[…] The brass now played with greater bite as well as luminous tone, the wind brought genuine pathos as well as lyrical grace to their solos (the unbearably hushed clarinet solo in the first movement was particularly beautiful) and the strings played out with the mixture of tonal strength and flexibility that is this orchestra’s own. Gergiev stretched the pauses and manipulated the tempo daringly but it all seemed natural and dictated by the needs of the work itself. […]
