“Watts’s performance of David Matthews’s 2005 arrangement of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été was the centrepiece — and tour de force — of the evening. The new slender orchestration is entirely faithful to the essence of Berlioz’s sound world and Watts gave a performance that was outstanding in every way: in its beautifully idiomatic French and its long lines of melody whose legato arose as much from a continuity of thought and imagination as of vocal tone. The harsh, dark undertow of bass, cello, viola and horn in Sur les lagunes coloured Watts’s own impressive low register. And rarely have I heard such an anguished yet perfectly focused cry of “Reviens!” in Absence.”

-Hilary Finch, The Times