These are very fine performances, realistically recorded in multichannel sound. It's always good to hear Christian Tetzlaff, a violinist with a reputation for "coolness" that instead I would call "aristocratic". His recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto reminds me of artists such as Grumiaux or Accardo--musicians for whom taste and attention to detail never detract from excitement or spontaneity. In this particular case we have a sensitively sung, never sticky Canzonetta and a remarkably cleanly played finale that catches the dance rhythms with total success and without any suggestion of vulgarity.

Curiously, the same qualities also apply to Nikolai Lugansky's rendering of the Piano Concerto No. 1. You won't find Argerich's fireworks here, for example, but there's plenty of gracefulness in the Andantino and vigor in the finale--and the first movement holds together about as well as anywhere. Lugansky's cultivated tone gives the music a welcome Romantic sheen without the pianist ever feeling a need to twist a phrase like taffy to make points. This doesn't mean he's stiff--not at all, as any of the first movement's more lyrical passages prove; but as with Tetzlaff there's a sense of ease and geniality about the performance that I like very much.

Kent Nagano and the Russian National Orchestra accompany with enthusiasm and sensitivity, and as noted at the outset of this review, the sonics are very good--warm and well-balanced, with perhaps a touch too much oomph from the rear channels, easily corrected by an adjustment of the controls. There are many recordings of these works available, but if you're looking for fine modern versions in surround-sound, there are very good artistic reasons to own this--and you won't have to sacrifice interpretive quality for a sonic thrill. A good job all around!

--David Hurwitz