Rarely will an audience hear as brilliant and sumptuous a performance of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 as the one played Sunday at the Festival of the Arts Boca. Renowned pianist Yefim Bronfman easily conquered the brutally demanding solo part... In Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra... the Russian players displayed a fantastic array of colors, from the sinister muted brass to the lustrous violins, playing with laser-like accuracy in the difficult runs and lush melodies. Jurowski gave a weighty, dramatic interpretation that allowed all the details of the score to come through without any fussiness or loss of musical line.

This is an orchestra that does not strive for lushness, as many American ensembles do, or for a particular woodwind or string timbre, which is an identifying trait of certain central European orchestras. Instead its sound is remarkably trim and focused, with sharp-edged, virtuosic brass playing as one of its hallmarks but also a polished string sound and agile woodwind work... The orchestral playing was unimpeachable in the Tchaikovsky and better than that — virtuosic, dark-hued and almost opulent — in Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, which closed the concert.

Perlman and Jurowski stormed the heavens in a bold Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor. Perlman tore into the famous Bruch with fervor and crystalline playing. So tightly were Perlman and Jurowski linked that they seemed to have rehearsed specific ideas with care.... Jurowski magnifies every element of a work. He enlarges not only its breadth, but also its impact on listeners. His specialty seems to be re-outfitting large works [with] a new scope, direction, depth of meaning - even upgraded value - from note one…With the extraordinary Russian National Orchestra, and especially its woodwind and brass soloists, Jurowski's concepts are realized with passion and precision. The Russian National Orchestra had already proved itself in past South Florida concerts. But after the four programs in Boca over the last nine days, it is especially hard to see this group leave.

The Russian National Orchestra produces a distinctive sound. Strings have the sonority and depth of a great organ and winds glow with color and transparency. The orchestra's principal guest conductor, Vladimir Jurowski... heated up the chilly evening with a performance of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture that breathed fire... [In Variations on a Rococo Theme, cellist Nina Kotova’s] incredible richness of tone in the instrument's lower register recalled such distinguished predecessors as Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Shafran and Natalia Gutman... her final bravura display combined exceptional dexterity with showbiz flair. Jurowski proved a wonderfully attentive accompanist, spotlighting the score's balletic sweep. Rarely has Tchaikovsky's prominent wind writing... been so beautifully articulated.... [In] her performance of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor... the immensely talented Helene Grimaud gave this pianistic symphony a performance of heaven-storming proportions.

Jurowski reframed the great Romeo and Juliet Fantasy by Tchaikovsky. Like a museum-quality restorer, young Jurowski removed half a century of old tarnish — decades of performance styles that reduced its vision to mere romance — to expose vivid, new colors and dramatic depths rarely ascribed to the Romeo canvas. Guest cellist Nina Kotova resurveyed the boundaries of the Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme. In her redrawn topographical map... great mountains tower in grand authority; rushing rapids tumble into waterfalls... Each expansive scene shimmered with a pristine beauty.

This hardy, independent orchestra, led by the protean Mikhail Pletnev, plays with that zealous sense of commitment that has always characterized the best Russian ensembles.