‘It was apparent from the opening bars that this was to be a CD of outstanding quality—in respect of the music (Finzi was a true original), performance (Layton and the Trinity College forces in top form), and sound production (David Hinitt the recording engineer and Adrian Peacock the producer) … all in all, this CD is a masterly production by all concerned and demands to be heard’ (British Music Society Journal)

‘Trinity’s mixed young adults are effortless in the ease with which they respond to Layton’s exacting demands … Layton’s idiomatically fine-tuned direction lovingly sculpts the rolling contours with the imprimatur of a true connoisseur’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Cunningham and London Early Opera offer optimal accompaniment: breathless silences into which Crowe drops her shining notes, a crisp stride underneath Bevan's perorations, fragile siciliano accompaniment as a foil to Crowe's swelling assurance and, in duets, a respectful retreat … Handel has never sounded better’ (BBC Music Magazine)

„Mit dem mittlerweile 22. Teil der CD-Reihe „The Romantic Violin Concerto“ legt das Label Hyperion erneut drei Einspielungen vor, die daran gemahnen, wie beschränkt das heute allseits erklingende Konzertrepertoire ist und wie sinnvoll es erscheint, den oft zu Unrecht vergessenen Werken der Vergangenheit nachzuspüren … [in dem Violinkonzert Scharwenkas] formt Roth den Solopart unter gekonntem Einsatz von Agogik ausgesprochen plastisch, wobei er umsichtig genug ist, in den emphatischen Abschnitten von Kopfsatz und Finale sein klangvolles Vibrato nicht übermäßig zu strapazieren … fulminanter Schlusspunkt der Einspielung ist das kurze, einsätzige Violinkonzert (1943/44) von Rued Langgaard (1893–1952), dessen musikalische Besonderheiten—eine rhythmisch prägnante Motivik sowie die Integration eines Klavierparts in das Orchester—die Mitwirkenden zu Höchstleistungen anspornen“ (Das Orchester, Germany)» More

‘The D major Concerto by Lassen is the real find here, gorgeously melodious and full of unexpected twists and turns. Roth is on fine form’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘That evergreen theme of courtly love inspires in Machaut extraordinary harmonies and beautiful, primitive counterpoint. The singers combine pin-sharp tuning and gentle phrasing in this seductive collection’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘David Fallows called them a ‘dream team’, Fabrice Fitch described their fourth Machaut album in this series as ‘one bullseye after another’ and it will come as little surprise that now I’m about to lace them with more compliments. I love a big recording project planned with superb scholarship, lively programming and consistent performances, and this Machaut series on Hyperion has it all’ (Gramophone)

‘Christopher Warren-Green secures crisp rhythms and vivid detail from the Philharmonia in lifelike sound. In choosing the Mozart as companion piece, van de Wiel faces the stiffest recording competition. But he also has an angle: treating this last of Mozart's concertos less with the nostalgic languor of a composer already foreseeing the end than with the straight-toned vigour of a still-young creator who thinks life is going to go on. It is a valid approach’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Everything is met with unfaltering assurance, vividness and command … Emil Gilels, whose magisterial recording of the Second Sonata is formidably authoritative, would surely have been among the first to praise Gugnin’s performance’ (International Piano)» More

‘Suffice to say, these splendidly prepared and finely engineered performances under Howard Shelley’s clear-headed direction do full justice to some appealing, off-the-beaten-track repertoire, and the disc as a whole is well worth seeking out’ (Gramophone)

‘The variety of moods in these miscellanea, lovingly performed by the Ulster Orchestra and Howard Shelley in congenial sound, is one of its most attractive features … and the most winning work? Definitely Fairy Day, with fey, dated poetry transformed into fine art through constantly modulating, simple harmonies, sweetly sung by sopranos and altos from the choir Codetta, and the most luminously delicate instrumental textures. Stanford as Mendelssohn, perhaps, and it’s lovely’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Drake’s way with the highly individual piano-writing makes much of the harmonics, sonority and percussive demands. Spence, always a fine recitalist, here shows that his lyrical voice is now developing in fascinating ways. He still has the bright fluidity atop the stave but there is now a bronzy heroic quality at the core that brings the more dramatic, desperate and impassioned moments to vivid life. Yet there is a sense of sadness that pervades the whole—his voice suits the idiom. His words are astonishingly clear too so that even a non-Czech listener can easily follow along with the text provided without getting lost’ (Classical Source)» More