'A riveting performance by Jamie Walton and Daniel Grimwood … highly cultured playing, rich in enjoyment' (The Daily Telegraph)» More

„Where this work is concerned, as in her playing of much else, she has rightly been called his High Priestess“ (Piano, Germany)

‘Performances which are at once gripping through their pianistic brilliancs and illuminating through their unflinching perception. Amazing’ (Classic CD)

‘This magnificent set courageously undertaken by Hyperion, a timely document of an interpretation fashioned from Nikolayeva's collaboration with the composer at the time of composition’ (BBC Music Magazine Top 1000 CDs Guide)

‘The recording is clear and atmospheric, and the playing has power, grandeur, character, intellectual clarity and unforced intensity’ (Gramophone)

‘A performing document of inestimable importance … Hyperion should be congratulated for masterminding this important issue’ (CDReview)

‘The record that has given me greater pleasure than any other this year’ (The Sunday Times)

'Walton is a superb and unflashy exponent—there's no ego here, just consummate musicianship, excellently backed by the Philharmonia under Alex Briger, sensitive and biting in the Shostakovich, formidable and powerful in the Britten' (The Times)

'A grandmaster of his instrument is coming to maturity here, and this CD, with its technically faultless recording quality, should have a place in any collection. It deserves it' (Pizzicato, Luxembourg)

‘A most impressive rendering of the score's unique sound world, faithfully caught by Hyperion's engineering’ (The Strad)

‘This fine Shostakovich CD … Power and Crawford-Phillips are eloquent interpreters, spare as well as generous in expressing the work's pervasive melancholy’ (The Observer)

‘A finely played programme that can be recommended with confidence’ (Gramophone)