«New-York Times», By Bernard Holland - 29.09.2005

THE ST. PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC OPENS AT CARNEGIE
WITH RACHMANINOFF AND TCHAIKOVSKY

Yefim Bronfman was the soloist Thursday night as Yuri Temirkanov led the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto to open the Carnegie Hall season.
There were thoughts of a resident orchestra, with Carnegie Hall as a brand name. Later there were thoughts of banning rentals altogether, by even the most august of outside producers.
The idea of destination won out, and so we had, most recently, Thursday's season-opening concert by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, a Russian orchestra that, in terms of spirit and sheer mileage, stands as far away from 57th Street and Seventh Avenue as any orchestra could. Yet for the orchestra, its conductor, Yuri Temirkanov, and its colleagues around the world, Carnegie Hall is a destination of choice: where outsiders come to receive an imprimatur of international worth.
The St. Petersburg arrived with Russian Romanticism in battalion strength: big concerto, big symphony, big heart and big sleeve to rest it on. Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto came before intermission, the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony after.
Yefim Bronfman was the pianist for the Rachmaninoff, a piece whose first movement probably holds more notes per square foot of music than any other movement I can think of. Mr. Bronfman seemed to take care of them all. This is big music made even bigger here by its performers. Tempos raced ahead and contracted, and the lyrical solo parts breathed and sighed deeply. The singing strings of the St. Petersburg made Rachmaninoff's orchestra writing sound a lot more interesting than it actually is.
Tchaikovsky must have had the sonority of an orchestra like this in mind when he wrote his symphony. The resonance seemed to well up from the floorboards of the stage. Mr. Temirkanov moved the music swiftly and athletically. Tchaikovsky wrote the world's most beautiful waltz probably 20 different times, and the third movement here is one of his best.