Critical Acclaim for the Phil’s Concerts and Recordings Catherine Jones reviews Mahler Symphony No. 1 ‘Much has been said and written about the RLPO’s young conductor, but what has happened at Hope Street over the past four years is as the result of a real partnership between the Phil and Petrenko. And what a partnership it is now proving. Roll on the Resurrection’.
David Nice reviews Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances, The Isle of the Dead, the Rock CD Release Disc of the Month (March 2010) (AVIE) ‘Vasily Petrenko and his Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra set a new benchmark for Rachmaninov. Vasily Petrenko and his Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra brought Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances to the Proms which is when I first heard the team live. Had the sheer excitement of discovering yet another galvanising conductor at the head of a British orchestra... left me to overrate the experience? Right from the furtive opening, where Petrenko carefully bounces the pecking strings into vivid life, this CD proves not. His nose for atmosphere matches, in places even excels, that of the masterful Neeme Järvi...’ Performance ***** Recording *****
Tim Ashley gives 5* in his review of Shostakovich Symphony No. 8 ‘In taking up his post as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic's principal conductor in 2006, Vasily Petrenko announced his intention of turning the orchestra into an ensemble of international stature. If this great concert was anything to go by, he has, by and large, succeeded. Petrenko's ability to sustain such an unremitting emotional pitch without straying into incoherence was remarkable, though he could not have done so without an orchestra whose playing is now formidable in its intensity.’ *****
Hugh Canning reviews Shostakovich Symphony Nos. 5 & 9 CD of the Week (November 2009) (Naxos) ‘Something very special is happening in Liverpool, if these thrilling new Shostakovich recordings are typical of the Petrenko effect on the RLPO. Last year, Naxos issued the first volume of a promised complete symphony cycle with a broadly conceived, epic account of the pictorial 11th - and now here are Petrenko's accounts of the popular Fifth and the perplexing Ninth, which are even finer still...Petrenko's achievement is astonishing. Naxos's recording is outstandingly clear, and the playing is world class. Even at full price these performances would be desirable additions to a collection. At Naxos's, they are an unmissable bargain.’
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