PRESS
Al Kunze, Soundboard Magazine, Vol. 41 No. 2, Album Review: The Porcelain Tower
"Mallett, one-half of Duo Noire (featured on the cover of Sound- board 40, No. 3), begins his fine disc with powerful performances of two dances by Regino Sainz de la Maza. The Zapateado and Rondeña have never sounded better. What follows is Dušan Bogdanović’s utterly charming Jazz Sonatina. Mallett plays it beautifully. Nikita Koshkin’s The Porcelain Tower: Variations on a Theme of Stepan Rak is one-sixth of a group of works in which John Duarte, Rak, and Koshkin agreed to compose works based on each other’s themes...An impressive work and performance. If you don’t know the piece it is worth the price of the disc by itself. Mallett’s Berkeley Sonatina is very fine, and crisply virtuosic performances of Villa-Lobos Etudes 7 and 12 conclude the program. The recording was engineered by the great steel-string acoustic guitarist William Coulter, who has also performed with Benjamin Verdery. It is exceedingly well done. Get this disc: Mallett is a player to watch."
Classical Guitar Magazine, Winter 2015, Album Review: Corta Jaca
"The DuoSF CD is equally well-recorded with Piazzolla’s wonderful “Lo Que Vendra” opening the set in superb fashion. Sergio Assad’s “Jobiniana No. 1” is perhaps the least well-known of the recital; it boasts a plethora of complex rhythms and some gorgeous melodic ideas. The full Valses Po- eticos by Granados is next, with some lightning-fast runs in the “Vivace Molto” that really make this an outstanding version— many times these pianistic runs are not as effortlessly played as they are here. After two well-known Albéniz pieces comes Gnattali’s wonderful Suite Retratos, which contains many places where lesser players would struggle, so complex is this music and its rhythms. But DuoSF has no trouble coping, and this interpretation is one of the very best I have heard. Bellinati’s “Jongo” (often a solo work, too) completes what is an outstanding recording of some lovely music in superb performances beautifully captured. One to hunt for!"
I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, Where Classical Guitar Meets Minimalism
"Figments, composed by Raymond Lustig and performed by the virtuosic pair, Duo Noire (Thomas Flippin and Christopher Mallett) is a unique and entrancing album that exists at the unusual intersection of minimalism and impressive classical guitar technique...The impressive technique displayed by Duo Noire is perfectly suited to Lustig's delicious compositions, and you wouldn't regret getting a hold of this; if you like acoustic guitar, bluegrass, minimalism, blues -or music at all- you'll definitely enjoy this excellently produced and mastered album."
Press
Classical Guitar Magazine, Winter 2015, Album Review: The Porcelain Tower
"Christopher Mallett’s solo CD shows him instantly to be a fine player, with great tone and some lovely playing in techni- cally challenging pieces—for example the opening “Zapateado” and “Rondeña” by Regino Sainz de la Maza, the complex three-movement Jazz Sonatina by Dusan Bogdanovic, or the beautiful but still sur- prisingly underplayed Lennox Berkeley
“Sonatina.” The other pieces are by Morel, Koshkin, and Villa-Lobos. All sound effort- less, and the guitar is lifelike and nicely re- corded throughout."
SOUNDBOARD MAGAZINE, Review: Figments
"A substantial piece...captured in crystalline sound...DUO NOIRE are to be congratulated for their work."
Raphaella Smits, Classical Guitarist
"You [DuoSF] play this music flawless with understanding and excitement, and are able to create a Moment of Beauty in Color and Strength. This is only possible as a duo with respect for each other and by mastering the instrument. Congratulations! I sincerely hope to hear much more from your Duo"
Sharon McDaniel - Programming Director, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
"The relaxed, natural sense of flow let the beauty of the music shine through. These works were in the artists' blood; listeners could tell from the precision of their playing and the close-knit voicing of the two instruments. Each composition was lovingly played, with fond appreciation for every lively tempo change and deliciously rich harmonic surprise. The performances were as delightful and uplifting as the music was heartfelt, colorful, and alive."
Palm Beach Arts Paper
They [DuoSF] were dazzling...Miller and Mallett gave it a brilliant hearing...It was a special evening
The Oberlin Review
"Expert teamwork...virtuosity in both guitar parts... the accelerandi, the rubati, the sudden fermatas were impeccably performed."