Brahms: Intermezzi, Op. 117

“The Sonata is among Brahms's least-recorded piano works, and though there are excellent versions available from, among others, Katchen and Richter… I feel Novacek may have set a new benchmark here, while his Op. 76 stands out strongly from other accounts. Altogether an impressive release.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2008 *****

“The young Czech pianist's latest release presents him in a wildly contrasting repertoire by Brahms...The recording exaggerates a certain brittle quality in the Sonata's tumultuous opening movement, while the Scherzo could do with clearer phrase definition. There's greater contrast of colour and mood in the rest of the recital.” Sunday Times, 14th September 2008 ***

“This is big-boned playing, very Romantic and covering a huge dynamic and emotional range, so if your taste in Brahms is for something reined in, this may not be for you...The high point comes, however, with Novacek's performance of the Op 117 Intermezzos, which are heartbreaking in their quiet intensity.” Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 12th September 2008 ****

“…Libor Novacek shows himself deeply sensitive to the interior light burning beneath the surface of Brahm's often dark-hued later masterpieces. His playing captures a reflection and nostalgia at the heart of such music, an eternal note of sadness.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008

"These are superb, intensely involved and involving performances, fit to stand with anything in the catalogue, both musically and pianistically." Piano

“There's much to admire in Groh's playing of these four sets...especially the beautifully judged palette of keyboard colours with which he shades these exquisite pieces. At times the quiet inwardness of the music escapes him - he's more at home, for instance, with the comparative extroversion of the Rhapsodie with which Op 119 ends, than with the delicately pearled intermezzo with which the set opens - and not everything in these pieces unfolds with the naturalness and expressive breadth that they ideally need. But Groh's playing has a musicality and honesty.” The Guardian, 20th June 2008 ***

“Sometimes in the more fiery pieces, such as the capriccios of Op 116, Groh seems limited in his colour range. Yet it is the poetic touch that matters here, and he clearly possesses that in spades, as the opening piece of Op 117, the beautifully gauged dying cadence of Op 116, No 6, the rich colours of Op 118, No 2, and the direct, unhurried simplicity of the first piece of Op 119 all testify.” Sunday Times, 15th June 2008 ***

“Late Brahms that demonstrates the pianist's supreme control and sensitivity.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

“Trenchant, focused Brahms from a formidable player . . . . Nicholas Angelich is an American pianist, trained in Paris, whose performances on this disc are of a wholly exceptional drama, sweep and impeccable craftsmanship. Few young pianists have so little truck with flighty, salon-ish alternatives to seriousness, and his Brahms is sufficiently authoritative to make one long to hear him in the piano concertos. . . . . Angelich’s is nonetheless among the finest recordings of Brahms’s formidable masterpiece.” Gramophone

“A delight from start to finish: this is such cultivated and characterized playing, which becomes quite exultant in the finale. It’s also beautifully recorded by Hyperion. Given that, this new set can take a well-earned place at the top of recommendations of these three works” International Record Review

“The G minor Quartet (No 1) opens simply, with Hamelin shaping the line beautifully but unaffectedly, the Leopold players gradually entering, their playing filled with ardour. The Zigeuner-finale is irresistibly ebullient, with a jaw-dropping ending … the other aspect that is so impressive about these readings is the sense of absolute precision, which lightens the textures and keeps edges crisp … Hamelin and the Leopold get to the heart of the matter in the soulful Poco adagio and while they in no way lack heft when it’s needed, particularly in the opening movement, there’s always a dancing quality to their playing which does much to illuminate textures” Gramophone Magazine

"Lill allows the music to emerge gloriously free of extramusical association with intellectual clarity to have one listening to these glorious works afresh. A recording truly worthy of celebration." International Piano