Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33

“From the very first bars of Saint-Saens's First Cello Concerto you sense that this disc is going to be exhilarating and rewarding. The performers launch the concerto with terrific passion and positive intent, and thereafter call into play a discriminating, captivating spectrum of interpretative sensibility. The solo playing is astonishingly mature...it comes as a shock to realise that Stéphane Tétreault is 19 years old. His is a name to watch.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013

“Saint-Saëns’s First Symphony, written in 1853, when he was 18, and given a polished performance here under Augustin Dumay, reveals a composer of staggering self-confidence and adventurousness, eagerly taking his cues from Berlioz and Liszt” Sunday Times, 10th June 2012

“[The Symphony is] given a polished performance here under Augustin Dumay, reveal[ing] a composer of staggering self-confidence and adventurousness” METRO, 10th June 2012

“Warm, affectionate performances from this relatively new Japanese orchestra...Sachio Fujioka shows himself in La Muse et le Poete to be the more interesting conductor” Classical Music, 30th June 2012 ***

“there is plenty of personality to Gomziakov's playing and the orchestra is deft and colourful.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2012

“Dumay makes a convincing case for the First Symphony and sympathetically supports Gomziakov's lively account of the Cello Concerto, with some delicate poetry in the slow movement.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 ****

“A fine CD, ideally suited to the recollection of summer past.” MusicWeb International, 25th October 2012

“Here is a very promising cellist indeed. Schønwandt allows Brantelid space to dream in the Schumannm, which he does with supreme lyricism. Where the 20-year old is strongest is in music of limpid grace such as in the second movement of the Saint-Saëns and in the more languid Rococo Variations.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2008 ****

“Andreas Brantelid, another brilliant cellist of the younger generation, plays this attractive group of works with an exceptionally wide tonal range. In the Rococo Variations he is magnetic throughout characterising each variation compellingly, with rubato finely controlled... first-rate sound.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2008

“The young Danish cellist Andreas Brantelid...makes his impressive recording debut with this combination of three classic 19th-century concertos. His playing - warm and supple of tone - has the lyrical allure, lithe technique and discreet dramatic flair to give this familiar music a fresh impetus, while his orchestral compatriots add a thoroughly integrated range of complementary colours that show a sympathetic response both to the soloist and to the music.” The Telegraph, 21st June 2008

“Driven performances of the Concertos; greater affection in the slighter works” BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 **