Berliner Philharmoniker

‘Sir Simon Rattle has once again demonstrated his great affinity for this music and his ability to recreate it in the most thrilling fashion.[...] It is hardly possible to imagine a realization of this music at once more moving and more menacing. The finale was heavenly, with the Berliners pulling out all the stops. Outstanding solo playing, subtly savoured colours, saturated and warmly sonorous wind chords and a pianissimo that died away into utter oblivion – all these contributed to making this a sensational concert.’ Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, August 29, 2007

“Rattle and the Berliners are capable of taking one's breath away. It's in the final Adagio that Rattle and his orchestra make the most powerful impact. The strings sound gorgeous, of course, yet there's grit as well as radiance in their tone. And it's only in the final pages that the earthy impurities are leeched, leaving a breath-like purity that ebbs into rapt silence.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2008

“In Pictures at an Exhibition I cannot imagine a performance truer to the finesse of Ravel's scoring. In the opening "Promenade" alone there are myriad subtleties of phasing and dynamics. What we have here is a sequence of exquisitely crafted miniatures; the French-ness of Ravek's fastidious work is everywhere.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2008

“among the sunniest and most lyrical accounts” The Penguin Guide on Symphony No. 2