Reviews

“The audience at St. James by the sea witnessed “sprezzatura”: attaining fabulous heights of mastery without the appearance of effort, as though the most supreme skills came to one as naturally as leaves to a tree. Every one of them was in awesome command of her instrument and of the requisite Baroque style.”

– San Diego Reader, September 3, 2003

“The “brilliant stars” stressed the tempos right at the edge of madness and the sudden and unexpected changes in tempo and rhythm. Rather than emphasizing the cascading effects and the presentation of the musical structure, they concentrated on fast effects and musical formulations within the individual themes. Belladonna made great music with smooth timbre, intricate ornaments and with an obvious joy in playing.”

– Mittelbayerische Zeitung, June 30, 2003

“The group gave a compelling, seemingly effortless performance. Belladonna’s success is due in great part to an unfailing attention to detail. Every aspect of their performance is united. The musical character of a piece is expressed in the phrasing, dynamics and event in the character of the articulations, which they execute in perfect unison… There was simply not an uninteresting moment in the program.”

– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 30, 2000

“The theoretical question of how the music of the renaissance and baroque eras is to be orchestrated and played may be debated ad nauseam in musicology circles. But the musical answer was made abundantly clear Saturday night at Synod Hall in Oakland: Belladonna.”

– Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 20, 2000

“The four-woman chamber ensemble Belladonna presented a program of 17th century folias in witty arrangements… in performances that were high profile, fantastically colored and just plain hot. Their flashy rhythmic play and daredevil divisions drove the audience into fits. Belladonna reminded us that early music, however historically informed, is as quirky, improvisatory and fresh as jazz.”

– Boston Globe June 13, 1997

“The four – Clea Galhano, recorder, Margaret Humphrey, baroque violin, Rebecca Humphrey, baroque cello and Barbara Weiss, harpsichord – chose representative items by little-known composers and made of them a wash of aural colors…Taking cues from one another, they create ensemble in the best of traditions. One was reminded of a jazz quartet happily jamming through a session establishing at once a sense of authority and a feel of play and fun.”

– Bloomington (Indiana) Herald-Times, May 28, 1997

“(The performers) identified dramatic moments in the music and underlined them with accelerandos, syncopations and waves of energy without ever losing a sense of ensemble and pulse.”

– American Recorder September, 1997

“Innovative and energetic…”

– Jornal do Brasil, (Rio de Janeiro), 1994