"Put too much steam into Tchaikovsky's score and it wilts. Be too shy and retiring, on the other hand, and the tragic momentum evaporates. Jansons sets us on a simmer and gradually turns the heat to boiling. It is magisterially paced, stunningly played and, seemingly effortlessly, Jansons captures every aching nuance. […] Herheim’sinnovations are often throbbingly acute (and sometimes wickedly funny)." (The Times)

"The Concertgebouw Orchestra, of which Mr. Jansons is music director, is here a dream of a pit orchestra. Mr. Jansons’s musicality is stamped on every phrase, and he ensures ideal coordination between singers and orchestra." (The New York Times)

"Herheim directs so many keen moments of character interactions that there's no danger of the opera lapsing into simplistic cliches..." (Gramophone)

"Although I look forward to seeing many more traditional stage productions, even if I do not expect all to have the same musical values as are achieved here, this is a version which anyone who loves this most personal of operas needs to see and hear." (Musicweb International)

Extra features

Cast gallery. 30-Minute Documentary Film.