"De skræmmende momenter, der indleder operaen, lyder som forvredet metal, og effekten er lige så chokerende, som den var tænkt. Derefter følger kuldegysning på kuldegysning. Anna Maria Chiuri indleder indspilningen med moderens smertefulde sang, plaget af pine, men som samtidig er utrolig smuk ... Som fange formår den tyske baryton Michael Nagy at tegne et stærkt billede af en mands mentale sammenbrud, og DR Koncertkoret er fremragende med deres spøgelsesagtige stemmer, der beder, da fangernes skæbne besegles"

"Årets klassiske lytteoplevelse: Det er en kort, dyster opera fra 1500-tallets spanske inkvisition om en tortureret fanges håb om frihed ... Dallapiccolas partitur (1948) er strengt organiseret, såkaldt serialisme, men modsat meget andet i den kategori er det særdeles tilgængeligt alene ved sin udtrykskraft og rødderne i italiensk sangbarhed ... En mesterlig fremførelse båret frem af en respektindgydende koncentration og professionalisme hos DR's kor og orkester med dirigenten Gianandrea Noseda som 'il centrale' ... Stærkest blandt solisterne står barytonen Michael Nagy som fangen, bevægende, ja sindsoprivende i dialogen med tenoren Stephan Rügamers djævelsk imødekommende fangevogter"

"In der vorliegenden Aufnahme springt der Dirigent Gianandrea Noseda dem 'Gefangenen' - sozusagen ins Gesicht, legt die expressive Dynamik des Stücks frei. Der einleitende Monolog der Mutter trifft mit der im Forte ziemlich scharf klingenden Anna Maria Chiuri den beabsichtigten anklagenden Ton, und in den dichten Szenen des Gefangenen führt Bariton Michael Nagy dessen zunehmende psychische Gebrochenheit beeindruckend vor ... während Tenor Stephan Rügamer den vermeintlichen Kerkenmeister und in Wirklichkeit Grossinquisitor mit der konzentrierten Perfidie eines fundamentalistischen Beichtvaters ausstattet"

"Recording of the month - Editor's choice: Noseda's performance is nothing if not formidable. Its impact derives largely from his ability to think in terms of cumulative span while focusing on textural clarity and immediacy of expression ... Noseda is helped immeasurably throughout ... by his Danish orchestra, who play with marvellous commitment and finesse ... The cast, meanwhile, combine lyricism with declamation ... The Danish National Concert Choir sound tremendous ... their opening 'Fiat misericordia tua, Domine' taking one's breath away ... It's an outstanding, essential album, every second of it"

"Opera choice: Noseda and his Danish forces offer a thrilling account of this masterpiece, its all-important orchestral detail meticulously realised ... As the prisoner, Michael Nagy is alive to every nuance of the role. Stephan Rügamer caressing voice is ideal for the falsely sympathetic jailer, too ... A thrilling disc, splendidly recorded"

"Editor's choices - July 2020: What a piece, and what a performance: Dallapiccola's taut one-act opera about a prisoner subjected to the most underhand psychological torture by the Spanish Inquisition was premiered on Italian radio in 1949, and Noseda's tightly-wound account proves that the absence of visuals in no way lessens its dramatic impact, with German-Hungarian baritone Michael Nagy a revelation in the title-role (until now I'd only heard him as Papageno, but weightier assignments surely beckon). The three purely choral works are far sunnier and more exuberant, and as the mercury hits the mid-30s tomorrow the male chorus's counsel to 'drench your mouth with wine' when temperatures soar seems especially inviting"

"Dallapiccola's own version of Schoenberg's 12-note method gives his orchestral music its wiry strength and his vocal lines their fiercely concentrated lyricism. On the latest instalment of Gianandrea Noseda's rather etiolated Dallapiccola series for Chandos, the balance between them is exactly right ... Anna Maria Chiuri is powerfully effective as the Mother"