‘Heavenly Hahn in this latest addition to this treasure of a series’ (Classic CD)

‘These really are very good performances of two mystifyingly neglected gems of the repertoire’ (BBC Record Review)

‘A pair of piano quintets that are as different as could be in terms of musical expression, but prove to be complementary companion pieces that make very appealing listening’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Martyn Hill’s tenor is perfectly suited to Hahn’s deliciously sentimental idiom … most of the settings on the disc are to texts by his favourite Verlaine, including the seven Chansons grises. Hahn gages the level of sensuality perfectly, allowing the words to make their point rather than making the point on their behalf, and Hill and his accompanist Johnson relax wonderfully into this rather enticing world’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘This is music for the intellect, interpreted with the utmost sensitivity’ (Hi-Fi News)

‘To wonderful songs … [the artists] bring delicacy, grace, an emotion the more poignant for being understated … Not to be missed’ (The Observer)

«Graham Johnson choisir ses chanteurs qui possèdent une musicalité irréprochable et un français non seulement intelligible mais évocateur—et de les accompanger avec tant de poésie» (Diapason, France)

«Ces chanteurs brittaniques interprètent ces petits bijoux avec soin touchant. Par la qualité du phrasé, ils lui restituent sa qualité essentielle, le sens du mot et de la ligne mélodique» (Répertoire, France)

‘What treasures are here … the two discs provide an unmissable opportunity to explore a composer who is underrated and overlooked perhaps because he was too modest about himself. There are melodies here which Massenet, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel would have been proud to call their own. No one can fail to have their musical horizon broadened by these discs, which will assuredly come high among my Records of the Year, any year … these discs have given me as much pleasure as any I have heard this year … to hear Felicity Lott in Les étoiles, Susan Bickley in Offrande and Ian Bostridge in Tyndaris is to relish some of the most accomplished vocal artistry of the day’ (The Sunday Telegraph)

‘This gorgeous set … irresistible’ (The Sunday Times)

‘Some fascinating rarities’ (Gramophone)

'Naji Hakim's extraordinary virtuosity has never been in doubt, and the brilliance of the reed stops en chamade on the one hand and some delicious flutes on the other give him ample opportunity for contrasts. Much of the disc is devoted to chorale and Gregorian melodies with modern accompaniments, as in the main work, Die Apostel (in which Hakim is joined by his wife), where St Peter's forthright character is duly acknowledged. But Hakim's harmonies and textures are rather limited in scope. A disc to dip into, perhaps, rather than hear straight through' (Choir & Organ)