‘Ensemble in a septet of diverse chamber and instrumental works is welcome and illuminating in equal measure ... The main part of the programme reveals just how adroitly Grime conjures pithy yet intense expression from limited instrumental means ... The Hebrides Ensemble have a track record inGrime's music ... and the resulting performances are first-rate, not least Into the faded air, where they outpoint the Hallé Soloists on NMC in an account of greater clarity. Superb sound throughout.’

‘[Helen Grime's] playful approach to texture is just as clear in her smaller-scale works as it is in her more widely known writing for larger ensembles. ... Flurries of activity give way to moments of calm tranquillity in so many of these works, which turn on a penny in a matter of tars, expertly handled by the Hebrides Ensemble players. ... There is so much in Grime's writing, that could be lost in a muddy recording, but Delphian's sound engineers and producers have captured the nuances within the ensemble’s playing with such resonance and elegance here.’

‘All of which is to underline Grime’s gifts as an imaginative and highly versatile composer, whose works as represented here possess colour, vitality and wit. The various permutations of the Hebrides Ensemble do her proud: there’s both a possessiveness and profound immersion in all of the performances that light up the recital.’

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‘It has been mostly through her succession of successful high-profile orchestral commissions that Helen Grime has become one of the most prominent voices among the younger generations of British composers. In that process of recognition Grime’s smaller-scale works have received relatively little attention, but as this collection of seven recordings from the Hebrides Ensemble shows, the same qualities that characterise her largest orchestral canvases distinguish her work on the smallest scale too.’

'In its sixth composer portrait for Delphian, the Hebrides Ensemble turns to Scots composer Helen Grime. The spotlight is on her chamber music, a panoply of works bearing an intimacy that is both engaging and thrilling. The opening work - Seven Pierrot Miniatures, commissioned in 2010 by Hebrides - is a masterclass in compositional clarity and concision, exploding with ruthless precision and scintillating freshness. Here, and beyond, the morphing Hebrides apply their characteristic virtuosity impeccably: in the shivering trio exchanges of Snow and Snow, the crystalline duetting of To See the Summer Sky, the lustrous French horn coupling in the Alexander McCall Smith-inspired Braid Hills, the bleak impressionism of Five North-Eastern Scenes (inspired by Joan Eardley’s paintings), and the evocative solo pianism of James Willshire in the nuanced colourations of Harp of the North. Into the Faded Air, for string sextet, serves up a luxuriant conclusion to a transfixing survey.'

★★★★★