Suite on poems by Michelangelo

"Hvorostovsky and Ilja capture the right degree of bleakness, anger and intensity. There is something of the iron fist in a velvet glove to Hvorostovsky's voice here, and that velvet thins just often enough to reveal the edge beneath. His baritone may now be a touch too craggy for Liszt's Petrarch Sonnets, but he and Ilja shape them stylishly".

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"Beide Musiker scheinen hier nicht nur dem Dichter, sondern auch dem Bildhauer Michelangelo ihre Reverenz erweisen zu wollen. Der Pianoklang wirkt wie gemeisselt und die ausdrucksstarke vokale Präsenz des Sängers streift gelegentlich das Monumentale ... Nicht ebenso überzeugend ist das opernhafte Pathos in den drei Petrarca-Sonetten von Franz Liszt".

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"There's still some way to go with the finish of the phrases, and his [Abdrazakov] rich bass instrument sometimes needs focusing to hit the notes spot-on ... Gianandrea Noseda's BBC Philharmonic set up the necessary atmospheres".

"Hvorostovsky's baritone, still one of the great voices, can combine dark timbre with an emotional warmth to offset the granitic style; while pianist Ivari Ilja, although unable to mimic apocalyptic trumpets at the start of the flickering harp at the end, conjures up all the rest with austere commitment".