Beethoven: Variations (12) on "See the conquering hero comes" for Cello and Piano, WoO 45 (Judas Maccabeus Variations)

“The combination of French clarity and elegance and Viennese intelligence and humanity in these artists results in interpretations which avoid all self-conscious earnestness and hieratic pose (the bane of all Beethoven performance) but achieve maturity, freshness and subtlety. Rarely have two artists formed a more sensitive team.” Gramophone Magazine

“Despite old-fashioned sound - clear and well-balanced but artificially spotlit - these performances remain alert, elegant and firmly etched.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2012 ****

“Müller-Schott is certainly one of the finest cellists before the public today, and this is his core native repertory. The performances have the winning freshness of rediscovery.” Sunday Times, 14th March 2010

“Müller-Schott and Hewitt deliver strong and committed performances characterised by great attention to detail and wonderful musical interaction...both players maximising the degree of tonal variety without any recourse to exaggerated mannerism.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2010 *****

“the two players instinctively click and the music comes across with vibrancy, sensitivity and a galvanising unanimity of purpose.” The Telegraph, 24th March 2010 *****

“These performances are strongly characterised, clearly etched and full of life and drama...In short, these are striking, accomplished, highly individual performances.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2010

“Above all these accounts, outstandingly recorded, communicate a level of vitality and spontaneity that is normally experienced in live concerts. From the very first bar of the F major Sonata one feels that Wispelwey and Lazić are re-examining each familiar phrase and finding new and infinitely varied ways of responding to Beethoven's musical argument.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2005 *****

“highly distinctive performances, played with enormous flair and perfect technical control, and splendidly recorded” Gramophone Magazine

“The articulation and attack, the use of vibrato and the shaping of phrases all combine to make this a richly rewarding experience.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2005

“The virtues of these performances are evident from the very start of the F major Sonata. There's an absolute unanimity of phrasing and articulation between Anne Gastinel and François-Frédéric Guy in those searching arpeggios. The give and take between the instruments in the ensuing dialogue seems perfectly mapped out, bringing a delightful Mozartian grace to both the Allegro and the Rondo.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2005 ****

“The phrases are finely drawn, with tone that is never inappropriately heavy or too powerfully sustained. The rhythms are poised, the articulation clear and crisp, and in the variation sets as well as in the early sonata there’s an element of wit and playfulness that’s an essential part of the young Beethoven.” Gramophone Magazine

"All five sonatas are in my view really extraordinary." Alfred Brendel in the Guardian (London) June 2004.