Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Op. 49

“Kenneth Alwyn has secured exceptionally good playing from the London Symphony Orchestra ; the woodwind, in particular, shape their phrases most beautifully, and with first-class ensemble... The shaping of the music as a whole is very good, too, with a broad introduction to the Capriccio (making the triplets doubly difficult!), and effective dovetailing of the various tempos both in this piece and in the overture. In every respect, in fact, this is a first-class record.” Gramophone Magazine

“As I expected, the Tchaikovsky still comes up to demonstration standard with the final canons and carillon of 1812 as exciting and brash as anything since. The performances under Kenneth Alwyn are very good indeed, particularly 1812 (why has he been so neglected by the companies?) and at the new price the bargain is excellent.” Gramophone Magazine

“Slavonic March, the most individual of all the pieces, gets the liveliest, quirkiest performance and the best sound.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2009 *****

“…perhaps the most notable feature of these performances is their refusal to undermine the characterful in pursuit of the sensational. The Marche slave, for instance, is resonant and resolute but what you really come away humming are the fife and drum effects and brilliant trumpetings of the orchestration. The 1812 catches one off-guard straight away with its unusually "vocal" phrasing of the old Russian prayer at the outset and throughout the performance the song quotations sound "sung". Tempo (blistering) rather than trenchancy defines the main Allegro with the Marseillaise sounding unusually corny (deliberate?) in the trumpets. Tchaikovsky, though, is most evidently (and gloriously) Tchaikovsky in the Moscow Cantata. A vintage melody turns the first page of Russian history, illuminating it in that inimitable Tchaikovskian way.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

“it sounds even more spectacular than it did in its vinyl format, vividly catching Beethoven's musical picture of armies clashing.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“A generous Tchaikovsky spectacular in masterly hands” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009

“With chorus added in the 1812 as well as the Waltz from Eugene Onegin, this is an exceptional Tchaikovsky collection, a fine start for Antonio Pappano's recordings with his Italian orchestra.
What is very striking is how refreshing the 1812 is when played with such incisiveness and care for detail, with textures clearly defined. It starts with the chorus singing the opening hymn, expanding thrillingly from an extreme pianissimo to a full-throated fortissimo.
A women's chorus then comes in very effectively, twice over, for one of the folk-themes, and at the end the full chorus sings the Tsar's Hymn amid the usual percussion and bells, though Pappano avoids extraneous effects, leaving everything in the hands of the orchestral instruments. It is equally refreshing to have the Waltz from Eugene Onegin in the full vocal version from the opera, again wonderfully pointed, as is the Polonaise which follows.
What comes out in all the items is the way that Pappano, in his control of flexible rubato, is just as persuasive here as he is in Puccini, demonstrating what links there are between these two supreme melodists. So he builds the big melodies into richly emotional climaxes without any hint of vulgarity, strikingly so in both Francesca da Rimini and Romeo and Juliet. Pappano is impressive in bringing out the fantasy element in Francesca, and in Romeo the high dynamic contrasts add to the impact of the performance. There have been many Tchaikovsky collections like this, but with well balanced sound, outstandingly rich and ripe in the brass section, this is among the finest.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“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 structure and for style that makes him good at most things. His Tchaikovsky doesn’t disappoint, full of vigour, of tunefulness” Gramophone Magazine

"A first-class ...recording of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony...a very striking performance, Russian in feeling yet ..never going over the top ...holds back his big guns till just before the big unison horn entry.... It really is an epic moment with the fff of the four horns coming through as it seldom does .....slow movement is phrased very evenly....scherzo is like an arabesque, the string pizzicatos light and gentle.... Then the finale bursts on the listener.. with its power to shock at that first fortissimo—the sound hugely expansive." Gramophone

“Vanska and the Lahti orchestra are authoritative interpreters who convey the atmosphere and mystery of these extraordinary scores. They are magnificently recorded too” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition