‘The Vienna-based Cinquecento's full-throated yet supple performance perfectly captures the Mass's joyful mood, with its soaring lines, delectable passages of sinuous polyphony and moments of striking text-expression … its ringing, crisply articulated performances, aided by the magnificent sound engineering in a reverberant church acoustic, are no less powerful and brilliant. The group's blend and balance, illuminated by the firm voices of the two countertenors, are near perfect while preserving each voice's individual character. Above all, it is the intelligence of these performances that is striking … Cinquecento's superb performances, together with producer Stephen Rice's informative booklet commentary, make this an ideal introduction to the music of a still little-heard but important composer of the sixteenth century’ (International Record Review)

‘The performances by the six male voices of Cinquecento are exemplary in their matching of vocal lines, and in the singers' ability to characterise every idea without ever losing the sense of the overall musical shape’ (The Guardian)

‘The grave beauty of Regnart's sacred music deserves more friends. The six male voices of Cinquecento, from five European countries, project the Missa Super Oeniades Nymphae and various motets with a clean, forthright delivery, enhanced by a resonant church acoustic. You feel that they've been singing for centuries’ (The Times)

'This five-star Signum issue, released on September 5, conveys the emotional power or Reich's uncompromising writing' (Music Week)» More

'Written for the Kronos Quartet in 1988, 'Different Trains' is an iconic experiment in applying speech rhythms to music. In three succinct movements, it contrasts the cross-continent trains of Reich's American childhood with the cattle trucks to Auschwitz, using fragmented recollections from three Holocaust survivors, Reich's governess, a conductor, and recordings of the trains. Does it bear re-interpretation? Not exactly, though the Smith Quartet's intense sound re-emphasises the rhapsodic ending of the work. Duet and Triple Quartet are also featured here and are played to perfection' (The Independent)

‘The Prague Academia Wind Quintet are fully at home in this agreeable music and these musicians convey their own pleaure in the composer's ready fund of invention. The excellent natural sound helps give this disc a special niche in the catalogue’ (Gramophone)

‘Will doubtless take a place among my favorite CDs. The wit and charm of both the music and the playing had me laughing in delight at many points. If you haven't discovered Reicha's music—and even if you have—don't miss this recording’ (The Audio Critic, USA)

‘The recording is first class. Engineer David Hinitt and producer Adrian Peacock have successfully captured the rich acoustics and yet achieved a clear reproduction of the voices and the mighty organ. Anyone who has ever been in Westminster Abbey should be overwhelmed by the lifelike sound picture. The generous programme is also finely contrasted … the quality of the singing is on a high level and Robert Quinney negotiates the organ accompaniments excellently’ (MusicWeb International)» More

‘A lasting souvenir of a moving occasion, a fitting tribute to a great man, but above all, fine listening’ (Gramophone)

‘A noble and deeply satisfying issue’ (Hi-Fi News)

‘The young Ottorino Respighi, a contemporary of Puccini, looked north over the Alps for his musical influences, writing firmly in the Austro-German tradition and with an astonishingly assured Brahmsian sweep. At 19 he was already an accomplished violinist, giving the instrument long, singing lines in his Sonata in D minor, which Tanja Becker-Bender exploits to the full here. The 1917 B minor Sonata is an altogether more intense affair, with a complex harmonic structure beautifully delineated by Péter Nagy’ (The Observer)

‘The Five Pieces of 1906 … reveal a talent for light and shade that recalls the easygoing formality of Elgar's violin miniatures. None captures this better than the third of the set, a 'Madrigale', which inspires some of Tanja Becker-Bender's most charming playing … piano and violin are balanced well, with neither pushed forward at the expense of the other, and Nigel Simeone's booklet notes deliver detailed and insightful commentary on this rarely travelled path of the violin's repertoire’ (International Record Review)