Critics' Award

This recording was named BBC Music Magazine's one of '5 Essential Works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart' by BBC Music Magazine in 2012 as well as being a winner at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards (Critics' Award 2009) and the 2009 BBC Music Magazine Awards (Disc of the Year Award and Orchestral Award) In their original review BBC Music Magazine stated: These performances are so exhilarating that I listened to all four symphonies straight through at a first hearing, mesmerised by the variety and intensity of the music itself, sounding here completely fresh, and the virtually flawless renderings by the excellent Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with Sir Charles Mackerras at his most penetrating.

The pieces selected by Bruno Borralhinho and Christoph Berner for this recording were written between 1883 and 1894. Three youth works are juxtaposed, in which Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Alexander von Zemlinsky assure themselves equally of their mastery of their compositional craft and in which, for the first time, an unmistakable signature of their own can be heard. The portuguese cellist Bruno Borralhinho is a member of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Ensemble Mediterrain. His professional activity includes regular soloist performances in solo recitals, with orchestra or with piano accompaniment.