The Times - disc of the week

Radio 3 - disc of the week

BBC Music Magazine Vocal pick of the month - 5*****

“Is the singer or the song more important in a successful vocal recital? Or could it be the piano accompanist? That last option certainly comes to mind when dealing with the latest release featuring the pianist Joseph Middleton, not only an accompanist of considerable power and persuasion but a recital curator of intelligence and taste.

This is his second collection of Mahler songs for Signum Classics, focusing on the composer’s output from 1880-85, when he was in his early twenties. Numerous songs derived from folk poetry were later orchestrated and woven into his symphonies, but Middleton, above, persuasively argues for the separate virtues of the originals.

Listen to the bright chirping of the soprano Katharina Konradi, perfect casting for the singing nightingale in Ablösung im Sommer (the changing of the summer guard). The mezzo Sophie Rennert offers a further nightingale and other beauties, while Middleton’s sensitively coloured piano accompaniments easily summon alpenhorns, horsemen, naughty children, anything the words demand.”

The Times

“Joseph Middleton, whose instinctual pacing and sensitive support of the vocal line is matched by an array of illustrative colours drawn from the piano, has assembled a fine cast of singers.”

The Guardian

“Im Mittelpunkt steht der hellwache, präzise artikulierende und abwägende Pianist Joseph Middleton… Middletons Klavierspiel wirkt immer wie ein eigener Kommentar, mal ironisch, mal mitfühlend, mal dramatisierend… Mit Joseph Middleton kommt ein Pianist, bei dem sämtliche musikalischen Fäden zusammenlaufen.”

“At the heart of the recording is pianist Joseph Middleton, whose playing is alert, finely articulated, precise and thoughtfully judged… Middleton's piano playing always functions as a commentary in its own right—at times ironic, at times compassionate, at times heightening the drama… Joseph Middleton is the pianist in whom all the musical threads come together.”

NDR Kultur

“Joseph Middleton finds a mesmerising way of conjuring the poem’s reference to the sound of a distant alphorn - just one of the countless moments of demonstrating his understated mastery of the accompanist’s art.”

BBC Music Magazine, Vocal Choice, 5*****

Album of the week: npoKlassiek.nl

Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 

BBC Music Magazine Vocal Choice 5*

“Mezzo-soprano Rennert and pianist Joseph Middleton are an unassailable team. Consummate storytellers both, they inhabit the narrative and psychological aspects of each song with unerring insight, intimacy and an innate sense of timing, nuance, and dramatic effect…Enrapt or enraged, Rennert and Middleton mesmerise. Schubertians of a high order indeed.”

BBC Music Magazine, Vocal Choice of the Month, 5*****

'Rennert is a natural in lieder…She and the minutely responsive Joseph Middleton present performances of remarkable detail, in which each line of text and bar of music has apparently been freshly appraised….With Middleton underpinning the grisly tale with playing of astonishing range, it’s a performance that’s gripping from start to grim finish…She and Middleton are beguiling in ‘Im Freien’ too, as well as in the gently haunting ‘Schwestergruss’. They sustain ‘Der Winterabend’ and ‘An der Mond in einer Herbstnacht’ beautifully. ‘Nachtstück’ teems with detail.

There’s a lot to enjoy in the livelier numbers that are sprinkled through the programme, too. ‘Willkommen und Abschied’ bristles with energy, and you’ll find charm to spare in ‘Die Taubenpost’. There’s plenty of drama not only in ‘Gretchen am Spinnrade’ and ‘Erlkönig’ (nervously urgent the former, expertly gauged the latter) but in the lesser-known ‘Kolmas Klage’, too, an appropriately windswept setting Ossian setting…the sheer quality of the musicianship on display.” 

Gramophone 

“Alder and Middleton returned for three Schubert songs, ending with Erlkönig, which came across almost as a mini-opera, with Alder turning up the tension throughout and Middleton making something electric of the frantically repeating notes in the piano part.”

The Guardian 

“WORLD-CLASS….the ever-inventive Leeds Song… exploring the outer reaches and boundaries of the art song tradition, not least as commissioning new work is part of the festival’s raison d’être.”

The Times

“Leeds’s top-tier celebration of the vocal arts continues to push the envelope. Two vastly different concerts were typical of director Joseph Middleton’s determination to think outside the box while honouring the festival’s roots in the traditional recital.”

The Guardian 4*

“This year’s Leeds Song festival (once known as Leeds Lieder) gave well-known French mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa yet another opportunity to remind audiences that she is as potent and versatile in an intimate space as on a grand stage. With Leeds Song’s artistic director Joseph Middleton, the internationally revered pianist once described by the New York Times as “the perfect accompanist”, she delivered songs by Debussy, Mahler, Mompou and Ravel, in French, German and Catalan, all from memory, in the Venue at Leeds Conservatoire…. It was an exhilarating evening…Middleton concluded the section with a beautiful and carefully nuanced rendering of La Fille aux cheveux de lin.”

Bachtrack 5*

“Leeds is a city once again “filled with song”, as the 2026 festival gets under way with a programme of recitals, workshops and talks, focusing on participation for all ages as well as the highest artistic standards in performance. This outstanding concert featured three of the finest of today’s younger artists, delighting a large and diverse audience with a programme that combined fun with deeply felt emotion.” (Alder, Montague-Rendall and Middleton)

Music OMH 5*

“Middleton, superb as always, mirrors her every emotional shift with playing of immaculate subtlety…It’s wonderfully done. The overriding impression is one of contained, understated sincerity, of deeply felt emotions all the more immediate for being etched with restraint…It’s well nigh faultless, the whole thing, and the most moving recital I’ve heard for some time.”

Tim Ashley, Gramophone. Editor’s Choice

“It’s beautifully put together…one of the reasons I chose this was the exquisite piano playing of Joseph Middleton…the opening of this song, [Morgen] Strauss obviously imaged in the future to have a violin solo (that was his next visitation of the piece), and then finally with orchestra. Here Joseph eeks out the long lines and gives such support before she comes in. A masterclass in long piano lines. Outstanding. It’s just wonderful.”

Kathy Stott, Record Review, BBC Radio 3

“The seduction starts with her very first notes… Eighteen other carefully chosen tracks follow, all highlighting the sympathetic bond between Bevan and her piano partner, Joseph Middleton…Middleton’s role is equally crucial, whether he’s pitching headlong into drama (Schubert’s Die junge Nonne) or delicately conveying a song’s wordless coda (Strauss’s Morgen!). For me, clinching proof of this recital’s impact came at the end , after Morgen! and Mahler’s setting of Friedrich Rückert’s poem about being ‘lost to the world’. A bead of moisture, I noticed, had fallen on to the album’s booklet. It was a tear.”

The Times, Geoff Brown

“A typically adroit programme from a collaborative partnership whose long-honed rapport pivots from the foam-flecked Wagnerian ecstasy of Chausson to the bluesy inflexions of the last two songs of Wallen’s nocturnal meditation, without batting an eyelid. The Chausson is infallibly paced, both musicians instinctively knowing where a phrase is heading and where each moment of intensity lands. The orchestrally conceived piano writing shimmers. Middleton moulds the Franckian harmonic soul-searching with conspicuous care, and the Connolly’s command of colour is sovereign.”

BBC Music Magazine

“With sweeping full-colour piano, Connolly and Middleton pay attention to every word, every harmonic shift in a performance of appealing immediacy. Nothing dusty about the performances on the new recording from the mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly and pianist Joseph Middleton, or their music choices, a varied and painterly selection of French and English-language songs. Chausson’s Poème de l’Amour et de la Mer has more often been recorded with orchestra; with piano it unavoidably loses some of its oceanic glitter and heft, but Middleton plays this sweeping, Wagner-inspired music in full colour, and Connolly is a powerful narrator, her rich tone subtly hollowed out for the fleeting moments of bleakness. In Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis she’s not the usual ingenue, but she and Middleton make a worldlier-sounding interpretation work, paying attention to every word and every sensual harmonic shift.”

The Guardian

“Are you sitting comfortably? It’s probably the safest way to enjoy this recital from Sarah Connolly and Joseph Middleton – a swoon-inducing heat-haze of erotic desire, night-time fantasies, rolling oceans and anguished loss. There’s little solid ground in a heady programme of songs from the turn of the 20th century to the present day – works by Debussy, Barber, Copland and Wallen – but if you’re willing to abandon sight of shore and surrender, the rewards are huge.

Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer is the ambitious opener, a piece traditionally caught between the expanse of its orchestral version and the comparative insufficiency of its piano arrangement. Middleton pulls off the first of several chameleon-shifts through the album here, summoning the composer’s huge orchestral surge, glinting with harp for ‘La fleur des eaux’, dark with low woodwind in the Interlude, white-horses translucent in violins and flutes in ‘La mort de l’amour’. Connolly matches him for symphonic scope, the opening song a sensuous scramble of scent and colour, rich with vibrato, but blanching and stilling her tone in the second song as love turns to death.

The album is beautifully paced, with Barber’s Op 10 songs and two of Copland’s Emily Dickinson settings supplying palate-cleansing clarity between the Chausson and Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis. Connolly pours her voice in the gaps between the notes in the latter, less fresh and flexible than von Otter or Kožená but weightier and with an anchoring darkness that’s welcome among so much diaphanousness.

Connolly pulls right back for ‘Rain has fallen’ and ‘The world feels dusty’, letting the texts do the talking. ‘Sleep now’ is hypnosis-smooth, the voice riding the piano’s sine waves – a spell violently broken by ‘I hear an army’ and its peremptory, abrasive little rhythms. Middleton relishes the scope and resonance of ‘I’ve heard an organ talk sometimes’.

Composed for the duo, Errollyn Wallen’s 2023 cycle Night Thoughts is a collage of musical images and vignettes. ‘Sleep’ draws on Macbeth – the sustained vocal line suggesting the Thane’s attempt to self-soothe and cling to sanity, while his thoughts swirl and churn in the piano below. Ella Fitzgerald-inspired ‘Bright Lights’ is all neon flashes and urban pulse, introducing a bluesy note echoed in the title-song, and ‘There’s a certain slant of light’ cools the mood with spare texture to match Dickinson’s precise verse.

This is a delicious recital, and one worth listening to the old-fashioned way: a proper programme that takes you somewhere on its journey through the tracks.”

Gramophone Magazine

“Sampson infuses each selection with pristine clarity, excellent diction, and beautiful phrasing; and Middleton paints her words with exquisite tone, technique, and feeling.”

American Record Guide
August 2025

“Joseph Middleton is a well known quantity here - we once called him the Gerald Moore of our time, and he certainly has that unflappable demeanour which was so much a part of Moore's character. He accompanies the singer as if both were one, always sympathetic to nuance and rubato, and it was nothing short of extraordinary that he managed this with someone he had never met until the previous night.”

Melanie Eskenazi, Music OMH
July 2025

“The constant throughout was Middleton’s deeply poetic pianism, bringing revelation to every emotion, be it roiling turbulence or lovestruck yearning.”

The Times

“the poetic pianism of Joseph Middleton, set the bar so high that comparisons seem extraneous…. 

He had the perfect collaborator in Middleton. He turned the piano into an equal partner, and while Middleton may not have Padmore’s years of living with the cycle, he has remarkable depth of insight nonetheless. So many little touches were made to breathe and come to life, like the way he lingered so gently over the turn to the major in the final stanza of Gute Nacht, or the circling dance of the crow, or the delicate rustle of the linden tree that sounded so much more poignant, more cruel for being in the major key. When it came to those final songs, he played the steady chords of Das Wirtshaus with tender, hymn-like beauty, suggesting that the poet just might find transcendence at last, and his hurdy-gurdy accompaniment for the final song was emaciated and dark but still humane.

The audience sat in focused stillness throughout, barely daring to break the silence as the final notes ebbed away – surely the greatest compliment you can pay to any performance.”

5***** Bachtrack

29 June 2025

“I have nothing but praise for Malcolm Martineau and Joseph Middleton – characteristically outstanding at the piano.”

Gramophone Magazine 

“We know well what to expect from each new album from Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton: intelligent, impeccably prepared and presented performances allied to thoughtful, imaginative programming. This release is no different, with soprano and pianist on fine form… unaffected honesty… exquisite loveliness – Sampson’s voice has lost none of its clarity and sparkle. She sings gorgeously…Middleton’s introduction is gauged to perfection...

Throughout, one marvels at the consistent quality of the execution, and BIS’s engineering is exceptional...fans of this excellent duo needn’t hesitate. This counts as another distinguished addition to their discography.” 

Gramophone Magazine 

“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

“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

“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

“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

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

★★★★ Geoff Brown, The Times, 26 Jul 23

“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, 5 Aug 23

“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, 7 Aug 23

“Better still, her rapport with top Lieder pianist Joseph Middleton allows for some very special interchanges, and his playing of what has to be ‘the most beautiful song in the world’, ‘Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen’ (‘I have become lost to the world’) is up there for top artistry.”

BBC Music Magazine

“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. Sarah Connolly is perfectly attuned to Mahler’s music and consistently identifies with the words in an ideal fashion. 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 instalments with keen anticipation”

Musicweb International

“A disc as consistently good as this newly-released programme of three Mahler song collections with piano - rather than with orchestra - feels as if it might be symptomatic of a wider phenomenon, perhaps even a miracle: Joseph Middleton is one of at least three fine, British-based pianists in their early forties, born within a couple of years of each other, all of whom are specialists in and huge advocates for the Lieder repertoire. They all work at the top level internationally, and their endeavours are helping to change and develop art song both in recital and on record, to bring new audiences to this repertoire… Middleton himself, recently in these pages berating the Arts Council’s inexplicably misguided decision to stop funding the festival which he directs, Leeds Lieder.”

“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. To over-generalise, where Whately is living the drama, Connolly shows us how deeply she understands it. Middleton's ways of knowing the mood, the feel, the tempo which will work for Dame Sarah Connolly are quite fabulously assured. Mahler, as ever, is constantly giving instructions throughout these three works, and yet both musicians here always make complete sense of them. In “Ging heut’ morgen übers Feld” the pianist is told “allmählig in ein gewöhnliches tempo einlenken” (gradually settling into a normal tempo) and Middleton’s way to steer us there is masterfully vivid and characterful. Or take “Wenn dein Mütterlein” the song at the dark heart of the cycle. Middleton’s scene-setting “quasi pizzicato” in the left hand opens the door onto unbelievably poignant memories and reflections - and for Connolly to reveal a surprisingly and gloriously dark and deep timbre. I am in awe of Connolly’s subtle variety of mood and feel across these songs; Before I started listening I had wondered if this collection would pale in the shadow of, say, treasured orchestral versions by Janet Baker or Christa Ludwig, or the Fassbaender/Gage recording with piano from the early 1980’s. I was wrong; this stands on its own terms a very satisfying recital indeed. Connolly's and Middleton's way of understanding the flow and the story-telling always feels incredibly natural. Tradition is not just being revived it feels renewed here.”

The Arts Desk Sebastian Scotney

“El flamante registro trae a una eximia Dame Sarah Connolly acompañada por el igualmente soberbio Joseph Middleton. Desde el vamos deslumbra el pianista con colores nunca advertidos, para muestra nótese la frescura primaveral en el inicio de Ich atmet ein linden Duft, saboreando cada nota y cada tempo preferentemente lentos, solemnes, construyendo cada Lied, arropando suntuoso la opulencia vocal de Connolly…. Tres ciclos esenciales reunidos gracias a estos dignos herederos de gigantes como Kathleen Ferrier, Janet Baker, Gerald Moore y Geoffrey Parsons respectivamente, regalando un Mahler infaltable en la mejor colección. Cuando se tiene algo que decir, siempre hay lugar para una versión más y éste caso lo ejemplifica.”

“The brand new record brings an excellent Dame Sarah Connolly accompanied by the equally superb Joseph Middleton. From the start, the pianist dazzles with never-before-seen colors, as an example, note the spring freshness at the beginning of Ich atmet ein linden Duft, savoring each note and each tempo, preferably slow, solemn, building each Lied, sumptuously wrapping Connolly's vocal opulence…. Three essential cycles brought together thanks to these worthy heirs of giants such as Kathleen Ferrier, Janet Baker, Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons respectively, giving an unmissable Mahler in the best collection. When you have something to say, there is always room for one more version and this case exemplifies it.”

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“Fa més d’una dècada que la distingida soprano Sarah Connolly forma duo amb el refinat pianista Joseph Middleton; actuen sempre amb repertoris molt ben planificats i interpretats. Als oients fidels a Connolly i Middleton els plaurà aquesta gravació de cançons de Mahler, un dels grans mestres del lied del postromanticisme.

Tractant-se de peces tan conegudes, normalment orquestrades, només uns experts serien capaços de despertar un interès tan gran per la versió pianística. Middleton sap apreciar la sensibilitat de les obres del geni austríac, i la seva interpretació com a acompanyant va directa al cor de l’oient. ...L’estil narratiu de Dame Sarah Connolly, que modela amb sensualitat la poesia de Rückert, i la seva habilitat comunicativa, amb el rigor tècnic de Middleton, tracen un trajecte de vitalisme que, alhora, doten de sentit la vida.”

“For more than a decade, the distinguished soprano Sarah Connolly has formed a duo with the refined pianist Joseph Middleton; they always perform with very well planned and interpreted repertoires. Listeners loyal to Connolly and Middleton will enjoy this recording of songs by Mahler, one of the great masters of the post-romantic lied.

Being such well-known pieces, usually orchestrated, only experts would be able to arouse such great interest in the piano version. Middleton knows how to appreciate the sensitivity of the works of the Austrian genius, and his interpretation as an accompanist goes straight to the heart of the listener. ...Dame Sarah Connolly's narrative style, which sensually models Rückert's poetry, and her communicative ability, with Middleton's technical rigor, trace a path of vitality that, at the same time, gives meaning to life.”

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“Transparant en alert spelend als immer koesterde Joseph Middleton elk glinsterend nootje van ‘Auch kleine Dinge’…De meesterbegeleider haalde diep adem voor zijn tour de force in ‘Earth’s Call’ van John Ireland, een sensueel geladen natuurode, waarin hij met Connolly expressieve uitersten verkende. Het thema van ‘luisteren met je hart’ keerde soberder terug in ‘King David’ (Herbert Howells)...De mezzo benutte een palet vol weemoed, tot Middleton met zijn rechterhand de troostende nachtegaal heerlijk vrijliet…Ook het pathos van de executie in ‘Der Soldat’, eveneens op poëzie van Hans Christan Andersen, schetsten de mezzo en pianist Joseph Middleton met vlijmscherpe verbeeldingskracht, echter verre blijvend van melodrama…Soms beperkte ze haar stembanden tot een fluisterend parlando, hoewel steeds verstaanbaar. Dit kunstige spel met volume en kleur, zelfs binnen één frase of woord, wist Middleton prachtig na te volgen.”

“Joseph Middleton played transparent and alert as ever, cherishing every shimmering note of ‘Auch kleine Dinge’…The master accompanist took a deep breath before his tour de force in 'Earth's Call' by John Ireland, a sensually charged nature ode, in which he explored expressive extremes with Connolly. The theme of 'listening with your heart' returned more soberly in 'King David' (Herbert Howells)…The mezzo used a palette full of melancholy, until Middleton released the comforting nightingale gloriously with his right hand… Also the pathos of the execution in 'Der Soldat', also based on poetry by Hans Christan Andersen, the mezzo and pianist Joseph Middleton sketched with razor-sharp imagination, but staying far from melodrama…Sometimes she limited her vocal cords to a whispered parlando, though always intelligible. Middleton managed to imitate this artful play of volume and color, even within a single phrase or word.”

Opera Magazine

“Pianist and artist director Joseph Middleton masterminds an arresting skein of masterclasses and outreach activities to compliment recitals”

BBC Music Magazine

“Austria’s Schubertiade festival in Schwarzenberg and Hohenems most resembles the Leeds Festival with its star-vocalist line-up…a ‘who’s who’ line-up”.

Gramaphone

“The perennially wonderful Leeds Lieder festival…a fixture that is now firmly established on the international calendar.”

Classical Music Magazine

“Under the dynamic direction of the pianist Joseph Middleton since 2014, the Leeds Lieder festival has brought musical riches to Yorkshire through star performers, engaging new commissions and bold educational projects…Lieder is considered a rarefied pursuit. Yet when it’s delivered with the disarming opening of the Leicester-raised, Hanover-based baritone James Newby it feels like the most direct form of expression there is. For a centrepiece recital of the festival Newby and Middleton brought a transfixing programme the pair have been touring across Europe.”

★★★★★ The Times

“This excellent festival has grown from three concerts over a weekend to 36 events over nine days, plus a year-round programme of concerts and events. It wins convents to the apparently rarefied and “difficult” genre of art-song among people who might never normally encounter it: schoolchildren, disabled people, ex-offenders. This miracle the festival achieves by following one simple rule: don’t assume something has to be made more palatable to be accessible. Offer the best performers singing the greatest songs from yesterday and today, and the rest will follow”.

★★★★ Daily Telegraph

“It’s world-class…Leeds Lieder festival review - from inner city to international, world-class music making. On paper, Leeds Lieder has everything a levelling up-minded government might desire. Where else could you hear one of the greatest living exponents of French song back-to-back with the winner of this year’s Kathleen Ferrier awards, while celebrating the people of Leeds in a dozen newly minted songs performed by up-and-coming young singers?”

★★★★ The Guardian

“A sizeable audience listened in total silence to this towering performance of Schubert’s great work, despite the extreme heat - then burst into thumping, stamping applause - and rightly so. Such utter silence - not a cough, not a gulp of water, not a sneak peak at the ‘phone-betokens total involvement of all concerned…”

★★★★★ MusicOMH Winterreise with Sir Simon Keenlyside

“A superb Song Festival draws and enthusiastic audience to hear one of today’s leading baritones… Recitals such as this one bring the famed quality of London’s Wigmore Hall to the North. Sadly, Leeds Lieder it has lost its Arts Council funding, which might mean no more Lieder recitals, although one suspects that this devoted audience may well be digging deep to keep them going – but it certainly means no more of the festival’s superb outreach work, participated in by hundreds of children and adults, and no more of its live streaming, which brought the concerts to a much wider audience than is able to travel to Leeds.

★★★★★ MusicOMH

“Middleton is one of the best collaborative pianists of his generation. His command of dynamics, nuanced phrasing, and precise articulation are superb…Their ability to convey precisely the mood and tone of each song in captivating detail is stunning.”

American Record Guide

“Joseph Middleton, einer der besten Klavierbegleiter unserer Tage, ist ihm dabei ein erfahrener und inspirierender Reisegefährte.”

“In Joseph Middleton hat Newby allerdings auch einen idealen Partner. Man ist immer wieder verblüfft, wie der Pianist gleich mit den ersten Takten die Atmosphäre der Lieder beschwört und sich besonders in den kriegerischen Mahler-Titeln als geradezu unheimlicher Klangregisseur erweist.”

“Joseph Middleton, one of the best piano accompanists of our time, is an experienced and inspiring traveling companion….

In Joseph Middleton, however, Newby also has an ideal partner. One is always amazed how the pianist evokes the atmosphere of the songs right from the first bars and proves himself to be an almost uncanny director of sound, especially in the warlike Mahler titles.”

Klassik Heute

“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 als Vertreter einer neuen Generation von Klavierbegleritern, denen Präzision und Präsenz über alles geht.”

Fritz Jurman, Vorarlberg Online

“Die Sopranistin Fatma Said und Joseph Middleton am Klavier führten di Zuhörenden in die Welt der romantisch empfunden Sehnsucht und Trauer.”

“Joseph Middleton formte die Musik am Klavier derart platisch und mit einer vielfältigen Anschlagskultur aus, dass die unterschiedlichen musikalishcen Charaktere hervorragend nachvollziehbar wurden. Besonders in Schumanns ,,Sechs Gesänge” op. 89, nach Gedichten von Wilfried von der Neun modellierte er ,,den doppenten Boden” der Textinhalte hervorragend heraus und lenkte mit seiner individuellen Spielart die Aufmerksamkeit auf sich.”

“Ein weiterer Höhepunkt bildete ,,Nachtstück’’ (D672), in dem Fatma Said und Joseph Middleton die Stille miteinbezogen die Pianokultur feinsinnig erlebbar machten und das Lied überaus intensiv zelebrierten.”

Silvia Thurner, KulturZeitchrift

“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.”

kulturzeitschrift.at

“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.”

“Schubert – impulsive and heartfelt”

“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

“…the countertenor and pianist Joseph MIddleton explore the relationship between the two in music that teeters on the edge of transcendence - earthly or spiritual. It’s a characterful, unusual programme, full of unexpected arrangements and premiere recordings…”

Alexandra Coghlan, Gramaphone

“The Four Traditional Songs by Nico Muhly were premiered by Davies in 2011, and are specially interesting for the minimalistic yet highly expressiva 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.”

★★★★ The Performance ★★★★★ The Recording

Terry Blain, BBC Music Magazine

“Middleton over and over reveals engrossing depth and intensity in details of his playing….these two artists are on my current shortlist of best art song performers…I have been struck repeatedly in reviewing Middleton’s recordings how keenly he captures the essence of a song…If I had no other performances of these Strauss and Mahler songs, these would be enough…Middleton casts a magic spell.”

American Record Guide

“Middleton’s silky pianistic sorcery – illuminates at every turn. Strauss’s ‘Morgen’ is gorgeously enrapt, its serene introduction exquisitely poised And shorn of orchestral sonorities, Kindertotenlieder insists that with an adroit pianist Mahler’s often sparse yet translucent piano writing can be equally affecting. Together Whately and Middleton tap the second song’s Tristan-esque intensity, whose shafts of major key benediction are consummated in the luminous D major transcendence of the cycle’s close.”

BBC Music Magazine

“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).”

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“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…This new recording, however, makes a good claim to join the finest in the catalogue, with the familiar partnership of Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton bolstered by fellow Brit Allan Clayton, a singer heard all too rarely in lieder, on record at least…All in all, this adds up to a beautiful new recording of a wonderful work. Highly recommended.”

Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice

“Mención aparte merece un Joseph Middleton que en cada aparición muestra más autoridad y talento. Se adaptó a la perfección a la acústica de una sala que ya empieza a conocer al dedillo, aportando un sonido bello y variado y adaptándose mejor que la soprano a cada registro y estilo.”

* Antoni COLOMER, crítico de ÓPERA ACTUAL

“A special mention is deserving of Joseph Middleton who in each appearance [at Life Victoria] shows more and more authority and talent. He adapted perfectly to the acoustics of a room that he is already knowing how to use, providing a beautiful and varied sound and adapting better than the soprano to each record and style.”

* Antoni COLOMER, CURRENT OPERA critic

“Per la seva banda, el seu acompanyant és distingit, segur, tremendament musical i capaç de contrapesar la intensitat de peces com l’Hymne à Astarté (Koechlin) amb una gran serenitat i discreció. El repertori, enregistrat per la parella artística, és treballadíssim, molt poc interpretat i amb un fil conductor que confereix sentit a una gran varietat d’autors i estils: la bogeria femenina vista per músics homes a partir de personatges com Ofèlia i Mignon…Per la seva banda, Middleton és un pianista excel·lent, tècnicament impecable.”

“For his part, her accompanist is distinguished, confident, tremendously musical and able to counterbalance the intensity of pieces such as the Hymne à Astarté (Koechlin) with great serenity and discretion. The repertoire, recorded by this artistic partnership, is very elaborate, very little interpreted and with a common thread that gives meaning to a wide variety of authors and styles: the female madness seen by male musicians from characters such as Ophelia and Mignon…For his part, Middleton is an excellent pianist, technically impeccable.”

Nuvol, El digital de cultura

“Como memorable fue el trabajo del pianista Joseph Middleton. Siempre estuvo ahí como apoyo a la cantante pero también con esa personalidad propia que ya hemos comentado. No se puede entender, ni apreciar un lied sin el acompañamiento de un gran profesional. Muchos de los poemas que se cantaron en esta velada fueron orquestados por Mahler. Es indudable la fastuosidad y la calidad del arreglo del compositor, pero en sus lieder yo prefiero la interpretación a piano, me resulta más íntima, más cercana, más acorde con la voz que la, a veces, apabullante orquesta. Middleton estuvo otra vez brillantísimo colaborando de una forma fundamental al éxito de un recital extraordinario.”

“How memorable was the work of the pianist Joseph Middleton. He was always there to support the singer but also with his own personality, which we have already commented on in other reviews. You cannot understand or appreciate a lied without the accompaniment of a great professional. Many of the poems that were set to music this evening were orchestrated by Mahler. The lavishness and quality of the composer's orchestral arrangement is undoubted, but in his lieder I prefer the piano interpretation, they are more intimate, closer, more in keeping with the voice than the sometimes overwhelming orchestra. Middleton was once again brilliant, collaborating in a fundamental way to the success of an extraordinary recital.”

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Zauberer am Klavier

“Der Pianist Joseph Middleton, der mir aus diversen Recitals mit Carolyn Sampson in frischer und allerbester Erinnerung ist, leistet auch hier wieder Außergewöhnliches – ein Poet und Magier an seinem Instrument, der gemeinsam mit der Sängerin in die tiefsten Innenräume der Lieder dringt, wie man das sonst nur in besonderen Glücksmomenten erleben kann. Was ich an Sampsons Schumann-Interpretationen zu rühmen wusste, die unerhörte Intimität des Vortrags, gilt im gleichen Umfange auch für Ruby Hughes, was auf einen starken Einfluß des Pianisten schließen lässt, dem die Sängerin auch im Booklet für die musikalische Inspiration und die große Freundschaft ausdrücklich dankt. Middleton ist auch der ideale Interpret für den amerikanisch geprägten Impressionismus der Lieder von Charles Ives, die man so zärtlich und wiederum intim gesungen wie von Frau Hughes nur selten hört.”

Wizard at the piano

“The pianist Joseph Middleton, who I have fresh and very good memories from various recitals with Carolyn Sampson, is doing something extraordinary again here - a poet and magician on his instrument who, together with the singer, penetrates the deepest interior of the songs, how to do it otherwise can only experience in special moments of happiness. What I praised in Sampson's Schumann interpretations, the unheard-of intimacy of the performance, also applies to Ruby Hughes to the same extent, which suggests a strong influence by the pianist, whom the singer also found in the booklet for musical inspiration and great friendship expressly thanks. Middleton is also the ideal interpreter for the American-influenced impressionism of the songs by Charles Ives, which are sung so tenderly and again intimately as rarely heard by Mrs. Hughes.”

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“Hughes – with Middleton a sympathetic partner throughout – brings out the variety of Grime’s writing, from the mercurial rippling of Brew – “multiplying cells like pearls” – to the darting anxieties of Milk Fever and the grey pain of Council Offices. An imaginative recital, beautifully executed.”

The Guardian

“The intense intimacy of this performance by Hughes and her excellent accompanist, Joseph Middleton, follows through into their Mahler. The two cycles here — Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Kindertotenlieder, picking up the theme of the deaths of children from Grime’s final song — are sung with an inwardness that is both affecting and quite daring. Add in a clutch of Ives’s songs, including his loveable version of “Songs My Mother Taught Me”, and an imaginative recital programme is complete.”

Financial Times

Gramophone - Editor’s Choice Award’s Issue 2021.

“Ruby Hughes’s… artistry is even more compellingly conveyed with just piano: she and the excellent Joseph Middleton create a remarkable sound world of intense intimacy, captured by BIS in demonstration-quality sound….”

“Hughes and Middleton gave the premiere of Bright Things at Wigmore Hall in 2017 and it’s hard to imagine anyone performing it better. The cycle itself, meanwhile, is undoubtedly an important addition to a repertory where parenthood is invariably seen from the father’s perspective. Such is the case with Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, but Hughes and Middleton manage here to present the songs afresh in a way that complements the Grime beautifully.”

“Their approach fully lets both poetry and music come across on their own terms, and while there have been more powerful, more gut-wrenching accounts of these songs, there aren’t many so delicately touching or intelligent. The same approach pays dividends in the Ives selections, cleverly programmed around the Grime cycle, as well as in a wide-eyed performance of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen that glistens with a wonderful dewy freshness – from both soprano and pianist.”

“Huw Watkins’s unobtrusive arrangement of the Welsh lullaby ‘Suo Gân’, meltingly performed, is an inspired choice to complete the programme. An outstanding recital.”

BBC Classical Music Mag 4*

“The marvel of ‘multiplying cells like pearls’ is reflected in the busily proliferating piano part of ‘Brew’, and both Middleton and Hughes catch dramatically the raw, vulnerable diminuendo which concludes ‘Visitations’. The spectre of stillbirth hangs grimly over ‘Council Offices’, where Hughes powerfully distils the sense of emotional numbness in Grime’s music, abetted by Middleton’s eerily plinking accompaniment. Bright Travellers is unquestionably a piece of real substance, and this recording should help solidify a place for it in the soprano concert repertoire.”

“Sharply communicative accounts of the Mahler mini-cycles Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Kindertotenlieder add to the recording’s attraction, with a clutch of songs by Ives as a considerable bonus. Ruby Hughes commands attention throughout – there’s no ‘clever’ underlining, no irrelevant tonal refulgences or prima donna posturings. Intense concentration on text and emotional nuance replace them, and dovetail seamlessly with Joseph Middleton’s similarly insightful piano playing.”

“Boesch’s partner Joseph Middleton has joined the ranks of the likes of Helmut Deutsch, Malcolm Martineau and Julius Drake – exalted company for exalted musicianship. He not only echoed the singer’s audacious interpretative choices, but was completely at one with his sensibility. In ‘Gefror’ne Tränen’ the melancholy drops seemed to fall from the piano as achingly as the poet’s tears, the abject desolation of ‘Dass ich geweinet hab’ giving way to the bitterness of the closing phrase.

Boesch and Middleton regard these songs as fraught with both rage and tenderness, the overriding atmosphere one of absolute candour, and it’s remarkable that, as we’ve seen in previous performances, the singer seems to sigh inwardly between them. ‘Frühlingstraum’ alternates between the most poignant reflection and the bitterest anguish, and ‘Der greise Kopf’ would have set that prickling behind the eyes going with its sense of bewilderment at the close.

The singing and playing in ‘Rückblick’ was positively incandescent, with the suppressed rage of the first lines giving way to the transcendent memory of the idyllic past, and the melancholy final line drifting into the air with utter abandon. That same sense of letting go, of either expressing ferocious rage or achieved serenity, is present throughout the work, and Boesch’s absolute identification with it is the key to his performance…

The nicely alliterative ‘Leeds Lieder’ has now given way to ‘Leeds Song’, in the hope of making the festival more inclusive, but at its heart there still remains the performance of the greatest works in the genre, performed by artists of the highest calibre. The forthcoming recitals by, amongst others, Louise Alder, Alice Coote and Christoph Prégardien, will certainly follow this one in excellence, although it’s doubtful if any other partnership could send the audience home in such a state of wonderment as this bass-baritone and his ever sensitive accompanist.”
Music OMH

“Her accompanist was Joseph Middleton, fresh from his superb partnership with Florian Boesch, and once again he proved the perfect foil to a very individual voice...

Mahler’s ‘Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft!’ swept us immediately into the composer’s world, the shimmering piano united with expressive singing, especially in the final line ‘Der Liebe linden Duft’. There was plenty of drama in ‘Um Mitternacht’, both from the thundering piano and the impressively strong vocal line. ‘Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen’ closed the group with some lovely legato singing and delicate accompaniment…Alder and Middleton gave the work a stunning performance, easily surmounting its considerable complexities…Middleton’s playing of the exquisitely tender piano part of ‘Ständchen’ and the witty lines of ‘Schlagende Herzen’ was a joy, and their collaboration in ‘Heimliche Aufforderung’ was a model of the art of Lieder (sorry, ‘Song’). Alder conveyed all the untrammelled rapture of that final ‘O komm, du wunderbare, ersehnte Nacht!’ and followed it with the ideal encore, Morgen, sung and played with perfect legato.”
Music OMH

“Regular as spring flowers and just as cheering comes Leeds Lieder, a festival of classical song that’s now sensibly been renamed Leeds Song. This year’s festival has brought the familiar crop of top-rank singers in full bloom and brilliant young talents in the bud. For anyone who loves song, it’s an intoxicating combination.

The festival also brought a set of brand-new set of songs entitled Seasons – one from Scottish composer Helen Grime, which was unveiled in a concert from the wonderful soprano Louise Alder… We felt the first in the tinkling, descending arabesques that launched the first song, played by pianist Joseph Middleton with flexible grace. Then came the second, as Louise Alder reminded us of winter’s cold dagger in a thrillingly intense tone, and Middleton’s arabesques turned stony…There were so many other subtleties I could point to, in both pianist and singer.”

“Joseph Middleton, 44, who has been in charge of the Leeds Lieder Festival for a decade, is a leader of this new generation, but as we chat in a practice room at the Royal Academy of Music, he retains a touching modesty about his changing profession…As Middleton embarks on his second decade at the festival, you sense that he has found a way to embed the role of the accompanist at the heart of music-making, shaping a festival which brings all manner of song together.

“Hats off to Helen Grime, whose song cycle Bright Travellers (with poetry by Fiona Benson) makes a profound impression, not least in this sensitive, full-hearted performance by the soprano Louise Alder and pianist Joseph Middleton at the Howard Assembly Room… Alder and Middleton were at ease and of one mind, whether that was being wholesome in Schlagende Herzen, comforting in Meinem Kinde or sparkling in Heimliche Aufforderung. Morgen!, which shares the same seed of John Henry Mackay’s poetry as Aufforderung, was the suitably sublime encore.”