Holidays symphony (1992)

"This Holidays is one of his best. Tilson Thomas approaches the work as a symphony of four distinct but related pieces: the first three grow from their nebulous, inchoate opening bars to the climactic episodes--barn-dance, march, fireworks--and then to their brief codas; the fourth becomes the epic finale, with its splendid chorus at its climax. The recording is clean and detailed but never overly-analytical, and there is plenty of punch in the loudest passages. MTT has revisited the piece in his Keeping Score release from SFS Media, and the Blu-ray is (not surprisingly) superior to that of this CD. But this CD offers two versions of The Unanswered Question and its companion Central Park in the Dark as bonuses to the major work. I would recommend this digital Sony disc as a viable option to those without Blu-ray or surround-sound capability: it is a superb complement to Leonard Bernstein's trail-blazing version with the NYPO, also on Sony." (Arkivmusic)