‘Żeleński's E flat major Concerto is the more interesting work … the soloist is kept busy throughout. And who better to do the business than that alchemist among keyboard players, Jonathan Plowright, who has that rare ability to turn second-rate music into masterpieces … buy the album for the Żeleński finale alone. A word, too, about his conductor Łukasz Borowicz who catches spot-on every tricky twist and turn and inspires the BBC Scottish players in their cracking accompaniment. We'll be hearing a lot more of him’ (Gramophone)

‘This CD of Robert King's stands high on the list of the best recordings of Zelenka's sacred music … for the characteristically exceptionally committed and supremely well-executed performances’ (Goldberg)

‘All of the soloists deserve special mention for sensitive performances that are appropriately expressive and that add essential individual color … you must get to know this wonderful and very deserving composer’ (Classics Today)

‘The performance is outstanding, capturing the startlingly original nature of the piece with singing and playing of such vitality and commitment’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘Robert King with his King’s Consort and Choir directs performances both moving and exhilarating’ (The Guardian)

‘Robert King and his period forces give performances it would be hard to beat’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Performances are sensitive and stylish in ways that we have come to expect from this group’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Constantly fascinating to listen to. Especially when performed as beautifully and with such evident care and affection as it is on Robert King’s new CD … Zelenka’s curious music could scarcely have better advocacy’ (Gramophone)

‘Eloquently presented by King and his first-rate accomplices’ (Music Week)

‘A really first-rate release’ (International Record Review)

‘Both works are played for all they are worth … worth investigating for offbeat glimpses into Viennese composition in transition’ (The Sunday Times)

‘You may know about the life of Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942): born full of promise in old Vienna, dying disappointed and neglected in émigré New York, brother-in-law of Schoenberg, lover of Alma Schindler who ditched him for Mahler. But there are increasing attempts to address this imbalance, with some of Zemlinsky's prominent, later works—the 'Lyric' Symphony and the tone poem The Mermaid—now programmed regularly. These two early symphonies, played with the right degree of late-Romantic lushness and fluency by the BBC NOW under Martyn Brabbins, place him firmly in that fascinating stylistic crevice between Brahms and Mahler. Whether you see him as a footnote to the 19th century or a prelude to the 20th, the music has a variety and melodic warmth which is well worth exploring’ (The Observer)