‘This recital disc shows [Grosvenor's] ability to twin youthful exuberance with impeccable technique and magisterial musical intelligence’ (The Guardian)

‘A beautiful sound, and beneath it there are seams of passion, discretion and emotional affinity with the music … [it] shows intelligence coupled with a command of keyboard colour and musical characterisation that are remarkable’ (The Telegraph)

‘Grosvenor, you can tell, is a Romantic pianist, almost from another age. He doesn’t deconstruct, or stand at a distance. He jumps inside the music’s soul’ (The Times)

‘An intellectual and emotional understanding of the music way beyond his tender years’ (The Independent)

‘The playing on this disc is some of the best you will hear of these works and bears repeated listening–indeed, it demands it’ (The Piano Files)

‘All in all, this is an album that reaffirms Grosvenor's status as one of the most accomplished pianists around’ (Gramophone)

‘Grosvenor’s affinity and understanding of Romantic-era composers is evident in his solid performances on this album’ (The Classic Review)

‘Grosvenor plays the small pieces like the well-known Blumenstück and the Intermezzi with perfect effortless grace, and brings out the stony, tragic quality of Clara's Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann’ (The Telegraph)

‘These rich performances suggest Brahms is where Grosvenor should head next’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Shelley plays … with felicity and an almost palpable devotion to the repertoire and Hyperion’s engineers present the music with just the right combination of clarity and ambience’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘Those of you who have a particular interest in British music will certainly wish to explore the repertoire on this CD. Francis Edward Bache (1833-1858) was a pupil of Sterndale Bennett but died tragically young of TB. The manuscript of his concerto has been in the library of the Royal Academy of Music and might never have been performed until now. Howard Shelley has a way of bringing this music to life; in other hands, it could sound banal. The second movement of Sterndale Bennett's concerto was one of the composer's favourite pieces and, it became very popular and appeared in many arrangements. While there have been other recordings of WSB's concerto, this is certainly one of the finest’ (Braille Newspapers)

‘Howard Shelley’s recording is superb and in full and lustrous. Sterndale Bennett’s writing is sparkly and agile and Shelley is infinitely dextrous in response. It’s interesting that Mendelssohn conducted the work, for there is much that is Mendelssohnian in it. The virtuosity is of the fluent, sophisticated variety. Yet there is also, rather daringly, a single-line melody (most affecting, too) for piano, simply accompanied by pizzicato strings. The slow movement is a ‘Barcarole’ and has an easy-flow basic rhythm that enables the melodic lines to flourish. A more dramatic middle section finds Shelley impassioned in his delivery of it. This is not the original middle movement; Sterndale Bennett had written (as he called it) a 'Stroll through the meadows', but this had failed to gain any popularity. The fiery middle section gives the concerto some emotional depth. The by turns sturdy and capricious finale forms an apt conclusion’ (Classical Source)