"'Hewitt is not given to grand effects, whether an extreme rubato or rude dynamic change. Still, she can play grandly as well, as we hear on her powerful performance of the great Fantaisie-Impromptu in C# minor. This new recording of the nocturnes is what Marlon Brando would have called, if he had cared, a contender. It's richly recorded and beautifully played: it has art's final seal'" (Fanfare USA)

"These deservedly popular pieces overflow with charm and infectious melody … Hagai Shaham and Arnon Erez sound right inside the idiom, playing with an infectiously relaxed bravado wherever necessary, while inflecting those timeless phrases with a suave confidence and relaxed inevitability that prevents them ever straying into camp 'geepsy' territory" (International Record Review)

"This outstanding disc not only displays unequivocal proof of Porpora's exceptional skill … but also provides some of the most genuinely enjoyable and captivating performances of eighteenth-century vocal music I have heard on disc for a very long time … These are brilliantly written recitatives, clearly, but with Fedi's clarity of diction and conviction of delivery, they are transformed into something truly exceptional. Yet to single out the recitatives, when the instrumental colouring of the arias and sinfonias is so magical, is to do a major disservice both to Porpora and to Auser Musici … Here is music-making of such infectious happiness that this disc is destined to be a constant companion for the foreseeable future." (International Record Review)

Claudio Arrau played with seriousness of purpose that could make other pianists seem like dilettantes and with respect for the composer's score that bordered on veneration. He had nothing but scorn for pianists who played the opening of Beethoven's Opus 111 with two hands instead of one because there were fewer risks. If something was technically difficult, Arrau assumed that the composer had written it that way because the difficulties had an expressive value that it was the interpreter's duty to find. [...] If Arrau could be single-minded in his devotion to the composer's score, he also believed that music could encompass everything. When Arrau was at his best - as he frequently is in this set - it does. (Amazon.com editorial review)

Scarlatti's masterfully crafted music drama has engaging confrontations and a cleverly designed mixture of striking arias. Diego Fasolis ensures that I Barocchisti play stylishly, and everything about the articulation and flow of this performance feels just right. Nancy Argenta is also on top form in a magnificent heroic accompagnato and aria for Cecilia when she has been condemned to death for refusing to renounce Christianity... (Gramophone)

Throughout the disc Kremer's personality is a compelling presence, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe are terrific in their support. Eschenbach's contribution is perhaps less overt but certainly no less vital, and in the two contrasted miniatures (in many ways the outstanding compositions in the programme) his discretion is the ideal foil for his charismatic partner. Recording quality is of the very finest.
(Gramophone)

Listeners who prefer the classic modern-instrument recordings of these sonatas--Boskovsky/Krauss (EMI), Goldberg/Lupu (Decca), Grumiaux/Haskil (Philips), etc.--though perhaps wary of period-instrument pedantry, would do well to give Seiler and Immerseel a listen. (ClassicsToday)

Beethoven's sketches for the moto-perpetuo finale of the C major Razumovsky were inscribed, "let your deafness no longer be a secret, even in your art", and this courageous personal resolve and heroism is highly palpable in Quatuor Turner's exceptionally committed reading. There are many superb recordings of this quartet, but on period instruments the Turner Quartet seems unrivalled, and the recorded sound is outstanding. (ClassicsToday)

These are breathtakingly beautiful performances of breathtakingly beautiful music. (...) Ideally balanced sonics and a warm acoustic complete a disc that comes as close to perfection as we have any right to expect. Gorgeous! (ClassicsToday)

Miscellaneous Bach, but Angela Hewitt isn't scraping the bottom of the barrel. On the contrary, she has selected what appeals to her - pieces from 'different periods of Bach's life on this, the last planned CD of solo keyboard works'. Hewitt largely bows out on a high. The degree of preciosity that had crept into her playing of the English Suites has been eradicated, and her musicianship is of the stature that we have come to expect from a thoughtful artist. (Gramophone)