‘The C major Grand Sextet (with an equally grand Opus number, 100), for piano and strings, including a double bass, is a splendid work, energetic, lyrical, and with a hauntingly lovely slow movement. Simon Crawford-Phillips sparkles at the keyboard, and is sensitive when required, and Graham Mitchell’s bass is faithfully captured by Oscar Torres’s microphones … this Andrew Keener-produced release is also high-end in terms of annotation and presentation’ (colinscolumn.com)» More

‘Marc-André Hamelin—who has become one of the greats of our era—has recorded all 27 rags on two discs, catching their reverence and irreverence with equal brilliance … ‘Graceful Ghost Rag’ may be the most famous contemporary rag by anyone, much in demand as an encore, given a lovely reading by Hamelin, who is aware of its genteel wit … ‘Brass Knuckles’, written jointly with William Albright, has some crunching clusters thrown in with humorous effect; those must be the brass knuckles. It’s a real trip, and Hamelin handles the crunches with gusto’ (San Francisco Classical Voice, USA)

‘With great subtlety and finesse, Finley and Drake inexorably draw the listener into the miller’s successive states of mind: the carefree wanderer, the tentative suitor, the dreamy romantic, the ecstatic then jealous lover, and finally, the broken man. In tracing this emotional arc, Finley carefully husbands his vocal resources, deftly colouring the early songs, bringing a dreamlike quality to Morgengruss and particularly beauteous tone to Pause. Drake is also alert to every nuance of text, delivering expertly judged pacing … here is a distinguished Die schöne Müllerin whose insights are as abundant as its delights’ (Limelight, Australia)» More

‘It’s a powerful piece [the Grand Sextet] with an almost concerto-like piano part, presumably written for Ries himself to perform. Simon Crawford-Phillips does the honours in this new recording with The Nash Ensemble and they bring Ries out of Beethoven’s shadow with these substantial rediscoveries. Excellent performances’ (BBC Record Review)

‘The piano playing is powerfully expressive—Drake is as much a narrator here as Finley, always following the flow of the water, while Finley seems to become almost more expressive as he gets quieter, always with a lovely sense of line and colour. They’re so finely attuned to one another’s musicianship, it gives them a freedom to be themselves yet never expressively out of synch. I thought Finley and Drake’s Winterreise eight years ago was exceptional: this is just as good’ (BBC Record Review)

‘Bolcom is lucky in having such a musician to provide him with these authoritative accounts of his music. Individual rags will undoubtedly pop up on recital discs from time to time (at least, they should) but any further ‘Complete Rags’ will be completely redundant. Hamelin’s razor-sharp rhythmic acuity and precise accentuation in tandem with his customary nonchalant dexterity would, on their own, be sufficient for the success of this release, but there are other things: a sophisticated palette, a deep tenderness, a mischievous sense of humour and the chameleon’s ability to convince you that he is not a classical pianist but, first and foremost, a successor to James P Johnson. There is more. I doubt if there’s another pianist on the planet who, after giving us a revelatory two-disc survey of CPE Bach, could so adroitly turn his attention to late 20th-century ragtime. The man is a miracle. Another Gramophone Award nomination beckons’ (Gramophone)

‘Songs such as ‘An Silvia’ and ‘Der Musensohn’ can seem a bit twee in certain performances; with Coote, that’s not possible, with her use of colour giving the songs an emotional narrative. She doesn’t sugar-coat anything. ‘Erlkönig’ has a heart-in-mouth intensity, while the beloved ‘Im Frühling’ isn’t sung just as a pastoral study with some dark clouds but as an inexorable slide into sorrow. Even ‘Ständchen’ has an underlying tension alluding to the kind of trembling that is mentioned in the final moment …‘Der Tod und das Mädchen’ goes quite deep and dark, the voice of death being half whispered, benevolent but not open to negotiation, the final note having an almost baritonal colouring, underscored by the funeral-march pace used by pianist Julius Drake. In all selections, he is with her all the way, with generous (though not extravagant) tempo changes and eloquent tone colours that support what she is out to convey’ (Gramophone)

‘Reuven’s mandolin take on The Four Seasons’ famously virtuoso violin solos presents a panoply of colours, thanks to a holy trinity of a modern instrument, his own mandolin technique, based on Europe’s various violin schools, and shedloads of imagination. Listen to the shaping, shading and variety of his embellishments in the solos in the first movement of Vivaldi’s Spring. And these qualities then equally feed his Piazzolla arrangements (each movement of which follows its corresponding Vivaldi one); the double-stopped glissandos with which he opens Piazzolla’s Summer are properly exciting … in a steadily expanding catalogue of Vivaldi and Piazzolla Four Seasons offerings, this has brought something genuinely unique and worthwhile to the table’ (Gramophone)

‘The Nash Ensemble’s performance [of the Grand Sextet] comes alive because the other musicians never quite seem to accept their secondary status, challenging the pianist with playing that bristles with pent-up energy … what stands out, though, is the Sextet in G minor. This time the lineup is harp, piano, clarinet, bassoon, horn and double bass, an unusual group that offered Ries some intriguing sonorities, especially when juxtaposing piano and harp. It’s a rewarding piece, and you won’t hear it more persuasively played than this’ (The Guardian)» More

‘This CD catapults Hough into the stratosphere of contemporary Schubert performers: phrasing and dynamics are scrupulously but unobtrusively observed and the sound from the Henry Wood Hall London (April 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning to take hold) is warm and vivid. A Schubert CD for the ages’ (Limelight, Australia)» More

‘The Sonata in A, D664, is wholly delightful, Schubert at his most good-humoured. The affable first movement sings in Hough’s hands, while the second movement is thoughtful, poignant and tender, marked by gently sighing phrases. The sunny mood is soon restored in the finale, to which Hough brings a joyful light-heartedness with its tumbling scales and dance-like passages … there’s an intimacy and warmth to the piano sound which perfectly suits Schubert’s introspection, while a bright but sweet treble brings a lovely clarity to the melody lines and highlights Hough’s deftness of touch. Recommended’ (ArtMuseLondon)

‘Do we really need another recording of The Four Seasons? Well, I think we’ve got enough room in our hearts for another one, especially when it’s as unusual as this … this is a concept that has been experimented with many times, the combination of the four seasons of Vivaldi and Astor Piazzolla, but I do think that the instruments give us something new and fresh here … the reputation of the instrument is transformed through recordings like this, which show exactly how versatile that sound world is … I think it works: it sounds like they’re having a terrific time, and they move seamlessly between the different sound worlds’ (BBC Record Review)