Edinburgh Music Review wrote:
“From the opening bars of the spectral pensive Nocturne, Gemma, Rosanne and the BBCSSO painted a picture of a solitary careworn figure traversing a bleak landscape, with unlikely moments of empathic solace between the soloist and the bassoons and contrabassoon, and glimmers of tenderness in exchanges with the celesta and harp.”
“Rosanne’s playing drew the listener into an intense shared experience, while her ‘Barrère’ Stradivari instrument communicated a revelatory and emotionally-charged reading of the 20th-century masterpiece, prompting a thunderous ovation from the Glasgow audience.”
“Gemma New’s ‘shaping of a romantic narrative’ credentials having been well and truly registered with Glasgow audiences last March with a radiant performance of Brahms 4, expectations of similar with Tchaikovsky 5’s unbridled romanticism were whetted. It is understatement indeed to state they were not confounded.”
“Gemma kept it real and compelling, and ultimately satisfying, not as triumph but as catharsis, even as the trumpets and the orchestral barrel-organ amplify the self-mockery in the return of the first movement’s opening theme. Four concluding hammer-blows could be anything, but are probably the last nail in the coffin. Superb.”
