‘In terms of this selection of CPE Bach’s sonatas, it’s a case of once you start, you’re hooked, something enhanced by playing of clarity, depth and poise, Driver always willing to go with the music’s unpredictability. This is invention at once intellectual and engagingly entertaining, containing the promise of surprise while retaining a secret or two for the next playing. There is an unpredictable logic to these pieces that is very likeable, be it the individual slow movements or the toccata-like faster ones; and whatever CPE Bach demands Danny Driver ensures a comprehensive realisation of these fascinating scores’ (Classical Source)

‘With 78 minutes of impeccable pianism, top-drawer recording quality and highly informative notes by Leta Miller, placing these remarkable works in context, this deserves a wide audience’ (International Record Review)

‘Listening to this extraordinary music, it is easy to understand why the audiences who first heard it in the 1740s were thrilled and bewildered in equal measure … Driver meets the interpretative challenges with a lively mind, dexterity and warm sensibility in a way that brings CPE Bach's startling originality sharply into focus’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Danny Driver, a recent addition to Hyperion's bejewelled roster of pianists, makes his superlative case for music that is as inventive as it is unsettling. Playing with imperturbable authority, he captures all the mercurial fits and starts of the G minor Sonata … it would be impossible to over-estimate Driver's impeccable technique and musicianship, and also a warmth missing from Pletnev's earlier and razor-sharp recital … this is one of the finest of all recent keyboard issues and Hyperion's sound and presentation are ideal’ (Gramophone)

‘Driver's playing is scintilating …’ (Listen, USA)

‘CPE Bach is the perfect embodiment of the rebellious son. His keyboard sonatas sparkle with the brilliant counterpoint learned from his father Johann Sebastian but are punctuated with passages that are decidedly his own … thrillingly played by Danny Driver … immensely rewarding listening’ (The Observer)

‘Driver's approach is impressive in many ways. Every keystroke is perfectly sprung, with fast, detached playing sounding pristine but never clipped. The three voices in the slow movement from the Sonata in F sharp minor, Wq 52/4 are impeccably balanced, their transparency provoking a closeness of listening that creates deep engagement. The disc's fabulous engineering brings the piano up close with an attractive liveliness’ (International Piano)

‘As with most keyboard music of the eighteenth century, in the hands of a sympathetic player the essence can be fully conveyed by means of the modern concert grand piano … Driver's musicianship here is exemplary—not only possessing a technique second to none but also a comprehensive grasp which gets to the heart of this by no means straightforward music … Driver is superb at striking exactly the right tone for this music, laying it out before us with clarity yet also subtly underpinning the slyly expressive nature of the music … the recording is consistently in accord with Hyperion's best quality and the booklet notes by Leta Miller are a model of informed scholarship’ (International Record Review)

‘In this sequel to his first disc of CPE Bach Keyboard Sonatas (CDA67786), Danny Driver is intimately in touch with the fluctuations of the musical language. The E major sonata shows Bach exploiting sharp contrasts between loud and soft, aspects that Driver points up in a way that underlines the music’s energy and momentum. His feel for the harmonic explorations in the slow movement and the rhythmic mischievousness of the finale likewise echoes the music’s spirit … Driver plays with an imagination and subtlety fully equal to Bach’s own’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Driver revels in CPE Bach's idiosyncrasies, underlining the spontaneous and edgier qualities in the composer's Empfindsamer stil… an unusual and fascinating programme’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘This 1986 recording is still worth hearing. The 'conversational' trio sonata is an astonishing attempt to prove that music can communicate without the need for words, and there is brilliance in the gamba sonata’ (BBC Music Magazine)

«Technique extraordinairement réactive, sens inné du son, sensibilité merveilleusement communicative : un tel rayonnement est chose rare … dans sa notice, Esfahani se livre à une analyse des mouvements extrêmement argumentée, qui témoigne d’une maturité saisissante. On a rarement entendu un Bach aussi près du texte et pourtant si libre, sidérant d’aisance dans les pages brillantes et débordant de tendresse dans les adagios.

L'Adagio non molto de la Sonate en si mineur résume le propos : la mélancolie tente de s'étourdir dans une feinte agitation, les silhouettes de Fiordiligi ou de la Comtesse se dessinent sous nos yeux. L’instrument (d’après Mietke) est particulièrement intéressant. Il combine les traditionnelles vertus de la facture allemande (timbre luthé, aigu merveilleusement vocal) et un registre médium d'une richesse expressive dont Esfahani joue en expert» (Diapason, France)» More