‘It's all the more interesting to hear it from the hands of one of today's greatest woman pianists … her fascinating playing of every note-from the (apparent) simplicity of 'Traümerei' in Kinderszenen to the technical and expressive complexities of the second sonata-bears out the truth of this’ (Manchester Evening News)

‘Hewitt's awareness of counterpoint and her skill at putting it across suits Schumann's colourfully woven textures to perfection … Kinderszenen is balanced just right: never sentimental but always touching and with a delicious sense of intimacy and fun’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Schumann's piano music needs a pianist with supple fingers, fluid pacing, a sense of poetry and multitudinous colours. Angela Hewitt possesses all of these and gives immensely polished performances of three jewels from the mid-1830s’ (The Times)

‘Hewitt plays 'Traümerei with tender loveliness … [Davidsbündlertänze] Hewitt projects the varying moods very well. She incoroprates the virtuosity of the dynamic pieces into her musical characterization of them, while she sustains the mood of the inward ones … with rapt beauty’ (International Record Review)

‘Hewitt reveals a Romantic streak that is thoroughly in tune with the music … the G minor Sonata demands not only dexterity, power and finesse but also an insight into its mix of ardour and lyricism, all of which Hewitt harnesses in a performance that gloriously caps an exceptional recital’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Here from Angela Hewitt comes a disc to make us marvel anew at Schumann's Romanticism; at his troubled and ecstatic poetry. Everything is played as in the heat of first inspiration, a reflection, perhaps, of a recreative richness mirroring Hewitt's encompassing and versatile repertoire. Few pianists are so brilliantly alive to every passing fancy and whimsicality. And again, few performances could be less studio-bound, more fleet, hallucinatory and above all more deeply imaginative … this is revelatory Schumann-playing—something to cherish’ (Gramophone)

‘Dichterliebe itself receives a splendid performance and in this collection Finley has plenty of opportunity to display his expressive range. Thus his seamless legato is deployed in Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, where he's supported by some delightfully delicate playing on the part of Julius Drake. By contrast the breathless enthusiasm of Aus meinen Tränen spriessen comes across convincingly. The song is over in a flash—but it's very well articulated. Wind forward to Ich grolle nicht where Finley's voice has all the grandeur and amplitude you could wish for. Then immediately he lightens his voice most effectively for Und wüssten's die Blumen, die kleinen’ (MusicWeb International)

‘The immaculately musical Canadian singer Gerald Finley never disappoints … it ranks among the best of recent versions out on disc, with flawlessly supporting playing from the pianist Julius Drake’ (Hampstead and Highgate Express)

‘Drake's accompaniment, so important in the long, often ironic or restorative postludes to many of these songs, scarcely falters, and always sustains with senstivity Finley's bold and unaffected singing’ (International Record Review)

‘From the very start, the fingers of Julius Drake seem to be waking both Finley's baritone and the music itself from a long distant dream … this is a performance of a heavy and irreparably broken heart … Finley's performance gives huge pleasure and insight’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Finley is an unforgettable communicator on a grand scale, as anyone who has seen him at one of his frequent Royal Opera appearances knows. But on this disc, he proves himself equally memorable in the more intimate arena of the Lieder recital. That his voice is luxuriously warm, even and smooth almost goes without saying … his in-the-moment honesty is matched note-for-note by pianist Julius Drake, who partners him with a superb sense of drama and detail. It's a recital which can stand comparison with the greatest Schumann recordings’ (Metro)

‘Finley wraps his handsome baritone round Schumann's lines in a way that takes you beyond the artistry to an inner emotional world … Finley and Drake take us on a journey that becomes more and more compelling with each song’ (Financial Times)