Dmitri Shostakovich

“The other jewel is Tennstedt’s Beethoven: Ninth Symphony, crackling with nervous energy from the start and showcasing the LPO’s intuitive relationship with its late lamented German chief.” Financial Times, 27 October 2007

“An electrifying Beethoven Choral Symphony from Tennstedt.” Sunday Telegraph, 20 January 2008

“If the first movement of the Ninth seems playful rather than sarcastic, Wigglesworth's fine ear for orchestral sonority always brings out unusual elements in the scoring. His insights make this performance and that of the 12th well worth hearing, and an extremely viable alternative to the complete cycles that are delivered under the direction of Kitajenko, Kondrashin or Jansons.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 *****

“Wigglesworth’s long view of where the symphony is heading is a crucial component of this interpretation, but it also embraces a kaleidoscopic variety of character, be it the icy funeral march at the start of the finale, the passages of stirring brilliance in Shostakovich’s orchestral writing, or those moments where the composer seems to be retreating into his own contemplative thoughts. The emotional force is intense.” The Telegraph, 9th July 2009 *****

“The playing is superbly detailed and the warm orchestral sound brings the Mahlerian similarities very much to the fore.” The Guardian, 14th August 2009 ***

“A genuine BBC Legend this. We tend to think of Kyrill Kondrashin as the most 'authentic' pioneer of Shostakovich's long-suppressed Fourth Symphony, except that the recordings of this work by Gennady Rozhdestvensky are no less fine. Where Kondrashin offers total commitment and unremitting intensity, Rozhdestvensky proves peculiarly adept at teasing out the score's strange, subversive elements.
Here, giving the work its first hearing outside the Soviet bloc during a large-scale Shostakovich retrospective at the 1962 Edinburgh Festival, Rozhdestvensky conducts with greater urgency than usual, galvanising the Philharmonia into a coruscating display. Small wonder the piece so wowed contemporary critics. The inclusion of an edited and reordered KaterinaIzmaylova Suite, performed a few days earlier, reminds us that this was also the period in which Shostakovich at last secured official acceptance of his opera The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, albeit in bowdlerised form. Western commentators were understandably less kind about the Twelfth Symphony which featured on the same programme.
BBC Legends' festive filler is an LSO relay from 1985, dangerously like a non sequitur in this context. It also betrays a more worrying aspect of the Rozhdestvensky phenomenon.
While the rendition has more than enough verve and spirit to delight the audience at London's Barbican Hall, you may find it too sloppy for repeated listening. (Applause is retained.)” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“A genuine BBC Legend this…Rozhdestvensky proves peculiarly adept at teasing out the score’s strange, subversive elements…galvanizing the Philharmonia into a coruscating display. Small wonder the piece so wowed contemporary critics.” Gramophone Magazine

“…an extremely dramatic an atmospheric performance of the Shostakovich 14th Symphony, the more unusual for being conducted by Gidon Kremer from the concertmaster's desk. …magnificent playing from the Kremerata Baltica and two first-rate soloists: The coupling is the Adagio from Mahler's Tenth Symphony in an arrangement for string... This tow is beautifully played... But certain things - notably the huge 'death chord' ... don't work in this medium...” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 *****

“She has the lightest touch. Her bow stings softly. None play the three Russian songs more lyrically.” Classic FM Magazine, October 2011

“the insights she brings to these works, along with her innate refinement and technical expertise, make these unusually distinguished performances. Accompanied by Jeremy Young, her colleague at the Royal College of Music, Georgian’s version of works at the heart of the cello repertoire rivals any in the catalogue.” The Observer, August 2007