[…] What the voices! Bright and sthenic… Singing with the warmth, in the sound spectrum of an expression from the internal fervency to the strong expresivity. All four singers let their vocal virtuosity exceed in the early 15th and 16th cent. chants as well as in the classical compositions and the contemporary repertoire.
Their voices, their articulation and pronunciation of all lyrics were brilliant. Which could be perfectly recognized at full value in the early compositions exactly, where the characteristic and individual colour of all four particular voices melt into the perfect homogenous ensemble sound. The brightness and clarity come in „Virgo et mater“ by Juan de Anchieta out as well as in Jan Campanus´s composition, especially.
What a staggering dynamic differentiation and an acoustic intensity the ensemble disposes of, could the audience appreciate in Martin Jakubicek´s (one of the Affetto ensemble members) piece. […]
Badische Zeitung, Roswitha Frey, May 2007
[…] The 25th season of the “Concert winter” in Passau was opened with a great Koncert held on Thursday in the evening. Auditors could hear a very interesting and various program of an international renovated ensemble. This Concert took place in a pleasant milieu inside the St. Severin church, which can be proud of its acoustic.
The ensembles attracted the auditors attention through a very clear intonation, changeable and thrilling dynamics and vital articulation of every composition, both Renaissance, Baroque and modern. The composition „De Profundis“ Arvo Pärt´s, which closed this fabulous program, became also thanks the organ and the percussion a masterpiece of this evening and touch the auditors to their hearts. It was a convincing performance on a very high level. […]
Passauer Neue Presse, 20. 10. 2006
[…] This open-sky concert in Brno confirmed the discipline of all four singers, as well as the individuality and sweetness of their voices timbre. But the preference of the most possible plasticity and full-coloured ensemble sound still remains as the main tendency. […]
Právo, V. Čech, 18. 9. 2006
[…] St. Blasien These five musicians took their position at the foot of the right presbytery peristyle. M. Jakubíček behind an organ-portative, J. Mikušek counter-tenor or alto, M. Olbrzymek and V. Richter - tenors and A. Procházka, bass. The alto with his extra-lucid heights, darksome bass, both tenors shiny-bright, all the voices high-brilliant.
They probably had to have their acoustic-adviser at the rehearsal, for they dared fondle virtuously with the dome reverberation. They set it apart, challenged it to fight or relegated the last chords to it. This forth dimension utilization raised the whole atmosphere and augmented the feeling, as well as indicated the qualified and sophisticated tone manipulation, so the vary and new sound formations could come up. They call themselves Affetto - vocal-experimental ensemble and they just do credit to this name. They chose the 14th to 20th centuries literature and they achieved to perform these individual characteristics so fine, so one century could shake a hand with another one, literally.
…The thrill greatly soaring through the rotunda from alto to bass and back, musical climaxes rising up to the cupola had been coming down from heights as a different choir. This acoustic miracle is due to their exceptional vocal settings and elasticity of their voices…
…The variety of dynamic nuances enriched an acoustically sublime acrobatics in spirituals and a bit of Scottish folklore, closing this splendid night.
Badische Zeitung, Margrit Matyscak 15. 8. 2006
[…] At first, the Czech vocal ensemble introduces itself as prayerful and serious in religious compositions of middle-ages and baroque periods and it comes to quite cheeky contemporary pieces, in the second half of the concert. And then, at the end, wittily ends up with the profane glosses. Especially, these cotemporary pieces were, thanks to their amazing interpretation, warmly accepted by the attendant audience.
All four singers are popular, well-known here, in Fockenfeld, and taken for the early music specialists, as well as the modern music masters: counter-tenor Jan Mikušek, wonderful in his limpid high tessituras, softy rounded by both tenors (Vladimír Richter and Marek Olbrzymek) and supported by specific, fathomless "East European bass" of Aleš Procházka, which raised the artistic delight of this a-capella performance. […]
B. Poscharsky-Ziegler, October 2005
[…] The above-mentioned quartet is a fairly remarcable chamber ensemble that works with a great variety of male polyphonic sounds known in the Baroque Era. The quartet consists of J. Mikušek (countertenor), Marek Olbrzymek (tenor), Vladimír Richter (tenor) and Aleš Procházka (bass). The ensemble enriches this particular part of music with the demonstrative utilization of countertenor sound which was known in the times when there were no female choral singers. The quartet introduces the discant and alto voice-part which was sung by a male singer using "falset" voice. The fineness of this music production was drawn nearer to us by the Affetto´s performance. The old music is in the process of re-discovery and it is used worldwide nowadays. Affetto showed an excellent approach to evoke the spirit of the Reformation Era when performing exquisite quality music by Johanes Walter, Michael Praetorius and Heinrich Schütz.
The ensemble aiming their excellent performance at a particular historical music era created very pleasing ambience filled with beauty and peace. […]
OPAVSKÝ A HLUČÍNSKÝ REGION, Artur Sommer, 24. 5. 2005
[…] Considering the generation standpoint and the composition trend, the most varied amount of music was demonstrated in a chamber-like concert presenting Brno production. The concert took place in a Suk´s hall (11.5.) introducing Affetto (contratenor, 2 tenors, one bass), a vocal experimental ensemble from Brno. The performance given by four excellent vocalists is undoubtedly considered the highlight of the concert bringing their daring act of presenting Concertino by young Jan Meisl to the audience´s attention. […]
M. Pokora, Hudební rozhledy magazine 6/2005
[…] There is plenty of musicians who are challenged by the contemporary music and whose performance are fairly impressive. Affetto, the vocal ensemble, knows exactly the way to take measure of contemporary music by means of using their experience gained from performing old music and more importantly their theatrical skills. […]
M. Kratochvíl, 3/2005 HIS VOICE
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