‘The album feels more like a ghostly mosaic or a mirage – evenescent, bewitching, fragmentary – than an exact telling of that story. Fort unity, Pichon organizes the program with an ear for instrumental timbres.’ (Oussama Zahr, 2022)

‘It is more than just the sumptuous timbre of the singer (Stéphane Degout), his way of inhabiting every syllable of the sung poems, and his diction as clear as the subject matter is dark. The choir is equally marvellous (Schumann’s sublime Meerfey), Judith Fa’s light soprano is enchanting, and the supple and colourful orchestra provides the instrumental equivalent of a Caspar David Friedrich painting at every moment.’ (Sophie Bourdais, 2022)

‘This is a powerful album that establishes many exciting links and offers points of connection. With music that ranges from absolute darkness to beauty and simple piety, alternating between opera scenes, choral pieces, lieder and symphonies.’ (Martin Gasser, 2022)

‘The pieces are linked together as if on a musical journey, with particular attention paid to the transitions between them, based on similarities in mood or tone.’ (Laurent Barthel, 2022)

‘French baritone Stéphane Degout displays a breathtakingly beautiful legato in Froila in Alfonso und Estrella, then in Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust.’ (Laurent Barthel, 2022)

‘An autumnal journey from which one returns transformed, so much so that the artists, choir and orchestra alike, all seem to be inhabited by this Schubertian character, half Orpheus, half Morpheus. And whose mental projection, between dreams and nightmares, has enabled the Ensemble Pygmalion to be transformed into a delicate and convincing champion of German Romanticism. We hope this will lead to further recordings and performances in the near future.’ (Thierry Hillériteau, 2022)