‘At the outset of the scholarly notes that Mahan Esfahani has provided to accompany this release, he states his aim ‘to perform and record all the keyboard works of J.S. Bach’. His Hyperion discography has, over recent years, garnered considerable praise from MusicWeb reviewers, including myself. So I was delighted to be given the opportunity to appraise his latest offering, in which he performs the composer’s Six French Suites … Esfahani elicits a wide spectrum of tonal colour from his instruments. Passage work is notable for its pristine quality, with the thicker harmonies luminously clear. His tempo choices are comfortable, and the music comes over as vibrant and alive. Repeats are observed and extra ornamentation is added the second time around. The dance movements have gusto, verve and vigour, whilst the Sarabandes offer contrast, being eloquently contoured with phrases spun out in a single breath. Recording quality is excellent in every way, and the accompanying annotations are top drawer’ (MusicWeb International)» More

‘Hewitt plays all these pieces with the greatest subtlety and care. I noticed the way she carefully differentiates different types of touch, the way her nimble fingers coast through every awkward corner and her sensitive phrasing … the bright tone of her Fazioli piano is admirably suited to the character of these works, and these performances seem to me ideal accounts of them’ (MusicWeb International)» More

‘Having heard his Debussy on disc and in concert before, I was really looking forward to this … I was absolutely blown away; it sounds like he’s born only to play Debussy. It’s just perfection on every level … there is nothing missing; every single note is chosen and perfect and I was in heaven listening to this disc … under Steven Osborne’s fingers [the Études] never sound like technical exercises, there’s just so much colour and imagination and uniquely Debussyan timbres … you’re just not aware of the recording, it’s that good … here we have an elite pianist who is making it sound like it flows off his fingertips, effortlessly’ (BBC Record Review)

«William Byrd et sa Mass for five voices concentrent la dernière fournée des Gesualdo Six. La formation chambriste masculine d’Owain Park donne à l’oeuvre un aspect discret, intime, sans doute en adéquation avec le caractère secret qu’elle revêtait—l’époque était très hostile au catholicisme dont cette messe et son auteur se réclament. Dans les motets glissés en complément, les entrelacs harmoniques de l’Ave verum et l’expressivité stupéfiante du Circumdederunt qui captent l’attention, offrant un visage plus complexe de Byrd, à l’image de leur écriture contrapuntique» (Diapason, France)

‘The performances are formidably assured … Matej Kastelic (b1994), achieves a lot in five minutes with Credo/I believe’ (Gramophone)

‘The works for double choir have a compelling sonority, especially when delivered by soloists of this quality, but those for just four or five voices are affecting and full of distinctive touches, more personal in affect than the grandeur and solemnity of the Mass. Among the double-choir pieces I especially enjoyed the opening track, Benedictus Dominus, while the seven-voice Fracta diuturnis has some lovely responses to the text; and among the more lightly scored works, Ad te levavi stands out for sheer loveliness. There is much to praise in these poised, polished performances, hieratic in the Mass and more intimate where the music permits it (the beginning of the ‘Qui tollis’ is lovely in a way that recalls Lassus). Speaking of Daser’s successor, this seems to me to be Cinquecento’s finest disc (in terms of both programming and performance) since the one they devoted to Lassus’ (Gramophone)

‘Steven Osborne’s recording brings to an end his Debussy cycle for Hyperion, and rarely have mastery and sensitivity been so meticulously and awe-inspiringly combined … here is a pianist who shines a searchlight on Debussy’s inner secrets, yet is no less adept at retreating into a hazy and distant sense of vision, his essentially modern view of Debussy remote from Gieseking’s legendary and opalescent if far less precise recording … Osborne’s entirely personal and committed way with the Études is underlined by a sense of overwhelming bleakness that makes even outstanding alternative recordings by Pollini, Uchida and Aimard have less impact’ (International Piano)» More

«Quelle splendeur que ce Nocturne no 1 (ca 1875) sous les doigts de Marc-André Hamelin ! Dès le commencement de ce voyage à travers les deux grands cycles pour piano de Fauré, dont la composition s’étale sur presque toute sa vie créatrice, le musicien canadien déploie un art immense. Et quand la passion affleure dans cette page encore empreinte d’un certain romantisme, il se fait le plus vibrant des conteurs … partout, le plus éclectique des grands pianistes de notre temps met la barre très haut : le miracle de cette interprétation majeure, magnifiée par une prise de son grisante, est bien de donner envie d’entendre encore et toujours ces bijoux de fraîcheur et de mystère, d’élégance extrême et de profondeur» (Diapason, France)

‘Vaughan Williams admirers who buy this disc for the Mass in G minor will find themselves in the company of five other sacred choral works that employ a musical language rather distant from that of the Mass. For this Vaughan Williams admirer, those remaining pieces have turned out to be at least as compelling as the main work, and perhaps even more so … this is as fine a performance [of the Mass in G minor] as any now available. Contrapuntal lines are clearly audible, and the overall balance is exemplary. The choir’s sound has exceptional richness and homogeneity. It dispenses considerable power where necessary and makes the more inward passages alive’ (MusicWeb International)

‘This is playing of daredevil spontaneity, backed up by intense scholarly discipline’ (Prospect)» More

‘I'm in Choral Heaven with a Tudor master’ (The Times)

‘The sound [of the clavichord] is so seductive; the delicacy, the gentle chirpiness, the almost reedy timbre at times, and the way the notes sometimes bend under the finger pressure. And then there’s Esfahani’s fragrant ornamentation and embellishment, so beautifully integrated with Bach’s lines, the feeling that the music is coming fresh from his and Bach’s imagination—so intimate—before what Mahan calls the ‘rich snarl’ of his modern hybrid harpsichord in some of the suites. The whole album seems as though it’s been designed to question our assumptions and prejudices in the most enlightening way’ (BBC Record Review)