LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE, AUSTRALIA
EDITOR’S CHOICE
“Blessed with a rich, burgundy tone, he’s especially powerful in the middle to lower register but possesses easy access to passing top notes. He also has admirable control over a gentle vibrato with which he is able to warm a lyrical line.’’ Clive Paget, Limelight Magazine
OPERA TODAY
“There’s more scene-and-mood painting in ‘Stalactites’, [Taneyev], in which bitter tears drip from the frozen icicles, a melancholy, hypnotic fall of chilling suffering. Though sombre, McLaren’s vocal line incorporates telling nuance – of dynamics, colour and pulse – and warmth to balance the general funereal ambience. This is beautiful singing, somehow both tragic and uplifting…” Claire Seymour, Opera Today
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
“A huge range of musical discoveries is offered by this recital…McLaren’s rich and sombre voice is perfectly suited to this heart-on-sleeve pathos…the discovery of these songs is commendably adventurous…This feast of Slavic gloom…” Natasha Loges, BBC Music Magazine
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