…”Tchaikovsky at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London – Cadogan Hall 29/03/2011 “The splendour of Tchaikovsky – and of the RPO – was never in doubt. The opening of Capriccio Italien blazoned in arresting, burnished swagger. The Italian fanfare that Tchaikovsky heard every day from the barracks in Rome close by his hotel lay throbbing in Alessandro Fabrizi’s blood. The brass was magnificent – smooth, stately, clear and confident. It was a flawless pronouncement of the brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s orchestration. Songs followed, culled from street singers in Florence and passers by in Rome. They, too, swung with confident lilt…..” …..”Listening to the Fourth Symphony in the Cadogan Hall was almost as frightening as it must have been to write it. The brusque shocks of its strident reminders of the horrors of life startled; they woke us up from the dream-world of an ‘ordinary’, agreeable life, flowing lyrically with pleasures. The performance shone….. it was masterly.”
Ken Carter