CD Reviews

Berlioz Grande Messe des morts (Requiem), Op 5

Gramophone, June 2013
There's some lovley orchestral detail: woodwind semiquavers illustrating 'lux perpetua'; stabbing, syncopated chords from the upper strings in the 'Lacrymosa'.

Weber Der Freischütz

Sunday Times Culture, 12 May 2013
The chorus, especially in the Wolf's Glen, enthralls, as does the orchestra, rising to every challenge, urgent or lyrical, heroic or poetic. Davis, as ever, balances unrushed tempi with moments of raw excitement and aural extravagance, of which there are many in this early Romantic opera.
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The Times, 10 May 2013
opera was always one of his specialities, and the love he felt toward Der Freischütz can be felt in almost every bar.
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Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 1,2 & 3

The Guardian, 5 Sep 2012
... full of wonderful touches, of sharply etched detail, vivid colours and tremendous focused energy.
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Britten War Requiem

Presto Classical, 7 May 2012
Perhaps nowhere is this more true than the thunderous brass interjections at the start of the Dies Irae, which pack quite a punch and are fantastically apocalyptic in their power (for me, there’s nothing quite like the LSO brass section in full flow!) 
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Nielsen Symphonies Nos 1 & 6

Irish Times, 13 Apr 2012
Colin Davis’s strongly-delivered approach is to draw Nielsen towards the mainstream, especially in the First Symphony, to find ways of tightening the logic, to regularise and tidy the manners of a composer who likes going off on strange tangents.
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Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances & Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements

International Record Review, Apr 2012
If the unusual coupling appeals, there is much to enjoy here, not least an orchestra that is at the very top of its game under its charismatic conductor. 

Mahler Symphony No 5

Fanfare Magazine, 13 Jul 2011
I find Gergiev’s approach to be somewhat perplexing, but there is no denying his commitment to Mahler, and the LSO is with him all the way.
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La Scene Musicale, 18 Sep 2011
The LSO Live Mahler cycle leaves more questions than it answers, which is just as the composer intended.
CD of the Week
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Haydn Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons)

The Scotsman, 7 Jun 2011
For the unmistakable mark of Sir Colin Davis alone, and a performance under his direction of Haydn's extensive oratorio The Seasons that oozes operatic exuberance and nature-fed optimism at its broadest level, this latest LSO Live disc is genuinely attractive.
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Yorkshire Post, 11 Jul 2011
Soloists Miah Persson, Jeremy Ovenden and Andrew Foster-Williams bring the changing seasons to vivid life and the LSO plays with typical grace and superb colour from the woodwinds.
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Debussy La mer, Jeux, Prélude à l'aprés-midi d'un faune

Audiophile Audition, 24 Jun 2011
hearing this superb Gergiev performance in state of the art hi-res surround takes the La mer experience to an entirely new level. One almost wants to dry off afterwards...
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The Scotsman, 12 Apr 2011
Gergiev fills them with all manner of silken touches, succulently realised by the LSO's many fine solo contributions.
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classicalsoure.com, 8 Apr 2011
A ‘magic flute’ (courtesy of Gareth Davies) opens Faune and this Debussy collection, the playing from the LSO tender and suggestive, the harp rippling magically, the music made hypnotic in its fluctuations and even a touch surreal, Valery Gergiev avoiding stasis and keeping the music potent. Great! And beautifully recorded, too.
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Walton Belshazzar's Feast and Symphony No 1

Audiophile Audition, 7 Mar 2011
Two brass bands add their swagger to the thrilling performance; it’s too bad the LSO engineers didn’t spread them out on the surround channels as done with some of the SACDs of the Berlioz Requiem brass choirs.
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Nielsen Symphonies Nos 4&5

The Boston Globe, 13 Feb 2011
The LSO strings exude a burnished warmth in the slow movement and the ensemble as a whole dispatches the work’s finale, with its famous two-timpani blitz, as the gripping drama that it is.
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Islington Gazette, 18 Jan 2011
Both performances have the white hot intensity and total understanding of the music that is the signal characteristic of Davis in this glorious Indian summer of his career.
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Ravel Daphnis et Chloé, Pavane pour une infante défunte, Boléro

Audiophile Audition, 19 Jan 2011
Gergiev certainly adds to his laurels with fantastic conducting job here - bringing out the color and dynamics while highlighting every small detail.
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The Scotsman, 23 Nov 2010
The main work – the ravishing ballet Daphnis et Chloé – gets the full wistful treatment from conductor Valery Gergiev, who allows every golden moment to emerge with delicious piquancy and crystalline clarity.
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Verdi Otello

New Zealand Herald, 27 Nov 2010
The release itself, on LSO Live, cements just how valuable the London Symphony Orchestra's own label has become in its 10 years of existence.
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Financial Times, 16 Oct 2010
Davis inspires the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to a performance of vigour and refinement, and it’s for their contribution – and Gerald Finley’s suave, stylish Iago – that this recording stands out
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The Observer, 14 Nov 2010
... this is a spellbinding account, thanks to O'Neill, Anne Schwanewilms's Desdemona and Gerald Finley's Jago, but above all to Colin Davis's warm, urgent but never forced interpretation.
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Mahler Symphony No 4

Daily Telegraph, 7 Apr 2010
Gergiev’s febrile intensity lends itself well to the neurotic quality of Mahler’s music ... the orchestra is superb.
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Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie

The Sunday Times, 24 Jan 2010
Haitink’s account is slightly compromised by a too fragile oboe solo in the central summit section, and an unconvincing organ sound near the close, but it has immense grandeur
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International Record Review, Feb 2010
[the LSO] members responded with a candour that is refreshing and otherwise offering devotion to Haitink's focused and sane direction, the strings sweetly expressive when required without becoming mawkish or sentimental.

Irish Times, 5 Feb 2010
Bernard Haitink is a well-prepared mountaineer. He doesn’t lose his grip or his head, and he keeps the whole in a judicious perspective that makes some of the bigger moments all the more impressive for not having their thunder stolen.
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musicalcriticism.com, 28 Feb 2010
There's no denying the magnificent playing of the London Symphony Orchestra, whose quality is certainly held up to close scrutiny by the very detailed recorded sound. The solo playing is outstanding, in particular – the brilliantly characterised bassoon solo that introduces the 'Gefahrvolle Augenblicke', for example, or an awestruck but unhammy oboe at the summit, and rarely have I heard the intricate details of the waterfall come across so clearly.
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The Daily Telegraph, 24 Mar 2010
[Haitink] penetrates to the core of the musical substance ... The orchestra rises magnificently to the challenge of this climax.
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Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet

Audiophile Audition, 27 Dec 2009
The live recording is sensational in its realism, and the note booklet is highly detailed in several languages.
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The Buffalo News, 10 Jan 2010
Familiar mostly from its suites, it isn’t all that often performed in its two-hour, 20-minute totality and even less-often performed that way by a truly major orchestra with a great and completely idiomatically attuned conductor. All of that is what happens here, which makes this an uncommonly welcome disc.
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The Times, 11 Jan 2010
... the death of Tybalt has rarely sounded more coruscating in its raw depiction of Lady Capulet’s grief. Juliet’s early music positively scampers with youthful delicacy and grace, and the love music shimmers with a rapt beauty.
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The Irish Times, 15 Jan 2010
The ever- adventurous Valery Gergiev offered the full original ballet in London in November 2008, substituting a nice, springy energy in places where other conductors focus on sonic spectacle, and always finding the lyricism in this most lyrical of mid-20th-century works
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Financial Times, 16 Jan 2010
its main claim to attention is the polish of the London Symphony Orchestra’s playing, and the idiomatic flair and sweeping conviction that Gergiev brings to one of Prokofiev’s most lyrically inspired scores.
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The Daily Telegraph, 20 Jan 2010
... in the hands of Gergiev and the LSO there is always a moment of delight around the corner. Wonderful for dipping into.
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Bangkok Post, 29 Jan 2010
If you know the story of Romeo and Juliet, you will have no trouble following the entire plot through the music alone, without any dancing, and you will be deeply moved ... strongly recommended.
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The Australian, 13 Feb 2010
Rarely does a new recording supersede all before it, but that is the case with the London Symphony Orchestra's new performance of Prokofiev's ballet score, Romeo and Juliet ... This is an indispensable release.
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theartsdesk.com, 20 Feb 2010
With such luxury casting, the results are predictably thrilling. Gergiev directs with a theatrical swagger and the more aggressive, brassy numbers have a shattering, visceral impact. The weight of the LSO string sound lends unbearable poignancy to the closing pages, and Gergiev finds space for humour too - listen out for the mandolins.
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