Tchaikovsky: Dumka (Russian Rustic Scene), Op. 59

“This wide-ranging conspectus of Russian piano miniatures spans Ashkenazy's career from 1963 to 2004. Fine playing, occasionally short on charm.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 ****

“Stephen Hough fashions a viable programme culled from a bottomless piano bench of transcriptions, encores and other sundry ear-ticklers.
Indeed, Hough proves that one can make a well-balanced meal using only desserts. Modern pianists, to be sure, are more calorie conscious than their forebears, and Hough is no exception.
It's not his way to emphasise inner voices or linger over juicy modulatory patterns, à la Hofmann, Moiseiwitsch, Horowitz, Cortot or Cherkassky. If Hough prefers to bind Godowsky's garish counterpoints with skimmed milk rather than double cream, he's cheeky (and smart!) enough to insert his own ossias into Moskowski's Etincelles, or to retool the Tchaikovsky/ Pabst Sleeping Beauty Paraphrase to more brilliant pianistic effect. As in his previous 'Piano Albums', Hough serves up his own Rodgers & Hammerstein transcriptions. If the decorative note-spinning in 'Hello, Young Lovers' distracts from rather than enhances the eloquent original, the pianist's giddy romp through 'The Carousel Waltz' is a tour de force that brilliantly recaptures both the tender and tough-minded qualities inherent in the musical's book. Hough's own Etude de Concert gets plenty of finger-twisting mileage out of a rather un-memorable theme, harmonised, however, with clever Gershwinisms.
The unadorned Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky selections are played with heartfelt simplicity and a lean yet singing sonority.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Eschenbach conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra in a vivid, deeply passionate performance of Tchaikovsky’s final work, the Pathetique Symphony. The opening explodes with a mighty punch, and the brasses sound as if hurrying a convict to the scaffold. The composer is clearly in turmoil – the stuttering phrases are queasy, while there is more than a hint of sour wedding bells in the falling pizzicato. The truncated waltz of the second movement is a little treacly, but this is the only blemish. The naughty gaiety and climactic end of the third is good for premature applause, while the exhausted finale welcomes serene oblivion. The final ten minutes are filled with a mourning piano solo, Dumka Op 59.” The Times, 27th June 2008 ****

“Here, [Eschenbach's] performance of Dumka continues the trend: the piece itself kicks off as a Lisztian rhapsody on Ukrainian folk themes, before suddenly plunging into sombre uncertainty, while Eschenbach's searching yet flamboyant interpretation leaves you open-mouthed. The symphony, ravishingly played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, is more equivocal. Eschenbach is among the conductors moving away from the idea of the Pathétique as being primarily neurotic, though the tone remains predominantly elegiac.” The Guardian, 11th July 2008 ****

“Do we really need yet another Pathétique? In this case, the answer is "yes". The sheen of the Philadelphia strings and the orchestra's mellow wind bring their own qualities to a performance that, under Christoph Eschenbach, has real fire and passion. It is a top-heavy sound that lacks the darker timbre of performances under Gergiev (Philips) and Ashkenazy (Decca), but there is certainly room for this sleeker view, warmly recorded.” The Telegraph, 26th July 2008

“Tchaikovsky's mighty last work... is played with thrilling ferocity, grace and poignancy in this live recording by the Philadelphia under Christoph Eschenbach. This must be one of the finest performances on disc - and one of the most unusual - as Eschenbach has the nerve to follow its unfollowable coda (after a decent pause) with the 10-minute piano piece 'Dumka'. The effect is to remind us yet further of this heart-on-sleeve composer's lifelong sense of isolation.” The Observer, 3rd August 2008

“I find this orchestra's response is wanting in the real atmospheric depths so effortlessly encompassed in an all-Russian performance like any of Mravinsky's or Gergiev's with the Kirov Orchestra.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2008 ****

“One of music's great tragic masterpieces is here reduced to an exercise in showmanship and flashy presentation which says little and conveys less.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008

“The tour de force in this programme of piano rolls comes in the fast sections of Tchaikovsky's Dumka and the Bizet Carmen Variations, both of which Horowitz dispatches at superhuman speed.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2008 ****

“Insightful and affectionate performances of the rarely-heard Norwegian Folk Song arrangements of Grieg are a particular delight here. Grainger's Tchaikovsky is equally discerning.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2008 ****