‘I found this performance [of Preces and Responses] highly effective, beautifully played and recorded. The stories in the notes are touching; the interwoven history of the cellist, the composer and the music is well told. The performance of The death of Ivan Ilyich (from Tolstoy's story) is pungently delivered by bass Matthew Rose, and Mahámátar takes the form of a chant for cello over which a Sufi singer improvises a hymn of praise. The whole thing makes a moving tribute to John Tavener from one of his special champions’ (BBC Record Review)

‘Awesomely impressive … Hamelin plays everything, inspired or indifferent, sublime or vulgar, with the same loving care. His motto, like the virtuosos of old is—it ain’t what you play, it’s the way that you play it’ (The Telegraph)» More

‘[Kolesnikov] paces the Aria well and the following variations are full of Kolesnikov’s characteristic refinement and imaginative colour palette. I like the élan of Var 1 and the trumpets-and-drums effect in Var 4, while the Giga that is Var 7 has a limpid airiness to it. The fughetta subject of Var 10 is beautifully phrased and given real clarity, while he imbues Var 21, taken quite slowly, with an organ-like timbre, beautifully sustaining the intertwining lines … his fascination with bringing out unexpected lines and elements can be delightful’ (Gramophone)

‘Brahms was always drawn to the chiaroscuro of the mezzo-soprano voice and its instrumental equivalents, the clarinet and the viola. I suspect that Sophie Rennert’s tones, combining an amber glow with the freshness of youth and a free-soaring top, would have come somewhere near his ideal. She phrases broadly and expressively, and points and colours words with unexaggerated sensitivity. Her diction throughout is a model … a lovely singer, Sophie Rennert is a natural in lieder. Her partnership with Johnson makes a fitting culmination to what has proved a revelatory Brahms series’ (Gramophone)

‘This ends a hugely enjoyable project begun in 1986, not originally envisaged as a complete cycle of Josquin’s Masses but which spawned consistently superb releases until completion became inevitable. This final disc is described by Phillips as ‘a perfect showcase for [Josquin’s] genius’ and presents a trio of early-middle works offering some exquisite textures. Who better to navigate such extraordinary music than the masters of tranquillity and clarity themselves, The Tallis Scholars? Their exacting style delineates the distinctive sound world of each Mass while maintaining a consistent sonic beauty … a superb end to a magnificent cycle of recordings’ (Gramophone)

‘These are world class performances allied to Hyperion’s classy engineering and production, which together will generate a much-deserved recognition for this abundantly gifted Finnish composer’ (Opera Today, USA)» More

‘This beautifully recorded disc is enriched enormously by Steven Isserlis’s very personal booklet notes—it is very important to have this kind of testimony, and makes of this release a genuinely historical document as well as a vibrant new contribution to the Tavener discography’ (Gramophone)

‘All good things must come to an end, and this ninth release in the Tallis Scholars’ series of recordings of the Masses of Josquin is it … where now for the Tallis Scholars? Wherever they are bound, I shall continue to follow their progress with great interest. Meanwhile, this final shot in their Josquin locker may well be joining my choice of Recordings of the Year’ (MusicWeb International)

‘Just when you think there are enough recordings of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, here comes one that makes the music sound fresh off the page … when the final variation emerges from the afterglow of the one before—one of just a few moments where Kolesnikov uses the sustaining pedal for effect—it blooms through a long crescendo into something not brash but gloriously full, before receding again for the final reminiscence of the theme. Kolesnikov’s Goldbergs are softly spoken, but they are also extraordinarily eloquent’ (The Guardian)» More

‘Angela Hewitt’s CD is very hard to beat indeed … I’m not usually a big fan of entire programmes of variations, but this particular recording is a delight from start to finish’ (MusicWeb International)» More

‘It is hard to fault this release. Angela Hewitt unfolds the marmoreal progress of the C minor Variations with an implacable logic, yet finds a tenderly affectionate touch for the theme of the F major set and a precise sense of timing in her witty and ebullient reading of wide-ranging Eroica Variations and Fugue. Nor are the more knockabout variations on ‘God save the King’ and ‘Rule Britannia’ any less pointed—Hewitt’s ever-immaculate finger work enhanced by Hyperion’s spacious yet focused recording and by the special qualities of the Fazioli grand piano she treasured for so long’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Johann Baptist Cramer was highly rated by composer-pianist contemporaries—Beethoven among them—and this second instalment in Howard Shelley’s ongoing concertos cycle offers convincing evidence as to why. All three works have individuality and substance; and it’s hard to imagine they can ever have been much better played … the immaculate playing here is alert and personable in a way that transcends contentious issues of style’ (BBC Music Magazine)