Hamlet (incidental music) / Romeo and Juliet (original version)

MARBECKS STAFF PICK: CD OF THE YEAR 2009

Any recording on PentaTone with Vladimir Jurowski must be regarded as an event and this release certainly lives up to its promise. Russian conductor and Russian orchestra play this astounding music with full romantic panache!

"The best music, in the Entr'actes, comes from elsewhere - namely a much more distinguished stage project, The Snow Maiden, the alla tedesca of the Third Symphony and the rather lovely Elegy in Honour of Ivan Samarin. Jurowski seems to care here especially for the latter. The rest is played with spirit by a Russian National Orchestral sounding in increasingly better shape - it still has some way to go - and Ophelia's music is affectingly sung by the lovely lyric soprano Tatiani Monogarova." BBC Music Magazine, February 2009 ****

"Two Shakspearean fantasy overtures - but, excitingly, not as we know them. There are various qualities that raise Vladimir Jurowski above the ranks of many similarly (or indeed more) feted conductors of his generation and thereabouts. One is his questing journey to discover and refresh hidden corners of the repertoire. His concerts with the London Philharmonic are testament to that, as are recordings like this one. Think you know your Tchaikovsky? Think again."
Gramophone Recording of the Month March 2009