"No acoustical properties in any hall can account for the string sound this orchestra makes, which seems to emanate out of the stage floorboards and throb with a dark, slightly opaque glow...Voluptuous, seductive, almost bursting out of its clothes, this Russian musical institution offers a nice alternative to the rail-thin, runway model elegance of western symphony orchestras. Indeed, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic is quite a beauty..."

"The strings pulsed with an almost unnatural plushness, the brass and woodwinds supported the tune with gracious subdued harmonies. It was breathtaking."

"Russia's oldest symphony orchestra surpassed all expectations...the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra spilled forth music in the purest form possible-straight from each score's soul and into the hearts of listeners."

"Something alchemic occurred Thursday night at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall,. Yuri Temirkanow took standard works of the Russian repertoire, poured them into his St. Petersburg Philharmonic, stirred them with his unselfconscious ideas about the nature of music-making and created sonic gold...As a demonstration of pure orchestral mettle, the performance would have been striking enough. As an expression of music's visceral power, it was simply profound."

"An elegant conductor whose gestures tell the music's temperature as well as its grand shapes and small nuances, (Yuri Temirkanov) seemed to make the sound materialize from the ether to open the piece. From there, the orchestra's all enveloping, velvet sound and the music's long, flowing lines worked their magic. There is lots of depth to the St. Petersburg's sound...And it is never so much loud as it is incredibly resonant. There's a warmth in the strings, a burnished quality to the brass playing. The winds are more gold than silver, pinpricks of light against a dark backdrop."

"...the string playing was lush and full, the woodwinds had much character and clarity to the sound, and the brass solos were downright heroic...the music making itself has an uninhibited, gloriously flowing character to it."