Intensity and conviction set this duo apart

A summary of Carlos María Solare's review of AppassionAlto (Prospero Classical) in The Strad, October 2022. Read the full review on thestrad.com

Under the headline "Intensity and conviction set this duo apart", The Strad's reviewer admits to having approached yet another recording of Schumann's Märchenbilder with some scepticism – and found himself won over.

• Schumann, Märchenbilder: Marc Sabbah opens with intense, compelling playing, and he and pianist Eliane Reyes show a close shared understanding in realising Schumann's markings.
• Vieuxtemps, Élégie: the duo builds the piece to a powerful climax, so that its grand coda feels like the logical conclusion.
• Frank Bridge: a veiled tone in Pensiero contrasts with a harder edge in the Allegro appassionato; as in the Vieuxtemps, Sabbah largely keeps to the composer's own fingerings.
• Falla, Siete canciones populares españolas: Sabbah plays his arrangement without added embellishment – a restraint the reviewer found deeply affecting.
• The album: praised as "lovingly produced", with excellent booklet notes; a strong pairing whose conviction and intensity make it a worthwhile recording.