The Sunday Telegraph: 'This is a superb studio recording of Opera North's splendid semi-staged performances last year of Bartók's only opera. It is good to have John Tomlinson and Sally Burgess's Bluebeard and Judith preserved in John Lloyd Davies's excellent English version. Tomlinson powerfully conveys Bluebeard's growing loneliness and Burgess has done nothing better than Judith, becoming increasingly and terrifyingly aware of the fate that awaits her after she has asked for the seven doors of her husband's dark and sunless castle to be opened, each door containing a sombre and secretive aspect of Bluebeard's soul.

'The recording is also especially valuable for preserving the wonderful performance by Opera North's orchestra under the baton of its music director Richard Farnes. Opera-goers have long known what a versatile orchestra this is. Now a larger audience can sample its artistry and appreciate what a fine conductor Farnes is. He builds the tension in Bartók's masterful score with consummate skill, unleashing a glorious torrent of sound at the opening of the fifth door when the fields, forests and rivers of Bluebeard's dukedom are revealed in one of the most astounding passages in 20th-century opera. Farnes' control of his forces here is supremely impressive, but so it is throughout the work.'

International Record Review: 'It's great to have a version of Bartók's magnificent one-act opera in English, especially one as good as this... Tomlinson's grim nobility is just what it needs to be: Bluebeard exerts a kind of hypnotic power over Judith and that is precisely the sense we get here - of a darkly potent figure, at least when he is within the walls of his dank and claustrophobic world.

'Sally Burgess as Judith is no less impressive. Again, she wins bouquets for her diction, and even more so for the dramatic involvement of her singing - she sounds genuinely afraid at times and so persuasive is she that we shudder with her...

'The Orchestra of Opera North is very impressive throughout, and the whole performance is intelligently and imaginatively conducted by Richard Farnes. This is a most absorbing performance in every respect and it is superbly recorded.

'The booklet comes not only with a complete English libretto but also a fascinating and illuminating essay on the work by Mike Ashman. If you want Bluebeard's Castle in English (and it's an opera where understanding every word certainly helps), then don't hesitate for a moment...This new Chandos set is a very distinguished release, a splendid addition to its Peter Moores Foundation Opera in English series.'

The Guardian: 4 stars: 'As Bluebeard and Judith, John Tomlinson and Sally Burgess play out their marital endgame with shocking immediacy. Conductor Richard Farnes immaculately sustains a mood of nerve-ridden unease, rather than opting for the more usual full-frontal, expressionist assault. It's marvellously played, too..' Read the full review.