'The latest thoughts of this always stimulating and searching Beethovenian are welcome indeed … His tempi are wonderfully fleet, without sounding driven … Mackerras allows the music to unfold so naturally that you are hardly aware of the conductor's presence - although the wealth of details that seems to rise organically out of the perfomances, rather than being artificially highlighted, reveals the wisdom of a master interpreter … This is a Beethoven cycle to live with' (The Sunday Times)

'Mackerras's rapport with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra is exceptional, leading not only to stylish performances but also to conveying an infectious sense of enjoyment … A set that takes some beating for all-round satisfaction' (Sunday Telegraph)

'If there has been a more thrilling and elemental Beethoven cycle than this new Charles Mackerras set made in the last two decades, I certainly haven't heard it. This is a great cycle, and one that leapfrogs straight into the pantheon of indispensable recordings of these works … This is a Beethoven red in tooth and claw, a questing revolutionary who took the symphony by the scruff of its neck and produced a series of nine astonishing masterpieces as a consequence … The revelations of the Hyperion set make it even more desirable … what survives the transfer from concert-hall to disc is the towering authority and searing urgency of these performances … In the first two symphonies, Mackerras catches the urgency and rhythmic life of Beethoven's music with inspiring vigour … The SCO plays with total conviction, and attention to detail means that inner parts do much to energize the music, to light it in from within … An immediacy and sheer musicality that is enthralling … If you already have one Beethoven cycle - or a dozen of them - I would still urge you to investigate the marvellous new set on Hyperion: it is one of the most compelling and imaginative to have appeared for many years, and it is certianly one of the front-runners among those currently available. I can't think of another I'd rather hear … There's not a weak link in the cycle, the playing is both red-hot and immensely stylish, and Mackerras's conducting has a fire, life, expressive intensity and volcanic energy that let us rediscover these great works anew. It's simply magnificent' (International Record Review)

'In Mackerras's experienced hands, the music palpably speaks of the dawn of Romanticism - as much in the flare of brass and grain of strings as in the supple 'spring' and energy he summons from it … The Ninth reveals what a superior musician Mackerras is, as he creates a joyous sense of ferment' (Financial Times)

'Hyperion's set is that early evening Beethoven cycle caught in recordings of remarkable intimacy and focus … It is a set I would happily put into the hands of any aspiring young music lover … Beethoven conducting and playing doesn't come much better than this' (Gramophone)

‘This Beethoven Five was a seamlessly integrated interpretation and performance which refreshed the best known of all symphonies. That’s why it was special. This performance was suffused with the shock of the new’ (Glasgow Herald)

'This recording manages to capture the sense of excitement and sometimes shock that these works must have engendered in their first audiences. That makes this a set to be treasured' BBC Online

'In short, there are no missteps, nothing that isn't stylish, idiomatic, and fully in keeping with the spirit of the music. The sonics are well-balanced and realistic … This is certainly a Beethoven cycle to live with... the music-making has a spontaneity and sense of occasion that remain quite special. I have no doubt at all that when future generations name the great conductors of the latter half of the 20th century, Mackerras will stand high on the list, and this set is fully worthy of him' (ClassicsToday.com)

'So magnificently exhilharating an account' (BBC Music Magazine)

'The opening of the Pastoral is eager and mobile, the first movement of the Fifth Symphony quite aerobic. The tenor solo in the Ninth Symphony (one case where Beethoven's metronome marking probably is a mistake) is giddily apt to Friedrich von Schiller's text. Again and again, the ear is caught by a little stretching of pace for rhetorical effect, or by an elegant shaping of an inner voice. Both orchestras respond eagerly and well, as does the Edinburgh Festival Chorus in the Ninth Symphony. The Ninth, which drives to an electrifying end, also has a fine vocal quartet in Janice Watson, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Stuart Skelton and Detlef Roth. Sir Charles was 80 at the time of these recordings, and an introductory note by festival director Brian McMaster describes these as "a valediction to a lifetime of making music." If so, they're a splendid coda to a distinguished career … a top choice for a Beethoven cycle on CD' (Dallas Morning News)

'As uncompromising and lived-in Beethoven as anyone could hope to hear' (Classic FM Magazine)

'This set of the Beethoven symphonies may well become a standard by which to evaluate both past and future performances - it certainly will be for me … This set receives my highest recommendation' (Fanfare, USA)

'Anything that Mackerras does is worth listening to: he is one of the pioneering generation of early-music performers in the decade or so before early orchestral instruments were available, and who can now let his experience with them enhance his work with main-stream orchestras' (Early Music Review)