"Countertenors Maarten Engeltjes and Andreas Scholl are on tour with duets by Purcell. Their voices blend brilliantly, while baroque ensemble PRJCT Amsterdam provides excellent accompaniment."
(...)
"In between, actor Frans van Deursen recited seven Shakespeare sonnets about music and love. The sonnets were well chosen and loosely but communicatively translated by Van Deursen himself."
"The trumpets sound (Sound the trumpet), the lute chirps (Ah, Heav'n! What Isn't I Hear?), the music becomes a source of comfort and joy in the air: If music be the food of love (concert title) and Music for a while. Purcell, nicknamed the British Orpheus, sets the English language to music with refinement, declining states of love in all their diversity (...). The program thus highlights the richness and variety of the composer's body of vocal works (...)" (original in French)
"The orchestra of twelve musicians sounds with fullness and faithfully follows the aesthetic proposal of its charismatic leader Josef Zák: this is a very beautiful violin, dense, embodied and whose ornamental proposals are always solidly conducted. Cello and double bass provide a powerful and articulate support, particularly sensitive."
"Maarten Engeltjes enjoys a clear voice with a very even color throughout his range, a quality that is appreciated in the virtuoso duets of "Sound the trumpet" and "Ah heav'n! What is't I hear."
"While keeping an exceptional control of the breath, the singer sculpts the word and plunges into the poetic material, finds a new flexibility in the garlands of eighth notes of "Music for a while", presents with disarming sincerity the beautiful poem of an "Evening Hymn "almost hypnotic. In great vocal form, the German countertenor revives the discourse art cultivated by Alfred Deller while adding a variety of colors very noticeable in the acoustics of the Salle Gaveau. After a cover of the hit "Sound the Trumpet", the duo will offer a moving transcription of the traditional Scottish "Annie Laurie" whose totally assumed kitsch (pizz bass, violin duo in traditional style) undoubtedly equals the iconic version of Deanna Durbin!"
"But it is undoubtedly in the duets that the tandem excels, the complementarity of the voices being a part of musical magic. From the introductory tête-à-tête, "Here The Deities", we immediately understand that between these two voices the affinities are more than friendly, they are elective. This will eloquently confirm the jubilant "Sound The Trumpet" given as a reminder. Whether they confuse their tessitura as in "O Dive Custos Auriacae Domus" or whether they respond from one solo to the other as in "No, resistance is but vain", they go well beyond a formal association of an evening. They marvelously inhabit the voluptuous waves of "Fairest Isle" as well as the languid dialogue of "Ah heav'n! What is't I hear "from one of Purcell's Masters, John Blow. The pleasure of hearing these two voices as a duet is such that the public asks for more and is then exhilarated, the two artists offering the audience as a final gift a Scottish Song "Annie Laurie" to close the evening."
"The program also gives pride of place to music, the Ensemble PRJCT Amsterdam is much more than a simple accompanist, it is a real breath. Under the direction of Maarten Engeltjes, the ensemble never gives in to the sometimes artificial enthusiasms into which more than one conductor can be drawn in this treacherously flattering repertoire. The roundness and flexibility of the sounds allow us to hear again and rediscover the music of Purcell with this characteristic blend of softness and firmness, rigor and flexibility, thus reminding us that he was one of the greatest melodists of his time."
"(...) It was a delight to hear both voices virtuosically swirling around each other in arias such as No, resistance is but vain and the euphoric Sound the trumpet. (...) Another primal force that passed in review during the program was winter in Purcell's exceptionally modern sounding Cold Song from King Arthur, sung very expressively by Engeltjes. With firm jolts and jabs he made the cutting freezing cold almost tangible and caused the listener a very appropriate physiological reaction: goosebumps."
"The smoothing sound of the ensemble in Buxtehude's "Klaglied" brings you from reality to the world of heavens and harmony." "The sensitive and powerful voice like a taut thread, and the free expressiveness are the most appealing features of the modern countertenor." "Listeners will surely find peace in the fulfilling and gentle sound of the ensemble."
"The angelic, ethereal sound of the countertenor voice is soothing, almost comforting, and that is important when it is about the subject of death." "Just like on his first Bach recording, Maarten Engeltjes is accompanied by the soft and hovering sounds of the baroque orchestra PRJCT Amsterdam."
The flawless purity of his countertenor comes into his own in a unique way in the cantata "Ich habe genug" (BWV 82) that follows the "Klagelied" from Dietrich Buxtehude. [Engels] expresses the feeling of balsamic quietude and blissful timelessness like no other.
"... Beneath his calm, ripple-free legato, you feel the restrained passion, while your ear registers the carefully measured ornamentation and the pinpoint pianissimo in the higher regions. (...) Somehow PRJCT Amsterdam also places the sometimes exuberant groove under heartfelt lyrics like 'Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod' and 'Mir ekelt mehr zu leben' in a new light: not only is the I-figure at peace with the end of life, he or she even reaches for the afterlife. ..."
"... Countertenor Maarten Engeltjes stated there a beautiful funeral bouquet from together. (...) With round, elastic voice Engeltjes sings well-known solo cantatas like Ich habe genug. (...) And just dab the eyes after that four-part song by Bach's great uncle Johann Christoph. 'Good night, world, the grains of my hourglass have run out.'"
"... They have not really been forgotten, but 'the old wig' simply composed so much that not everything could become a 'hit'. Apart from their context, they now sound, with the voice of Engeltjes, like pearls on a bed beautifully made by the young orchestra ...."
"... Angel sings them with an incredible sense of lyrics, spot-on timing and a sound as clear as the stars in a cold winter sky ..."
With the most beautiful baroque music, imaginative programming and the greatest baroque talents, Maarten Engeltjes & PRJCT Amsterdam give concerts you won't soon forget.
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