Jennifer Bate
GEN
Stuttgarter Zeitung, 2. Aug. 2010 | Markus Dippold
'Victorious Redemption - Jennifer Bate’s appearance at the Summer Organ Festival in the Stiftskirche'
(...) Bate's performance is technically highly impressive, whether in fast passages of the opening Allegro section, the brilliant virtuosity of the second fugue, or the slow movement in between, where she gave a convincing interpretation with mellifluous smooth sonorities, shaping appearances of the main theme with clear articulation. 
Above all, the English artist sets out her tonal palette with many layers, fully exploring all the possibilities of the Stiftkirche organ, using fanfares, the glockenspiel and many contrasting registrations.  Towards the end, Jennifer Bate increasingly utilised the wealth of tone colour even further, thereby achieving Liszt’s overwhelming final dramatic, grandiose climax.
(...) Finally, Jennifer Bate demonstrated her technical brilliance yet again in Maurice Duruflé’s Fantasia on the Whitsun chant, “Veni Creator”.  From a simple Gregorian theme, the piece develops in free form with refined harmonic twists, adventurous passages with surprising development of the thematic material and a typical final flourish which Jennifer Bate brought to an impressive conclusion through her clever choice of registration.

Music Web International, November 2009 | John France
Jennifer Bate has given a sympathetic and convincing performance of all these pieces - they were recorded over a period of a quarter of a century. The organs sound excellent and appear to be ideally suited for the pieces chosen for them. [Dickinson – Naxos]

Music Web International, November 2009 | Hubert Culot
Need I say that Jennifer Bate plays superbly throughout this programme? […]her readings always strike the right balance between immaculate organ playing and superb musicality. One has to keep in mind that she is also a far from inconsiderable composer in her own right. [Dickinson – Naxos]

Music Web International, October 2009 | Jonathan Woolf
conveyed with quiet intimacy and concentration by Jennifer Bate […] Talking of expertise Jennifer Bate proves an interpreter of remarkably persuasive skill; sensitive to dynamics, to colouration, to refinement and when necessary, explosively controlled concentration. [Dickinson – Naxos]

Choir and Organ, September/October 2009 | Michael Quinn
Peter Dickinson couldn't have hoped for a more articulate or persuasive advocate of his solo organ works than Jennifer Bate. The two have enjoyed a long and mutually rewarding relationship in the concert hall, and here Bate interrogates Dickinson's idiomatically expressive voice - 'far from the English cathedral tradition' - with virtuosic ease to enjoyable effect. Bate finds contrast aplenty in the deliciously ragtime¬-infused Blue Rose Variations, the hushed serialist-leaning Study in Pianissimo and the compelling concentrated intensity of Paraphrase I. A dozen other works showcase Dickinson's thought¬ful, characterful and multifaceted approach to the organ.

Recklinghäuser Zeitung, 16.12.2008 | Stefan Pieper
Überirdisch schön. […] Sehr plausibel eröffnet die „Grande Dame der Konzertorgel“ Jennifer Bate diese Zeitinsel. […] Jennifer Bates Orgelspiel entfesselt die ganze brausende Wucht, die bei Messiaen stets als Chiffre für Freude steht – ungezähmt, oft regelrecht! [..] Bate beschließt ihr Konzert mit einer überirdisch figurierten Bear-Bearbeitung des Liedes „Vom Himmel hoch“.

Ruhr Nachrichten, 16.12.2008 | JG
Jennifer Bate er.ffnet „Zeitinsel“ im Konzerthaus. […] Spirituell, meist sehr meditativ, ohne große Registereffekte spielte sie das gut einstündige Werk. […] Die Meditationen machte Bate zu einer Klangreise aus dem Jenseits ins Diesseits. […] Spielweise, die Sensibilität immer in den Vordergrund rückt.

Westfälische Rundschau, 16.12.2008 | Rainer Wanzelius
Werk und Interpretin waren sicher die richtige Wahl […] Im Konzerthaus lässt sie die Menschwerdungsgeschichte in großen, klar abgesteckten Klangbildern sprechen, die ohne Disziplin kaum nachzuzeichnen wären. Die Musik is so visionär wie erzählerisch; man hört die Hirten eilen, die ewigen Ratsschlüsse donnern und das Wort gewaltig sein.

Nice-Matin, August 2008 | Jean-Christophe Aurnague
Cette artiste d’exception, a présénté un programme magnifique, avec lequel, elle a tenu en haleine, und cathédrale comble. […] Son interpretation nous a séduit dans le raffinement de ses graduations des registres mais aussi par la passion qui l’anime aux claviers. […] Et le plus original est son humour chic, […] ce qui est si rare, habituellement dans le monde de l’art sacré. […] une artiste très complete, qui nous a illuminés de rêve et de beauté.

Hampstead and Highgate Express, 10.5.2008
Playing to an enthusiastic audience at St. Michael's Church, she not only demonstrated the breadth and variety of the French composer's work [...] but also displayed her renowned mastery of many styles on this most spectacular of instruments.