Performance reviews
"Out of several performances of the Beethoven A major sonata heard over 30 years, McDonagh’s was the most musically complete and satisfying.”
The Irish Times
"McDonagh plays with flawless technique, faultless intonation, and a strong yet meltingly sweet tone."
Fanfare Magazine
"Cellist Ailbhe McDonagh is amongst the most promising and award-laden musicians working in Ireland. This recital proves that she is a formidable act in her own right. A commendable performance."
Belfast Telegraph
Recording reviews
"The coordination between McDonagh and O'Conor sets this recording apart, and each sonata is individually conceived. There is a lot to absorb here, and it's the kind of recording to which one will return repeatedly."
AllMusic 🔗
4.5 out of 5 stars
For Beethoven Complete Cello Sonatas
"McDonagh, who as a child studied piano with O’Conor, is a great partner and clearly on the same level here, the duo being as one with every nuance in dynamics and tempi in outstanding performances."
The Whole Note 🔗
For Beethoven Complete Cello Sonatas
"McDonagh and O'Conor are two fine musicians who work together with clarity and love for the music, recorded in clear and balanced sound."
American Record Guide
For Beethoven Complete Cello Sonatas
"Cellist Ailbhe McDonagh and pianist John O'Conor coalesce perfectly, as if propelled by the music's undertow, and echo each other's expressive mien with dynamic balance, as if holding a cordial conversation. [...] As is the norm these days, two young musicians out to impress would play everything fast for the sake of velocity, and two veterans would make everything sound overly pedantic. But this ... this is music making that blends head and heart seamlessly."
Classical Music Sentinel 🔗
+ added to their Essential Recordings
For Beethoven Complete Cello Sonatas
"Hope amid Tears: Beethoven Cellos Sonatas from cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Ailbhe McDonagh, two vibrant, complementary recordings of Beethoven Cello Sonatas"
"McDonagh and O'Conor take the opening of Op. 102/1 to whispered heights, and again later there is a most appealing sense of two-as-one. They find buoyant, almost dancing, rhythms."
Classical Explorer 🔗
For Beethoven Complete Cello Sonatas
"McDonagh and O’Conor seem highly attuned (so to speak) both to the music and to each other: their balance is flawless, and their pacing has a natural quality that makes it sound as if these works could not possibly be played at any other tempo."
Infodad 🔗
+ awarded their highest rating [++++]
For Beethoven Complete Cello Sonatas
Beethoven Complete Cello Sonatas: "CD of the Week" May 2021
RTE LyricFM
Skellig: "Top Album Picks of 2020"
The Irish Examiner
It's a Cello Thing: "a stunning debut album"
Irish Independent
It's a Cello Thing: "CD of the Week" April 2012
RTE LyricFM
Composition reviews
String Quartet No. 2: "Premier of the Month" December 2023
The Strad Magazine 🔗
"I would say that It’s a Piano Thing 2 is quite simply one of the best original repertoire collections for intermediate players that I’ve come across. Boosey & Hawkes are to be commended for investing in this talented young composer, and with the support of such a distinguished publisher I for one hope that these pieces make their mark and take up a permanent place in the easy piano repertoire."
Andrew Eales, PianoDao
For It's a Piano Thing book 2
It's a Piano Thing book 1: "Ailbhe’s imagination here locks into the mundane every-day parts of a modern child’s life, equally and deftly avoiding both the obscure and the contrived. It is this, perhaps above all, that left me feeling extremely happy with the collection, confident in recommending it without reservation."
Andrew Eales, PianoDao
For It's a Piano Thing book 1