The Independent, March 2009, Wigmore Live CD
Has James MacMillan swallowed the Oxford Dictionary of Music? It's not often that you see the marking "strepitoso" (boisterous), but this is just one colour in his 1997 series of miniatures for piano trio, 'Fourteen Little Pictures'. Rebarbative, fidgety, wistful and, in the final movement, brooding, his snapshots are realised as meticulously and elegantly as Schubert's Piano Trio in E flat in this live performance by the Gould Piano Trio. Beautifully balanced, this bizarre juxtaposition of composers works suprisingly well.

Pick of the Album: The superb performance of Schubert's 'Finale: Allegro moderato'

Sunday Times, February 2009. Wigmore Live, Macmillan/Schubert disc
Restraint is the obvious hallmark of the Gould Trio’s performance of Schubert’s great, expansive, late E flat major piano trio, recorded at a Wigmore Hall concert last July. Anything labelled “allegro” (as three of the four movements are) is taken at a speed more cautious. This suits the piece perfectly, for it is poised on that knife edge between sadness and contentment, and any hint of abandon might destroy that balance. This beautiful performance is preceded by a vivid reading of James MacMillan’s Fourteen Little Pictures (1997). It’s a compelling, 23-minute piano suite, relying on extreme contrasts of mood, texture and colour, and ending with a single tolling bass note.