John Holloway won the Gramophone Award for the Baroque Instrumental Recording of 1991 for his recording of the Mystery Sonatas.

"...breathtaking technical virtuosity and incredible variety of tone ... musical gesture and playing style open up visionary perspectives" — Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

"...deeply felt performances, full of sensibility, and variously tender and passionate as the music required. A richly rewarding and important release" — Gramophone

The first complete recording, for Da Capo, of Buxtehude's instrumental chamber music with Jaap ter Linden and Lars Ulrik Mortensen, won a Danish Grammy for the Classical Recording of 1995.

"An interesting and welcome addition to the catalogue" — Gramophone

The second volume followed soon.

"It is difficult to imagine a better recording of these pieces. Jon Holloway is a magnificent Baroque violinist" — American Record Guide

"Excellent performances" — BBC Music Magazine

A CD, for Da Capo, of vocal music by Buxtehude - with Emma Kirkby, and Manfredo Kraemer, Jaap ter Linden and Lars Ulrik Mortensen - was awarded a Danish Grammy for Classical Recording of 1998.

"An outstanding release" (FIVE STARS) — BBC Music Magazine

"Soprano Emma Kirkby is typically charming and superbly expressive" — Classical Review

Critic's Choice 1997 — American Record Guide

The third volume of Buxtehude's Complete Chamber Music was released in 1998 (together with a full dacapo Catalogue for 1998), featuring John Holloway and Ursula Weiss on violins, Jaap ter Linden and Mogens Rasmussen of viola da gambas and Lars Ulrik Mortensen, harpsichord and organ.

Stern des Monats — Fono Forum

1999 saw the first of an ongoing series of recordings for ECM: the "Sonatae unarum fidium" by J.H. Schmelzer - with Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Aloysia Assenbaum

"Holloway triumphs in performances of this virtuoso yet haunting music, that demands faultless technique and ideal judgment .... the playing is dazzling ... beautifully and elegantly articulated." — Gramophone

"If the Baroque “bassists” played the ostinato as swingingly as Aloysia Assenbaum and Lars Ulrik Mortensen, not one of the powdered lords and ladies would have stayed in their seats; and violinist John Holloway makes the cantilenas of the through-composed solo variations hover and bubble as if he had just improvised them." — Crescendo, Germany

"As if playing jazz, Holloway, Assenbaum and Mortensen throw the musical ideas to each other, with the continuo joining in the musical dialogue as equal partners." — Klassik Heute, Germany

"A London Concert" - with Jaap ter Linden and Lars Ulrik Mortensen - was issued by NAIM in 2002.

"Hats off to John Holloway, who has been delighting us for nearly 30 years with his period playing. His experience shows in remarkably distinctive ways. It isn't merely his command and his deep affinity for both his violin and the music. It is his sound: burnished by time, crystal-clear in the centre but faintly soft-edged; free, never forced. His use of ornamentation alone is an essay in good taste. Holloway, Ter Linden and Mortensen have developed a remarkable rapport, evident in the many successful pairings (listen in particular to the Festing and Veracini sonatas) as well as the trios. Refined ensemble precision is enhanced by an underlying sense of mutual empathy. The Handel sonatas will be best known, though never in living memory played quite with the same finely poised combination of architectural phrasing and understatement. Three of the four movements of the D minor Veracini sonata are based on a downward chromatic theme, turned upwards for the final Ciaccona. Holloway paces the virtuosity so that it never cloys, swaggering nicely in the Capriccio cromatico, rhetorical in the Adagio, with an eye to a climax in the Ciaccona, neatly foiled at the last minute by mock tragedy and an unexpected harmonic twist. Fantastic stuff! It is rare to encounter this quality of ensemble playing outside the string quartet repertory, and this recording sets exciting new standards for period performers." — Julie Anne Sadie, Gramophone, UK

Since then, the ECM recordings have continued with 2 CDs featuring the 1681 Sonatas by Biber - with Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Aloysia Assenbaum.

"John Holloway in eloquent command of Biber....Virtuosic, experimental, meditative, Biber was a man who seems to have been able to say whatever he liked through the medium of his instrument, and Holloway has contributed as much as anyone to the modern-day recognition of his status as one of the greatest of all violinist-composers." — Gramophone

"...John Holloway's staggering playing of a group of Biber's 1681 sonatas: this is one of those rare discs that attains near perfection in every respect. As such it demands to be added to every collection of early music." — Goldberg Magazine

"From the very opening chord it's clear that this is another Holloway recording of this repertoire to be reckoned with (after his wonderful Schmelzer Unarum fidium set on ECM)......fantastic realisations of Biber's music....No-one interested in the repertoire should miss this - and you should already start saving for the next issue!" — Early Music Review

2nd CD, "Der Turken Anmarsch"

"An album resonating with joyfulness. Holloway's superb violin playing has a depth that completely envelopes the listener" — Northern Echo

"When John Holloway won a Gramophone Award in 1991 for a recording of Biber's Mystery Sonatas, Isaac Stern was present to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award. His first words as he stepped onto the podium paid tribute to Holloway's playing of this astounding composer. Fourteen years on Stern's tribute still holds..." — Gramophone

"Beautiful music played by masters of the art." — Early Music Review

A CD of Sonatas by Veracini - with Jaap ter Linden and Lars Ulrik Mortensen, released in 2005

Johann Sebastian Bach
The Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo (released in Oct. 2006)

John Holloway violin

Der Brite John Holloway ist einer der großen Barockgeiger der Gegenwart. Seine Interpretationen der Sonaten von Biber und Veracini, alle bei ECM erschienen, gelten weltweit als Referenzaufnahmen. Jetzt hat das für seinen edlen, silbrigen Klang bekannte Label einen Bach herausgebracht, der neue Maßstäbe setzt. Holloway spielt Johann Sebastians Sonaten und Partiten für Violine solo, dieses Wunderwerk, das kein bedeutender Geiger ausgelassen hat. Holloways Bach klingt so klar und frei, so zeitlos zwischen archaischer Monumentalität und moderner Frische, dass selbst versierte Bach-Hörer staunen werden. Und doch ist Holloway näher an Bach als viele andere. Er spielt "Urtext", bedient sich des Meisters eigener Handschrift, meidet jene späteren, aber gängigen Bearbeitungen, auf denen nahezu alle renommierten Aufnahmen von Yehudi Menuhin bis Hilary Hahn basieren… — Sächsische Zeitung, 11.10.2006