"If a conductor and orchestra can get the opening right ... then the chances are that the rest of this momentous piece will fall into place. Paavo Järvi and the Russian National Orchestra do just that"

"Går man med forhåbninger om at høre Sjostakovitjs fem kvarter lange Leningrad-symfoni med et skæbnesvangert sug fra en belejrings mørke understrøm, bliver man ikke skuffet. Sult og sejr gennemsyrer fortolkningen fra Paavo Järvi og det russiske toporkester. Der er præcision i anvisningerne fra podiet, og balancen mellem instrumentgrupperne er eminent ... Man sidder rystet tilbage"

"There need be no reservations as to the quality of the performance and interpretation; this is now a leading choice for the Leningrad"

"Paavo Järvi's Leningrad is the opposite of his father's 1988 epic with the Scottish National Orchestra - light, laconic and sonically lean where Neeme's recording was spectacularly big in every way"

"Vurdering: Recording of the month" - "The RNO strings sound glorious, the dark-toned woodwinds even more so, and it's impossible not to be moved ... Even if you prefer cruder, more equivocal accounts of this symphony you simply cannot overlook this extraordinary alternative. An unaffected, deeply humanising Seventh; quite possibly the best thing Paavo Järvi has ever done"

"I cannot imagine a better recording of this Seventh Symphony arriving any time soon. Järvi, the RNO and the Polyhymnia recording team are to be congratulated"