Symphony no. 4

"There's a great deal to admire in Honeck's performance of the Fourth Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony plays it marvellously. Honeck certainly made me think anew about this familiar masterpiece and that's a very good thing. Unfortunately, I do find some of his decisions regarding dynamics not only controversial but downright distracting; they might have worked well in live performance - indeed, I found them intriguing the first time I listened - but I'm far from convinced that they stand up to the scrutiny of repeated hearing on a recording".

Read review

"It's really hard to fault any of Nelsons's choices here. Like Tchaikovsky, he is a classicist at heart: nothing is overcooked, nothing distorted; positively no histrionics. There is an integrity and an inevitability about the phrasing and expressivity is always at the behest of good taste ... The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra certainly earned their cheers in this live event".

"The Fourth Symphony in a reading which exibits all of the re-creative freshness and the urgency that has marked out his music-making with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra thus far ... This ranks with Leopold Stokowski's and Charles Munch's as among the most revealing accounts of what is arguably the finest of Tchaikovsky's non-symphonic works".

"Ewgenij Mrawinskijs legendäre Aufführung der letzten drei Tschaikowsky-Sinfonien".

"Perhaps the most remarkable thing about these performances is their straightfowardness ... However, I'm not sure I don't prefer the earlier Romeo and Juliet, it's rather more fateful, although the swirling strings are really something on PentaTone. Swings and roundabouts!".

"Manfred Honeck's reading is not as tightly wound as, say, Mravinsky og Muti but nevertheless conveys a strong sense of structural integrity while simultaneously portraying the unfolding drama in vivid colours ... Indeed, the symphony's final moments are absolutely thrilling ... Jonathan Leshnoff's Double Concerto may seem an odd bedfellow to the Tchaikovsky on paper but ... it's wholly engaging ... and played with affection and finesse by the orchestra's first-desk clarinettist and bassoonist".

"Vurdering: Recording of the month - Vurdering: Gramophone choice" - "Both these performances exemplify what makes Jurowski's approach to Tchaikovsky so special. The tension between the classical and the romantic is at the heart of things ... The playing throughout ... is marked by a oneness with Jurowski's vision and, it goes without saying, a now well-established empathy between the players of the London Philharmonic and their principal conductor".

"The LPO acquits itself well, and climaxes possess all the fizz and firepower one could want".

"The Santa Cecilia orchestra may not be one of Europe's most prestigious but under Pappano it sounds magnificent with ripe strings, solid brass and generally fluent woodwinds ... I'm no ready to place these new recordings up there with the classics by, say, Mravinsky or Cantelli ... if you prefer to listen to Tchaikovsky from a slight emotional distance ... you may find this an important addition to your collection".

"All three display a suppleness of phrasing that comes from working with voices. But getting through to the soul of these pieces - well, that's another matter and only in the Fourth Symphony am I entirely sure that Pappano and his orchestra have crossed that indifinable threshold to achieve something exceptional".