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“Gertrude Fragments throws focus on Brett Dean’s clear and lyrical text setting… we hear little unorthodoxies or extended techniques in service of the words and a performance from Lotte Betts-Dean that gets through plenty of gears, illumination and psychological probing.”
“starkly beautiful ... MacRae wrote the majority of the music on this album especially for Betts-Dean after hearing her perform his The Lif of this World a few years ago, and it’s easy to see why her distinctive, plangent voice and insightful way with text proved such a wellspring of inspiration. ”
“...Gertrude Fragments for mezzo and guitar are far from mere studies, standing as complete, nay almost perfect, works in themselves. They find the ideal advocates in... mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean and guitarist Andrey Lebedev...”
“Betts-Dean is utterly compelling throughout, with immaculate diction and a full palette of colours available across her wide range...”
“Betts-Dean, who has an acute response to the texts, is equally at home in the pastoral wistfulness of Gerald Finzi and Imogen Holst as in the quirky originality of Kerry Andrew”
“It was a musical dance around the world with... the UK-based mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean rousing the rabble with her robust voice and mastery of lingo, singing in seven different languages.”
“Lotte Betts-Dean’s performance was powerful and lyrical, exhibiting a masterly control of both vocal range and colour. Shifting timbre from ghostly thin incanting to the wild throes of a full-bodied dramatic mezzo, Betts-Dean’s devoted performance captured all the ecstasy and drama of Messiaen’s poetry with a mature artistry.”
“Betts-Dean gave a mesmerising performance...
we were engrossed in not just what she was opining, but her movements and her facial contortions. At times she looked as though she was about to leap into the audience, so manic did she appear.”
“Her tone was at once pure and thick with power; with expressive gestures flowing from her arms and face, she appeared to place herself entirely and unconditionally into the music.”
“Betts-Dean has an excellent voice; she can control her notes beautifully and she sings with joy, warmth, and an open heart.”
“Lotte Betts-Dean’s narration (in perfect French) delivered drama in spades.”
