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Reviews

It is a typical late romantic work with a brilliant piano part, which Callaghan knows how to play in a fascinating way. The St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra is also at the top level and knows how to play with effect and a fantastically colourful sound... Here Callaghan can show off all his technical skills.

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Piano News

Nov 2024

...pianist Simon Callaghan picks you up at the start of each movement and maintains an expressive, flexible continuity to the end...[he] plays with a gorgeous tone, whether slow and legato or en pointe with rapid triplets. Above all, he takes “the long view,” as suggested above, weaving entire movements into flowing wholes.

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Fanfare

Nov 2024

Simon Callaghan… makes a sterling case… responsively supported by the Sinfonieorchester St Gallen under their Lithuanian director Modestas Pitrėnas.  Callaghan and Pitrėnas deliver a characterful, mellow-grained performance

International Piano

International Piano

Oct 2024

Callaghan’s playing lacks nothing in conviction and panache, and he grabs the ears from the very first bars...Callaghan and the orchestra join forces with such obvious enjoyment and glee. All in all, followers of Hyperion’s series should listen without hesitation.

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BBC Music Magazine

Aug 2024

Callaghan's sparkling, articulate runs in Sauer's scherzo repeatedly catch the breath. His playing throughout is masterful.

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Stereophile

Jul 2024Source

Callaghan… confirms his vision, which combines brilliance, refinement and lyricism, already exhibited in the other three concertos… reveals himself entirely up to the job, without pathos or romantic exaggeration, but with a real concern for the balance between measured nuances and brilliant acting.

Crescendo

Crescendo (Belgium)

May 2024Source

The British pianist Simon Callaghan, an intrepid explorer of forgotten as well as mainstream repertoire... gives shape and muscularity to this wistful music.

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The Guardian

May 2024Source

Trust me: you NEED this album.

The Arts Desk

The Arts Desk

Apr 2024Source

British pianist Simon Callaghan is known for championing piano rarities and bringing works that have fallen into obscurity back into the limelight. His performance on this recording is authoritative and accomplished...

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Interlude

Apr 2024Source

Pianists Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi have done themselves, the composers, and listeners a great service in presenting works by three twentieth-century British figures who deserve to be better known… The variety and sheer abundance of music featured is alone worth the price of admission, but one also repeatedly marvels at the razor-sharp synchronicity of the piano partners' playing.

Textura

Textura

Mar 2024Source

a masterly performance…gentle flexibility and lovely rubato, with moments of great intensity.

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Planet Hugill

Feb 2024Source

Soloist Callaghan and the orchestra under Modestas Pitrėnas do a fabulous job with the three concertos here, leading the listener to conclude they have been unfairly overlooked... Callaghan's Steinway sounds wonderfully weighty and agile, and the balance between piano and orchestra is persuasively natural, ...It's a real discovery, and certainly cause for further exploration.

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Hi-Fi News & Record Review

Nov 2023Source

Simon Callaghan is winning a deserved reputation as a formidable advocate of forgotten British scores like these and has found a natural home with the ever-adventurous Lyrita label.

gramophone

Gramophone

Oct 2023Source

In every case, Simon Callaghan radiates delight in reviving these neglected items, and his pungent and precise fingering is matched by the spirited attack of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and their two conductors.

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BBC Music Magazine

Oct 2023Source

scintillating performance... marvellous music­-making...With tip-top sound throughout, this is a fascinating issue.

International Piano

International Piano

Oct 2023

The Milivojević and Callaghan duo performances are tight, balanced and expressive.

The WholeNote

The Whole Note

Sep 2023Source

The keen-edged and eager performances convince you that Callaghan, the BBC NOW (who as a broadcasting ensemble are well used to breathing fresh life into music outside the mainstream) and the two conductors are everything you might cherish for such a project.

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MusicWeb International

Sep 2023Source

These wonderfully idiomatic performances and the recording are outstanding, and Simon Callaghan plays reflectively when needed but also with great power and agility. Snap it up.

British Music Society

British Music Society

Sep 2023Source

Wallfisch and Simon Callaghan are in full sympathy both with one another and with the music, lavishing fullness of tone and subtlety of nuance on both sonatas.

gramophone

Gramophone

May 2023

Outstanding pianist meets excellently prepared orchestra

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NDR Kultur (Germany)

Jan 2023Source

Callaghan... is spry, vivid and full of optimistic romance and is clearly the superior technician...These are strong works in their own right and deserve a good hearing and in Callaghan’s expert performances that is precisely what they receive.

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MusicWeb International

Oct 2021Source

the technically brilliant Simon Callaghan

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Aug 2021Source

Callaghan is a master colourist of the keyboard.

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Classical Explorer

Dec 2020Source

Simon Callaghan, a devoted specialist in forgotten British repertoire, tackles this varied fare with aplomb.

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BBC Music Magazine

★ ★ ★ ★★ ...here, thanks to Harry Potter actor Miriam Margolyes’s artistry and Simon Callaghan’s excellent pianism, is Poulenc’s delightful musical response. And as I listened to this recording, I found the original drawings reappearing in my mind with all their detail intact – extraordinary. It lasts just 30 minutes, but my god does it resonate.

the-independent

Independent

Nov 2020Source

He gets to the very essence of each individual piece, skilfully crafting them. All the energy and ebullience is tangible.

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MusicWeb International

Feb 2020Source

Possibly the biggest takeaway of this release, however, is the superb artistry of Simon Callaghan. Already represented by two discs in Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series, it is a pleasure to encounter his solo work. Clearly a musician of curiosity and discernment, Callaghan’s robust piano-playing is also thoughtful, subtle and refined. I look forward to hearing whatever he does next.

gramophone

Gramophone

Jul 2019Source

An excellent sound... well thought out programme

Le Coin de l'Art

Sep 2018

The performance of the British pianist, Simon Callaghan, was sublime

Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag

Sep 2018

...bombastic virtuosity, which Callaghan addresses with consummate ease and brilliance...luminous sonorities

MusicWeb International

Sep 2018Source

One only can wonder what Simon Callaghan will turn his attention to next. Whatever it is, I’ll bet his performances will be as rapturous as those on the present CD. Highly recommended.

Fanfare Magazine (USA)

Aug 2018

...Simon Callaghan played with breathtaking nuance in the extremely complex, intricate "Le Jardin parfumé" by Kaikhosru Sorabji.

Deutschlandfunk

Aug 2018Source

Callaghan makes the case... with flair and conviction.

The Sunday Times

Aug 2018Source

The handful of recordings that already exist... are sent into the shadows by Simon Callaghan.

De Volkskrant (Netherlands)

Aug 2018Source

...this new CD is a gem. Simon Callaghan is a brilliant musician who stands out with the highest pianistic competence for the rarities of Scholz and Rheinberger

Radio Bremen (Germany)

Jul 2018Source

Callaghan has the technical wherewithal to encompass all its challenges – from big chordal textures to glistening passagework... the supremely gifted Ben Gernon coaxes terrifically colourful playing from the BBC Scottish SO.

gramophone

Gramophone

Jul 2018Source

Simon Callaghan’s interpretation was superb: absolute clarity, absolute precision. The swift straightforwardness was refreshing – no romantic relaxations here, just powerful Beethoven.

Classical Source

Jun 2018Source

Callaghan and conductor Martyn Brabbins fashion performances that are completely idiomatic, while the fervor of the BBC Scottish Symphony is wonderful.

Fanfare Magazine (US)

Feb 2018

quick and witty pianism...such graceful technique, an acute sensibility that carries a strong awareness for the core meaning behind the work

Record Geijutsu

Record Geijutsu (Japan)

Feb 2018

I have nothing but praise for the performances... impressive pianism

BBC Radio 3 Record Review

Dec 2017

...the highlight of the afternoon. Callaghan immediately showed with his commitment that instrument and player were in good shape

Noordhollands Dagblad

Nov 2017

...one of the leading young British pianists with a wonderfully wide range of tone colours and a sure understanding of the structure and passion of the scores.

British Music Society

Nov 2017

He throws himself into the concerto's physically taxing, Scriabinesque sound world with passion, total commitment and, it seems, heartfelt affection.

gramophone

Gramophone

Nov 2017Source

...velvet-gloved pianism of ravishing sensitivity

The Strad

Sep 2017

✶✶✶✶✶... lovely performances... delightful listening

The Straits Times (Singapore)

Sep 2017

...primordial musicality and a flawless technique.

Trouw (Netherlands)

Jun 2017Source

Simon Callaghan was the ideal recording colleague. 100% prepared, totally unflappable, and playing with imagination, flair and colour. He is a musician of depth and sincerity. One of the UK’s finest young pianists.

Martin Brabbins

...utmost elegance and an exemplarily controlled piano sound.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Sep 2016

✶✶✶✶✶ ...very fine pianism...strongly recommended

Musical Opinion

Sep 2015

Simon Callaghan extracts every ounce of eloquence and fantasy from this intriguing repertoire.

gramophone

Gramophone

Jul 2015