Penguin Guide Rosette Winners

“Karajan's performances of these Honegger symphonies enjoy legendary status – and rightly so. This recording remains in a class of its own for sheer beauty of sound and flawless ensemble. The French critic, Bernard Gavoty, once spoke rather flightily of Karajan 'transcending emotions and imparting to them that furnace heat that makes a work of genius give off light if brought to the desired temperature' – but it's true! There's a luminous quality and an incandescence about these performances.
The Stravinsky Concerto in D major was written within a year of the Symphonie liturgique and may perhaps be a little too 'cultured' and not spiky enough for some tastes. The lightness of touch, sprightliness of rhythm and flawless ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra are an absolute joy in themselves.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“A classic - Karajan and Symphony No. 3 were made for each other.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2006

“An altogether marvellous CD. The playing of the Berlin strings in the wartime Second Symphony is superb, sumptuous in tone and refined in texture.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“The singing is delightful: neoclassical crispness of articulation goes with refined textures that convey the ripe humour of the one piece, the tender poetry of the other.The inclusion of [the Rimsky Korsakov and Stravinsky], two classics of the gramophone, makes this reissue more desirable than ever.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“…Mewton-Wood's hell-raising display is in a class of its own, elevating Bliss's extrovert rhetoric to new levels of musical excitement. So too is the Stravinsky Concerto for Piano and Winds, especially the pile-driving syncopations towards the close of the first movement where Mewton-Wood's fearless attack and rhythmic control are breathtaking. All in all, a worthy commemoration of a significant artist, definitely not to be missed.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009