‘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

‘From the outset, performing with one voice to a part, the male-voice ensemble The Gesualdo Six brings the intimacy and detail of consort music to these accounts. Josquin’s Marian works ‘O virgo prudentissima’ and ‘Illibata Dei virgo nutrix’ sound aptly radiant, while there’s a sense of hushed reverence in ‘Tu solus qui facis mirabilia’, the singers floating quotations from Ockeghem’s chanson ‘D’ung aultre amer’ as if they were wistful memories … throughout the programme, the singing is beautifully controlled … and the ensemble is finely balanced. Hyperion’s close-recorded perspective gives the words a particular immediacy while the warm acoustic wraps the listener in a velvet shroud’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More

‘The Takács Quartet has sustained an admiring following through its changes of personnel down the years, and their exceptional precision of tuning and ensemble, especially at full-tilt Mendelssohnian pace, remains as impressive as ever’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The Takács Quartet has sustained an admiring following through its changes of personnel down the years, and their exceptional precision of tuning and ensemble, especially at full-tilt Mendelssohnian pace, remains as impressive as ever’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Be clear about one thing: this is not just another recording of Chopin’s Nocturnes. The roll-call of pianists who have recorded these much-loved pieces is long and prestigious, but in comparisons with a dozen of the best this new recording is immediately distinctive … nobody else creates quite this magic … a memorable recording’ (Financial Times)» More