reviews

REVIEWS of Passion & Division (GramophoneEditor's Choice May 2010):
Heinrich herself is on terrific form again.. The melancholy of the opening and closing tracks is bewitching. Here, and elsewhere on the disc, Heinrich dramatically - often poetically - conveys Hume's deeply personal, seemingly reflective musical utterances... Heinrich includes mercurial, conversational pieces that tease the listener and those that evoke the lute. Elsewhere she brilliantly captures his military swagger and bravura, evoking trumpets and drums and a sense of marching in the distance. Bravo! Gramophone
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Heinrich delivers a masterful performance, breathing life into aged material.
..In fact, Hume himself almost becomes flesh and blood under her fingertips: it's impossible not to ruminate over his personality when listening to her tender, melancholic reading of Captain Humes Pavan.
Across the whole recital, the music dances, muses and mourns within her warm tone. The ornamentation is clean and elegant, rubatos are beautifully judged, and technical challenges are carried off with a sense of effortlessness. All these qualities come together to great effect in A Souldiers Resolution, with its rumbling echoes of the battlefield. BBC Review
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..for style, tonal beauty, and expressive playing, her accomplishment here would be hard to beat.. a delightful release, and recommended with full honors. Fanfare
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From this old soldier I didn't expect touching intimacy, warm tenderness and real emotional introspection, but Heinrich finds it all and conveys it with such love and admiration that it's hard not to be won over. A gem in its own right International Record Review
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Her playing is full of insight, and, most important, deep affection for this most idiosyncratic composer, beloved by all bass viol players … One cannot fail to be stimulated … The sound is often sumptuous, sometimes the brilliance of the tenor in the 'Souldiers Resolution' or 'Tickell tickell', sometimes plucked, sometimes deep and mysterious in the lyra tuning for her opening improvisations which lead to 'Loves pastime' , and the playing has all the authority of long study of this puzzling, fascinating and beautiful music Early Music Review
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Among the most substantial and profound pieces in this collection is Captain Humes Pavan, in which Heinrich is poised and unhurried, yet reliantly flowing both in terms of her musical ideas and their execution. Her playing is also ravishingly beautiful and deeply moving The Strad
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Heinrich's style is attractively grainy in tone and plaintive in manner, with a more pervasive melancholy than Jordi Savall sought out in his Hume collection of 2004 The Irish Times
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REVIEWS of 'Mr Abel's Fine Airs' (Winner of Editor's Choice Gramophone Award 2008 & Diapason d'Or):
Every now and then, a CD is released that knocks one’s reviewing socks off with its combined originality of repertoire and quality of musical performance. Suzanne Heinrich's first disc, Mr Abel's Fine Airs, was one of these. Her viola da gamba recital of music by Karl Friedrich Abel, a long-forgotten 18th century British composer, begged a listen for novelty value alone, but also turned out to be one of the experiences of the year. BBC Review
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This is a marvellous disc of 24 of Abel's pieces for solo viola da gamba. When it first arrived I took it into the living room after supper to enjoy with a glass of wine and a book. The book never got a look in. I was instantly spellbound by the music.. What really makes Abel's music an unalloyed pleasure is the gamba playing of Susanne Heinrich. I have heard and enjoyed some of her work with Charivari Agreable but until now had no idea she was such a superb musician. The playing is virtuosic in that effortless way which shows off the music rather than the player's virtuosity and, with an intimately close recording, she really does give you the feeling that you're sharing a fireside with her. The sound she produces from the instrument (a modern copy) is fabulously lovely. Try to play this through a good stereo or decent headphones to catch the full, resonant sound - it's just wonderful. I think I may be in love. I cannot recommend this disc too highly - it's a real gem. Amazon.co.uk
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What a cornucopia of expression and nuance she achieves! From the passionate Adagio - where she seems to inhabit Abel's sensibilities to perfection ... through the tender rendering of the much loved arpeggiated prelude, to the vivacious concluding jig, this is outstanding artistry. Could even Abel have played these works better? Early Music Magazine
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..Charles Burney wrote at the time that Abel's Viola da Gamba seemed to breathe the notes, and I think he'd be similarly complimentary of Heinrich's playing, were he alive and critiquing today.. one of the contemporary sources says that Abel put 'light & shade' into every note. This elusive characteristic is abundant in Susanne Heinrich's honey-tone and directly sentimental playing. CD Review, BBC
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A really special album, this..
..Heinrich brings to them exactly the right blend of emotional involvement and earnest good taste, and finds pleasing resonance and smoothness in her instrument, such that even nearly 80 minutes of solo gamba never tires the ear. An unsuspected and atmospheric gem – I can almost hear the firewood crackling. Gramophone
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Throughout, Heinrich succeeds triumphantly in crafting each piece individually - finding a special atmosphere for each work International Record Review
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Once I start listening to this it doesn't get turned off. http://theartofsound.net
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Abel’s contemporary Charles Burney commented on the musician’s ability to ‘breathe’ the notes as he played them, and this extraordinary sensitivity is present too in the beautiful playing of Susanne Heinrich. PrestoClassical.co.uk
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Susanne Heinrich rises ably to the challenge of understanding this 18th-century Jekyll-and-Hyde figure, heightening to fine effect the music's light and shade, energy and indolence. Her readings are effortlessly poised and imbued with an almost vocal lyricism. BBC Music Magazine
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