‘Hough calls these 20 pieces 'salon music to the nth degree' and says he does not imagine anybody else in the room with Brahms, just the composer alone at the piano. This makes his playing more intimate than most and he captures the strain of songful resignation very beautifully. The touching theme of the Intermezzo Op 116, No  5 (a repeated dying fall) is exquisitely voiced. The favourite, Intermezzo Op  118, No  2, is like a tender song without words. Most radiant of all are the Op  117 Intermezzos, glowing here with quietly rapturous colours’ (Financial Times)

‘Hough—pianist, composer, painter, and prolific writer of great charm and intelligence—comes to these late Brahms works equipped with considerable brain-power, sensitivity, and a profound understanding of the composer. His interpretations are often moving, haunting, poignant, and simply beautiful … a most impressive Brahms recording’ (The Arts Fuse, USA)» More

‘One of the finest accounts of Brahms’s late piano works on record, one that stands head and shoulders above most contenders in an ever-growing catalogue … in his natural, unmannered freedom, Hough can be ranged alongside Radu Lupu … both join hands with the treasurable few Brahms recordings that have survived from Ilona Eibenschütz, friend of the composer who gave the private premieres of Op 118 and Op 119’ (Gramophone)

‘One immediately feels Brabbins’s special affinity for this music in the numinous pacing of the first movement of the Pastoral Symphony … I was most moved by the space, shape and tone Brabbins gives to the lyrical second subject [of the first movement of No 4] that then contrasts so vividly with the mechanistic theme (so redolent of Job) which follows. Brabbins’s attention to dynamic detail is also striking, both in the first movement (note the really hushed level of the development before the recapitulation really erupts) and the troubling demeanour of the slow movement’ (Gramophone)

‘This CD contains an account of the Pastoral Symphony in the superlative class, fully revealing the genius lying behind the score … this exceptionally well-filled issue is very strongly recommended’ (Musical Opinion)

‘Debretzeni plays throughout with a naturalness and disarming simplicity—most notably in her skilful transcription of the BWV1053 harpsichord concerto—that makes most other recorded versions feel decidedly effortful by comparison’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘[A] richly rewarding recording of choral works sung by Yale Schola Cantorum under David Hill’ (Gramophone)

‘The work [the Symphony in A Major] overall has an easy-going, retro charm that puts me in mind of Schubert’s early symphonies, and especially in such a deft and crisply articulated reading as this. The Utah Symphony have really blossomed under Thierry Fischer’s direction and play with considerable finesse … he does convey real affection for this neglected gem [Symphony No 1], and Hyperion’s engineers reveal a wealth of exquisite orchestral detail’ (Gramophone)

‘It's clear that here is a disc about inter-connectedness. Intelligently planned; eager to stray from the tried and tested … with La Serenissima on incisively tip-top form the programme's Italo-German entente proves cordiale’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Startlingly effective singing in the Bulgarian style from the Elm City Girls’ Choir teamed with Yale Schola Cantorum … superbly sung and recorded, and so’s the premiere of Roderick Williams’s A New England Symphony which comes after it, a moving choral meditation on texts born out of slavery, emigration and regeneration’ (BBC Record Review)

„Unter dem schichten Titel 'Christmas' ist bei Hyperion allerdings alles andere als eine bloße Pflichtübung erschienen … gemeinsam verfügen sie [The Gesualdo Six] über eine reich sich verströmende Substanz, die Stimmen zeichnen klar, sind fein balanciert und zur edlen Verschmelzung fähig … in der Summe ist das ein eigenständiges, gelegentlich auch eigenwilliges Programm, mit schroffen, aber fruchtbaren stilistischen Wechseln auf engstem Raum“ (Klassik.com, Germany)» More

‘Keyboard music of an earlier era features on another of our Top Ten: Mahan Esfahani’s eagerly awaited account of Bach’s harpsichord Toccatas, played on an outrageously magnificent new instrument modelled after Mietke and Pleyel (and including a gorgeously sonorous 16’ stop!). These are brilliantly free-spirited performances which combine expert scholarship with a level of musical daring that few others can rival, and they make one marvel anew at the profusion of inventiveness in one of the too-often overlooked corners of Bach’s keyboard music. Under Esfahani’s hands, the instrument growls, thunders, but also draws delicate tracery, and offers clear voicing in the fugal sections. Truly, a disc that has to be heard to be believed!’ (The Europadisc Review)