Unforced Musicality The three big Tchaikovsky ballets - heard by STEPHEN FRANCIS VASTA 'Järvi always maintains the right lightness ...'

Some decades ago, I attended an Edinburgh Festival concert at the Usher Hall, with Neeme Järvi conducting the not-yet-Royal Scottish National Orchestra in a program of Scottish-related works — Oberon overture, Hebrides, and such. Along with the sheer frisson of visiting a Festival event, I was curious about the conductor, whose Prokofiev and Shostakovich cycles had initiated what would become his long-running series of recordings for Chandos. At first, I was impressed by Järvi's appealing, unforced musicality, and by the warm sound of the orchestra. As the concert proceeded, however, nothing seemed to cut a particularly distinctive profile — that natural musicality began to seem generic, as did the all-purpose, thickish sonority...

SWAN LAKE

PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

RUSSIA

CHANDOS RECORDS

NORWAY

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC