Berg: Lyric Suite - three movements for string orchestra (1928)

“…characteristically unforced, humane and, above all, honest readings of the Tallis Fantasia and Sixth Symphony… Boult aficionados will not want to miss this absorbing anthology.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“...testaments to what an outstanding Vaughan Williams interpreter Boult was, whether in the luminous intensity and effortlessly sculpted lines of the Fantasia, or the brutal drama he unleashes in the Sixth, whose premiere he had conducted 24 years earlier.” The Guardian, 1st May 2009 ****

“Graf conducts the Zemlinsky with deep, tangible sensuality, while the playing combines clarity with textures of breathtaking beauty…” The Guardian, 17th July 2009 ***

“…this performance of the Lyric Symphony is strong on the turbulent intensity that launches it, and is never completely stilled, even in the outwardly serene finale. Roman Trekel… has the presence and range to belong in the company of the starriest baritones, from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to Bryn Terfel, who have recorded the work.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2009

“It is good to see Naxos filling the gaps in its early modernist catalog with effective performances of classic works from the Schoenberg circle. Certainly there are other readings that are more probing, or project the orchestra in a warmer light, but there is little of a purely technical nature to quibble with in these straightforward renderings of Berg's most important works for full orchestra. People who are drawn by the price tag to purchase Naxos recordings on impulse will not be led astray. And Rebecca Hirsch, soloist in the Violin Concerto, is emerging as an important violinist of her generation, as her performances of the Rawsthorne violin concertos have already shown. Her achievement here is technically impressive.” Fanfare, May/June 2003