| RECORDINGS: |
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'Ich habe genug' (BWV82)' and 'Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen' (BWV56) - Bach solo cantatas with Sir John Eliot Gardiner: |
| BBC Radio 3: 'Building a Library, March 20th, 2010 |
Richard Wigmore chose this disc as his choice for the beautiful solo cantata for bass voice, commending Peter Harvey for his 'priceless quality of humility' (Radio 3, March 20th 2010). |
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| Radio France, October 2008, repeated August 2009 |
France Musique's 'La tribune des critiques de disques', settled on two recommendations for recordings of Bach's sublime cantata for bass voice 'Ich habe genug'. One had the edge for its orchestral sound, but the recording with Peter Harvey and the English Baroque Soloists was the critic's choice for the beauty of the vocal performance ('un chanteur extraordinaire'), being preferred over some very illustrious competition. |
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| Anna Picard in The Independent on Sunday, 3/9/00 |
The bass solo cantata BWV82 (Ich habe genug) is sung with sublime gravity by Peter Harvey. |
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| Gramophone, November 2002 |
Peter Harvey gives a committed and uncompromising account, encircled by oboe-playing of real distinction and meticulously marked-out string articulations. |
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| 'St Matthew Passion' with the Gabrieli Consort: |
| BBC Music Magazine, May 2003 |
Peter Harvey characterises Jesus subtly, human, rather than heroic. |
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| Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone, June 2003 |
'Mache dich, mein Herze, rein' is out of the top drawer. |
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| 'Christmas Oratorio', Netherlands Bach Society: |
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| Classics Today (online reviews) October 2003 |
Likewise the soloists are completely at home in their arias and recitatives and give performances that are very easy on the ear as well as being true to Bach's (and his librettist's) conception. As usual bass Peter Harvey is a uniformly solid, confident, reassuring presence. |
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| 'Dido and Aeneas' with Le Concert Spirituel: |
| Simon Heighes, International Record Review, July 2001 |
Unusually, the outstanding vocal honours belong to Aeneas. Peter Harvey makes real dramatic capital out of this tricky and underwritten part, and brings us the most plausible fellow we've heard in ages. |
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| The Times, August 14th 2001 |
Yet there is an uncommonly good Aeneas from Peter Harvey, who makes much of the surprisingly small role. |
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| Le Temps (Switzerland), 4 août 2001 |
Et l'on versera bien de larmes sur l'Aeneas de Peter Harvey |
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| Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, June 17th 2001 |
Peter Harvey is a virile-sounding Aeneas |
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| Boris Kehrmann, Opernwelt, August 2001 |
Peter Harvey gelingt als erstem, mir bekanntem Platten-Aeneas das Kunststück, das emotional weitgespannt Profil dieser Minirolle mit seinem eleganten Bass in ihren jeweils nur wenigen Versen plastisch hinzustellen. |
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| 'Dido and Aeneas' with The St James' Baroque Players under Ivor Bolton: |
| Hugh Canning, Sunday Times, 13/6/93 |
Harvey's suave baritone is one of the best on record. |
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| 'Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu' by CPE Bach, Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment: |
| Répertoire, Mai 1992 |
Nous retiendrons... l'ardeur virile et généreuse de Harvey. |
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| 'JH' (unidentified publication - perhaps Gramophone?) |
However, I prefer the bass Peter Harvey on Virgin, if only for the simply gorgeous noise he makes. |
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| Buxteude Sacred Cantatas, with the Purcell Quartet: |
| Lindsay Kemp, Gramophone, July 2003 |
The choice of singers is important, and on this occasion they could hardly have picked more shrewdly: Emma Kirkby and Susie LeBlanc make an excellent pairing, distinguishable from each other in both voice and approach, yet at the same time superbly matched in duet; and Peter Harvey has the friendliest of bass voices, his alert account of 'Mein Herz ist bereit', set against the thrillingly radiant background of three violins, being one of the disc's highlights. |
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| Charpentier 'Leçons des Ténèbres', with Il Seminario Musicale: |
| Diapason, November 1995 |
Peter Harvey, par exemple, est d'une sûreté, et en même temps d'une tendresse. |
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| Franz Xaver Richter, 'Leçons des Ténèbres', with Stradivaria of France: |
| Simon Heighes, International Record Review, Sept 2000 |
And the singers here really are excellent. Top honours go to Peter Harvey and his bassoonist friends who rather steal the show with their unusual partnership. |
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| CONCERTS: |
| 'Dido and Aeneas', with Le Concert Sprituel, given in Nantes: |
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| Ouest France, 10/5/00 |
Peter Harvey, superbe baryton, se montrait le plus expressifs et nobles des princes troyens. |
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| 'Purcell at the Chapel Royal' - at the Wigmore Hall: |
| Barry Millington,The Times, 22/2/99 |
The role of Purcell's star singer John Gostling ('that stupendous base') was taken by Peter Harvey, who rose (and descended) to the challenge admirably. |
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| 'The Faery Queen', with the Gabrieli Consort, Covent Garden Festival: |
| Richard Fairman, FT, 25/5/93 |
(Compared with a recent performance with 'William Christie, who in general had the better singers'...) Peter Harvey made such a fine job of his Winter solo as almost to tip the balance the other way. |
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| 'Elijah', with Michel Corboz and the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne: |
| Lausanne, 28/11/92 |
Peter Harvey, un Elias au timbre lumineux et souple, parfait de présence 'scénique' autant que d'aplomb vocal. |
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| Freiburger Nachrichten, 4/10/93 |
Harvey [als Elias] gab mit müheloser Selbstverständlichkeit, packender Darstellung und wunderbar timbriertem Stimmaterial der Gestalt des Elias etwas edles und abgerundetes. |
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| Yves Allaz, Journal de Genève, 29/11/92 |
La basse Peter Harvey, [qui] incarne le prophète Elie avec une aisance et un aplomb impressionants... Une voix agile, parfaitment contrôlée. |
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| Fauré 'Requiem',with Michel Corboz and Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne: |
| Pierre-Petit, Le Figaro, 19/7/94 |
Peter Harvey, un baryton remarquable de puissance contenue et d'authentique beauté sonore. |
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| Le Provençal, 18/7/94 |
Le baryton Peter Harvey, aussi élégant dans la tenue que dans le chant. (!) |
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| Le Méridional (Aix-en Provence), 19/7/94 |
Belle voix, légère et fluide, aux aigüs claires et entièrement maitrisés. |
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| 'Hail! Bright Cecilia', with Gardiner, QEH 1994: |
| Hugh Canning, Sunday Times |
The Cecilian celebration proved more invigorating, thanks to Gardiner's prudent reinforcement of the male team with the finest of Britain's younger counter-tenors, Michael Chance, and of the excellent bass-baritone Peter Harvey, whose singing of the virtuoso song 'Wondrous machine!', was a high point in the evening. |
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| Stephen Petitt, The Times, 24/11/94 |
Harvey, meanwhile, confirmed his status as one our finest young baritones with his beautifully modulated singing in 'Wondrous machine!' |
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| Bach's 'Easter Oratorio' and 'A major Mass', with Taverner Consort, Bachwoche Ansbach: |
| FLZ, 28/7/93 |
Einzig und allein der Bass Peter Harvey überzeugte mit einer strahlend-schlanken Stimme und guter Textverständlichkeit. |
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| 'Messiah', concert with Le Concert Spirituel: |
| Le Méridional (Aix-en Provence), 5/4/89 |
Des cinq solistes de haut niveau se détache Peter Harvey, basse-baryton, timbre rayonnant, voix homogène, ample, grande musicalité. |
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| 'St. John Passion' concert in Paris with Michel Corboz and the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne: |
| Pierre Petit, Le Figaro, 6/3/97 |
Peter Harvey, dans les airs de basse comme dans le rôle de Pilate, fut exemplaire de vrai style et de raffinement. |
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| 'St. John Passion' with the Leipzig Thomanerchor in Westminster Abbey: |
| Malcom Hayes, The Daily Telegraph, 4/11/94 |
Among as classy line-up of home-grown soloists [with] John-Mark Ainsley as the evangelist, a high point was the aria meditating on Golgotha, with fine singing by the bass Peter Harvey punctuated by the semi-choris's cries of 'Wohin?' - a notoriously tricky passage, here beautifully brought off. |
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| 'St. John Passion' with the Monteverdi Choir, directed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner: |
| Thüringer Allgemeine, 24/3/3 |
'Pilatus poltert' - Gegenpol war der 2. bassist, Peter Harvey, der einen hinreissend polternden, verunsicherten Pilatus gab. |
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| 'St. Matthew Passion' in the Barbican with the Gabrieli Consort: |
| Barry Millington, Independent, 1/4/97 |
You might question the propriety of the Christus taking the bass solos, but Peter Harvey as the supremely eloquent singer ovecame such quibbles. |
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| The Times, 17/4/1 |
Mezzo Sarah Connolly and bass Peter Harvey were as engaging as one could wish for. |
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| Tim Ashley, The Guardian 17/4/1 |
Harvey's Jesus mingles resigned divinity with palpable, at times excruciating, terror and doubt. |
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| LIEDER and SONG: |
| 'Die Winterreise' in Auxerre, with Michèle Scharapan (23/1/1): |
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| N.-J.E. Auxerre |
On le savait baroque, il est aussi romantique... Un moment intense du romantisme allemand, interprété (et joué, car la gestuelle compte aussi) par l'un des chanteurs les plus raffinés de notre époque... Le duo de mardi soir, le talent de Peter Harvey, que l'on connaît pour sa contribution au Gabrieli Consort, au Kings Consort ou au Purcell Quartet, l'un des grands solistes connus du baroque, et qui a beaucoup surpris dans cette interpétation de Schubert, celui de Michèle Scharapan, a procuré un doux moment de bonheur. |
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| 'Dichterliebe' in Dinard Festival: |
| Ouest-France, Vendredi 8 août, 2003 |
La soirée se pousuivait en poésie. Et le même attentif silence accompagnait les 'Dichterliebe' de Schumann chantés par Peter Harvey. De sa voix à la fois clair et velouté, servie par un souffle puissant, le baryton anglais traduisait avec une justesse de ton jamais prise en défaut, chacune de ces tranches de vie. Le tout avec une simplicité qui s'accordait à merveille au jeu de la pianiste, non pas accompagnatrice mais complice jusqu'au bout de la sensibilité. Envoûtant. |
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| Wigmore Hall recital with Catherine Edwards: |
| Edward Greenfield, The Guardian, 16/7/93 |
The baritone, Peter Harvey, is one of the excellent young British singers who find themselves better appreciated outside this country than here. In Britain he has been typecast as an Early Music specialist, but this recital showed how strong he is too on the central song repertory. |
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| Concert of mainly Dowland and Morley with the viol consort 'Concordia' (appearing as a 'broken consort' - here a mixture of viols and plucked instruments of the lute family) in the Wigmore Hall, January 2003: |
| Andrew Benson-Wilson, Early Music Review, March 2003 |
Although I am more used to hearing Peter Harvey in oratorios or the Passions, his expressive voice and communicative style of aural presentation turned out to be ideally suited to this earlier repertoire. The gentle inflexions of tone and the subtle addition of ornaments added variety to the occasionally repetitive pieces and opened a way into the often tricky texts, all aided by perfect diction. |
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