‘This new recording of works by the American George Tsontakis, Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern, is well worth buying. Tsontakis might draw on mathematics in shaping his music, but you'd hardly notice that amid the powerful, well-orchestrated emotions of his work’ (Scotland on Sunday)

«L'œuvre se présente comme un long enchainement évoquant différent états de la fragilité humaine, à la fois très accessible et très codé … avec des orientations émotionelles remarquablement limpides. De même que la gracieuse Sarabesque (2004), Man of Sorrows fait au piano les honneurs d'une écriture fraîche» (Diapason, France)

‘Progressing from innocence through crisis, optimism, somber resignation and finally arriving at a renewal of the questioning innocence of the opening, the work is a effective and emotionally engaging piece, readily accessible and approachable’ (RecordsInternational.com, USA)

‘Hough and the Dallas orchestra sound like a composer's dream team. There are many great recordings of Berg's post-Romantic thriller, but Hough's account has poetry of its own’ (New Jersey Star Ledger)

‘The stations of this Cross contain many moments that are very simply beautiful; the tinkling bells in ‘Shards' for example, which turn into a peal at the apprehension of resurrection within the crucifixion. However disparate the influences, Tsontakis succeeds in welding together a work of real spirituality, which will surely move every listener. Litton and the Detroit players are extremely sensitive, flexible interpreters. This is also a fine artist portrait of the CD's protagonist, Stephen Hough. Hough is a fine intellect who composes and champions much new music. The first Schoenberg piece, 'leicht, zart' and played by Hough with the utmost delicacy, might serve as a touchstone for this CD and for Hough's art … These pieces, and the Weberns, are magnum in parvo in Hough's fingers and worth the price of the disc on their own … an absolutely outstandingly realised project; two entirely complementary halves; deeply impressive playing and compositions of absolute integrity’ (MusicalPointers.co.uk)

‘First heard in Dallas in September 2005 (those performances form the basis of this recording), Tsontakis’s 40-minute work takes the listener on a compelling journey in which the musical language is familiar yet unpredictable and subtly personal. This is a pictorial and revealing score, which pulsates with rhythm (and yields a description personal to the listener) and is often expressively beautiful, and is also about something both specific yet intangible’ (Classical Source)

‘George Tsontakis's piano concerto, Man of Sorrows, first performed by pianist Stephen Hough, conductor Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and played on this new release with great conviction and concentration by the same forces, is a post-Messiaen composition. All the trademarks of the great French maitre permeate Tsontakis's concerto: the angular melodies, sumptuous harmonies, glittering, bell-like piano writing, and a mood of contemplation. To call it eclectic is not a criticism, just an observation of a work that is hypnotic and profound. Hough's superlative performances of piano music by Schoenberg, Berg and Webern also deserve maximum exposure’ (The Herald)

‘A five-star performance and recording’ (Gramophone)

‘Bewitching, otherworldly and playful music … if ever a composer wanted to share a sheer joy in sound, it's Tsontakis … the Dallas Symphony Orchestra plays like a dream and Stephen Hough brings an Apollonian sense of beauty and control to the proceedings’ (Metro)

‘Brilliantly written for the keyboard and scintillatingly orchestrated … [Man of Sorrows] is superly played and recorded, patently sincere and easily assimilable’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Played with relish and sensitivity … this is music that paints pictures and is imbued with Spanish sunshine and sensual nocturnes, the listener serenaded with expressive warmth and a wide palette of colour, all lovingly played’ (Time Out)

‘This excellent CD of chamber music … the performances throughout by these outstanding musicians, who are clearly wholly committed to Turina's music, are deeply impressive. The recording quality is also first-rate. Hyperion's world-renowed production values are equally consistently admirable and fully maintained here’ (International Record Review)