ORCHESTRE DE PARIS – NOVEMBER 2017

Pourquoi un concert ne ressemble-t-il as à un autre? Ce sont parfois des raisons extra-musicales qui en font la singularité. La semaine dernière, les deux soirées d’abonnement de l’Orchestre de Paris marquaient le retour de Paavo Järvi comme chef invité, un an et demi après avoir quitté ses fonctions de directeur musical. Avant meme que la moindre note ait été jouée, on sentait une ambiance particulière. Quelque chose de festif et de chaleureux: on était tout simplement heureux de le retrouver. Confirmation qu’il se crée entre un artiste et le public un lien humain qui dépasse la seule qualité musicale. Mail il ne s’agit pas seulement du public. C’est au sein de l’orchestre que l’on sentait une électricité, comme une énergie joyeuse. À la fin du concert, invités à se lever pour partager les applaudissements, les musiciens ont choisi de rester assis pour fêter le chef et l’ovationner à leur tour.”
Le Figaro, Christian Merlin, 5 December 2017

Un retour sans doute trop attendu que celui de Paavo Järvi, pour un soir à la tête de son ancien orchestre en tant que chef invité. Une attente trop prégnante, trop espérée du public et des musiciens, dans un programme taillé sur mesures pour le chef estonien, convoquant Sibelius et Chostakovitch.
Resmusica, Patrice Imbaud, 4 December 2017

Cette semaine, l’Orchestre de Paris n’accueillait donc pas seulement un chef invité : il retrouvait un père fondateur. L’osmose opère dès les premières notes du Concerto pour violon de Sibelius, comme si les musiciens et leur ex-directeur musical n’avaient jamais cessé de jouer ensemble. L’Orchestre de Paris réagit avec un naturel presque déconcertant aux moindres gestes de Järvi.
Bachtrack.com, Tristan Labouret, 1 December 2017

Paavo Järvi a quitté l’Orchestre de Paris après six saisons parce qu’il s’engageait pour le NHK de Tokyo. Depuis, il a également obtenu l’Orchestre de la Tonhalle de Zurich, mais il reviendra certainement diriger régulièrement une formation française qu’il a su maintenir au plus haut niveau pendant son mandat, en apportant aux cordes chaleur et densité, tout en gardant finesse et transparence dans la matière globale.
Altamusic.com, Vincent Guillemin, 29 November 2017

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC – OCTOBER 2017

“The superb pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, who has played and recorded the Rachmaninoff concertos to acclaim, has made a special cause of this curious Fourth. He brought it to David Geffen Hall on Thursday to kick off his season as artist in residence with the New York Philharmonic, and gave a revelatory account of the piece with the conductor Paavo Jarvi … Mr. Andsnes’s performance was so animated and effortless that the music sounded almost lucid. Mr. Jarvi matched his exuberance right through, drawing bright, crisp playing from the orchestra … He opened his welcome return to the Philharmonic with a dazzling performance of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s overturelike “Gambit,” in its New York premiere.”
New York Times, Anthony Tommasini, 13 October 2017

“Järvi and the Philharmonic concluded the evening with Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony, and it’s evident that the New York Philharmonic horn section has never sounded better … Järvi led an exceptional performance of the symphony, highlighting the work’s dramatic, film score-like qualities and pacing the final chords with mature restraint.”
Bachtrack.com, Jacob Slattery, 14 October 2017

” Järvi captured Sibelius* unique and powerful sense of time. On top, the music flowed and expanded, it looked out at the changing world around it. Underneath, the internal foundation rotated on its axis, meditating on memories and imagination. This was deeply evocative and true to Sibelius’ art.”
New York Classical Review, George Grella, 13 October 2017

“Paavo Järvi led a finely-wrought, vibrant and well-balanced performance (of Salonen’s ‘Gambit’) … In a taut, intense reading, Andsnes and Järvi – perfectly in sync – relentlessly drove the music (in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no. 4) to a stupendous climax, energy and tension maintained to the end.”
Classicalsource.com, Lewis M Smoley, 13 October 2017

PÄRNU MUSIC FESTIVAL & ESTONIAN FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA NORDIC TOUR

“A very special lure on the Baltic Sea Festival’s progamme was the young teenage Dmitri Shostakovich’s first symphony from 1925, and it also became Paavo Järvi’s real triumph. Here was a young, hungry orchestra which was also very congenial; musicians who both can and will bite on the challenges which scores and conductor present them.

What a mood of Bolshevik twenty-seventeen and a self-conscious teenage genius! Here you will find spooky cabaret, spanky puppets and pointed montage within the framework of a safe and small creative orchestration. Paavo Järvi triggered his festival musicians in silent movie tempo and with perfect articulation.”
Dagens Nyheter, Camilla Lundberg, 26 August 2017

“… The Sibelius symphony (no. 2) showed an orchestra with a nerve and willingness to play all the way … the energy and cohesion to create an uncontrollable and direct symphonic world that hit right in the diaphragm.”
Politiken, Henrik Friis, 24 August 2017

“The concert of the Turku Music Festival on Saturday night became a poignant tribute. Paavo Järvi, director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra, dedicated the concert to the memory of the victims (of the previous day’s attack). The performance began with a minute’s silence, after which he conducted Jean Sibelius’s Valse Triste … Meanwhile, the performance of the 18 year old Dmitry Shostakovich’s chamber symphony was both amazing and vivid. Paavo Järvi has always had the ability to clearly outline a dense orchestral texture, but now there is more warmth and flight.”
Helsingen Sanomat, Vesa Siren, 19 August 2017

“For the first time ever Paavo Järvi has been showing other nations why the Estonian Festival Orchestra is among the world’s best – travelling to other Nordic countries after their annual gathering in Estonia’s summer capital of Pärnu, with the big bastions of Vienna and Berlin to come early next year.

“… That phenomenon of top players burning for a conductor they love and respect has been a constant at the three festivals I’ve attended … And this surely unrepeatable performance of Sibelius’s Second Symphony almost burned the house down with its incandescence … the slow movement especially more inspired and dangerously intense than I’ve ever heard it.
Theartsdesk.com, David Nice, 24 August 2017

“The concert combined Danish, Finnish and Russian music reflecting Estonia’s Geo-Political position …  The Estonian Festival Orchestra gleamed above all through the brilliant ensemble of the first violins led by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen’s concert master, Florian Donderer … With a small first outing to neibouring Turku, Copenhagen and Stockholm, the Estonian Festival Orchestra looks forward to the 100^th anniversary celebrations of Estonian Independence in January 2018 and to their first major European tour in January. And this tour will allow audiences in Vienna to hear them live for the very first time.”
Radio klassik Stephansdom, Ursula Magnes, 18 August 2017

“The rich program of the Pärnu Music Festival reflects the human concept that the conductor Paavo Järvi embodies as its guiding spirit … Under his unpretentious, collegial, always professional direction, the ensemble is thus imbued with the spirit of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra – and is already of an amazing standard.

“… Atmosphere means a lot, but first and foremost the music is fascinating .. witness how Paavo Järvi,in impeccable acoustics, first neatly drew the individual strands of Nielsen’s “Aladdin” suite together into dazzling scenes, which was followed by a small miracle: in a run-through of the first two movements of Sibelius’s Second Symphony, the brilliant clarity suddenly also gave way into an enormous emotional depth, which was not least born from the intimate string sound. The great music of the Finn, as newly born in a Pan-European spirit: a moving promise.”
Die Presse,Walter Weidringer, 18 August 2017

“What is so enchantingly charming and magical about this time forgotten place? The concentration of the musicians who gather around Paavo Järvi is the one thing. And the absolute absence of any pretention”
Die Welt, Manuel Brug, 17 August 2017

“The world-famous Järvi conducting dynasty, handpicked musicians, a modern concert hall and the historical buildings are Pärnu’s ingredients for the musical event in the so-called “summer capital of Estonia” … Musicians from all over Europe came to Pärnu to become part of a summer festival of the generations. Many of them are Estonians who work abroad. Others have been infected by their enthusiasm. And the Estonian music scene is concentrated for two weeks in the small coastal town, where the Järvi family opens a window into an ideal music world”
Deutschlandfunk Kultur,Julia Kaiser, 14 August 2017

NHK SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA EUROPEAN TOUR – BERLIN, LUXEMBOURG, PARIS, AMSTERDAM, LONDON, VIENNA & KÖLN / MARCH 2017
Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics; Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam; NHKSO Tokyo. Would you have thought of putting the Japanese orchestra in the same league as the top Europeans? I certainly wouldn’t, at least not until last night …  This was a Mahler Six in which every detail was clearly etched, every phrase flexible but firm of purpose …  One thing’s for sure: none of us will ever hear a Mahler Sixth more confidently or trenchantly executed than this one.
The Arts Desk, David Nice, 7 March 2017

The NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo surprise with a blazing virtuosity in Shostakovich. Chief conductor Paavo Järvi smuggles the Japanese into the top league … the triumph of a dream team … The strings created an ardour that connoisseurs usually ascribe to the Vienna Philharmonic. From Berlin came the bluster with which the violas probed.  Moreover, in the lion’s mouth [of the Concertgebouw] the Japanese musicians produced an Amsterdam trump card …
Der Volkskrant, Guido van Oorschot, 7 March 2017

“… And Paavo Järvi, from his clearly accentuated opening (of Mahler Symphony no.6), took his fiercely engaged orchestra with vehemence out of the comfort zone … with Järvi the work is disciplined, with fine articulation and a soft, yet structured, sound which leads us through melancholic marches and oblique Scherzi … with an intelligent sound and individual life of its own.
Brug’s Klassiker, Die Welt, Manuel Brug, 1 March 2017]

One is impressed by the extraordinary discipline of the ensemble, section by section, the dazzling reactivity to the imperious gesture of the leader … The concentration of expression, but also of the sound itself, which produces a mattness rarely heard today, where orchestras often aim for brilliance. This corresponds ideally to Järvi’s gestures of tension and biting (in Shostakovich Symphony No. 10), which brings us back to the Stalinist context of the composition … The musicians of the NHK aim for crudity and realism, and their radical spontaneity gives the impression of a young orchestra, with the mastery of experienced training. Here is an unmistakably convincing marriage …”
Diapason, Remy Louis, 7 March 2017

… as this epic work (Mahler Symphony No.6) progressed I became engrossed, first by Järvi’s unswerving emphasis on momentum … and second by the accentuation of extreme contrasts of dynamics rather than subtle variations of timbre. That may sound unsophisticated, but in the life-and-death tumult of the finale — where a flamboyant percussionist turned the two ear-splitting hammer-strokes into a new form of martial art — the direct, almost violent clash of opposites really paid off. The ending was stunningly dramatic.
The Times, Richard Morrison, 8 March 2017

This visit by Tokyo’s NHK Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor, Paavo Järvi, was a rare UK showcase for an ensemble on bristlingly good form … a swashbuckling performance.
The Guardian, Erica Jeal, 8 March 2017

… one has to be grateful to have heard a Mahler Six of such skill and integrity as this.
Bachtrack.com, Roy Westbrook, 7 March 2017

Whether refined or when becoming more angular, whatever was required, the players, with chief conductor Paavo Järvi, had every expressive phrase and nuance mastered … From the first bar (of Mahler Symphony No. 6) this performance compelled, a sense of rightness established immediately … and the long silence that followed told of musicians and audience collectively caught up in something special.
Classicalsource.com, Colin Anderson, 6 March 2017

(Takemitsu’s Requiem) requires full and unwavering concentration from the players, and the NHK strings were up to its demands … A lovely and affecting performance overall … marvellously shaped by a batonless Järvi.
SeenandHeard-International.com, Colin Clarke, 8 March 2017

“Järvi, head of the orchestra since 2015, is a noble companion and much more … With the NHK Orchestra he has a cultured, technically majestic entity of sound at his disposal, which in all sections understands how to play distinctly … The abstract poetry hovered almost like cool darkness, in order to tilt into music of anxietry of merciless density. The brutality of the second movement (of Shotstakovich Symphnoy No. 10) is completed with great conciseness. In sum, it is an unvarnished performance – with intensity and without sentiment.”
Der Standard, Ljubisa Tosic, 9 March 2017

The orchestra climbs whole mountain ranges at the summit (of Sibleius’ Violin Concerto) and makes the valleys between them charmingly iridescent.”
Wiener Zeitung, Christopher Irrgang, 8 March 2017

… With Shostakovich’s tenth, Järvi concentrated on drawing out the details, leading his musicians to the highest transparency and perfection.
Walter Dobner, Die Presse, 10 March 2017

DEUTSCHE KAMMERPHILHARMONIE BREMEN  – JANUARY 2017
With Brahms’s symphonic legacy the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen shows its strengths, with its small string ensemble and muscular strong sound. Whereas the silky-smooth strings sound of big symphony orchestras often lose out, here the intricate braid of voices can be heard without it being a mere structural inter-penetration. There is little trace of old-fashioned motifs, but a sharp rebellion can be heard with all the means of contrapuntal art, which makes the scherzo and finale a breathless experience …
Jürg Huber, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 27 January 2017

Järvi’s intrepretation (of Brahms’ Symphony No.1) is refined. Impressive is the transparent, clearly differentiated sound form, exhibiting the finest subtleties. Without hustle and bustle, Järvi flows dynamically forward leaving little room for pathos.
Annkathrin Babbe, Nordwest Zeitung, 21 January 2017

TONHALLE ORCHESTRA, ZURICH  – DECEMBER 2016
Paavo Järvi stepped quietly onto the podium, the musicians of the fully-filled Tonhalle orchestra shine, and even before the performance applause has completely ebbed, the 53-year-old Estonian gives the upbeat into the first movement of Robert Schumann’s “Rhenish” Symphony. With full swing he launches into the main theme which seems to fly in a great arc over the first bars … The work comes together and culminates in masterly style, gradually revealed through Järvi’s interpretation – sometimes more clearly, sometimes subliminally – by showing, for example, the contrasting interrelation, recurring accompanying figures, and the dark colors of this music. The abyss of the fourth movement, with its gravitational trombones, then becomes all the more compelling and opens up into a touching moment of the sublime. All the more convincing is the light-hearted gesture of the attacca played final: a conciliatory return to light fields.
Moritz Weber, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 18 December 2016

…  Paavo Järvi took the vivacity of the Rhenish Symphony’s first movement literally, conducting with impetus … an impulsive, heart-warming lust for life and happiness  … For me this was a solid interpretation in the best sense of the word.
Rolf Kyburz, Bachtrack.com, 17 December 2016

PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA, LONDON – NOVEMBER 2016
Nielsen Symphony No. 2 “The Four Temperaments”
Absolute precision, full-bodied sound, a lethal punch — this sterling performance rejoiced in them all, right from the turbulent opening bars … Sharpness of character was the special glory of Järvi’s tour around the temperaments. The Phlegmatic movement hovered in his hands with delicious sluggishness. Impetuous anger raced through the Choleric opening allegro, the mirror of the introspective Melancholic adagio. Shoulder movements reached their height in the Sanguine finale’s reckless high spirits, punctured towards the end with slow and sad reminiscences, beautifully engineered.
Geoff Brown, The Times 15 November 2016

The latest concert in the Discover Carl Nielsen series curated by Paavo Järvi and the Philharmonia Orchestra captivated the ear with music that was strikingly original, magisterial and downright quirky … With Nielsen as good as this I look forward to the next instalment of the Discover Carl Nielsen series.
David Truslove, Backtrack.com, 16 November 2016

Paavo Järvi’s great appreciation of Nielsen was manifest in ‘The Four Temperaments’ …
[Anthony Hodgson, Classicalsource.com, 10 November 2016

Järvi’s expressive approach to the melancholy Andantino was a masterpiece of eloquent phrasing … and this contemplative reading of so serious a movement made a suitable contrast with the wild Finale …

STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN – NOVEMBER 2016
The second of the Staatskapelle Berlin’s subscription programmes of the season was memorable in many ways. Primarily this was for a towering account of Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony, whose long course from ironic semi-darkness to ambiguous light was charted with complete control by Paavo Järvi … In fact, Järvi is probably just the sort of conductor you want in this work if it’s not to spiral out of control … Against a controlled background, the big moments, such as the grand Mahlerian outburst in the Adagio, registered with especial power. The gradual build-up to the finale’s concluding climax was irresistible, too, while the transparency of the Staatskapelle’s playing helped elucidate the work’s symphonic logic … it’s difficult to imagine a more musical account of this great symphonic edifice.
Hugo Shirley, Bachtrack.com, 8 November 2016

And the Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi? He makes the Staatskapelle Berlin sound completely different. His Beethoven sounds like mature Mozart rather than late Brahms. It is historically informed and confidently tailored to the traditional symphony orchestra. It is a Beethoven with vibrato-less strings and earthy winds, a Beethoven of high transparency and attractive expressivity.

… Paavo Järvi’s interpretation (of Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony) can now be regarded as a counter-proof … It is astonishing how long Järvi manages to spin out the main theme in all its beauty and balance – which makes the mood more violent in its warlike madness. Still more surprising, however, with what self-conviction he can demand the musical tension and surrender of the musicians in the other movements.
Felix Stephan, Der Morgenpost, 9 November 2016]

MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL, NEW YORK – AUGUST 2016
At the close of Friday night’s Mostly Mozart concert in Geffen Hall, Paavo Järvi and the Festival Orchestra brought down the house with Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony—and how many times do you get to say that of anyone these days? … And let’s not waste words about the performance: it was magnificent in virtually every way. Järvi is musical down to his toes, and watching him work is almost as much fun as hearing the result.
Christopher Johnson, Huffington Post

PÄRNU MUSIC FESTIVAL 2016
With the Pärnu Music Festival Paavo Järvi creates competition for Europe … This is highly concentrated music making (from the Estonian Festival Orchestra), all the details are worked out: the ping pong of accents between violins and horns, antiphons between the woodwind groups, targeted focus curves in the second violins. Nothing is sweeping, nothing sleepy and nothing washed away.
Jan Brachmann, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Pärnu: What many festivals dream of achieving is self-evident here… The central mentors are Neeme and Paavo Järvi, father and son. The Järvi Academy offers conducting masterclasses to students from around the world and the Estonian Festival Orchestra, a new first class ensemble, brings together professional musicians from the whole of Europe and top players from Estonia, creating a musical entity which was received with standing ovations for their performances of Sibelius, Nielsen and Shostakovich: pure astonishment for this extraordinary collective music making … in an atmosphere of fun, openness and curiosity.
Ursula Magnes, Klassik Radio

Where would you go to hear the most electrifying and collegial orchestral playing in the world? It used to be Lucerne while Claudio Abbado was alive. Now that the Lucerne Festival Orchestra has become like any classy superband, the answer is Pärnu in the south of Estonia. … The jewel in the Pärnu festival crown is the heady mix of top western and Estonian players in what after five years has now become the Estonian Festival Orchestra … I have never, anywhere, heard an orchestral unison that bore through the body like this one at the start (of Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony). Climaxes raised the roof, but precisely; the maverick structure whereby two far from light scherzos follow one long slow movement struck home.
David Nice, The Arts Desk

Paavo Järvi is swiftly bringing the Festival Orchestra into great shape, conducting Haydn with eloquent temperament and Shostakovich with burning intensity; the fabulous orchestra is seated on the edge of their seats and spreads infectious enthusiasm … In Pärnu, the special charm of the festival’s musical intoxication is the co-existence of international top-class and young musicians, from the unpretentious approachability of the stars and the enthusiastic echo it creates, which is felt in both the concerts and open rehearsals …”
Regine Müller, Rheinische Post