Grammy Award-winning baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire and its founder-director Jeannette Sorrell have blazed trails in the world of historically informed performance with pioneering programming, presentational flair and an entrepreneurial spirit, qualities that have earned them eight Billboard chart-topping albums and more than 7 million views on YouTube. Their latest release, which launches the ensemble’s 30th anniversary season, is destined to soar to similar heights: the ensemble’s first recording of the perennial audience favourite, Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, featuring the phenomenal Spanish-born fiddler Francisco Fullana. Frequently performed at Apollo’s Fire home base in Cleveland, Ohio and on their international tours, “Sorrell’s vivid approach to the pictorial elements make these familiar works seem freshly minted, full of astonishing incident”, according to Seen & Heard International. Fullana, winner of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, has been dubbed a “rising star” by BBC Music Magazine, and an “amazing talent” by conductor Gustavo Dudamel. The Four Seasons is the first of five releases spread throughout the season celebrating Apollo’s Fire’s milestone 30th anniversary.

Billboard chart-topping and Grammy-winning Jeannette Sorrell, baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire, soprano Amanda Forsythe and the music of J. S. Bach create a divine musical partnership. Heavenly Bach pairs two of the composer’s most popular cantatas, interspersed with two sublime arias from the St. John Passion. In Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! (“Shout to joy for God in every land!), Forsythe’s dazzling virtuosity hits the high notes – she “sets arias on fire” according to BBC Music Magazine – whilst the secular “Wedding Cantata” exudes a joyous and evocative marriage in springtime, for a result that is heavenly indeed.

REVIEW:

Soprano Amanda Forsythe is among today’s most delightful vocalists and a fine, dedicated musician. Her sparkling Baroque performances with specialist groups and leading orchestras have brought contented smiles to many listeners. She has a bright, clean timbre that can execute rapid passagework and sustain long phrases with remarkable aplomb, and she never seems to stray from pitch. I have friends in Boston I can interest in attending a performance with the words, “Amanda Forsythe’s in it.” Here, she collaborates with another extraordinary artist, the conductor Jeannette Sorrell, who deployed the soprano in her 2021 New York Philharmonic debut, an arrestingly theatrical Messiah.

Sorrell’s Cleveland-based period instrument ensemble Apollo’s Fire, twenty-five in strength, here accompany Forsythe with delectable precision and tonal appeal in two of Bach’s most popular cantatas, plus two arias from the St. John Passion. The recordings, all technically first-rate, date from different sessions—the arias from 2016, the so-called Wedding Cantata from two years later and Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen! from 2021. Forsythe’s fresh-timbred singing proves a joy throughout.

In the Johannes-Passion, the contemplative “Zerfliese, mein Herz” finds the lamenting vocalist encircled by oboe and flute, a contrast in tone to “Ich folge dir gleichfalls,” with its delightful pair of flutes following the resolute if challenging soprano line. Forsythe and Sorrell’s instrumental soloists limn well the shifting moods of the five-aria Weichet Nur, Betrübte Schatten, a secular cantata evoking spring as well as Classical deities (Amor, Flora and Phoebus). Steven Marquardt is the excellent trumpeter in the bravura BWV 51, the title aria and famous concluding Alleluja movement, which Sorrell and Forsythe take at an enjoyably bracing clip. René Schiffer’s cello continuo aptly receives major billing in Avie’s helpful booklet.

-- Opera News

The first time I heard soprano Amanda Forsythe was on a CD of Handel arias. Searching for virtuosity, I found it and much more: a creamy, clear, lyric soprano, pinpoint coloratura, and enough color in the voice to delineate character and take me through adventures. The voice, the artistry remain the same on this new Bach recital, but the program feels less fulfilling.

Opening with Cantata No. 51, everyone’s madcap duel between soprano and trumpet at breakneck speed, you almost feel concern for articulation, pitch, and, well, everything but speed. But it’s a razzle-dazzle run-through, and it’s great fun. The Chorale “Sei Lob und Preis” disappoints somewhat; Forsythe and conductor Jeanette Sorrell seem to miss the strutting rhythm, but Forsythe’s middle octave, featured here, is as smooth as silk. The “Alleluia” made me want to dance.

I suspect no one’s favorite Bach cantata is No. 202, the so-called Wedding Cantata. The sweet text revolves around nature, then more nature, then flowers, then the sun, then Cupid on the prowl, and finally, good wishes to a couple. No religion, no depth, no tension, just plenty of room for Forsythe’s gorgeous middle voice, so smooth, so easily produced. And a fine oboe obbligato early on; later a nice cello, and a solo violin.

The two arias from the St. John Passion present two moods. “Zerfliesse, mein Herze”, featuring a combination of oboe da caccia and flute, with the voice used, often, as a third woodwind, is an emotional reaction to the death of Jesus: heartfelt and moving, with repeated notes signifying weeping. “Ich folge dir gleichfalls” finds the soprano following Jesus, with two lovely flutes as backup.

Jeannette Sorrell accompanies handsomely, only once or twice covering the voice. This is a release that will enchant, but at 49 minutes will also leave you hungry. Amanda Forsythe remains a star.  

-- ClassicsToday.com

The 2-CD Bach set takes the ever-popular Brandenburg Concertos, and uniquely couples them with two Harpsichord Concertos, one of which is also presented in a reconstruction for violin. Taking its name from the classical god of music and the sun, Apollo's Fire is dedicated to the performance of 17th- and 18th-century music on period instruments. Founder and Music Director Jeannette Sorrell and her ensemble of dynamic and creative early-music artists from North America and Europe have been praised internationally for stylistic freshness and buoyancy, animated spontaneity, technical excellence, and creative programming. An award-winning harpsichordist and conductor, Sorrell studied with Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam and Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood. Praised for its "temperament and personality" by The New York Times, the ensemble has toured throughout North America and, in November 2010 embarks on its first tour of Europe. critical acclaim "Led by a brilliant harpsichordist, Jeannette Sorrell, the ensemble exudes stylish energy . . . a blend of scholarship and visceral intensity." - Gramophone "Apollo's Fire has developed into one of America's leading Baroque orchestras, and one capable of competing with some of Europe's much-recorded bands." - The Boston Globe "The exhilaration and sense of discovery is utterly infectious." - International Record Review "These are performances of enormous drama, delicacy and zest played with keen attention to expressive and textural nuances." - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

An award-winning program created by Apollo’s Fire’s director Jeannette Sorrell, Sugarloaf Mountain follows the joys and sorrows of Celtic immigrants who settled in Appalachia. Sparkling fiddle tunes and haunting ballads of the British Isles crossed the Atlantic during the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries and took root in the hills of Virginia. They mingled with American shape-note hymns and African spirituals, creating the soulful music known as Appalachian. Passing through love and loss, dancing and prayer, the music overflows in celebration as the people of the mountains raise their communal voices.

Following the release of the award-winning Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian Gathering, which was a Top 5 Billboard Classical Crossover hit, Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo’s Fire present Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain. In this celebration of the American immigrant experience, fiddlers, medieval harp, hammered dulcimer, bagpipes and singers join with children’s voices to evoke the Celtic roots of an Appalachian Christmas. From Christmas Eve in medieval Scotland to folk carols and shape-note hymns at a toe-tapping Christmas gathering in Virginia, Apollo’s Fire follows the journeys of the Irish and Scottish settlers who bravely crossed the Atlantic, settled in the mountains and welcomed Christmas with love, singing, dancing and prayer. Acclaim for the premiere performances of this program was widespread: “The lightning strike of genius can happen, sometimes even repeatedly to those willing to earn it. Jeannette Sorrell is one such person. This show was intense, interesting, spectacularly performed, and deeply moving. If that’s not genius, I don’t know what is.” (Seen & Heard International)

REVIEWS:

Apollo’s Fire is a celebrated baroque orchestra, but their ventures into folk music are just as celebrated. This is music of and by amateurs, here arranged and performed with professional skill, but without sacrificing its vibrant folk quality to the glitz of showbiz. This recording is a must have for anyone susceptible to the allure of this tradition.

– American Record Guide

There are other ways to reveal fresh musical truths in the context of Christmas, and the determination of another early music group to do so has produced my vote for festive disc of the year. Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain from Apollo’s Fire charts the passage of Scottish and Irish immigrants to the Appalachian Mountains in the 1830s. The Baroque music group gives us sounds we don’t often associate with Bethlehem but are probably far closer to what was heard there: zingy harps, reedy winds and plenteous modality.

– Gramophone

The crossroads of Christianity, Judaism and Islam create the backdrop to O! Jerusalem, a scintillating live recording by Apollo’s Fire that interweaves the lives and music of the peoples who have inhabited the “City on a Hill” since Biblical times. Conceived and directed by Jeanette Sorrell, Grammy Award-winning founder of Apollo’s Fire, O! Jerusalem conjures a tour of the Old City’s four quarters – Christian, Jewish, Arab and Armenian – and the confluence of the communities’ sacred and secular music from 1200 – 1650. This colorful and vibrant program – featuring musicians of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian backgrounds – premiered to packed audiences in New York City, Chicago, and the ensemble’s home base of Cleveland where this recording was captured live. O! Jerusalem follows in the footsteps of Sephardic Journey (AV2361), one of ten Apollo’s Fire releases to debut in Billboard’s Classical Chart Top 10.

REVIEW:

The program is organized as a walk through the four neighborhoods of Jerusalem's Old Quarter, namely Jewish, Arab, Christian, and Armenian, concluding with a festival secular dance set in which the traditions mingle. Much of the program was recorded live in 2020, just before the pandemic shut things down; these tracks are augmented by others recorded earlier. Most or all of the music seems to have been performed by members of Apollo's Fire itself. Beyond the rather plaintive hopes for peace that it expresses, the program is both instructive and engaging.

-- AllMusicGuide.com (James Manheim)

Apollo’s Fire’s founder and director Jeannette Sorrell is “a masterful musical storyteller” (Seen and Heard). The Maestra and her acclaimed baroque orchestra add to their distinguished AVIE discography that includes Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Messiah, with her own adaptation of the composer’s oratorio Israel in Egypt. This colorful orchestral showcase takes the listener on a biblical journey from the Israelites lamentations on the death of Joseph, to the frogs, locusts, disease and darkness that plague the Egyptians, to Moses’ miraculous parting of the Red Sea.