Gramophone

'For a thoroughly sympathetic, theatrically effective English-language Bluebeard's Castle, this new release is about as good as it's likely to get... The recording grew from performances by Opera North but the absence of a visual element hardly matters. Tomlinson's Bluebeard is godlike, cautioning and doleful, the voice hugely resonant... Burgess's Judith, shrewish and fatally curious, Tomlinson's Bluebeard, inwardly tortured but fired by Judith's dark beauty. The instruments of torture, the armaments, mountains of gold, tender flowers and spacious kingdom, all are graphically tone-painted. Farnes delivering with distinction every time... The later climatic moments are delivered with enormous power, the sum effect very moving.'
BBC Music Magazine

'Bartók's opera was an obvious candidate for inclusion in Chandos's Opera in English series. Right from the spoken prologue (excellently delivered by John Tomlinson), we are drawn into the drama and its psychology, and the immediacy of the language during the opera itself vividly conveys not only the trepidation of Bluebeard's new wife, Judith, but also the erotic charge between the two characters. If you want a version in English, it would be hard to imagine it better done (and Mike Ashman's perceptive booklet note is a decided bonus).'
CHAN 3133
8 February 2010
Libretto by Béla Balász, based on his verse drama English version by Chester Kallman

The Cast

John Tomlinson, bass - Duke Bluebeard/Minstrel
Sally Burgess, mezzo-soprano - Judith
Orchestra of Opera North
Richard Farnes - Conductor

Recorded in Leeds Town Hall 5-6 June 2005
Producer - Brian Couzens
Sound engineer - Ralph Couzens
Assistant engineer - Michael Common
Bluebeard's Castle
Independent on Sunday - 'Discs of 2006'
'John Tomlinson's performance in Duke Bluebeard's Castle... has been a gleeful Hammer Horror treat.'

International Record Review
'It's great to have a version of Bartók's magnificent one-act opera in English, especially one as good as this. The booklet comes not only with a complete English libretto but also a fascinating and illuminating essay on the work by Mike Ashman... this new Chandos set is a very distinguished release, a splendid addition to its Peter Moores Foundation Opera in English series.'

The Guardian
'As Bluebeard and Judith, John Tomlinson and Sally Burgess play out their marital endgame with shocking immediacy. Conductor Richard Farnes immaculately sustains a mood of nerve-ridden unease, rather than opting for the more usual full-frontal, expressionist assault.'