‘Ibragimova and Tiberghien make a winning combination, both in the sweltering sensuality of the central works and in the more conventional late-Romantic effulgence of the warm-hearted Sonata of 1909 … this repertoire should be high on the priority list of all those interested in 20th-century violin music, and it's not easy to imagine a stronger case being made for it than here’ (Gramophone)

‘This is a performance that shows Ibragimova's art at her remarkable best; at one moment poised, the next playing with abandon, she is one of the most expressive violinists around’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘We are living in a Second Golden Age of violinists, but even in the context of Hilary Hahn, Leila Josefowitz and Julia Fischer, Alina Ibragimova is an astonishing talent … technically the playing is superb. Intonation is exceptional, and Ibragimova's timbral range—from the coarse to the silken, from the richly throbbing to the chastely disembodied—seems unlimited. The music is studded with challenges … she tosses it all off with self-confident authority … Cédric Tiberghien, with whom Ibragimova has played often, offers a real partnership rather than mere support … this is a major release’ (International Record Review)

‘Will afford delight as well as discovery … this disc surpasses any earlier commercial recordings of Szymanowski’s music I have heard’ (Gramophone)

‘Dennis Lee clarifies the cascades of notes—or rather sonorities … so that these complex pieces are understood more easily than usual’ (BBC Music Magazine)

'Being a natural inheritor of Scriabinesque exoticism, Szymanowski is bound to bring out the best in Scriabin’s most imaginative interpreters, which is why Valery Gergiev proves such a convincing interpreter of both works. He draws excellent playing from the London Symphony Orchestra, balances some complex textures with an expert ear and the clear, close-set recording has an impressive dynamic range. Very useful, too, to have the first two symphonies coupled on a single CD' (Gramophone)

'The LSO’s performances brim with virtuosic energy' (Listen, USA)

'Valery Gergiev [makes the LSO] sound as passionate as he obviously is himself about Szymanowski’s music. There’s some wonderfully committed vital, colourful playing here, and the Barbican recording lets it all through to us' (BBC Radio 3 CD Review)

'The soloists leave little to be desired: Sally Matthews (her voice having latterly taken on an almost mezzo-like richness) and Ekaterina Gubanova combine most eloquently in their various duet passages, while Kostas Smoriginas exudes passion without undue histrionics. Gergiev directs with thoughtful attentiveness, and though the pauses between its six movements might have been minimized even further, the radiant transcendence of the fourth and final sections is never in doubt. It helps that the contribution of the London Symphony Chorus, audibly revitalized under Simon Halsey, galvanises this account to an extent seldom encountered outside of Polish readings, so ensuring the fusion of Renaissance and folk-inflected harmonies is not merely distinctive but blazes a trail right through to the present' (International Record Review)

'A hothouse performance of Symphony No 3, where the tenor Toby Spence, the London Symphony Chorus and lush-sounding LSO all combine to capture the orientalist tone' (BBC Music Magazine)

'LSO Live offers another in its stellar series of works by this essential composer … if you already have the equally impressive recording of the first two symphonies with Gergiev and the LSO (also on LSO Live) this one is an essential addition' (Audiophile Audition, USA)

'Along with the First Violin Concerto, [Symphony No 3] represents the peak of the composer’s middle period, when he was heavily influenced by Debussy and Scriabin. Gergiev and the LSO revel in the rich tapestry of sound, while Toby Spence is impressively ecstatic in his high solo lines. Pierre Boulez may have coolly revealed every strand of Szymanowski’s orchestral texture, but Gergiev seems more in touch with the composer’s exotic world’ (Limelight, Australia)