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| Concerts | Recordings |
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| Recordings |
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| D'India Madrigali e Canzonette - 2003 - Harmonia Mundi HMC 901774 |
| "Two words come to mind listening to this CD: mastery and natural. Technical command, firstly, from the soloist, supreme in this repertoire which shows superbly the agility of voice and variety of expressive palette. Intelligence, flexibility and command also from Jean-Marc Aymes and the musicians, careful to create around the voice a tailor-made casket, with changing colours but always appropriate as much as possible to the pieces' contents. It is remarkable to note that this high standard of realization does not turn into virtuosic and ostentatious, but serves a natural expression of feelings..." |
| Crescendo - April/May 2003 |
| "As I have mentioned before, Maria Cristina Kiehr's voice is probably an acquired taste, yet it demands attention. A pupil of René Jacobs, she shares some of his vocal mannerisms, in particular a disarmingly hard centre to her sound and a boldly strategic use and non-use of vibrato. To me she sounds fascinatingly like my idea of a soprano castrato." |
| Gramophone - April 2003 |
| "María Cristina Kiehr … is clearly inspired by the musical invention here. Her voice is deceptive, at once cuttingly clean, yet subtly responsive to every emotional nuance." |
| BBC Music Magazine - March 2003 *****Performance, ****Sound |
| "Maria Cristina Kiehr rises superbly to all its technical and expressive challenges, from bitter vituperation and wild despair to the chill of approaching death." |
| The Daily Telegraph - March 2003 |
| Scarlatti Cantatas - 2002 - Harmonia Mundi HMC 901725 |
| "Kiehr projects the affecting tale of Daliso and Eurilla with all the expressive sensitivity we have come to expect. But the unearthly beauty of that extraordinary voice makes its mark right from the start of Bella Madre, with an exquisitely dolorous melisma on 'il pianto'. The opening Sinfonia, too, with its ravishingly squeezed suspended dissonances, betokens supremely stylish and sympathetic playing from Concerto Soave." |
| BBC Music Magazine - March 2002 *****Performance, *****Sound |
| Canta La Madalena - 2000 - Harmonia Mundi HMC 901698 |
| "What a talent Maria Christina Kiehr is proving to be....A ravishing collection of early seventeenth century Roman lamenti. Kiehr's thematic focus shifts from the Virgin Mary to Mary Magdelene at the foot of the cross to often spellbinding effect....Emotionally direct, vivaciously monodic and anticipating the elegant rature of bel canto, the lamenti invite singing that is focused and expressive and Kiehr more than delivers." |
| Classic CD - July 2000 *****Performance, *****Sound |
| "Her voice is androgynous yet voluptuous, here and there echoing mannerisms of her teacher Rene Jacobs. Above all, Kiehr imbues this music with a sense of spiritual rapture, combining naivity with sensuality to suggest the character of the Magdelene....Concerto Soave provides some inspired continuo realisations....harder to imagine how this music could be realised more beautifully." |
| BBC Music Magazine - July 2000 *****Performance, *****Sound |
| Monteverdi Pianto Della Madonna - 1999 - Harmonia Mundi HMC 901680 |
| "She has an arrestingly lovely voice, with shining purity of tone, exemplary steadiness (her ability to sustain a note is literally breathtaking) and a manner that is sincere and infectiously joyful…" |
| BBC Music Magazine - August 1999 |
| "Pianto della Madonna proves to be a wholly remarkable first solo recital: the vocal performances will etch themselves deep into the mind. Maria Cristina Kiehr has a robust, open manner; the notes are always centred, ornamentation is integrated with complete naturalness, a feature of her singing is a golden shimmer to a note; in fact a fleeting trill. These motets are projected with sure expression shining, musical intelligence. There’s a complete absence of affectation. Kiehr commands a wide range of colour and dynamics, the voice soars – as in the glorious ascent at the very end of ‘Confitebor’ (something the listener could never forget) – or can drain away, as at the words ‘mourning and weeping, In this vale of tears’.A remarkable voice; a wonderful musician; excellent sound…" |
| News and Record Review - August 1999 Record of the Month |
| "This C.D. confirms what the soprano Maria Cristina Kiehr promised in her C.D.’s and concerts as part of the ensemble “La Colombina” and as soloist with several assorted groups (Concerto Vocale, Cantus Cöln o Elyma): her voice is one of the most attractive to have recently blossomed on the early music scene. Here Monteverdi is performed with a lot of freshness and with carefully constructed vocal lines, avoiding the habitually used decorative techniques so often given by singers of this repertory." |
| El País - August 1999 |