Shostakovich Second Piano Concerto...
could be fairly said that it is designed to make players sound better than they are. And the delight of last Friday’s performance by Alexander Toradze with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra under Daniele Rustioni was that it did exactly the opposite. It made the piece sound much better than it actually is.
...The elements of unpredictability were wonderfully supported by the brilliance of the orchestral playing that Rustioni secured from the orchestra, and the luxuriant silken velvet hushes of the slow movement were also extremely impressive.
The performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony after the interval was full-blooded and sonically rich...
THE IRISH TIMES - Michael Dervan