Expectations are inevitably high as Marc-Andre Hamelin, who marries phenomenal technique with sensitive musicianship, joins Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonia Orchestra, now truly a world-class ensemble….Hamelin’s playing soon takes flight, and the Concerto works its charm, sparkling with virtuosity and – particularly in the finale – with wit. It also receives the most polished orchestral playing it has enjoyed on any recording.

…no pianist past or present understands Medtner's idiom better…Obviously in vastly superior sound, this is a recording which stands beside the composer's classic account.

Hamelin’s performance [of the Rachmaninov is] notable for its breadth and nobility…in the Medtner, the pianist surpasses alternative recordings by Demidenko and even by the composer himself, taking the composer’s outwardly discursive idiom by the scruff of the neck yet never at the expense of musical quality.

Hamelin and Jurowski offer imposing but unsentimentalised Rachmaninov and persuasive advocacy for Medtner's Second Concerto, which appears to best advantage in this lean, rhythmically vital performance thanks to the unflagging momentum generated by soloist and conductor alike.

Rachmaninov-lite [the Medtner] may be, but it is certainly worth investigating when played as well as this.