‘Uniformly fine, sensitive and idiomatic playing and sound that alternately caresses and thunders as the music requires, this disc is a bargain … of all these fine works it would be impossible to imagine more satisfying performances than these … altogether a feast for the ears’ (Fanfare, USA)

'In this homage to Rachmaninov, the pianist brings rare sensitivity to 23 Preludes, two teenage compositions, two very late ones, and Bax’s own arrangement of the Vocalise. The qualities he admires in Rachmaninov’s playing—lack of ego and a golden tone—are here in abundance' (The Independent)

‘With this intricate and enterprising recital the wondrously gifted Alessio Bax fulfils, in his own words, a long-cherished dream … these include his own arrangement of the Vocalise where, without surplus decoration (as in the Zoltán Kocsis transcription), he finds all of the composer's dark-hued melancholy, playing with an impeccable sense of vocal line and with an intense and stylish rubato' (Gramophone)

‘Elegant and scintillating’ (Gramophone)

‘Nothing less than a revelation’ (The Guardian)

‘An essential recommendation’ (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)

‘Exceptional finesse … mirrored in beautilully natural and refined sound’ (BBC Record Review)

‘These masterly performances can, I think, lay claim to being the finest, certainly the most individual, that we have yet heard on disc’ (Hi-Fi News)

‘Elegant and scintillating’ (Gramophone)

‘Nothing less than a revelation’ (The Guardian)

‘Readings of a true keyboard aristocrat … exceptional finesse … mirrored in beautifully natural and refined sound’ (BBC Record Review)

‘These masterly performances can, I think, lay claim to being the finest, certainly the most individual, that we have yet heard on disc’ (Hi-Fi News)