All the Press

"The Franco-Russian duo never stops climbing musical summits. The proud honesty of tone, the rigour of inspiration, no less than the tireless ductility of the material that their two keyboards with four hands joined together model fantastically..."

"Disc after disc, the technically outstanding dialogue that began nearly ten years ago within the Ancelle-Berlinskaya couple seems to be becoming ever more refined. Miracles of undulating fluidity, Bax's Poisoned Fountain and Moy Mell are reminiscent of a dreamlike universe à la Debussy, while the performers approach them without committing the slightest sin of mannerism. What is striking throughout this program is the consistency of the sound, the extraordinary malleability of the material obtained by means of two pianos and twenty fingers..." ★★★★★

Announcement of the Rungis Piano-Piano Festival, discovery of the 2-pianos genre

"A magical CD recorded by these two artists with an unparalleled musicality, dedicated to british music (...) a delight of freshness, virtuosity and panache, the osmosis between Ludmila and Arthur is total, absolute. I'm buying !"

"This is one of the most enjoyable collections of music that is new to me to come my way in a long time. (...) This took me by surprise : a wonderful duo piano team with great imagination."

"None of the pieces could have more enthusiastic or accomplished advocates than Ludmilla Berlinskaya and her frequent partner, the French pianist Arthur Ancelle. In addition to their superb techniques, they play with a bracing combination of refined musicality and panache, making this one of the most rewarding two-piano collections in years."

"The Berlinskaya-Ancelle piano duo, founded in 2011, is now rightly appreciated all over the world. It is perhaps already impossible to imagine them "separated", outside of this unique ensemble that sounds like a whole, demonstrating not only a "sense of elbow", but a true creative unity. If you consider that Ludmila Berlinskaya and Arthur Ancelle each have a pronounced performing personality, then such a complete dissolution of each other in the name of music can only arouse both surprise and admiration. The duo really impresses with its extraordinary purity of sound, rare even for a virtuoso - can you imagine in an ensemble ! (...) And finally, a masterfully perfected improvisation - a paradoxical formulation to characterize the Berlinskaya-Ancelle duo's interpretation of Bennett's "Entertainment for Two Pianos", a four-piece suite in jazz style. To say the truth, the album "'B' like Britain" will leave no one indifferent and will certainly convert new fans to the Franco-Russian duo."

Ludmila & Arthur are the guests of morning show "La Matinale" 

"The first, Hardanger, might seem to speak of an understandable impulse to leave Streatham for Norway, but is actually an homage to Grieg, one of Bax’s musical heroes. The sense of the dance is beautifully conveyed by Ancelle and Berlinskaya. Far more atmospheric is The Poisoned Fountain, and this is a luxurious, beautiful performance. (...)
The piano music of Britten is both under-represented and under-appreciated, so it is good to see the two pieces of his op. 23 here. The first, the “Introduction and Rondo burlesca,” is a magnificent piece, powerful in its intrinsic mastery of understatement. The performance is masterly, particularly in the faster, swirling, phantasmagoric passages. (...) Berlinskaya and Ancelle have a perfect grasp of Britten’s sound world.
The last work for piano duet by York Bowen, the Theme and Variations, is a magnificent, monumental piece. It seems to encompass worlds, and these performers present it like a slowly rotating kaleidoscope. The penultimate section, a Lento, is beautifully, suspensefully, managed before the splendid virtuosity of the finale. (...)
The recording is superb, a model of clarity and placement. We hear every detail the players want to foreground. Far cheaper than, and arguably preferable to, a transatlantic ticket, this is a warm-hearted tribute to the Scepter’d Isle by a Russian and a French pianist."

"The big moments have terrific impact (check out the bell sounds in the mazurka), each chord impeccably balanced. (...) You have to marvel at a Russian-French piano duo exhuming such neglected repertoire, and performing it with such authority and affection."

"A hair-raising journey that began in Arnold Bax's landscapes of moors and legends with three magical opuses (The Poisoned Fountain is fascinating, another ravelian Ondine, as it were), continued in Britten's fancy way throughout the two parts of his Opus 23, before the unknown masterpiece of the vast Theme and Variations by York Bowen, visionary composer and concert artist of genius, the English Busoni no less. Op. 139 (1951) is his final work for two pianos, lyrical, intense, superbly written to make the instruments sound like one world."

"York Bowen’s Theme and Variations (1951) is a revelation and, arguably, the best-written piece here. Whereas the others you can imagine in orchestral garbs, this is piano qua piano. Berlinskaya and Ancelle play the theme, its nine variations and ‘interlude’ superbly – and their dispatch of the exhilarating con fuoco finale will give you goosebumps. Their ensemble and sensitive phrasing throughout the disc are remarkable. Here, they are outstanding."

Libération's favorite albums of the year :
"Year after year, from record to record, these two have become the most brilliant stars on the firmament of original and explosive piano duos. (...) B Like Britain, a compilation of pieces by 20th-century British composers whose surnames start with B (Arnold Bax, Benjamin Britten, York Bowen, Richard Rodney Bennett), is a CD that will leave you flabbergasted"

"Adding a wonderful sense of understatement to their customary technical and artistic qualities, the two pianists magnify this often delicious music."

"All four composers were very considerable concert-standard pianists in their own right; this is reflected in the brilliance of their keyboard writing and the high level of virtuosity it demands. In this regard Berlinskaya and Ancelle are quite superb. The unanimity of their playing is flawless not just technically but expressively. (...)
But it is musically where this disc triumphs, with breathtaking interpretations of all the repertoire on offer – the familiar and the less so. A strong Record of the Year contender."

"Without exception, we hear technically superior interpretations that are also musically convincing, since Ancelle and Berlinskaya characterize the music perfectly. (...) And so this is an inspiring CD that can only be recommended."