"The New Prague Sinfonia under Mikel Toms accompanies with glowing sensitivity, and the Prague 2005 recording is beguilingly velvet-toned...another first-rate performance rounds out a highly recommended issue, which even the most conservative of readers should urgently seek out."
International Record Review
"...With the version of Schnittke's Concerto for Three by its dedicatees Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Rostropovich currently unavailable this is a highly competitive account. Performance: * * * * * "
BBC Music Magazine
"Lost Lands is the longest work, its complex single-movement form well-shaped under expert conductor Mikel Toms..."
Gramophone Magazine
"a great musician … who was very much liked by all the orchestra. He worked with youthful vigour, was very professional and well prepared. Compared to our young conductors here, Mikel Toms rehearses the scores in greater detail. He very much wanted to convey the spirit of the music to the orchestra…It is the general opinion of the world that the British are demanding and scrupulous and Mikel Toms gently drew exactness from the orchestra."
New Generations
"…technical confidence and great musicality…"
Dnevnik
"Their particular store is one of talent...directed with intelligence and enthusiasm by Mikel Toms...Warmly recommended."
The Independent
"Mikel Toms conducts the pride of the avant-garde"
"...ought to start a riot..."
"I don't know what it's all about either - but it's the future"
The Evening Standard
"The excellent Reservoir..."
The Times
"Brilliantly played by Reservoir..."
The Daily Telegraph
"Reservoir packed the Conway Hall"
"The players' commitment to Xenakis was palpable"
"The performance didn't just vindicate Xenakis, it also vindicated the relevance of classical music to a discussion of new music of any genre. Reservoir are a musical force who can make genuine sense of the Wire's cross-cultural scramble."
The Wire
"A high point of splendid perversity."
"Less a concert, more a happening: not only music (acoustic and electronic) but simultaneously theatre, lighting and video…Overall, a compelling and inspiring evening, which deservedly drew a large, variegated and appreciative audience; the Reservoir stalwarts such as leader Darragh Morgan, pianist Ian Pace and conductor Mikel Toms, performed heroically as ever. So why can't all concerts be like this? Still: it was worth waiting for this one to have been."
Tempo Magazine
AND THE BEST OF ALL....(!!)
"Amigos, I know fuck all of music. If this man does nothing after this he is a genius. But then again I'm pissed."
Mr Arthur Donachy's (slightly corrected) comment on my YouTube film of "Affairs of the Heart"