“Part of the Moonlight Sonata, first heard as an offstage recording and then taken over by Aimard, began the second half. It launched a sequence that took in Helmut Lachenmann’s Tableau, the first movement of Beethoven’s First Symphony, the allegretto from the Seventh, and then the finale of the last piano sonata Op 111, breaking off before its final ecstatic trills to lead into BA Zimmermann’s Photoptosis, which quotes Beethoven as well as Scriabin, Wagner, Bach and Tchaikovsky. Impressively well played, with visual choreography and lighting effects too, it was all weirdly compelling, though in a ‘what’s going to happen next?’ way rather than a genuinely revelatory one.” –The Guardian

“At times while Aimard was playing all the orchestral musicians bowed their heads as if in prayer. Or else several would rise to their feet, as if saluting a flag. At one point everyone on stage started swaying slowly, as if caught in a collective trance. Dramatic lighting intensified the feeling of a ritual.” –The Times UK