Four pieces for orchestra / Violin Concerto No 1 / etc

"You would expect Michael Gielen to excell in this repertoire, but the results are curiously mixed. He's predictably fine in the creepy, expressionistic bits, such as the concluding Funeral March of the Four Pieces, and the first and third movements of MSPC. Elsewhere, though, he's either detached and matter-of-fact (first and third movements of the Four Pieces), or curiously labored (second and fourth movements of MSPC). In the latter, it's not a matter of tempo but articulation, as though Gielen is inhibiting the players' natural inclinations by squaring off the rhythms and phrasing unduly. As for the First Violin Concerto, forget it. Christian Ostertag is a distinctly screechy, thin-toned soloist in what after all is not one of the composer's stronger works. The second movement in particular is a chore. Fine sound, but disappointing overall."
(Classics Today)