“It was Wagner who theorised that the dramatic C Minor opening depicts Coriolanus’s warlike determination while the yearning secondary melody represents his mother’s appeal for mercy. Principal Guest Conductor Benjamin Bayl delivered just such a dramatic trajectory.There was a tangible solidity to the ARCO sound, from the resolute opening through the bosom-heaving dramatics, and all done with impeccable intonation. Bayl offered a controlled performance, yet one that pulsed with energy, ensuring the development section always had a sense of purpose. A real buzz in the lower strings mingled with sonorous brass (in particular the superb natural horns), while the woodwind featured mellow flutes and a bassoon sound so entirely different from that of the modern instrument.”

(Clive Paget, Limelight Magazine)

“Benjamin Bayl, who has operatic experience and is comfortable with voices, was attuned to the score’s essential starkness and gravity. In music that’s all about texture, he unleashed sounds from these perio instruments that showed how radical Rossini was, and how indebted to this work Verdi’s Requiem is. All the colours of Rossini's Alpine tone poem - the Overture to William Tell - registered vividly on the Hanover Band's period instruments, and Bayl steered this familiar music with fresh imagination.”

(John Allison, The Telegraph)