20 May 2023
BBC Record Review, Andrew McGregor
Piers Lane goes to town again‘A decade after the Australian pianist’s first disc of party pieces, encores and lollipops, the follow-up: this new one is sheer delight … [Robert Constable’s ‘Nocturne’ is] played with just the right kind of louche, seductive sense of filmic romance … so many delights in this album, from Schubert and Szymanowski to Billy Mayerl, Mozart spreading butter on a piece of bread(!), even Winifred Atwell’s Pot Black theme: it’s another love letter to the piano’ (BBC Record Review)
13 May 2023
BBC Record Review, Andrew McGregor
Bach: Notebooks for Anna Magdalena‘This partnership works well, doesn’t it—Esfahani’s delicate fingerwork and expressive ingenuity on harpsichord and clavichord, and his spontaneous flourishes and attractive ornamentation, combined with the simplicity and accuracy of Sampson’s soprano. Intimate entertainment of the highest quality’ (BBC Record Review)
8 May 2023
Politiken, Denmark, Thomas Michelsen
Mompou: Música callada'Música callada' er skitser. Korte, indadvendte musikalske tanker, der har retning nedad. Men der er alligevel spor af catalansk-spansk flamboyance under den cool overflade, og med den australskbritiske pianist Stephen Hough ved tangenterne får man de skrøbelige satser spillet til perfektion. Klangligt meget smukt forløst på det altid kvalitetsbevidste engelske plademærke Hyperion … har du aldrig hørt om Mompou, er Houghs nye indspilning af alle fire bøger af 'Música callada' en chance. Hjemme hos mig kører albummet i konstant rotation' (Politiken, Denmark)
5 May 2023
colinscolumn.com, Colin Anderson
Stanford: Requiem‘Throughout, Martyn Brabbins’s persuasive tempos and wholesome approach pay many dividends and make the strongest possible case for a score that deserves its place in the limelight that this release now affords it’ (colinscolumn.com)
» More24 April 2023
Early Music America, USA, Jacob Jahiel
Machaut: Songs from Remede de Fortune‘Exceedingly good … singing together, the group’s blend is breathtaking. But it is actually the moments when each member performs separately that carry the most musical and dramatic weight, each conveying a vast spectrum of emotion resulting from the pangs and pleasures of love, hope, fortune, and misfortune. Like a Matryoshka doll, they are thus able to multiply themselves—while they are only four singers, each contains a multitude of voices, personalities, characters, and moods’ (Early Music America, USA)