Cocteau is an imaginatively planned album by Isabelle O’Connell…All of this is worth hearing…this is a thoroughly worthwhile issue 

Finally, an album of Poulenc on two pianos…This has provided me with immoderate amounts of pleasure…The performances are wonderfully idiomatic from start to finish and the recorded sound is excellent. Warmly recommended

I haven’t been listening to much Poulenc lately, but that has now changed with the release of this superb new album…If you like Poulenc’s music, this is an absolute must.

With its stylistic and vocal sophistication, Conspirare brings a sense of tension, intensity, and emotional depth to Talbot’s effort to capture in sound the fundamental idea of flow and dissolution, of timelessness and finitude.

…this is, fundamentally, a work of musical beauty.… Talbot displays a high degree of musical imagination throughout and I hope that anyone who listens to it will be as fascinated as I’ve been.… The performance by Conspirare is superb. Clearly, the singers have been thoroughly prepared by Craig Hella Johnson, not just technically but also interpretatively. I’m in awe of the standard of accomplishment that’s on display here. Producer/engineer Randall Squires has captured the performers in excellent sound; there’s a wide dynamic range, which complements the range of Talbot’s music, and excellent definition.… I see that in 2017 when reviewing the Tenebrae recording of Path of Miracles, I said this: “Anyone who cares about contemporary choral music should hasten to hear this wonderful score”. I can say nothing less of Piedra de sol.

Craig Hella Johnson and chamber choir Conspirare are on absolutely top form in this choral tour de force, which has to be heard to be believed.

The Olmos Ensemble shines in every piece on this album, but especially in the technically challenging Don Quixote, which is performed absolutely ravishingly.

Here is a delightful album which, for reasons I shall come to, I suggest no Poulenc devotee can afford to miss.

What elevates this recording even further is the artistry of Antony Gray and Rob Hao…it is piano duo playing of the very highest order. It transported me back to the joy of first discovering Poulenc and has earned a place among the recordings I know I shall return to time and again.