«Bien que l'œuvre soit extraite d'un recueil d'Etudes, Hamelin n'en fait pas une démonstration technique; il l'aborde avec infiniment de poésie, faite d'inflexions bien senties et de nuances subtiles. De la part d'un pianiste dont on connaît l'enthousiasme pour la délirante inspiration du compositeur, cela semblerait presque naturel … mais cette évidence ne doit pas faire oublier avec quelle noble allure l'interprète se joue des innombrables pièges que pose la partition … Quant aux l'autres … ils écouteront sans doute à genoux l'intégralité de ce CD» (Diapason, France)

‘No piano lover should miss this absolutely transcendent, watershed release’ (Classics Today)

‘One of the supreme examples of pianistic agility in the catalog … the nocturnal slow movement is especially powerful here, its harmonies superbly weighted, its more dramatic moments tinged with a subtle melodramatic chill … Hyperion's sound is excellent too. Highest recommendation’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘This intelligent and magnificently-played programme, displaying contrasting sides of the composer's personality … The Concerto is an engrossing musical journey, ranging from hushed chorale textures to the dizzying cascades of notes that make an orchestra entirely superfluous … The performance is stunning. Aside from over a decade's more experience, Hamelin now has the benefit of Hyperion's stunning recorded sound … As for the performance, if anyone can play it better, expect to see the devil as their agent. It is not simply that Hamelin can negotiate the ferocious technical challenges. Like a great ballet dancer, he maintaines a clarity and beauty of line, so that the shape of the music is always clear and seems natural, however unnatural the demands made by Alkan … This is playing of the highest order in music that should be at the heart of the Romantic repertoire’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Hamelin deserves an Olympic gold medal for this extreme musical sport: I doubt that any other living pianist could carry off the work with such secure bedazzlement, not to mention infusing it with refulgent tone and downright charm’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘Hamelin's playing here is as breathtaking as ever—it is hard to believe that a lot of it is humanly possible—but, more than simply a dazzling panoply of notes, it conveys a deep musical and expressive range’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘The sheer keyboard brilliance of Hamelin's playing is exceptional. The breathtaking clarity with which he articulates even the most ferocious passages, while unerringly projecting melodic shapes that are often obscured under welters of notes, never fails to dazzle, and the way in which he sustains the huge first movement of the Concerto so that each discursive paragraph seems a natural consequence of what precedes it is a triumph of pure musical will’ (The Guardian)

‘A performance of the Concerto of such brilliance and lucidity that one can only listen in awe and amazement. Scaling even the most ferocious hurdles with yards to spare, he is blessedly free to explore the very heart of Alkan's bewildering interplay of austerity and monstrous elaboration … you can only marvel at such a unique mix of blazing if nonchalantly deployed virtuosity and poetic conviction … all of this is superly recorded and presented, prompting some not unreasonable conjecture: if Liszt feared Alkan's mastery as a pianist he may well have feared Hamelin's’ (Gramophone)

‘Having introduced these Esquisses to us, Osborne deserves our gratitude … while they still hold material that will test the pianist, they are often sublime, requiring a performer of the utmost sensitivity, and in Osborne they find the perfect exponent’ (Hi-Fi Plus)

‘Osborne fulfils his task brilliantly on what will be one of the CDs of the year’ (Liverpool Daily Post)

‘Osborne has a delightfully varied touch that brings out the character, wit and invention of these often exquisite and tantalisingly short and familiar pieces’ (The Inverness Courier)

«Un ‘must’ qui complète parfaitement le riche catalogue Hyperion consacré à ce compositeur» (Répertoire, France)