“...Ivan Ilic performs all of this music with command.  The recording, captured in the Anserment studio in Geneva, Swtizerland, is exceptionally full-bodied and dynamic.  This is well worth exploring and I look forward to future volumes...”

Artistry *****         Technical *****

“… We await the release of the next volume with pleasure”

ICMA Solo Instrument Category Nominee

“... Ivan Illic’s carefully selected programme showcases the music’s variety... Ilic’s playing is wonderfully attuned to the style and content of the music and Chandos’ sound is superb. Highly recommended.” ****

“... all is thoughtful simplicity and it is played unaffectedly yet with meaning... the recording provides such lifelike piano tone that this neglected composer succeeds in catching the ear.” ****

Interpretation ****      Sound *****      Repertoire ****

“Ili​ć is even more successful in the CD's centrepiece, the almost 30-minute "Grande Sonate en Ut". The work was not published during Reicha's lifetime, but it can easily compete with the great piano sonatas of his time. Although Ili​ć remains a classical gentleman and aristocrat, he also breathes life into the music with vigorous surprises and virtuosity. It is worth buying the CD for the "Grand(iose) Sonata" alone.”

“... Illic’s playing is wonderfully attuned to the style and content of the music and Chandos’ sound is superb. Highly recommended.”

**** Excellent Album

“..The protagonist of this fascinating journey is the pianist Ivan Ilić, who besides demonstrating a confident mastery of demanding writing, displays an appropriate expressive sensitivity and a clear, sparkling sound. This is especially true in the “Grande Sonate en Ut”, where in the development section the uncommon dramatic value of the writing is fully able to emerge, revealing not just the performer's ability, but above all the high quality of a music which is full of surprises (equally in the last movement, marked "Finale - Allegro capriccio").”

“... Ilić is a sensitive, thoughtful and conscientious pianist and this project is an entirely worthy one...”

“...Ilić encounters each of the composer’s adventurous modulations and plays them through with confidence that pianists of Reicha’s day might well have lacked...”

Performance *****           Recording *****

“...All the pieces on this disc ... are recorded for the first time... All these pieces deserve to be incorporated into today’s recital repertoire.” 

“...the works hold genuine fascination”  ***

“...This is delightful, stylish salon music, unrecorded until now and well played. It is important for understanding Reicha’s very high level of craftsmanship and the innovations he pressed upon history,”

“... This volume cannot be more outstanding.”

“... Performances are glorious. Ivan Ilić’s playing exudes technical brilliance and warmth in equal measures; the dominant impression is of a pianist keen to share this extraordinary music with a wider public. The affection is palpable. Chandos’s rich sound is impressive, and further volumes are promised. A winner.”

‘Supersonic Pizzicato’

“...Even in the more technical pieces from Antoine Reicha, Ivan Ilic has the feeling and the intelligence to enhance the music without any exaggeration. Not too much, not too little: Ivan Ilic’s Reich series takes a very promising start.”