Reviews
I watched the webcast of Sophie last night with such admiration and pleasure. .. amazing vocal performances as well as the musical score, really exceptional.:- Professor Brandon Taylor, University of Southampton / Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford
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I felt totally transported into another universe. The music coming from the instruments was exquisite. I loved the combination of live orchestra, opera singers and dancers bringing Sophie's world to life. - anon. audience member
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It was a triumph! I loved (the) music and as the uniting element of the singers, instrumental musicians, dancers, images of Sophie’s work and costumes, it was as if Sophie had been conjured in front of our eyes. - Shân Maclennan
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It was a truly beautiful, mesmerising and intellectually stimulating show of art and I cannot wait to see the complete production – anon audience member
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In 2017 composer Helen Caddick premiered Amphora, inspired by the key 20th century avant-garde figure Jean Arp. In the spirit of the artist's dadaist style, Amphora is a true collage of styles which deserves repeated listening.
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In 2018 Amphora was chosen as a top pick favourite in The Musician magazine.
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The performance was stunning and made the whole evening very special. The combination of music, voice and dance worked beautifully. I found it powerful and moving. - Eric Robertson October 2017 Curator of Arp: Poetry of Forms exhibition at Turner Contemporary October 2017 - January 2018.
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This is the second piece of music that I have heard from Helen and each time I have been moved by her music, by the way it transcends me into another dimension. Rarely do I experience so much emotion in a piece of music, her ability to capture ‘pure emotion’ within the context of a beautiful structure is a very special talent. In her music she has truly captured the feminine dimension, which I rarely hear. We hear much music expressed through the ‘male’ perspective, but not often do we have the opportunity to hear the essence of the ‘feminine’ expressed through music. Her music transcends the ordinary into something quite magical with its ethereal, spiritual qualities’. – Susan Redgrave 18 October 2017
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I was entranced by the music and performance and transported by it. Helen came up with such an interesting and unique starting point and translated those ideas brilliantly. - Emma Clarke 14 Oct 2017
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Amphora - a magnificent work. It was astounding. - Moya Stirrup 12 Oct 2017
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You have miraculously captured so much of the feel of the Thanet coast, and of Turner’s response to it. - Ian Warrell Curator of JMW Turner: Adventures in Colour exhibition at Turner Contemporary October 2016 - January 2017
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HAZE is an amazing achievement. I have been listening to Haze in my car today as I journeyed across a rather dank Kent, recalling the images in the film and the narrative that drew the paintings together and continually uncovering new colours in the music. - Jo Tonkin January 2017
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In response to Haze at the Gulbenkian accompanied by film by Phil Miller:
I am not terribly well informed about music generally and I have seen Turner's paintings but never felt terribly excited by them. I feel completely blown away by the event at the Gulbenkian. The documentary explaining Helen's process was fascinating and inciteful. As an Artist I could relate to her way of gathering quotes and melodies. Her responses and observation of Turner's paintings brought them alive for me and I loved the symbolic representation of colours to sounds from different instruments. The whole evening made a contemporary composition totally accessible. I thought I might not know enough to get it and I did have a wonderful uplifting enriching experience. When one experiences really good art, life is not the same afterwards. - Tracie Peisley.
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The music created a connection between the viewer and the painting. It was a strange experience because the music is what I expected the artwork to sound like. It made me feel nostalgic and emotional. The score heightened the experience of viewing the artwork. – anonymous audience member
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Helen's evocative piano playing gives rise to an innocent quietness. 'On a Summer's Evening' is a lovely piece, reminiscent of period drawing rooms. 'Love' meanwhile, is a touch darker and thoroughly more mature in its emphatic chords.
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The Musician Autumn 2015
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Between sleeping and waking ...marvellous, perfect in every way...so emotive and delicate and at the same time so assured and strong. I loved every single piece.'- Wendy Robinson
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Among the standouts is ‘Something Like You’, three and three-quarter minutes of languorous grace and charm. The string section floats along around the melody, neither carrying the song nor acting as unnecessary ornamentation. - THE MAGICAL WORLD OF THE STRANDS - A GREAT LOST LIVERPOOL ALBUM. Steve Graves - The Anfield Wrap // 9 January 2012 //TAW
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Try to listen to "Something Like You'" the album’s best track... a tune from heaven and the best string arrangement I’ve heard since the Massive’s 'Unfinished Sympathy'. On reflection, perhaps the key to this album’s lush, comforting ambience is the way that Helen Caddick’s orchestrations treat the string quartet as a lead instrument; maybe that’s what makes it so timeless. - Past archives – Shack
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'The Magical World of the Strands' - (is) made up of “gorgeously illustrated songs … lushly orchestrated’ 'Something Like You', (is) so striking in (it’s) seductive, tenderness. The ghost of Drake is everywhere, floating in and hovering with the string section… outrageously large harmonic terrains. - Thom Jurek Allmusic review
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Sympathetic strings graze 'Something Like You' as it passes, never distracting the melody or dominating the mood. (The Magical World of the Strands is) an instrumentally beautiful record, totally idiosyncratic, rightly titled magical - alluding to a fantasy world beyond reality, or of heightened reality. 'Something like you' (is) liquid, sleepy, and impressionistic. - megaupload.com + FANTASY blogspot