Critical Voices through the Years

Since the advent of the internet we have witnessed a huge change in the way musical performance is evaluated by critics. Printed newspapers and music magazines no longer dominate the discussion, as a new generation of freelancers goes online to discuss and critique performances in their communities. It's rare for early music concerts to be featured, and medieval music is mostly invisible. But a rare review came to us recently, from a performance we gave in Berkeley CA in June 2026.

Benjamin Bagby, leiken, Jasmina Črnčič, Norbert Rodenkirchen

In looking back at the last 30 years of reviews of our performances, we still find much eloquence and deep understanding of what we try to accomplish. Here is a large selection of excerpts from reviews stretching back into the 1990's, which give an idea of the feeling and intensity of the critical voices who wrote about our concerts and recordings. In the Sequentia archive, there is much more: hundreds of reviews from the 1970's and 80's, which were so essential to us as a young ensemble just becoming known. At some point, we hope to copy many of these also and make them available – a huge testimony to the vitality of the musical scene during a 'golden age' of music journalism.