JosephMiddleton

Press

• Huw Montague Rendall & Joseph Middleton Recital

  Leeds Conservatoire

  Nov 2024

  • Huw Montague Rendall has already generated much praise from colleagues who know their stuff and that he was accompanied by Joseph Middleton, whose playing reminds one more of Gerald Moore every time, made for an evening of sheer delight. From the very first bars of Schumann's Liederkreis (Op.24) we were conscious that we were in the presence of something very special indeed, namely the partnership of an exceptional pianist and a singer possessed of a richly nuanced and beautifully cultivated baritone. Those slightly hesitant notes which herald the deceptive hope of the first two lines were played with intense expressiveness, superbly foreshadowing the poet's disappointment. ‘Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen’ revealed the singer’s ability to present a dreamlike vision without undue sentimentality, aided by brilliantly pointed accompanying.

    • Melanie Eskenazi, Music OMH
    • 29 November 2024

• Veronique Gens & Joseph Middleton Recital

  Prestonkirk Parish Church, East Linton

  Sep 2024

  • Moreover, Middleton’s playing was the perfect accompaniment throughout, flirtatious in Gounod’s Où voulez-vous aller? or fluttering delicately for the butterflies of Chausson’s Les Papillons. His piano line at the end of Fauré’s Le Papillon et la fleur did such a convincing impression of a bee buzzing off that it made Gens break into a chuckle.

    • Simon Thompson, Bachtrack
    • 10 September 2024

  • Her accompanist was the incomparable Joseph Middleton... He plays both sensitively and dramatically, and it was clear from the beginning that the two performers had a terrific rapport with each other... Ms Gens captured the glorious Frenchness of the sentiment and the poetry, and poured out waves of ravishing sounds, always faithfully partnered by the stylish playing of Mr Middleton.

    • Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Edinburgh Music Review
    • 11 September 2024

  • ...on this occasion her accompanist was Joseph Middleton – the guru of another leading festival, Leeds Lieder. Their partnership was as impressive as you’d expect, piano and voice interweaving in this selection of music from La Belle Epoque.

    • Melanie Eskenazi, Music OMH
    • 10 September 2024

• Fatma Said & Joseph Middleton Recital

  Milton Court, Barbican Centre

  May 2024

  • Joseph Middleton, the perfect accompanist…played with panache…Middleton was equally unleashed, tumbling into the Spanish rhythms with loud panache, although still leaving the star room to shine.

    • Geoff Brown, The Times
    • 23 May 2024

  • with unfailingly sensitive support from the pianist Joseph Middleton… Falla’s Seven Popular Spanish Songs sounded wonderfully idiomatic: Middleton, hitting strings of fast repeated notes, made the piano ring almost like a guitar

    • Erica Jeal, The Guardian
    • 23 May 2024

• CD 'but I like to sing...'

  Nov 2023

  • le disque est superbe. Carolyn Sampson fait appel au formidable pianiste Joseph Middleton, l’un des plus grands spécialistes au monde de l’accompagnement du lied. the disc is superb. Carolyn Sampson calls on the formidable pianist Joseph Middleton, one of the world's greatest specialists in lied accompaniment.

    • Pierre Solot, Le Choix Musical
    • 17 November 2023

• CD 'Mahler Songs' by Sarah Connolly & Joseph Middleton

  Jul 2023

  • You also get beautifully nuanced piano playing from Middleton, a musician seemingly incapable of misjudging the careful balancing act necessary when accompanying lieder.

    • Geoff Brown, The Times
    • 26 July 2023

  • What one hears here is fine craft, his feel for tempo, for pacing, for detail. and also his deep understanding of the singers whom he works with. By putting his performance of the Kindertotenlieder, for example, alongside the one he has already made with Kitty Whately, what is remarkable is the way he is able to transform his craft to be at one with and also to enhance a particular singer’s interpretation.

    • Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk
    • 05 August 2023

  • Over the past decade or so, Joseph Middleton has emerged as one of the most sought-after song-pianists in the business.

    • Katherine Cooper, Presto Music
    • 07 August 2023

  • Sarah Connolly and Joseph Middleton impress at once… time seems to stand still; Middleton’s playing is outstandingly atmospheric, paving the way wonderfully for his singer… time and again my ear was captivated by an aspect of Middleton’s playing; his touch is wonderful and it seems that every note is expertly weighted. Furthermore, his use of rubato is very special indeed, not least because it appears so natural. These two artists make the song a compelling experience….The piano version is a huge challenge for the pianist who has to conjure up the turbulence of Mahler’s stormy writing. Needless to say, Middleton accomplishes this; his playing has real power and significant definition….This is an exceptionally fine Mahler recital. Joseph Middleton’s playing is wonderful; the greatest compliment I can pay him is to say that never once while playing this disc have I yearned for the orchestral versions of these songs. These two fine musicians are deeply imaginative in their approach and they evidence an instinctive and very idiomatic partnership …I mentioned earlier that this is the first disc in a promised series curated from the piano by Joseph Middleton. He and Sarah Connolly have set the bar very high for future releases and I look forward to further installments with keen anticipation

    • John Quinn, Musicweb International
    • 07 September 2023

• Fatma Said & Joseph Middleton Recital

  Markus-Sittikus-Saal Hohenems

  Apr 2023

  • Messerscharfe Impulse gab es von dem Briten Joseph Middleton. Bei Ellens Gesängen steht einem fröhlichen „Jäger, ruhe von der Jagd“ ein unfassbar ergreifendes, in sich abgeklärtes „Ave Maria“ gegenüber, bei dem der Saal kaum mehr zu atmen wagt…. Dafür kommen messerscharfe Impulse von dem Briten Joseph Middleton. Er sieht sich als Vertreter einer neuen Generation von Klavierbegleitern, denen Präzision und Präsenz über alles geht. The Brit Joseph Middleton provided razor-sharp impulses. In Ellen's songs, a cheerful "Hunter, rest from the hunt" is contrasted with an incredibly moving, serene "Ave Maria", during which the hall hardly dares to breathe…. But razor-sharp impulses come from the British Joseph Middleton. He is seen as a representative of a new generation of piano accompanists who value precision and presence above all else.

    • Fritz Jurman, Vorarlberg Online
    • 01 May 2023

  • Die Sopranistin Fatma Said und Joseph Middleton am Klavier führten die Zuhörenden in die Welt der romantisch empfundenen Sehnsucht und Trauer. Joseph Middleton formte die Musik am Klavier derart plastisch und mit einer vielfältigen Anschlagskultur aus, dass die unterschiedlichen musikalischen Charaktere hervorragend nachvollziehbar wurden. Besonders in Schumanns „Sechs Gesänge“ op. 89, nach Gedichten von Wilfried von der Neun modellierte er „den doppelten Boden“ der Textinhalte hervorragend heraus und lenkte mit seiner individuellen Spielart die Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. Ein weiterer Höhepunkt bildete „Nachtstück“ (D 672), in dem Fatma Said und Joseph Middleton die Stille miteinbezogen, die Pianokultur feinsinnig erlebbar machten und das Lied überaus intensiv zelebrierten. The soprano Fatma Said and Joseph Middleton on the piano led the audience into the world of romantic longing and sadness… Joseph Middleton formed the music on the piano so vividly and with a diverse and cultured touch that the different musical characters became perfectly understandable. Especially in Schumann's "Sechs Gesänge" op. 89, based on poems by Wilfried von der Neun, he modeled "the double meaning" of the text content excellently and drew attention to himself with his individual style… Another highlight was "Nachtstück" (D 672), in which Fatma Said and Joseph Middleton incorporated silence, made soft dynamics sensitively tangible and celebrated the song with great intensity.

    • Silvia Thurner, KulturZeitchrift
    • 01 May 2023

• CD 'Divine Music: An English Songbook'

  Apr 2023

  • The Four Traditional Songs by Nico Muhly were premiered by Davies in 2011, and are specially interesting for the minimalistic yet highly expressive piano part Muhly provides to underpin the old folk melodies. Davies and Middleton slot together seamlessly, equal partners in the heartworn melancholy Muhly forefronts in these settings.

    • Terry Blain, BBC Music Magazine

• Marianne Crebassa & Joseph Middleton Recital

  Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical

  Mar 2023

  • De sostenida excelencia fue la tarea del pianista Joseph Middleton, refinado de sonoridades, hábil de climas, limpio de fraseo y equilibrado de volumen. Amenizó los cantos con dos solos, uno de Albéniz (Rumores de la Caleta) y otro de Debussy (La soirée dans Grenade). Of sustained excellence was the task of the pianist Joseph Middleton, refined in sonorities, skillful in climates, clean phrasing and balanced volume. He enlivened the songs with two solos, one by Albéniz (Rumores de la Caleta) and another by Debussy (La soirée dans Grenade).

    • Blas Matamoro, scherzo
    • 28 March 2023

  • El gran pianista Joseph Middleton acompañó con solvencia y sensibilidad, que demostró también en las preciosas versiones de los Rumores de la Caleta, de Albéniz y de La soirée dans Grenade de Debussy. The great pianist Joseph Middleton accompanied with solvency and sensitivity, which he also demonstrated in the precious versions of Rumors de la Caleta , by Albéniz and La soirée dans Grenade by Debussy.

    • José María Marco, Opera Actual
    • 29 March 2023

• Iestyn Davies & Joseph Middleton Recital

  Wigmore Hall

  Feb 2023

  • At Wigmore Hall Davies and Middleton (who released a recording of the cycle last year) held the capacity audience transfixed with a presentation of Wilhelm Müller’s simple tale…One can’t overstate Joseph Middleton’s role in crafting the inward emotional drama which throughout Die schöne Müllerin is expressed in poetic and musical imagery of the external world. From the first notes of ‘Das Wandern’ (Journeying) one sensed both the buoyant confidence of the young journeyman and the movement and spirit of the brook which drives him onwards. The growl of the churning mill wheel roared at the start of ‘Halt!’ (and ‘Mein!’) but the pictorial immediacy – visual and aural – was equalled by probing expressiveness, at once both sophisticated and subtle. So, at the close of ‘Halt!’, after the optimism and promise of the excited arrival at the mill – so inviting, its windows gleaming – Middleton’s beautifully modulated after-word wonderfully captured the vulnerability latent in the protagonist’s tentative question: “Ei, Bächlein, liebes Bächlein, / War es also gemeint?” (Now, dear little brook, is this what you meant?) In ‘Danksagung an den Bach’ (Thanksgiving to the brook) the tension intimated by the turn to the minor tonality with the wanderer’s urgent questions – “Gelt, hab’ ich’s verstanden?”, “Hat sie dich geschickt?/ Oder hast mich berückt?” (Have I understood you? … Did she send you, or have you entranced me?” – was enhanced by the nuances and shadows that Middleton found in the harmonic colours. Always, the piano textures were crystalline and light-of-weight, complementing the silvery purity of Davies’ countertenor… The duo’s attention to detail was superb

    • Claire Seymour, Opera Today
    • 10 February 2023

• Leeds Lieder Festival

  Oct 2022

  • That response was well deserved for playing and singing of the highest quality. This seems to be a golden age for accompanists, and Joseph Middleton is right up there with the best. Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte sets challenges for both singer and pianist, all met with style and grace, especially those tricky little connective phrases which make this cycle so distinctive... Schumann’s Liederkreis is always a test of both the singer’s ability to convey heightened emotion without straying into mawkishness, and the pianist’s ability to give the composer’s cadences their due weight. This was a performance of true partnership, with the dramatic moments startlingly powerful and the tender ones beautifully phrased.

    • Melanie Eskenazi, Music OMH
    • 25 October 2022

• CD 'Italienisches Liederbuch'

  Aug 2022

  • The glue that holds the whole enterprise together, though, is undoubtedly Middleton. His piano-playing is at once razor-sharp and meltingly seductive. It sparkles with wonderful little details without unnecessarily drawing attention to itself; it lets all the wit and power of Wolf’s piano-writing shine through without ever risking overpowering the singers. In short, it’s playing that strikes an ideal balance, helped by characteristically fine engineering from BIS. Choosing to present the songs in published order, they offer a performance to cherish: fresh, intelligent and beautifully sung and played. It’s a considered studio account in contrast to the more playful recent live recording from Kaufmann, Damrau and Deutsch, but if anything all the more affecting as a result. All in all, this adds up to a beautiful new recording of a wonderful work. Highly recommended.

    • Hugo Shirley, Gramophone Magazine
    • 01 October 2022

  • This performance excites me most of the any I've heard [Schwarzkopf, Fischer-Dieskau amd Moore, Erdmann, Gerhaher and Huber, Janet Baker, Shirley Quirk and Bedford, Damrau, Kaufmann and Deutsch]...Middleton's attention also to the small details is stunning...As has become the trademark of his excellence, the deft delicacy of his phrasing shows a collaborative pianist fully engaged with the score and a true partner with each singer....Of the dozen or so recordings I'm familiar with there are two I put at the top of the list. One is the performance of Damrau and Kaufmann with Deutsch. The other is this one by Sampson and Clayton with Middleton. Of those two I put the present recording first.

    • R Moore, American Record Guide
    • 01 August 2022

  • This recording of it is a treat, featuring three excellent artists who understand the songs perfectly and know very well how to bring them to life… Alongside both singers, Joseph Middleton’s piano playing anchors the whole recital. It’s extraordinarily impressive how he manages to inhabit every mood and tone picture so effectively. There is ecclesiastical bell-tolling in the songs that reference the divine, flirtatious semiquavers in Du denkst mit einem Fädchen mich zufangen, military fanfares for Ihr jungen Leute, die ihr zieht ins Feld, and rapt chorale-like adoration for Benedeit der sel’ge Mutter, to name just a few examples.

    • Simon Thompson, Music Web International
    • 05 March 2023

• CD 'Elysium - A Schubert Recital'

  Mar 2023

  • Pianist Joseph Middleton is an ideal partner for Sampson; both are musicians with a subtle ear for color and for minute gradations of dynamics and tempo. Consider Middleton's playing in Ganymed, for example: the jaunty figure that introduces the song comes to life with barely perceptible crescendos and decrescendos; the two-note phrases that follow bring a sense of intensity without intrusive accents; yet, when the score calls for pearly trills and brilliant passagework, Middleton is not shy to take the foreground.

    • Fanfare Magazine
    • 01 September 2023