What Others Say about Peter Bassano

...a conductor of high artistic standards.

The side of him that has impressed me maybe more than anything else is his very broad musical knowledge stylistically. He is as well at home with Renaissance and Baroque music as with the avant garde. Very few musicians possess this type of intellectual curiosity and knowledge.

I recommend him with my whole heart.

Esa-Pekka Salonen
Music Director, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

An outstanding musician ...

John Eliot Gardiner
Music Director, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique.

I recommend him with the greatest enthusiasm ...

Paul McCreesh
Music Director, Gabrieli Consort and Players

He is a thoughtful man, not 'flash', rather diligent and enquiring, a serious musician who commands my respect.

Crispian Steele-Perkins

Elgar Howarth

It is so good to be conducted by a musician who has previously had the experience of sitting in the Orchestra. This was formerly regarded as an essential part of the training; recently, the "Director from the Keyboard" has re-emerged who tends to be less aware of the players' needs. Therefore I am delighted to see Peter Bassano, who used to sit beside me, beating time clearly in front of me.

Crispian Steele-Perkins

...it was illuminated further by an excellent précised analysis by Peter Bassano prior to the announcement of the results. Somehow he managed to fit the history of religiously inspired medieval music, Eric Ball's vocal musical foundations, chord structures, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, 1950's musical education and the acoustic of St George's Hall into one of the best five minute speeches heard at any time at a brass band contest. It told you everything you wanted to know and why.

4Bars Rest
Yorkshire Brass Band Championships March 2008

Arutunian's Trumpet Concerto, brilliantly performed by Philip Cobb with sensitive phrasing, impeccable articulation and spot-on intonation. Conductor Peter Bassano inspired meticulous accompaniment from the orchestra, creating an overall excellent performance.

Birmingham Post
Review of a concert at CBSO Centre, April 7th 2008

... how greatly I enjoyed our collaboration last evening [13th June 2007] on my concerto, and how splendidly I thought the occasion went ... it was very exciting and dynamic, and that's very important. I also thought there was a lot of sensitivity in the lyrical playing, too.

John McCabe
Pianist and composer

The Gabrieli brass pieces dominated the first half. The measured assurance and imperiousness of this massive writing for instrumental choirs were rarely flawed, climaxing in a cogently wrought realisation of the mighty Canzon Quarti Toni.

Clive O'Connell
The Age, Melbourne
Review of a concert at Victorian Arts Centre with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Melbourne Brass Virtuosi

...Thanks for a splendid Requiem.

Eino Rautavaara
Distinguished Finnish composer after attending a concert with the Helsinki Philharmonic.

...an unusual and effective start to this concert were three Gabrieli Canzonas conducted by Peter Bassano, a descendent of the family of musicians that worked with Gabrieli in St. Mark's.

Hilary Finch
The Times
A review of a concert at the Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Brass.

Bassano had clearly worked on refinement of balance and colour. Labour of Love growled and purred, sang and scorched. Eric Ball's Resurgam used all these resources to generate even more emotional power. The towering climax was John McCabe's Cloudcatcher Fells, an awe inspiring demonstration. The Paris audience was tremendously enthusiastic. Magnifique!

Brian Hunt
The Daily Telegraph
Cité de la Musique

It was a success, and a refreshing reminder of what can happen when a conductor whose motivation is music gets his hands on an accomplished band.

British Bandsman
Cité de la Musique

...how pleased we were with the joint brass project led by Peter Bassano... the results were spectacular, the ensemble work and musicality were of very high quality.

Marc-Olivier Dupin
Director, Conservatoire de Paris
on a brass concert conducted by Bassano at the Paris Conservatoire

The two highlights of last term's concerts were Peter Schreier's direction of Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Berlioz's Fantastic Symphony conducted by Peter Bassano.

Con Brio
published by the Royal College of Music

Beethoven, Dvorak and Brahms... a very successful concert

City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra

You conduct most splendidly.

Harold Bloom
Yale University

The concert was a great success with Peter producing a fantastic intensity in the Tchaikovsky, a wonderful mix of energy with emotion in the Rachmaninov and reproducing a fairytale perfectly in the Stravinsky.

Imperial College Symphony Orchestra

Peter's enthusiasm, charisma and supreme musical talent have combined to bring out the very best from the players, whether they be students or professionals... he has a formidable ability to make things happen.

Penny Souster
Senior Commissioning Editor, Cambridge University Press

He rehearsed efficiently and conprehensively. He was particularly good addressing and improving problems of intonation and ensemble - he can 'hear' a chord better than most conductors. We intend to ask Peter back!

Simon Payne
Chairman, Oxford Sinfonia

His in-depth knowledge of the repertoire, based on years of orchestral playing, brought a new dimension to our rehearsals. In a programme including Sibelius 2, I was delighted to find he was equally at home with the string section, as well as wind and brass.
I would recommend him most highly, and will certainly be looking to him myself for conducting in the future.

Douglas Murdoch
Chairman, University of London Symphony Orchestra

It's a superb piece of work, full of grand brass (His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts), wonderful singing (soprano - Susan Hemington-Jones in Monteverdi's Confitebor Tibi) and the sort of fabulous antiphonal effects they rejoiced in at St. Mark's..... the disc's triumphant climax is Monteverdi's Beatus Vir.

Time Out

Giovanni Gabrieli's magnificent four chorus, sixteen part motet Omnes Gentes receives a towering performance....an outstanding performance of Giovanni Bassano's Deus Qui Beatum Marcum with Emily van Evera as soprano soloist....superlative music, very well recorded. Highly recommended.

CD Review

It would be difficult to better the vivacity with which Giovanni Gabrieli's Canzon Septimi Toni is performed.

Graham Dixon
Classic CD

The full historical context of the music is given to supplement the enjoyment of music which comes clear and fresh to modern ears in a fine recording sponsored by Technics Hi Fi.

Winds

Gabrieli's bold instrumental effects in the brass showpiece Canzon Duo Decimi a 10 contrasting with the tranquillity of his much loved O Magnum Mysterium for voices, while superb phrase shaping brings Monteverdi's surpassing elegance to fruition in his motet Beatus Vir ...The variety of musical types, and the flair with which they are presented make this a fascinating and refreshing release well worth investigating.

Hi Fi News & Record Review

Giovanni Bassano himself is a more interesting composer than has been generally recognised, and his setting of Deus Qui beatum Marcum is a masterly exercise in the Venetian antiphonal manner; its carefully controlled and well shaped performance here only whets one's appetite for more.... at its best, as in the quite stunning performance of Giovanni Gabrieli's Omnes Gentes, this record is first rate.

Iain Fenlon
Gramophone