Out of these two concertos, the Tchaikovsky gets sonic and interpretive first prize. Its famous opening alone encapsulates everything that’s good here: a razor-sharp orchestra with brass and winds proudly up front, a wide yet never outsized dynamic …
“A generous Tchaikovsky spectacular in masterly hands” --BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 “Like the very best music directors, you can’t pigeon-hole Antonio Pappano. He may have made his name with Puccini but he’s got an instinctive feel for structu…
“This vivid act of reclamation has so much to teach, and to enjoy. It shows that Stokowski's arrangements were made not only with love but acuity; that their flair and poetry may survive beyond his own performances, given the flair and commitmen…
“The pianist, Vincent Coq, is both brilliant and sensitive, taking great trouble over balance with the strings while dazzling the ear with his lightly scintillating virtuosity in the more sparkling variation movements.” --Gramophone Magazine, Februa…
“[Trifonov] makes the instrument sing and allows the music to breathe … The six Liszt song transcriptions show him at his best, triumphantly capturing all the despair of ‘Erlkonig’ … A pianist, then, with a great international career in front of him…
“On this evidence, Mikhail Pletnev remains one of the most intelligent and stylish Tchaikovsky conductors around...[he] possesses the happy knack of making one appreciate just how much extraordinarily novel and daringly spare much of the scoring is.…
"On this evidence, Lang Lang is already superbly accomplished. Especially in the first movement, however, the performance leaves an impression of individual moments intensely lived . . ." --International Record Review, September 2003 "…
The essence of a concerto is the contrast and combination of a solo instrument with a larger instrumental ensemble. Having developed out of the Baroque concept of concerto grosso, the concerto genre was fully established in the eighteenth century, a…
"The program, recorded in 1966, includes some of the best performances available in the popular Russian repertoire. Solti was at the top of his form in the rousing opening number, Mikhail Glinka's Russlan and Ludmila overture, as stirring a…
"This symphony enjoyed immediate success when premiered in 1873, but Tchaikovsky’s misgivings prompted radical revision, and the destruction of the original score. Those familiar with the 1879 version will note major changes, particularly in th…
“I doubt if you will ever hear [the B flat minor Concerto] more viscerally thrilling and sumptuously engineered than here. Listening to Matsuev and Gergiev is the aural equivalent of watching Federer and Nadal...If this isn't the greatest perfor…
“there's no mistaking here that [Dudamel's] is a special talent, of the kind that can really make a difference. The ensemble precision of these performances is outstanding, with hyper-accurate woodwind chording...In phrase after phrase in al…
“Frang makes almost as much of a strange adventure out of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto as she does of Nielsen's typically quirky specimen...There can be no higher praise for Eivind Hullberg Jensen and his mellow, warmly recorded Danish orches…
“Truly there would be reason to go mad, if there were no music.” Tchaikovsky Fêted throughout Europe and America in his lifetime and still one of the most frequently played composers in today’s concert hall, Tchaikovsky was unquestionably the most g…
"The box set Great Piano Concertos has been produced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Naxos and draws on their extensive catalogue of concerto recordings. The recording quality varies from the older 1980’s recordings but there are some good…
“…a young man's view of Tchaikovsky's first and last symphonies: infectious, bracing, and idealistic by turns, the results are both lively and heartfelt. This Pathétique… finale… receives a terrifying rendition; its feverish climaxes in the …