‘Whoever Howard Shelley chooses to champion, one thing is for certain—his interpretations always lift the music from the score and provide a fascinating insight into a composer’s world … Shelley plays with precision, interpreting all the nuances, shades, and refinement flawlessly … there are so many enjoyable tracks enriched by Shelley’s full-spirited playing, all beautifully controlled with subtlety and charm permeating through this splendid disc’ (Yorkshire Times)» More

‘Hamelin certainly brings out all the charm, finesse and refinement intrinsic to this music. Poise and perfectly judged dynamic balance between the hands, fluid phrasing and tempered rubato, all come together to do the music full justice. There's a tendency for music from that period to sound overly formulaic, but Hamelin doesn't see it that way. Each and every phrase, ornamentation, harmonic twist sound fresh, musical and innovative under his highly insightful interpretation’ (Classical Music Sentinel)

‘The always interesting (and regularly surprising) Marc-André Hamelin adds to his massive catalogue with a double album of keyboard music by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the most famous and prolific of Johann Sebastian's composer sons. Emanuel's music looks ahead to the slower harmonic rhythm and emotive style of later composers while retaining the lavish ornamentation of his father's generation (especially Scarlatti). While the album's notes were written by a harpsichordist (Mahan Esfahani), there's no one better than Hamelin to show how this music should be played on the modern piano. (Also, he's now only one generation away from making the J.S. Bach album we're still anxiously awaiting)’ (CBC Music, Canada)

‘Heaven, pure and simple. The second movement’s opening Arietta bore a closer resemblance to the great Artur Schnabel’s 1932 recording than any other I know of: its breadth and profundity of utterance, the perfect weighting of its chords and the rests between those chords, and a comprehensive understanding of the music’s harmonic architecture, all helped nudge old interpretative values into a new context, ‘old school for a new age’ you might say … I would suggest you wrap up any preconceptions you might have about the interpretation of this music, dig a very big hole and bury them. Here’s your chance to listen with fresh ears … Hewitt’s accessibly analytical notes add a further degree of pleasure to the listening experience and the Fazioli piano used rings resplendent thanks to a superb recording. If this disc isn’t shortlisted for prizes in 2022 I’ll be very surprised’ (robccowan.com)

‘This is an all-time great tribute … Hamelin has of course an embarrassment of excess prowess when it comes to the technical demands of these pieces, but artistically they most certainly have his full attention. He finds something to communicate in every one. He is in no hurry to get through the program. He revels in the many little pauses, rhetorical flourishes, witty asides and pratfalls in which this music abounds. If I could listen to his playing with one other person in history, it would be Haydn, who would get all of the jokes … as always the Hyperion sound is unsurpassed. The sound stage is a perfect size for this most elegant of chamber music’ (Audiophile Audition, USA)

‘This album may class as amateur repertoire, but there is certainly nothing amateur about the pair's playing. This is a heaven-made partnership, with Dolly and Ma mère l'oye particularly shining through’ (Pianist)

‘An album full of colour, full of emotional intensity, and full of unabashed pathos. Highly recommended’ (Pianist)

‘I think it's a stunning performance of the Britten, filled with emotional conviction … it's a mesmerizing lockdown project’ (BBC Record Review)

‘The performance itself [of the Britten Cello Suite] digs deep. This is, as he says, a meditation on mortality. Isserlis makes it huge, and terrifying, fired by an incandescent spirituality’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More

‘In answer to the reasonable question, ‘Who, at this late date, could have something fresh and original to say in the Chopin Nocturnes?’ this new Hyperion release persuasively answers, Stephen Hough does … [his] interpolations are unfailingly stylish and tasteful. His execution of dynamic and agogic indications is always faithful to the score, everywhere apt and effective. Meanwhile, during slightly less than two hours of listening, there are countless moments of heart-stopping beauty. Both its deeply considered, distinctive rethinking of canonic repertory and the sheer poetry of its execution make this a release that neither students of Chopin nor lovers of fine piano-playing will want to miss’ (Gramophone)

‘Chopin’s glorious singing melodies take wing under Hough’s fingers in this must-have collection’ (Limelight, Australia)» More

‘As a particularly rich discography of the complete Nocturnes reminds us, the great interpreters of this music never confuse the melancholic with the sentimental. Stephen Hough is even more ‘objective’ than most while bringing pianistic poise to everything and breathing with lines that trace their ancestry to the bel canto aria … as anyone who follows the playing of this leading British pianist will know, Hough is fastidious about ornamentation and his attention to decorative detail is one of the hallmarks of this set … Hyperion’s new release offers a fuller-than-usual assortment of the posthumously published Nocturnes and those of dubious authorship, and Hough adds the embellished version of Op 9 No 2 as a perfectly judged encore’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More