Following last week’s performance at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, the Huffington Post must have written what is every artist’s dream review:

“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? You might think that everything that could be done with this piece had already been done a thousand times over, but you would be wrong.

“Without reaching or pulling anything out of shape, Järvi took a piece that’s usually programmed as a familiar makeweight and clattered through in a quaintly calisthenic manner (“Well, it’s not the Fifth, you know.”), and played it as if it were bran-new, fresh as paint, and thrillingly important. Tempi were perfectly judged: a rocket-ride of a first movement, erupting out of a truly mysterious introduction; a real, singing Adagio, with heart-stopping rubato; a zingy scherzo-menuet, torquing down perfectly to a floaty, sly trio; and a lightning-quick, hilarious finale with a mock-breakdown just before the end that got a spontaneous Chris Matthews-style shout of laughter from somewhere audience-left. (If Järvi ever gets tired of the conducting game, he’s got a great career as a comedian ahead of him.) Counterpoint was brought to the fore and brilliantly played. The syncopations in the first and third movements—usually slammed so hard that they confuse the beat rather than pointing it—were perfectly controlled, played for wit and winkingly varied each time around. And you could hear where this piece sat in its time, combining Haydn’s punch and vigor with Mozart’s dash and sheen, while opening a door not only to many of Beethoven’s most important later developments, but to Schubert and Rossini as well.

“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. The Festival Orchestra, which is on a roll this year, played beautifully, even for them. It is hard to believe that a group so cohesive, so attuned within itself, so united in its ensemble and so eloquent in its expression, only works together for—what?—six weeks out of the year. Järvi gave out solo and sectional bows all around, and the orchestra, which plainly adores him, insisted that he take one, too—and a good long one, at that. Richly deserved. Bravo, one and all.”

theartsdesk.com: 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.

It’s a modest town of nearly 40,000 inhabitants, but its numbers treble in the summer, with visitors flocking to the eight-mile, south-facing white sand beach and the wooden villas in beautiful parkland (David Oistrakh and Shostakovich travelled westwards to Pärnu for their summer holidays). It also boasts a 900-seater concert hall, its 2002 inauguration having much to do with the championship of Estonia’s musical royal family, the Järvis.

… 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. Is the Lucerne parallel far-fetched? Not when you consider the calibre of the instrumentalists … This is a string sound you’d go a long way to find …

Yet the highlight and denouement was always going to be Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony … I have never, anywhere, heard an orchestral unison that bore through the body like this one at the start. Climaxes raised the roof, but precisely; the maverick structure whereby two far from light scherzos follow one long slow movement struck home.

Read David Nice’s full review at theartsdesk.com

WATCH: PAAVO JÄRVI – ESTONIA’S “LUCKY MAN”  &  MASTER CLASS AT THE JÄRVI ACADEMY

“Being by the shores of the Baltic Sea is special in itself … Such delights are brought together each summer in Pärnu, Estonia’s cultural capital. Thanks to its music festival created in 2010 by its famous conductor Paavo Järvi together with his family; different generations united by the same passion. Pärnu has always been a crossroads for artists and musicians; a renowned seaside resort in the past, today back to its former glory, it boasts picturesque dachas and listed sights, such as the Ammende Villa, a Liberty building where “Musica” had the chance to meet Paavo Järvi.”

Reviewing the Pärnu Music Festival which ended with standing ovations on Sunday night,  the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes today “With the Pärnu Music Festival Paavo Järvi creates competiton for Europe and, from 2017, he will start to export a part of it. This is bound to cause a stir on the European festival scene.”

The festival, which Paavo Järvi created six years ago in the idyllic old fashioned seaside resort of Pärnu on the Baltic Sea, is quickly drawing the attention of journalists overseas. The BBC Music Magazine wrote “Pärnu, Estonia’s summer capital, is tucked within a huge natural harbour on the Baltic country’s southern coast. Mysteriously unknown to British holiday-makers but a firm favourite with the Finns (and, once upon a time, violinist David Oistrakh and composer Dmitri Shostakovich), the city boasts pristine white beaches with a gloriously safe, swimmable patch of sea, a delightful mix of old and new architecture, lush wooded spaces, superb restaurants and more spas than you could shake a stick at. Oh, and a truly wonderful music festival that’s starting at last to make a name for itself outside Estonia.”

For Paavo, the Pärnu Music Festival is not just another festival. Having emigrated with his family aged 18 to the States, it is the chance to return to his roots, to showcase the culture and beauty of his country and to nurture the next generation of musicians.  And it is here that he has created the Estonian Festival Orchestra, uniting the best of Estonian musicians with colleagues from around the world which, according to The Arts Desk “… begs comparison with the elasticity of Abbado’s concerts with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which is as good as it can get.” The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung adds “Järvi could go into open competition with Lucerne and Verbier”.

The next Pärnu Music Festival will take place in August 2017 and will be followed by Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra’s first performances abroad at festivals around the Baltic coast. In 2018 – the year in which Estonia celebrates 100 years of independence – the Estonian Festival Orchestra will spread it’s wings yet further with performances across Europe.

Photo: Kaupo Kikkas

As the 2015 / 16 concert season draws to an end so does Paavo Järvi’s highly successful tenure as Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, a position he has held since 2010/11. His final concert in the Philharmonie will be on 18th June when he conducts Mahler Symphony no.3 featuring Michelle de Young as soloist.

The orchestra has just returned from a Swiss tour, taking in Geneva, Zurich, Lucerne and Bern, and other highlights of the past season include a hugely successful European tour in November 2015 which received the following reviews:

“It’s Paavo Järvi’s last season as chief conductor of the Orchestre de Paris and on Saturday they performed together at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Taking this performance as a yardstick, these five years together must have been a very fruitful collaboration: one rarely experiences such an immediate connection between orchestra and conductor, such an extraordinarily attentive presence on both sides so that with economical means an understanding of the most subtle shades is possible.”

Last week Paavo Järvi had the honour of conducting the Czech Philharmonic in the inaugral concert of the 71st International Prague Spring Festival and tonight he returns to the stage at the Royal Festival Hall to continue his ongoing Nielsen Symphony Cycle with the Philharmonia in London.

Tonight’s programme, which features both the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto and Symphony No.3, follows the recent CD release of the complete Nielsen Symphony Cycle which Paavo recorded with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra. Receiving international critical acclaim, RBB Radio (Germany) commented on the cycle: “With his Estonian musical family roots he has sucked the sound and thought world of the Baltic Seas as if, so to speak, it is his mother’s milk”, Pizzicato (Luxembourg) wrote “The refined and transparent orchestral playing make these vivid and colourful performances truly gripping” and Quobuz (France) concluded “Paavo Järvi captures all the malicious nature of the work of the Danes, and gives a performance which is both incredible and full of musical relevance, constantly exciting.”

Paavo Järvi’s recording of the Elgar and Walton cello concertos with Steven Isserlis and the Philharmonia has been chosen as Gramophone’s Recording of the Month by Gramophone Magazine.

“… With his immaculate technical address and ravishingly songful, mellow tone, (Steven) Isserlis strikes precisely the right balance between classical strength and private introspection, his contribution as full of radiant spontaneity and tumbling fantasy as one could wish.

“He is also blessed in having such a scrupulously attentive partner as Paavo Järvi, who procures playing of the very highest quality from the Philharmonia. Tempi throughout are uniformly well judged. The first movement ideally combines suppleness and purpose, leading into a quicksilver scherzo that eschews any suggestion of hectic flashiness. To the glorious slow movement Isserlis and Järvi bring an unexaggerated depth of feeling, tenderness of expression and simple flow … The finale, too, is splendid.

“The Walton concerto likewise finds these sympathetic artists at the top of their game … Is this newcomer possibly the finest yet? I’m inclined to think so. After a sultry and intoxicatingly poised opening movement, the central scherzo fairly crackles with wit and ear-pricking detail … An unmissable release.”

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“Järvi represents the role of a sovereign trustee for the art of Carl Nielsen in this symphonic cosmos” writes Der Opernfreund’s in its review of Paavo Järvi’s new Nielsen cycle with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra . Four years in the making and released at the close of the 150th anniversary of Nielsen’s birth, further reviews from Germany follow suit in their praise:

“Paavo Järvi has just released a new recording with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and it has almost become an “historical” high point. With his Estonian musical family roots he has sucked the sound and thought world of the Baltic Seas as if, so to speak, it is his mother’s milk. What especially distinguishes the recording: A quasi natural empathy with the erratic, sometimes almost childish naitivty, but always built on a masterful craft and understanding of Nielsen … Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra engage so enthusiastically and selectively in this universe, that you can sit back and trust their leadership.

Udo Badelt, Kulturradio RBB, (Germany)

“The merit with Paavo Järvi is to be able to sit back as a listener and appreciate the natural spectacle of instrumental sounds, going between restful and contrapuntal rigour … Järvi’s approach and understanding of these works, written between 1891 to 1916, clearly allows the linear structures to emerge, nothing must remain on the surface … We experience a culinary luxurious sound …”

Dr. Ingobert Wahba, Der Neue Merkur (Germany)

Deutschlandradio Kultur has chosen the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as “Orchestra of the year” citing it as “one of the world’s leading orchestras. Since 2004 its Artistic Director has been the Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi. Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen have had actively widely acclaimed successes with, among other things, their Beethoven project which has included worldwide tours, CD and DVD recordings. Currently, the orchestra is dedicated to the symphonic works of Johannes Brahms. For their cultural and musical outreach work the orchestra has already received several awards … In the following months Deutschlandradio Kultur will follow the orchestra, broadcasting concerts and introducing special artistic collaborations.”

Read more on deutchlandradio.de

Paavo Järvi’s recording of the Prokofiev and Shostakovich cello concertos with Steven Isserlis and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra has been nominated in the concerto category for the 2016 BBC Music Magazine Awards:

“Out of over 1,200 recordings reviewed in the magazine during 2015, 21 have been deemed the very finest by our specially assembled jury of critics and magazine editorial staff … Now we need you to help us choose the ultimate winners, and you can do just that by heading to awards.classical-music.com, listening to the excerpts and voting for your favourites (voting closes on 19 February). Everyone who votes will be able to enter a prize draw to win one of two copies of each and every nominated recording. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on 5 April at Kings Place, and in the May issue of BBC Music Magazine.”

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