GRAMOPHONE CHOICE APRIL 2013
'Superbly responsive playing by Harriet Mackenzie and Philippa Mo who project the music's often intricate contrapuntal interweaving with faultless technique and unfailing insight. An auspicious release from Retorica ...I hope that more will follow' Gramophone
'Bach and other composers show how much can be done with a solo violin, so it is no surprise that the violin duo, seemingly a convenience of the instrumental lesson, can yield the riches vividly displayed by Retorica. EJ Moeran's Sonata is a substantial essay, pastorally flavoured, with a dazzling central presto. John McCabe's Spielend, like David Matthews's Eight Duos, Op 79, were specially commissioned and come over strongly. There's a rare, buoyant 18th-century Sonata by William Croft, but best of all is theTheme and Variations (1937), by Alan Rawsthorne,a hidden-away but patent little masterpiece.' The Sunday Times
'Retorica brings admirable lucidity to the complex intertwining of the two instruments ... they play a dangerous game of testing each other's virtuosity.' The Strad
'McCabe's many admirers will welcome this release...Les martinets noirs (‘Swifts’, 2003), a helter-skelter three-in-one design for two violins and strings inspired by these ‘Pucks of the air’, the fine violin duo Retorica deliver a measured account.' Gramophone