“This was an effervescent performance, full of verve, and the audience lapped it up. It was noticeable how often the players smiled to each other and with the conductor, surely a sign of great harmony to come under their incoming Chief Conductor.”

“[He] knew he was going to be in charge of a fine orchestra, which will follow his instructions to the letter. As I say, a Golden Age beckons.”

“David Zinman skilfully kept the momentum going as he steered the fabulous Tonhalle Orchestra through this 85-minute work.”

“As he has in Strauss, Mahler and latterly Schubert, Zinman presents here a leanly textured, clear and exciting interpretation of these Wagner highlights. The Ride of the Valkyries and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey knock your socks off, while his Sunrise is richly coloured and deeply touching.”

“Zinman brings such a musicianly personality to everything he touches: phrasing and articulation are completely natural, without a trace of the overemphatic leanness of period instrument performance, but equally avoiding the lugubriousness of 20^th century tradition. Together with his immaculately balanced Zurich orchestra, the Tonhalle, he captures the wit and lilt of the Third Symphony, in a way that makes it sound like a young cousin of Haydn’s ultra-civilised London symphonies. The weightier Fourth, subtitled ​“Tragic”, is treated to an equally fresh performance.”

“Firm accents, punchy rhythms and muscular playing give this performance of Schubert’s ​“Unfinished” (here numbered 7 rather than the usual 8) a distinct impetus, clarity of definition and a powerful aura of B minor foreboding, without any loss of melodic geniality in the second movement.“