‘Jaakko Mäntyjärvi (b. 1963) is probably currently Finland’s internationally most successful composer of choral music, and his Trinity Service, commissioned by the distinguished Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, forms the core of this new disc focusing on his sacred music … the other major item and artistic high point is the Stuttgarter Psalmen triptych, which sets itself apart from the more subdued smaller pieces surrounding it with its darker tone and more extensive palette of compositional resources … the final track, O magnum mysterium, avoids the saccharine excesses of contemporary choral hits and sustains a mystical feeling with a melodic line resting on a bed of thick, sonorous harmony. The choir is of the very finest quality throughout the disc’ (Rondo, Germany)» More

‘The Op 34 Variations find Hewitt on rare form. Her lapidarian, multilayered fingerwork and witty inflections throughout Var 2 are simply to die for, especially those ear-tickling trills … in Var 8 [of Op 35], the Fazioli’s timbral distinction in each register gorgeously reveals itself. She eschews the mincing tenutos pianists love to sprinkle across Var 11 and doesn’t allow Var 13’s heavy chords to overpower the melodic grace notes. Hewitt discreetly yet noticeably wrings out the harmonic tension from the minore Var 14. Her concluding fugue is as clear and lucid as one would expect from a master Bachian’ (Gramophone)

‘Irresistibly cheerful, with enough in the way of invention and scintillating technical challenge to hold the attention throughout. And there can be no finer guide to this near-forgotten music than Howard Shelley who, yet again, sounds as if he’s been relishing these works for years. The LMP have clearly caught his infectious enthusiasm, too, and Hyperion’s sound is gloriously present and lifelike’ (Gramophone)

‘Even heathens surely cannot help but enjoy to the bottom of their soul the sacred a cappella choral music of Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’ (Helsingin Sanomat, Finland)» More

‘[Mäntyjärvi] knows exactly how to build up a structure that rejoices in both sonorous depth and melodic distinctiveness, rather like Poulenc—try the first of the Stuttgarter Psalmen for an example of this. Characteristic of all three Psalms, too, is a mastery of repetition; that is to say, a knowledge of how often to repeat a phrase, or a variant of a phrase, to create an atmosphere in miniature that is then expanded upon, as is the case with the third Psalm, ‘Richte mich, Gott’ … an intriguing selection, then, that brings out the best from the Trinity choir, the sound beautifully captured by Hyperion’s team’ (Gramophone)

‘A crisply articulated white dwarf of a First Concerto, the controlled hysteria of the outer movements well conveyed … dark corners are certainly well lit in the central Moderato, taken as briskly as I’ve ever heard it; the tempo respects the metronome mark rather than the performance tradition. Gerhardt has never been one for lachrymose vibrato and his cadenza is purposeful. The finale fairly dazzles … in the later work the rethink is sufficiently radical to reset its expressive arc, with a breezier opening Largo, more deliberate central Allegretto and a tendency to seek expressive homogeneity where others have played up the quizzical shifts in mood … a fascinating challenge to existing favourites, captured in bright and immediate sound. The production is credited to Westdeutscher Rundfunk, the brilliant, well-nigh flawless soloist spotlit but not implausibly so’ (Gramophone)

‘The airy attractions of light music, meanwhile, regularly break with benefit into the Stanford-esque flow of the album's other offering, the 1904 Piano Quintet of Thomas Dunhill (1877-1946). The work also offers the additional benefit of a composer completely at ease writing for chamber forces, elegantly balancing and varying textures … as expected, the all-Australian team of Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet dig out these rarities with the necessary love and respect, and show that works don't have to be gold-plated masterpieces to offer rewarding listening’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The Goldner Quartet and Piers Lane give a sonorous reading of Erlanger’s score and are equal to its muscular, sturdy temperament; indeed, Lane’s impressive execution of the piano part reminds us of just how dexterous a pianist the composer was. The ensemble sound throughout is lush and sympathetic, and never ceases to engage. The somewhat less dense sound of Dunhill’s Piano Quintet, which appeared in 1904, three years after Erlanger’s, is no less voluptuous in its scoring, though one is perhaps aware of a greater sense of polyphonic freedom among the strings. There is also something poetically attractive about the flexible nature of the thematic material, in which all four players excel’ (Gramophone)

‘Pious Anthems and Voluntaries aspires, in Finnissy's words, to be a work 'with guts and brains'. It embodies both in spades. And however 'brainy', the sequence maintains a powerfully visceral communicative grip. Nethsingha and his forces do it proud. Indeed one of their greatest achievements is to make the music sound as lived-in as more customary fare such as Byrd or Howells … Bach lures Finnissy into flights of perky playfulness, and the addition of flute and violin adds to the allure’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Sigismond Thalberg was born in 1812, the year after Liszt. From an early age he revealed incredible pianistic gifts, and inevitably comparisons were made between the two piano tigers … Liszt, Thalberg and others arranged [operatic favourites] for piano, and as there no singers to dazzle, audiences were supplied by ever more elaborate and difficult piano showpieces, with rapid double octaves played fortissimo and unbelievably scintillating scales despatched with abandon … Hamelin thoroughly enjoys himself, surely giving as good as he would have got’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘If I were allowed a two-word review of this disc, it would read as follows: buy it. But then, as a long-term admirer of Marc-André Hamelin, you would expect me to write that. Except that I think this new release is among the very best of all the recordings he has given us, returning, as he does, to the kind of repertoire in which he made his name and in which he is sui generis … Hamelin’s leggiero hemidemisemiquaver arpeggios are of the kind that, even if you had followed your mother’s advice and practised harder, you would never equal. Not in a million years’ (Gramophone)

‘Directed by tenor Luís Toscano, Cupertinos is highly responsive to Lobo’s subtly varied settings which, in turn, reflect the nuances of text and liturgy … throughout, the ensemble’s candid, unwavering sound, chiselled diction and incisive articulation reveal Lobo’s masterly contrapuntal writing’ (BBC Music Magazine)» More