Theodore Kuchar: Critical Acclaim

"Theodore Kuchar, as anyone will know from his Naxos recordings, is an extremely exciting and talented conductor, and his take-no-prisoners approach works very well in this colorful music. He blasts through the Carnival and Hussite Overtures with uninhibited abandon. His performance of the Symphonic Variations is thrilling, as cogently flowing as any, and it concludes with the best, most powerfully roof-raising final fugue that I ever hope to hear.

The other works, especially the big tone poems, also benefit from Kuchar's enthusiasm and drive. Othello (here for some reason using Verdi's spelling: "Otello") has passion and atmosphere aplenty. The Water Goblin (the cymbal part not quite sorted out--Kubelik and Neumann get it right), the Noonday Witch, and the Wood Dove are all extremely graphic and richly evocative. Kuchar holds The Golden Spinning Wheel together as well as anyone, while A Hero's Song makes an aptly triumphant, indeed hair-raising conclusion to the whole set. The playing of the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra is very committed and gutsy... For me, though, and I suspect for many listeners, the sheer gusto of the playing carries the day and trumps all minor qualms. Besides, at the Brilliant Classics price you really can't lose--but I would love to hear what Kuchar could do at the helm of a truly world-class ensemble.
- Classicstoday.com

"Kuchar’s account is as infectiously spirited an account as you could wish for ... To sum it up, this is a quite remarkable CD on all counts - outstandingly fine orchestral playing, vividly exciting and very Russian music-making, and a very tangible sound picture, consistently in the demonstration bracket."
- Gramophone

"Theodore Kuchar leads what is without question the most exciting complete Nielsen symphony cycle available, making this the set to get for Nielsen newcomers. He doesn't put a foot wrong in any of these symphonies, and it's rather amazing to hear how well he handles passages where so many conductors come to grief. For example, the finale of the Second Symphony has tremendous physicality at an aptly swift tempo. So often it's taken way too slowly. Kuchar gets all the tempo relationships right in the tricky finale of the Fourth as well, and he drives the Fifth home with such exultant power that for once that second movement doesn't sound like an anticlimax, coming as it does after perhaps the most inspired 20 minutes of music that Nielsen ever penned. Kuchar also isn't at all fazed by the weirdness of the Sixth, its concluding Theme and Variations in particular. Here's a case where simply playing what's written as characterfully as possible really does produce the desired wacky effect far better than any sort of poking and prodding. You simply won't hear a finer performance anywhere. Kuchar is equally sensitive to Nielsen's ear for color--those special moments of startling sonic innovation. I'm thinking of the trumpet tremolos before the grand waltz in the Espansiva's opening movement, or the timpani roll with brushes in the slow movement of the Second... Kuchar's conducting really does sweep the board. Given a choice of who I would likely listen to in this music on any given day, Kuchar is the man, and I suspect that you'll agree. He's that good."
- Classicstoday.com

"This is the best Roy Harris symphony recording since Bernstein’s first Third. Why? Because it gives us Harris’s “sound” in a way I rarely hear it - deep, broad sonorities played at tempos slow and steady enough to create sweep, breadth and intensity without being logy ... I always suspected there was a great symphony in the Seventh, but Kuchar is the first to bring it out. Eugene Ormandy’s 1955 Columbia recording is competent but the sound is too bright and raw. None of the broadcasts I’ve heard does it Kuchar’s kind of justice. The Ninth is not a great work, but it’s a good one, and Kuchar’s is the best performance I’ve heard."
- American Record Guide