Reviews
For testimonials from concert promoters please click the button below. A downloadable press kit in PDF format is also available here
The American Organist
'The duo has quickly risen to prominence in the UK and beyond through its innovative programming and exceptional musical standards. Both performers are artists of the highest order. Rebecca Hepplewhite combines unbridled passion with brilliant virtuosity, richness of tone and color, rhythmic control, superb intonation and musical sensitivity. Julian Collings combines technical aplomb with collaborative sensitivity and stylistic understanding. This is an excellent representation of an instrumental pairing that deserves to be heard more often'
The Strad Magazine
'In the cello-organ arrangements of three Bach chorale preludes, Hewes's restricted role of voicing the chorale tunes may have seemed diminished, but her contributions were effortlessly elegant. Rheinberger's own arrangements of three of his Six Pieces for violin and organ op. 150 allowed the young cellist to display a fondness for more expansive lines and to exude a powerful but never overwrought expression. In the more modern idiom of the Variations on a Hungarian Chorale by Budapest-born Gardonyi, Hewes brought drama to the often low-lying cello part, occasionally offset brightly by bracing organ cluster chords.'
Fanfare Magazine
'Cello-organ duos are not exactly thick on the ground. Indeed, the question that immediately comes to mind is whether the cello can hold its own in such a tandem...As the music on this CD proves, the answer to that inquiry is an unqualified “yes”—and the partnership for the most part even proves felicitous. The performances are exemplary. Rebecca Hewes has a sumptuous, mahogany tone and bold arresting sound, and plays with both power and delicacy as required. Julian Collings is an able accompanist with an excellent ear for apt choices of registrations and stops.'
American Record Guide
'The players are excellent in all the many styles they portray, from gentle lyricism to powerful drama to kooky sound effects. This is a fine release.'
Yorkshire Post
'The pairing of organ and trumpet is well known; less so that of organ and cello. So it's good to welcome a recording that makes such a strong case for it. Yorkshire-born Rebecca Hewes, a cellist of great talent, is partnered by another fine young musician, Julian Collings, in a programme that includes works by Rheinberger and Dupre. Highlights are the bubbling Humoresque of Jongen and a thoughtful new piece, Invisible Landscapes, by Russell Hepplewhite. A splendid enterprise.'
American Record Guide
'Music for organ and cello is not a common thing in the recording studio, though it happens often in the real world. The blend is a natural, as this program demonstrates...Altogether a very listenable program, played with conviction and beauty of tone.'
Organ Historical Society
'An adventurous program of works for Cello and Organ performed by two fine players and recorded in a very fine acoustic...In a program of 19th- and 20th-century works, they adventurously explore textures and literature for their instruments in a sympathetic and well-recorded acoustic.'
American Record Guide
'Here is a varied program of 20th Century compositions for cello and organ mingled with transcriptions of earlier music, played with fervor and taste by two young British musicians who are blending their talents in discovering and commissioning this kind of repertoire. The recorded sound is rich and satisfying, and so is the playing.'
Denver Drawknob
‘The Syvati Duo program and performance in February exceeded every expectation, and the live acoustic and the setting of St. John’s gave their program a mystical, transcendent quality, transcending time and place in every way.’