"Krichel (…) belongs to the few Germans who approach Rachmaninoff with seriousness and real understanding. He emphasizes, especially in the Corelli Variations, the sharpness of articulation, the strict tempo relations between individual pieces, and the uncompromising nature of the tempo. One understands, through Krichel's recording with its often dry and pedal-less play, why Béla Bartók and Witold Lutosławski were so impressed by the sharp-edged, slender, yet complex piano writing of the late Rachmaninoff. (…) In the Étude-Tableau in D minor Op. 39 No. 8 he finds a deeply personal, singing, reflective tone that touches and captivates the listener. In these moments, wisdom and courage come together."

"Until now, Michael Pletnev has been the reference for me. (...) Now he has competition. Alexander Krichel convinces with his fine voice and sound organisation. Every detail is well thought out, nothing is left to chance and yet everything seems natural and breathes. Krichel takes his time and makes the character of the individual variations shine nobly in this work. (...) this album is a great asset."

"His Rachmaninoff is clear and transparent, with a sure instinct for light and dark and the finest shadings. With a unique intuition for the appropriate tempi. With a sense for narrative details as well as for great virtuosity. And yes: with a knack for putting Rachmaninoff's melodies in exactly the right light, sometimes slender and restrained, sometimes pleasurably full and palatable. (...) With "My Rachmaninoff" Alexander Krichel has struck exactly the right note - and it gets under your skin!"

"Alexander Krichel's interpretations of important piano works by Sergei Rachmaninoff convincingly capture the poetic moment and the narrative power of this deeply felt music - it is an emotionality which, however, never "derails" into an exuberant sentimentality. Krichel's playing, for all its emotion and sensuality of sound, shows a clear design and structure. The virtuosity of the pieces, some of which are technically extremely demanding - for example the famous "Études Tableaux" op. 39 - is conveyed in a sovereign and striking manner, but the technical skill of Alexander Krichel never becomes an end in itself, but is inspired."

"It goes without saying that it takes a pianist of stature like Alexander Krichel to bring these pieces to life. His playing is of great maturity and mastery; he knows how to find the right tone in pieces with demanding content, to bring out an imaginary world and all the emotions and subtleties that the aristocratic and virtuoso composer exudes."

"Krichel brings with him a central talent for Rachmaninoff: that virtuosity in which a never-ending emotionality glows. Technically, nothing is impossible for the 34-year-old from Hamburg anyway: one listens in amazement as he illuminates the notorious, extremely intricate, enigmatically abysmal Études-Tableaux op. 39, which demand everything of a pianist. This is a game always in search of the composer's dazzling personality and credo, in the spectrum of triumph and foreboding of death, of salon and abyss. Once again, Krichel shows himself to be an extremely stylistically confident interpreter (subtle and beguiling in the details, even the Corelli Variations), but above all a gifted narrator."