Penguin Guide Rosette Winners

“A superb achievement. It's nigh-on impossible to imagine better 'big-band' Haydn than you encounter here on Colin Davis's four well-filled CDs. His direction has exemplary sparkle and sensitivity. Minuets are never allowed to plod, outer movements have an ideal combination of infectious zip and real poise, and the humour is always conveyed with a genial twinkle in the eye.
Quite marvellous, wonderfully unanimous playing from the Amsterdam orchestra, too (the woodwind contributions are particularly distinguished), with never a trace of routine to betray the six-year recording span of this acclaimed project. The Philips engineering, whether analogue or digital, is of the very highest quality, offering a natural perspective, gloriously fullbodied tone and sparkling textures within the sumptuous Concertgebouw acoustic. Invest in this set: it will yield enormous rewards for years to come.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Marvellously alert Concertgebouw performances” The Times, 10th May 2013

“A superb achievement. It's nigh-on impossible to imagine better 'big-band' Haydn than you encounter here on Colin Davis's four well-filled CDs. His direction has exemplary sparkle and sensitivity. Minuets are never allowed to plod, outer movements have an ideal combination of infectious zip and real poise, and the humour is always conveyed with a genial twinkle in the eye.
Quite marvellous, wonderfully unanimous playing from the Amsterdam orchestra, too (the woodwind contributions are particularly distinguished), with never a trace of routine to betray the six-year recording span of this acclaimed project. The Philips engineering, whether analogue or digital, is of the very highest quality, offering a natural perspective, gloriously fullbodied tone and sparkling textures within the sumptuous Concertgebouw acoustic. Invest in this set: it will yield enormous rewards for years to come.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Marvellously alert Concertgebouw performances” The Times, 10th May 2013

“This is a remarkable and, indeed, invaluable box, which is unlikely to be challenged, let alone surpassed. Nowadays, it is not often possible to hail one set of records as a 'classic' of the gramophone in quite the same sense as, say, Schnabel's Beethoven sonatas or the Busch late Beethoven quartets.
Yet this set can surely be said to enjoy this status.
The playing of the Beaux Arts Trio is of the highest musical distinction, Menahem Pressler's contribution is little short of inspired; the set offers astonishingly lifelike recorded sound, and the repertoire is unfailingly fresh and inventive.
The performances follow the Critical Edition prepared by HC Robbins Landon, whose tireless researches have increased the number of trios that we know in the standard edition from 31 to 43. These are records to which one returns with pleasure and profit, for this music is sane and intelligent, balm to the soul in a troubled world. Indeed, it is a set that will last a lifetime.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“the playing of the Beaux Arts Trio is of the very highest musical distinction. The contribution of the pianist, Menahem Pressler, is inspired, and the recorded sound on CD is astonishingly lifelike.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“The Op 20 String Quartets date from the composer's so-called Sturm undDrang period, though Haydn's increasingly frequent use of the more dramatic and 'serious' minor mode in these pieces can perhaps be attributed just as much to the fruitful influence of the three operatic projects he had been working on just a few years previously. Moreover, these quartets reveal a greater preoccupation with counterpoint than any of his music to that date, and the great fugal finales of Nos 2, 5 and 6 clearly herald the consummate craftsman so overwhelmingly displayed in the mature quartets to come. These wonderfully flexible performances display an altogether breath-taking refinement, sensitivity and illumination.
Indeed, in terms of expressive subtlety, imaginative intensity and sheer depth of feeling, the Mosaïques' achievement in these marvellous works is unmatched.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This disc offers delectable performances of five shrewdly contrasted works: two troubled, trenchant minor-key sonatas from the 1770s juxtaposed with a pair of lightweight pieces from the same period and culminating in the great E flat Sonata.
Andsnes is responsive to the individual character of these sonatas, to their richness and variety of incident, and their sheer unpredictablility. With his wide spectrum of colour and dynamics he makes no apologies for using a modern Steinway.
But his playing, founded on a pellucid cantabile touch and diamantine passagework, marries classical refinement and clarity with a spontaneous exuberance, a sense that the next phrase is yet to be created. Andsnes is always ready to add stylish and witty touches of embellishment to the repeats. The opening movements of both minorkey sonatas have a lithe, sinewy urgency, above all in the vehement sequences of their developments, together with a rare delicacy of nuance: and here, as elsewhere, you notice how alive and concentrated is his piano and pianissimo playing. Andsnes brings a bright, buoyant yet lyrical approach to the E flat Sonata's outer movements, to the wonderful Adagio a limpid line, a subtly flexed pulse and, in the B flat minor central episode, a true sense of passion. This is just the sort of playing – joyous, imaginative, involving – to win Haydn's sonatas a wider following. The recording of the E flat, made in a church in Oslo, has slightly more ambient warmth than that of the remaining sonatas, recorded at EMI's Abbey Road studios. But throughout, the piano sound is natural and present without being too closely miked.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“These are altogether fine performances, with all the Lindsay's characteristic warmth and affection.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2006 ****

“The two Op 77 quartets are among Haydn's greatest works and The Lindsays produce an unflagging energy to match their inventive vigour. They always seem to hit just the right tempo and so give every movement a persuasive character. In Op 77 No 1, we immediately appreciate the spry march rhythms of the first movement, the majesty of the Adagio, and the presto Minuet's whirling motion, with a particularly fine account of the wild trio section.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2006