Presto Recordings of the Year, Chopin (composer)

Some extremely daring speeds guarantee excitement, pushing the technical limits in what are, of course, despite their generic title (Études , or Studies), so much more than technical exercises,... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2024, 5 out of 5 starsMore…

The sequence works well as a recital-like experience, and also as a vehicle for Hough’s comprehensive mastery of his art...The idiom of his own ‘Vida breve’ Sonata, with its cogent sweep and... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2021, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording)More…

He uses the capabilities of the modern Steinway judiciously, maintaining some of the qualities of the spinet and harpsichord of Purcell’s time whilst using but not over-using the vast tonal... — Matthew Ash, Presto Music, 30th August 2024More…

This is a highly considered collection of performances, with close attention paid to phrasing, articulation and voicing. Lapwood has successfully delivered an album that cements her status as... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2023, 4 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 5 out of 5 stars (Recording)More…

he really is phenomenal: this music seems to flow out of him with such relaxed and elegant perfection — BBC Music Magazine, March 2016, 4 out of 5 starsMore…

True, she sails perilously close to over-sentimentalising the opening Romanza...but Fliter plays with grace and heartfelt sincerity - abetted by some lovely duetting with the SCO's bassoonist... — Gramophone Magazine, March 2014More…

Nothing in the entire literature of Etudes surpasses Chopin’s Op. 25, and the best interpreters not only clear all the technical hurdles but project the 12 pieces as a progressive sequence.... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2021, 4 out of 5 starsMore…

They are all works requiring formidable technical ability, and pianist Alexander Melnikov brings clarity of touch and virtuoso flair to them all, transferring as if effortlessly from instrument... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2018, 4 out of 5 starsMore…

A charm of lullabies, or an excess? If anyone could convince you that mostly slow and soft can work as an album sequence, it would be sonic magician Bertrand Chamayou...Within the narrow compass... — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2020, 4 out of 5 starsMore…

This welcome album is the outcome of Sonya Yoncheva’s fascination with Sand, and feels like a labour of love...the musical highlight is Yoncheva’s singing of ‘Faible coeur!’, one of Viardot... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2025, 4 out of 5 starsMore…