'Recorded at the Barbican last year, conductor Richard Farnes, his 17 musicians and an exceptional cast never let the tension lag throughout the two hours' (Limelight, Australia)

'There has been such an outpouring of Britten recordings during the centennial year that no one could keep up with everything, but when the dust settles it would be unsurprising if this one turned out to be one of the highlights' (Opera News)

'Playing and direction are exemplary, making this a fine version with which to delve into the subtleties and internal correspondences of this astonishing score … well done, LSO!' (Classical Ear)

'Recorded only days after the death of Colin Davis, this vibrant, spine-tingling take on Britten’s Henry James opera owes its success to the late conductor’s replacement, Opera North’s music director' (The Sunday Times)

'This LSO Live SACD has quite excellent sound and features both a strong cast and fine orchestral playing' (Classical.net)

‘Ilan Volkov’s BBC Scottish SO relish the first movement’s spiky, quirky invention and are a superb foil for Anthony Marwood in the central danse macabre. Britten’s masterstroke was to close the concerto with a haunting large scale Passacaglia, which resolves into a typically ambivalent manner. Marwood’s handling of the closing pages induces shivers, gently rocking between major and minor. It’s a compelling work, and this is a wonderful recording’ (TheArtsDesk.com)

‘Marwood is a vivacious soloist in the Violin Concerto and particularly compelling in its magnificent Passacaglia, which is expertly paced … we are left in no doubt about the levels of searing commitment behind Marwood's performance’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Anthony Marwood, in one of the most gripping acounts of recent times … careful pacing, agile bow-work and careful tonal manipulation … Marwood and Lawrence Power are ideally matched … and they make a convincing case for the concerto … a well-recorded disc, in which Ilan Volkov and the BBC Symphony Orchestra provide bitingly visceral support throughout’ (The Strad)

‘A rarity… energetic and characterful, [the Double Concerto] emerges strongly from the performance of the soloists here. But it is quite overshadowed in originality and richness by the Violin Concerto of seven years later’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Anthony Marwood makes the best possible case for [the Violin Concerto] in this new recording … has the opening Moderato's edgy lyricism ever sounded so tantalisingly seductive? Marwood goes on to capture the sinewy vitality of the middle movement and, no less brilliantly, the quixotic moods fo the closing Passacaglia, where Volkov's tensile accompaniments are spot-on’ (Financial Times)

‘A bittersweet, sinuously virtuosic account of a work that repays repeated listening and vindicates Britten's faith in it … a brilliantly planned, played and orchestrated release’ (The Sunday Times)

‘This is a highly distinguished recording, very intelligently planned and exceptionally well executed … performances which it would be difficult to imagine could be improved on … [Violin Concerto] Magnificently set out for us by Anthony Marwood and Ilan Volkov … the performance [of the Double Concerto] on this disc by Marwood and Lawrence Power revelas it to be an astonishing achievement as a work of art on several levels … [Lachrymae] The finest performance I have ever heard, live or on disc’ (International Record Review)