0 Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

Alice Sara Ott's interpretation of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" captures almost an entire orchestra's worth of musical colour and emotion in this live album . . . each movement, representing different moments on a journey round a gallery, is full of personality -- and Mussorgsky's well-known tunes are second to none . . . [the exuberant Schubert sonata]: a wide range of musical moments . . . the music shows off the best of Schubert's compositional talents, captured by a brilliant young pianist. Alice Sara Ott's effortless characterisation ensures this musical roller coaster of an album is thrilling at every turn. --Classic FM, January 2013

Rising star Alice Sara Ott’s new recording documents her summer 2012 rite of passage debut at the prestigious White Nights Festival.

Alice Sara Ott’s challenging programme centers upon Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Her virtuosic technique and youthful brilliance deliver the majesty, colours and spontaneity that this music requires. The power, passion and beauty which Alice Sara brings to Schubert’s thrilling Sonata No. 17 is insightful and memorable.

Her stellar career coincides with the enthusiastic international acclaim her Deutsche Grammophon recordings and performances garner. As the Guardian writes: “... it was good to hear live the qualities that shine through on Ott’s recordings – the crystallin

Detail: Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

0 Rozhdestvensky conducts Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky & Prokofiev

“The opening of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony is immediately arresting as the brass pummels out a fateful summons. The strings respond in soulful terms, and when the music becomes animated we are thrown into the midst of emotional turmoil, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky the alchemist of an inspired performance that graced the Leeds Festival in 1979. Tchaikovsky’s great score, its accents hammered out, its balletic motions subtly turned, is here given a fervent on-the-wing account that compels attention. 

The BBC Symphony Orchestra responds to its then Chief Conductor with focussed and expressive resources, audibly hanging onto Rozhdestvensky’s capricious baton in the measured but tensile first movement, its passionate peaks charted with symphonic surety.” --Classical Source online - Sep 2011

Detail: Rozhdestvensky conducts Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky & Prokofiev

0 Russian Showpieces

Tchaikovsky wrote prolifically throughout his life, and a large proportion of his pieces are in the standard repertory... Dutoit's approach is consistent throughout the programme, combining refinement (witness the opening of 1812 where the cellos suggest almost a chamber-music approach) with plenty of contrast in the characterization.

Detail: Russian Showpieces