“Few performances capture [the First's] gawkiness as brilliantly as this new reading by Vasily Petrenko...[He] surely has the full measure of the music's timbral transgressions...At the same time, Petrenko brings out the formal transgressions, too, sharpening the music's breaks in continuity. Nor are the music's emotional incongruities tamed...[The Third] is a musical maelstrom, and Petrenko charges into the swirl without trepidation.” --International Record Review, April 2011
“Every young composer needs the sensitive skill of Vasily Petrenko to join the dots of fits-and-starts inspiration, and I've never been more convinced by the whole, rather than just the isolated gestures, of the teenage Shostakovich's First Symphony. You hear more than ever how prophetic it is of things to come” --BBC Music Magazine, May 2011 *****
“in the First Symphony, besides rapier-like flair and precision, there's a reflective streak behind the passionate lyricism that beautifully brings out the music's Tchaikovsky connection...This latest installment in Petrenko's Shostakovich cycle with the RLPO more than maintains the superb standard they've set already.” --Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 ****
“Petrenko and the Royal Liverpudlians give us as fine a performance of the Third as we are likely to hear, and if they can’t make something more loveable from this symphony, it’s not their fault. The conducting is thoughtful, but with the salt of spontaneity. The chorus is excellent, with good body and diction. The orchestra sparkles.” --MusicWeb International, January 2012
“in the First Symphony, besides rapier-like flair and precision, there's a reflective streak behind the passionate lyricism that beautifully brings out the music's Tchaikovsky connection...This latest installment in Petrenko's Shostakovich cycle with the RLPO more than maintains the superb standard they've set already.” --Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 ****
“Petrenko and the Royal Liverpudlians give us as fine a performance of the Third as we are likely to hear, and if they can’t make something more loveable from this symphony, it’s not their fault. The conducting is thoughtful, but with the salt of spontaneity. The chorus is excellent, with good body and diction. The orchestra sparkles.” --MusicWeb International, January 2012
