Paavo Järvi and the Orchestre de Paris only had access to rehearse in the hall two days’ prior to the opening concert and Jean Nouvel controversially boycotted the event as building work both inside and out is far from complete. Yet despite all the debates, politics and on-going construction work, Paris’ new Philharmonie opened last night to huge success as the first reviews testify:

“What matters most, though, is the concert hall. And from first impressions it seems acoustically marvelous … On Wednesday, in its orchestra-concert configuration, the acoustics were enveloping in the best sense. You never felt swamped with orchestral bigness and brashness; though reverberant, the sound had detail and clarity …”

“… After intermission Mr. Jarvi conducted the premiere of a formidable 30-minute work: Thierry Escaich’s Concerto for Orchestra. The piece begins with primordial low rumblings that provoke the percussion to break into skittish fits. This episodic, vividly scored, gritty piece goes through lurching digressions, by turns combative, reflective and exploratory.”

“The program concluded with Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé,” Suite No. 2, in which the chorus took part. Ravel’s glittering, sensual, voluptuous music is a good show-and-tell project for a new hall. Mr. Jarvi tamped down the cinematic opulence of the music, letting arcs crest and subside. During some passages heavy brass playing covered the chorus. Still, the sound overall was dark, palpable and balanced.”

New York Times

“But the €390m question is: what does the hall sound like? …  In short: pretty stunning. I can’t remember a new hall sounding this good or this characterful at its opening, despite the fine-tuning that will no doubt happen over the coming weeks. There is a combination of dazzling clarity and generous depth in the sound that makes the whole range of orchestral possibility feel like a vivid physical presence, from the ethereal delicacies of the all-French programme – the magical flute solo in the Second Suite from Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé, or the intimate piano solo at the start of the slow movement of Ravel’s G major Concerto, played by Hélène Grimaud – to the huge tuttis, like the end of Daphnis, brilliantly realised by Järvi, or even the noisy note-spinning of the evening’s world premiere, Thierry Escaich’s Concerto for Orchestra. If the other 2,399 seats are as good as the one I was sitting in, I think that the Philharmonie could be one of the most dynamic and exciting places to hear orchestral music in the world – as well as the most fun simply to sit in, thanks to the combination of intimacy and imagination of the interior.”

The Guardian

“… this concert confirmed our first impressions. A warm acoustic, whose beautiful reverb does not harm the legibility of the music … Certain balances will of course be worked on … Meanwhile, what a joy to hear a powerful orchestral tutti resonate without lower saturation and with the comfortable feeling of space.”

 Le Monde

“Happiness was confirmed upon entering the hall. After the towering, angular outer edge and a passage through a rough concrete hall, the interior lives like a cocoon of softness. Clean and caressing curves and a welcoming beauty. It is both at once grand and intimate. From the first notes, the bright sound gives the evidence required with Paavo Järvi and the Orchestre de Paris, the main resident ensemble, giving a 100% French programme … A very promising first impression.”

Le Temps

“The concert starts with humor: Edgard Varèse’s “Tuning Up” …  First observation: the sound is extemely powerful. The crescendo that ends the piece shakes the spine: and the excitement builds for the 2400 spectators. Renaud Capuçon steps onstage to play Henri Dutilleux’s ” Sur le même accord,” for violin and orchestra. The demonstration is made: the powerful sound is also respectful of the solo voice. This popular French violinist offers a deep commitment, a sweet tone and beautiful unity with the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Paavo Järvi. In this hall with its undulating forms,  sound seems to descend like a bird that whirls on stage. And soaring is the theme of this construction which is second to none …”

Le Parisien

“What will work here? Actually quite a lot, because the clarity and balance allows both large and small scale. On a practical level, when it’s actually ready (months off from what I could see, I was really astounded by the lack of finish throughout), if they can stop the stalls seats from wobbling, if they can get rid of the excruciating background hum that I could hear in every silence, when it’s staffed by ushers who all know the answers to our questions, when the storm over the Salle Pleyel has died down – and it will – then this will be one of Europe’s best halls. And so in the end this is nothing but a cause for celebration, a bold enterprise in an age noted more for anxiety and doubt than confidence and self-assurance.”

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The inaugural concert was attended by President. Francois Hollande, who gave a moving speech following last week’s tragedies in France whilst, prior to the opening, Paavo Järvi announced  that the first week of concerts would be a tribute to the victims of those attacks.

The long awaited new concert hall in Paris, designed by award winning French architect Jean Nouvel, opens on 14 January with three inaugural concerts performed by the Orchestre de Paris and conducted by Paavo Järvi.

Following neither the ‘shoebox’ style (as at the Musikverein in Vienna), nor the ‘vineyard’ style (as at the Berlin Philharmonie), the Philharmonie de Paris invents a model all its own, with an adjustable concert hall based on the concept of envelopment. This original design required innovations in architecture, stage design and acoustical engineering. Though a high-capacity hall (2400 seats), the Philharmonie auditorium feels remarkably intimate. But this feeling can be mathematically explained: the distance between the conductor and the farthest spectator is only 32 metres (compared to 48 metres at the Salle Pleyel). ‘Evocative of immaterial, draped sheets of music and light, the hall suspends the listeners-spectators in space, on long balconies… This suspension creates the impression of being immersed in music and light’, explains the architect, Jean Nouvel.

Visit the official website of the Philharmonie de Paris

This recording is the first in a series featuring the Orchestre de Paris and its Music Director Paavo Järvi. The programme offers three works by the late, lamented Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013), widely considered the most important French composer of the second half of the 20th century: Sur le même accord ‘Nocturne for violin and orchestra’, with violinist Christian Tetzlaff, the Symphony No.1 and Métaboles. The release coincides with the inauguration of the Philharmonie de Paris in January 2015, when Järvi and the Orchestra will perform the gala opening concerts.

Paavo Järvi recently conducted the Staatskapelle Berlin, receiving a glowing review from the Berliner Zeitung. He returns in May to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic in three concerts concerts featuring Schumann’s Overture, Scherzo and Finale in E Major, Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 in G minor and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1 in F minor. The soloist is Yuja Wang.

“It really is a bit odd that Paavo Järvi’s name hasn’t been taken up at all in connection to Simon Rattle’s successor at the Philharmonic. The conductor has, until now, seldom appeared as a guest conductor with the orchestra and only as recently as two years ago was he re-invited to perform with them after a long gap. Perhaps Järvi comes across as too unpretentious, too musical; possibly because everything seems a little bit too easy to him. He sparks the public with reliable enthusiasm; and he has an extremely wide repertoire from almost all eras, which he serves with exceptionally good taste.”

“This is what was experienced at Monday’s wonderful concert in the Philharmonie with the Staatskapelle. Järvi’s clarity and the orchestra’s silkily soft sound – these complemented the evening beautifully … Mozart’s G Major Piano Concerto (with Maria Joao Pires as soloist) feather-lightly performed, with such noble, almost tender restraint like one hardly ever hears from this powerful ensemble … Opening the concert was Olivier Messiaens’ early orchestral work “Le Tombeau resplendissant” which the composer wrote in memory of the early death of his mother. A work, with which the conductor Paavo Järvi could prepare the Staatskapelle for what followed: the gentleness of the mystically glowing passages which recurred in the piano concerto and the uncharacteristically rough opening of the Messiaen which lead to Schumann’s Spring Symphony after the interval.

“In recent years Järvi has extensively worked on the Schumann Symphonies which he performed as a cycle with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, of which he has been the director for 10 years: this familiarity with the score is felt in every note. Järvi conducts this first symphony resolutely as a work of joyous abandon. Hefty dialogues between the string groups, a lost dream in the slow movement, slapstick humour in the finale– with Paavo Järvi it all sounds so vibrant and colourful, that one looks back on September’s parlous Schumann – Brahms cycle and thinks: I would also really like to hear this with the Philharmonic.”

http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/concerts/calendar/details/20432/ – highlight=PAAVO+JÄRVI

Paavo Järvi has been Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen since 2004 and, celebrating their 10^th anniversary, they have just returned from a triumphant tour in Asia with concerts across Korea and Japan.

Following their recent success performing and recording the complete cycle of symphonies by Beethoven and Schumann, this tour was dedicated to Brahms and concluded with four sold out performances at the Tokyo Opera City Hall featuring all four Brahms’ symphonies, as well as both piano concertos, the violin concerto, the violin and cello concerto and incidental music. Järvi and the ensemble will record their first Brahms’ disc for Sony in 2015 for release in 2016.

The Korean Times wrote:

“This performance marked the fifth by Järvi and the Bremen German Chamber Philharmonic in Korea but it was nonetheless staggering. Though many regard the music of German composer Johannes Brahms to be stately and imposing, Järvi’s interpretation was quicker, lighter and more lyrical”

On 29 November the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen was awarded the Würth Prize for Corporate Social Responsibility and the “outstanding regional and youth projects which it has intiatied.” The commitment of the orchestral members was recognized for their ” vibrant introductions to musical life with a future”.

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