controlled performance revealing musicianship of the highest order

The Westmorland Gazette, Clive Walkley

Ian Farrington's Arrangements - Revive- Ferio - Chandos
Natural singers, phrasing supplely and expressively

Gramophone, Richard Bratby

Ian Farrington's Arrangements - Revive- Ferio - Chandos
Character, texture, and colour through dynamic nuance

Thoroughly Good, Jon Jacob 

A delightful take on beautiful music

The Royal Gazette, Bermuda

BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 Record Review

On Saturday 30th September Andrew McGregor was joined on BBC Radio 3 Record Review by oboist and producer Sarah Devonald to review the latest wind CD releases. The Ferio Saxophone Quartet’s recording for Chandos, ‘Flux‘, featured on the programme. McGregor and Devonald discussed the recording at length and praised it very highly for the choice of repertoire, the calibre of the performances by Ferio and the quality of the sound.  

Flux - Ferio Saxophone Quartet - Chandos Records
Their ability to create a beautifully unified, warm tone … highly recommended

Classical Notes, Nick Boston

Flux - Ferio Saxophone Quartet - Chandos Records
Playing is of the highest level throughout

Classical Music Magazine

Flux - Ferio Saxophone Quartet - Chandos Records
Gramophone Magazine: what’s immediately striking…is the tonal subtlety and expressiveness of the Ferios’ playing

Gramophone Magazine, Richard Bratby

Flux - Ferio Saxophone Quartet - Chandos Records
Unalloyed delight … irresistible exuberance
Flux - Ferio Saxophone Quartet - Chandos Records
Ferios's 'Flux' is MusicWeb International Recording of the Month

MusicWeb International, Dan Morgan
Flux
Chandos CH10987

Ferio Saxophone Quartet 5 star review – Brighton Festival

The Argus, *****

Exquisite pace, mood and dynamics – 5 Stars

 The Latest, Andrew Connal ★★★★★

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29/03/2024