Challenge Classics

What we have is a fine, detailed performance – and it includes the disputed cymbal clash at the climax of the great slow movement, music to celebrate and mourn Richard Wagner – and an account... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2022, 3 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Not surprisingly, [the performances] are much in the same vein as in Vol. 1, which is to say bright and buoyant, with no tricks or surprises but plenty of energy and brilliance. Bonizzoni’s... — Gramophone Magazine, August 2019 More…

Everything is scrupulously prepared, finely considered and well dispatched, with no recourse to eccentricities of interpretation or tempo to make transient points. — Gramophone Magazine, April 2024 More…

Like all cycles, it has had ups and downs, but overall it has been as fine as anyone conducting Bruckner at present would be. — BBC Music Magazine, October 2015, 4 out of 5 stars More…

No rival version is better and few are as good...for a fresh, immediate statement that compels one's attention from start to finish, I cannot imagine anyone being disappointed by this new release — Gramophone Magazine, May 2013 More…

Isabelle van Keulen and Ronald Brautigam are artists of keen insight, immaculate musicianship and culture… Moreover they are accorded first-rate sound… — BBC Music Magazine, December 2007, 5 out of 5 stars More…

The artistry and technique evinced in her Schumann are equally evident here: I particularly enjoyed her Handel Variations, whose narrative arc comes across very strongly, with an emphasis on... — Gramophone Magazine, January 2024 More…

The enchanting opening theme of Symphony No. 5 sets what will be the preponderant tone, vigorous and elegant, and that agreeably bracing idiom is maintained throughout both symphonies. — BBC Music Magazine, January 2023, 4 out of 5 stars More…