We would like to offer a translation from the review in the Almanac Panorama (Russian National Weekly):
Everything was so glorious and significant, beginning with the carefully thought-through program! How challenging it must be to combine in one concert Russian romanticism and sentiment with Gothic mysticism; how brilliant it is to unite two suffering souls—Tchaikovsky and Mahler—to elevate us listeners to the heights of human spirit!
The orchestra sounded almost crystalline, although “the veterans” were only a few, once more the reason to celebrate the Maestro!
It felt as if the conductor created music out of the air, the movements of his hands mesmerizing and commanding to both the musicians and the audience.
Eduard’s hand technique is amazing—this is a separate, big subject. The concert’s success is the absolutely appropriate result of the inspiration and selfless effort on the part of all the participants, on and off stage. We loved the printed festival brochure with its wonderful photos and very meaningful cover, not to mention its wealth of great information…
________________________________________
KUSC’s Alan Chapman, who was a Narrator in Tchaikovsky Seasons, sat with me in the 2nd half and after Schubert-Mahler after “WOW” continued, “all EMI recordings do not come even close to this”.