‘Esfahani isn’t just showing off an instrument. His ornamentation and articulation are inventive and engaging, and will send alert listeners back to the score as the ear tries to tease out exactly what he’s doing. This is edgy, hyper-attentive playing, with rhythmic figures etched with a sharp, swift and precise stylus … the concluding fugue [of BWV992] is the pièce de résistance, turning this supposed leave-taking into a wild declaration of independence such that the recording itself becomes not just a collection of works by Bach but a performer’s manifesto’ (Gramophone)

‘A year ago we hailed the first album on Hyperion of the ‘altered’ make up of the Takács Quartet … we eagerly awaited their second, announced as being dedicated to Haydn. Here it is, and the result is everything we had wished for … in [Op 77 No 1], from the very opening rhythm one is carried away by the atmosphere of tonal diversity, as well as by the sharp-edged, almost hard-hitting force with which the Takács imbue the music. They profile the melodies with a knowing ease that culminates in the third movement and its fugue, with the first violin making light of its extreme heights, filling every moment with creative tension. Op 77 No 2, dominated by its contrapuntal aspect, is given harmonic warmth and expressive density, and in its superb Andante—a true masterpiece—they achieve a dramatic capacity that is truly breathtaking … the Takács have enriched the recorded legacy of Haydn quartets with these finely-wrought jewels’ (Crescendo, Germany)

‘The first thing that struck me, in the very first track, was an unexpected sense of lonely vulnerability. The fact that Telemann starts many of these fantasias off with a slow movement is hardly unique in and of itself, since Bach’s solo violin works often do the same as do innumerable other sonate da chiesa, but somehow it lends the Fantasia No 1 in B flat, and indeed the album as a whole, a profundity that I simply wasn’t anticipating. Throughout the set of twelve fantasias, Ibragimova reproduces that sense of delicacy numerous times, particularly in slow movements such as the opening Piacevolmente of No 8 in E major … in such capable hands as Ibragimova’s the shaky boundary between music ‘for professionals’ and ‘for amateurs’ breaks down altogether. Telemann’s craft in keeping the music playable is obvious, but Ibragimova shows us the art that he put into these twelve fantasias—each one an assembly of perfectly-formed one- or two-minute miniatures, forming an album of bite-size delights’ (Presto Classical)» More

‘Any recital recording that programmes only shortish pieces runs a risk, and even more so when they’re all by the same composer. I shouldn’t have worried with Steven Osborne in command. Not only are there plenty of lively dances on here to counter the cliché of the ‘wispy’ Debussy, but the contrasts between tracks and the clarity at any dynamic level—and of course Osborne can play with magical refinement—are wondrous … total delight, whether you listen to it in one or more sittings’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More

‘Where Ibragimova is often at her most appealing is when addressing dance metres. Here her lightly articulated bowing and her softly spoken melodic declamation make for considerable appeal. These virtues are especially prominent in the second half dozen of the Fantasias, where the dance assumes prominence over the contrapuntal dominance of the first. Elsewhere Ibragimova demonstrates a playful agility in enlivening the kaleidoscope of Telemann’s canvas’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More

‘Wonderful as it is to hear the Eighth treated with the respect it deserves, the main focus has to be on Symphony No 6. Even against formidable competition, Martyn Brabbins impresses handsomely. Nothing is forced—the fury and the anguish, the grandeur and the desolation seem almost to speak for themselves. What’s surprising on first hearing is how the Symphony’s epic sweep is balanced with such focused clarity. Details catch the ear that tend to get lost in the general melée, while the rhythmic articulation is sharp and muscular. Of course the superb recording helps, but the microphone can’t bring out things that aren’t already there. It’s all beautifully judged, right through to the near-ideal tempo (not hurried but always mobile) for that ghostly, awestruck finale’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More

‘Osborne’s performances are of a superfine mastery. For him clarity rather than misty opalescence is central to Debussy’s genius. He paints in bold primary colours, and yet is as sensitive as he is meticulous’ (International Piano)

‘Being steeped in this music, the Takács respond to it with their customary naturalness and confidence. They respond to each other, too, in a demonstration of deep listening that results in moments such as the uncanny unisons of Op 77 No 1’s Adagio or that rare commodity, truly quiet playing, in the hymn-like Trio that undercuts the manic ticking of Op 77 No 2’s scherzo-in-all-but-name Menuetto’ (Gramophone)

‘The Takács beguile the ear with their incisive phrasing, their consistency, and their sense of detail. Compared with their previous recording (Decca, 1991), this new one seems more dynamic, more intense in its highlighting of the contrapuntal dimension … [they] articulate—better than all except a very few—the shifting border between classicism and romanticism that infuses Haydn’s last works’ (Diapason, France)

‘As always with The Gesualdo Six, the thing that strikes one most forcibly on first listening is the ensemble’s extraordinary vocal blend … the collection, centring on the theme of grief, is extremely well organised in terms of both contrast and similarity (of style and period), and I do recommend listening to it from beginning to end. Richard Rodney Bennett’s sumptuous A Good-Night provides a wholly appropriate finale to this thought-provoking journey’ (Gramophone)

‘No pianist today is more steeped in this idiom than Howard Shelley, who, true to form, dispatches both concertos with mingled flamboyance and limpid grace. Potentially routine passagework is sparklingly alive, while the cantabile melodies unfold with a vocal flexibility. Shelley is a master of rubato and artful timing. The chic opening of No 1’s finale and the waltzing second theme in the opening Allegro of No 2, given an echt Viennese lilt, make the point … Shelley’s crystalline fingerwork duly dazzles in the delicate filigree of the Rondeau brillant, which begins as a polonaise and ends as a skittering galop: a work not to Schumann’s taste, evidently, but hard to resist in a performance of such style and verve’ (Gramophone)

‘Impeccable … performances as wonderful and sonorous as you could hope for’ (The Sunday Times)» More