‘A compelling, powerful cocktail … given Hamelin’s imaginative wizardry and tooled super-pianism, along with Oscar Torres’s balanced engineering and a desirably responsive Steinway in the frame (Henry Wood Hall), this is an album pianophiles will not want to miss’ (International Piano)

„Dieses neue Album des Nash Ensembles lässt keine Wünsche offen. Tchaikovsky hat mit seinem Streichsextett Souvenir de Florence wohl eines seiner optimistischsten und virtuosesten Werke geschrieben. Und dies wird hier von den Musikern des Nash Ensembles doppelt und dreifach unterstrichen. Spielerische Leichtigkeit, Frohmut, musikalische Farbe, tänzerischer Schwung, dies alles macht diese Interpretation zu einem wahren Ohrenschmaus … Die exzellente Aufnahmetechnik [erlaubt] maximale Durchhörbarkeit, was gerade bei einem kleinen Ensemble wie dem Sextett zu einem optimalen Ergebnis führt“ (Pizzicato, Luxembourg)

‘And still it goes on. Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series reaches its 86th instalment with this coupling of composers who came into contact in the Paris of the early 1840s … all three works are tailor-made for the pianism of Howard Shelley, his all-round alertness abetted by responsive playing from the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra. If not an essential acquisition, this is a most pleasurable listen: Jeremy Nicholas, who pens informative notes, clearly enjoyed it hugely and listeners with a taste for the byways of musical Romanticism should do likewise’ (International Piano)

‘It’s so vibrant and so clear; you hear every line coming in, weaving with each other, soaring above, being part of the support: obviously that’s also Korngold’s writing, but I like how The Nash Ensemble just keeps everything spinning and fizzing all the way through. This is such an exciting movement—it’s really thrilling—and you can hear discovery, curiosity, just as if he’s looking round every corner, and everything is a delight so he’s putting it back in and trying it out, and that’s what carries us through from the beginning of the first movement all the way to the end … it’s so well balanced, isn’t it—Stephanie Gonley, her violin lines soar so beautifully over the top; it’s not dominated by her, they all weave in and out … this is chamber music, this is conversation … it’s so satisfying’ (BBC Record Review)

‘Oh. My. Word. This is, I think, an important recording, not merely because it captures some of the most astonishing piano-playing you will ever hear but because it places Marc-André Hamelin front and centre as one of the foremost pianist-composers of the day, taking up the long-neglected baton once held by the likes of Rachmaninov, Earl Wild, Busoni and Godowsky … how fortunate we are that Hamelin signed with a record label that not only allows him to record whatever he wants but positively encourages him to do so. (Think what we missed of Rachmaninov because of RCA.) Here is piano-playing of such an exalted standard I seriously wonder if anything comparable exists on record. I wait impatiently for a Hamelin piano concerto’ (Gramophone)

„Bereits in den ersten Takten [der Paganini-Variationen] geht Hamelin in die Vollen: technisch höchst anspruchsvoll, führt er, modifizierend und modernisierend, die Tradition eines Hofmann, eines Paderewski, eines Godowsky fort. Dennoch wirkt Hamelin nicht epigonal, sondern originell, etwa wenn er in Variation 7 indirekt auf eine der Variationen in Beethovens Sonate op. 109 anspielt. Nicht minder spielfreudig, harmonisch wohl noch etwas kühner erscheint die „Suite à l'ancienne“, auf die eine vierteilige Barcarolle folgt. Die „Pavane variée“ scheint den Geist Faurés mit Elementen des Jazz koppeln zu wollen. Man meint erkennen zu können, was als nächstes kommt, doch lässt man sich von Hamelin gern überraschen, wenn die Fortführung anders ausfällt als gedacht“ (Fono Forum, Germany)

„Mit Aufführungen und einer neuen Aufnahme von Maurice Duruflés Requiem hat sich Stephen Layton nach 17 Jahren als Dirigent des Trinity College Cambridge verabschiedet. Es wurde ein mehr als bemerkenswerter Abschied, denn diese Duruflé-Interpretation ist schwerlich zu toppen … Die enorme spirituelle Tiefe des Notentextes erreichen Dirigent und Chor durch klare, zarte Gesangslinien, durch die natürliche Symbiose von Gregorianik und raffinierten Harmonien, den homogenen Chorgesang, der sanft im Raum schwebt“ (Pizzicato, Luxembourg)

‘This is a splendid album. As was the case in the previous collaboration between David Briggs and the Trinity College choir, Briggs is confirmed as an exciting composer for voices and for voices and organ. And his music is exciting not just when all the stops are pulled out (apologies for the pun!) but also in the quiet, reflective pieces. Here. he also treats us to several examples of his skill and flair as a virtuoso improvisor on the organ (I shan’t forget in a hurry the way in which he improvises on Surrexit Dominus). His music clearly sets considerable challenges to the singers but the Choir of Trinity College is equal to every demand and, energised by Stephen Layton, produces superb performances. Nor are the College’s Organ Scholars, Harrison Cole and Jonathan Lee, overawed by the presence of one of the world’s leading organists; both of them play marvellously, seizing opportunities to display virtuosity but, at other times, playing with great sensitivity. Recording in the spacious acoustic of the Church of Saint-Eustache must have presented significant challenges to engineer David Hinitt but he has been thrillingly successful. The sound of the organ has terrific presence and impact and the choir comes across clearly even when the mighty organ is at full tilt. As I’ve commented earlier, the acoustic has been used expertly to impart an aura yet never at the expense of clarity. Joseph Fort’s booklet essay is ideal; he’s an expert guide to the music. This is a memorable disc’ (MusicWeb International)

„Gerade ist eine neue CD erschienen, auf der sich Marc-André Hamelin mit eigenen Stücken vorstellt. Er ist ein genuiner „composer-pianist“, also ein Künstler, der Interpret und Schöpfer in Personalunion ist. Hamelins eigene Klavierwerke sind natürlich hochvirtuos, dazu aber auch extrem originell und humorvoll. Dieser Mann sprüht vor Geist und Witz, und ein wunderbares Beispiel für seine Kunst sind seine „Variationen über ein Thema von Paganini“ … Kaum zu glauben, dass hier nur 10 Fingen eines einzigen Pianisten gespielt haben—eigentlich klingt das nach mindestens 4 Händen“ (Radio Bremen, Germany)

‘Appealingly transgressive … an ensnaring collection of Hamelin’s piano pieces’ (The Sunday Times)» More

‘We might be back in St Mark’s Basilica in the late 16th century, so haunting and crystalline are these recordings by the London Oratory choir of works from the golden age of the Renaissance. Immersion in sacred pieces by Gabrieli uncle and nephew, Monteverdi, Merulo and others proves a spine-tingling experience’ (The Sunday Times)

‘Witty, imaginative, not averse to challenging the technical facility of anyone brave enough to take [Hamelin’s] place on the piano stool. Superb piano playing, as you’d have every right to expect, and those Paganini variations are the highlight for me from this new album of Hamelin’s own music, with all kinds of witty allusions built into them, from Beethoven to Rachmaninov and beyond. There’s originality and fresh thinking at every turn, from Hamelin’s ‘feelings about chocolate’ to the gently wistful version of David Raksin’s song Laura to an extra-devilish Diabelli variation for Beethoven’s set. Fabulous playing and recording’ (BBC Record Review)