"The piano part of Dvořák's Piano Concerto in G minor is incredibly demanding, though you might not notice. Kahánek and Jakub Hrusa make a brilliant case for a loveable piece. Dvořák's second subject is incredibly catchy, and the slow movement's opening is drop-dead gorgeous. Kahánek never seeks to dominate; this is very much a meeting of equals, and probably the concerto's best modern recording ... Martinů's Piano Concerto No 4 is one of the 20th century's greatest concertante pieces, a formally striking synthesis of everything this composer could do best ... And as with the Dvořák, it receives a remarkable performance, with Hrusa's Bamberger Symphoniker on incandescent form. Marvellous"

"Recording of the month: There is no higher praise possible than to say that the spirit of Rudolf Firkušný hovers over this new release ... Kahánek's new versions are worthy of standing in this company, and his account of the Dvořák certainly asks the question again: why does this exhilarating work remain so underrated? ... Kahánek, now 40, has lived with this Martinů concerto for more than half his career ... Together with Hrůša he ensures that the music lives up to its title, Incantations: there is certainly a feeling of spells being cast here"

"From start to finish, Dvořák's and Martinů's piano concertos are given compelling performances by Ivo Kahánek which feel fresh and exhilarating. With glorious sound to match the quality of the performances, this is an album to relish"

"Among Bohuslav Martinu's five piano concertos, his Fourth (1956) is arguably the most original and inventive ... The orchestral writing alternates between sections of massive, complex scoring and the most delicately, exposed concertante passages, The pianist, moreover, has to navigate buckets of notes and avoid being submerged by the thick textures. Ivo Kahánek does this and more ... In the Dvořák Concerto ... Kahánek makes Dvořák's occasionally unwieldy keyboard-writing sound effortlessly idiomatic"