Chopin: Nocturne No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1

“The best of it, especially the B flat minor Scherzo, is superb, the virtuosity effortless, the grip on the formal structure utterly secure, but elsewhere...there's sometimes a chilly relentlessness about the playing, an impatience almost, that keeps the music at a distance.” The Guardian, 1st November 2012 ****

“His sense of phrasing, structure and pacing is undimmed...There are other accounts of the 24 Preludes that are more impassioned, more vividly imagined and coloured, but few are more pure or devoted. Recorded sound is excellent. The fingers are not entirely all they used to be in terms of nimbleness, but that isn't too intrusive.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 ****

“Hyperion’s new release adds up to a hugely satisfying Chopin recital” BBC Music Magazine

“This is Chopin playing of a superior kind” Classic FM Magazine

“Though Hamelin has made many fabulous discs, particularly in repertoire of superhuman virtuosity, this is one of his very finest achievements to date” Gramophone Magazine

“Hamelin builds the Second Sonata… unerringly, producing a poetic and passionate performance that is finally carried off on a spectral wind. Hamelin… opens with an exquisitely textured Berceuse. He finds all the richness of the Barcarollem and responds fully to Chopin's melodic impulse in the two Op. 27 Nocturnes. ...hugely satisfying Chopin recital.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2009 *****

“Hamelin's playing is refreshingly free from the "inverted comma" school of profundity, and he lets the music speak through him most eloquently. …though Hamelin has made many fabulous discs, particularly in reportoire of superhuman virtuosity, this is one of his very finest achievements to date.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2009

“This is a disc that takes you by stealth. Not simply because it opens almost unassumingly, with a finely wrought Berceuse, but because it was only after several listenings that one realises just how good it is. This is Hamelin's second recording of the Second Sonata and it shows how much Hamelin's pianism has developed during the intervening time.
Hamelin's playing is refreshingly free from the 'inverted comma' school of profundity, and he lets the music speak through him most eloquently; he doesn't get carried away with the subtext of the Second's Funeral March, keeping it flowing (with desynchronisation of the hands subtly done) and all the more effective as a result. In the slow movement of the Third he finds time to dream without ever becoming portentous, and is every bit the equal of Nelson Freire, whose Chopin sonatas have rightly won considerable praise. Predictably, Hamelin is wonderful in such things as the Scherzo of the Third and the visceral finale of the Second, though perhaps slower than you might expect in the neurotic Scherzo of No 2. In the finale of the Third he doesn't begin the build-up too soon, as can be a temptation, and even has a skip in his step.
The addition of two Nocturnes and the sublime Barcarolle simply confirm that though Hamelin has made many fabulous discs, particularly in repertoire of superhuman virtuosity, this is one of his very finest achievements to date.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Listen to the last movement: this is indeed a fine example of supreme technical skill at the service of musical poetry.” Classic FM Magazine, February 2009 *****

“A very welcome reissue indeed. Eloquent, unfailingly beautiful in tone and blessedly free of mannerism, Livia Rev combines in almost perfect balance the simplicity of utterance required of all great Chopin playing” BBC Music Magazine

Recorded just after the Warsaw triumph, Pollini's is a masterly performance that reveals a Chopin player of real class - James Jolly, Gramophone 1000th issue

“This disc is a classic. The concerto was recorded shortly after the 18-year-old pianist's victory at the Warsaw competition in 1959. Nowadays we might expect a wider dynamic range to allow greater power in the first movement's tuttis, but in all other respects the recording completely belies its age, with a near perfect balance between soloist and orchestra. This is very much Pollini's disc, just as the First Concerto is very much the soloist's show, but effacing as the accompaniment is, Pollini's keyboard miracles of poetry and refinement could not have been achieved without one of the most characterful and responsive accounts of that accompaniment ever committed to tape. The expressive range of the Philharmonia on top form under Kletzki is exceptional, as is the accord between soloist and conductor in phrasing and shading. The solo items are a further reminder of Pollini's effortless bravura and aristocratic poise.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010