Neville Marriner practically was the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields – the orchestra he founded in 1958 and led for over half a century. Moreover, he was the face of classical music to millions of listeners… in a way that only Toscanini, Bernstein, and Karajan have rivalled in the age of recorded sound. In the later years, it was Capriccio that stepped in when other labels showed no interest to record the Academy in the bigger romantic repertoire. The central element of this collection is the set of Tchaikovsky symphonies. "The members of the Academy, trained on quite different repertory, let their hair down in playing that is both crisp and alert, obviously enjoying their outing into this pop repertory." (Edward Greenfield, Gramophone)