Beauty or a beast?

I was a little downhearted on reading Daniel Jaffé’s lukewarm review of the recent Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty recording from Vladimir Jurowski and the State Academy Orchestra of Russia (January). I loved it and found myself catching my breath on innumerable occasions on hearing some orchestration I had not noticed previously or some particularly delicious woodwind playing. Nor did I notice audience noise or any page turning, and any imperfections in playing seemed trivial and in no way detracted from the whole. It might have been more symphonic than balletic but, my goodness, there was a good whiff of greasepaint about it! It now replaces Mikhail Pletnev’s recording in my affections. Simon I’anson, Bath