...this boldly expansive performance exposes the dark, painfully beautiful heart of Britten's Concerto in as searing a reading as any I've heard. There's a vulnerable edge to Hope's sound that's perfect for the final pages of the concerto, leaving the listener in a shattered landscape, emotionally drained.

Hope and Watkins throw caution to the wind and take all kinds of risks in putting together a new and compelling reading. Hope deploys a smoky, even steely tone in places which...seems supremely right for this music, facilitating an ideally well characterised yet never exaggerated articulation.

serious, substantial and spectacularly well performed