Mussorgsky: Pictures from an exhibition / Debussy: Estampes / Liszt: Ave Maria

'In Pictures at an Exhibition there's a question-mark about Llyr Williams's willingness to depart from Mussorgsky's autograph with rather more than the occasional bass octave doubling or re-spaced chord … Debussy's Estampes (Etchings), likewise, explore a Mussorgsky related world of sharp outline and atmospheric colour. Williams allows the music's brand of sophisticated spontaneity to speak memorably for itself' (BBC Music Magazine)

'A new recording of Pictures at an Exhibition is cleverly programmed here alongside works from Debussy and Liszt which enrich one's appreciation of it. In the opening bars of Sposalizio, one of three Liszt depictions of Italian scenes included here, can be discerned forward echoes of Mussorgsky's Promenade motif, while Debussy's Estampes offer a trio of complementary visual treats on Oriental, Spanish and bucolic themes. Williams's touch throughout is subtle but assuredly dramatic, shifting between the various Pictures confidently: the crucial aspect-shift in which the viewer is lured into the skull-strewn catacombs in Cum mortuis in lingua mortua allows the sombre mood to linger' (The Independent)