PRESS QUOTES
TONHALLE ORCHESTER-ZÜRICH
November 2022
Bruckner Symphony No. 6
“Järvi remains true to his approach … the music does not rest in itself like architecture made sound, nor is there any trace of religious consecration; rather, everything pushes forward powerfully, and so it is precisely here, in the ceaselessly pulsating rhythms of the Sixth, that a gripping dynamic develops. This is as distinguished as it is contentious, for this style stands in contrast to the still predominant Bruckner tradition from the 19th and 20th centuries, in which his symphonies are often exaggerated into monumental cathedrals of sound. Järvi avoids the weight of meaning; instead, he focuses on vividly developed details and, not least through his flowing tempi, achieves a rarely heard clarity of form.”
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Christian Wildhagen, 29 October 2022
DEUTSCHE KAMMERPHILHARMONIE BREMEN
October 2022
Haydn: Symphony No. 96
Beethoven :Piano Concerto No. 3
Soloist: Lang Lang
Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2
“… From the precisely spotted playfulness to the great dynamic outbursts, everything is gripping to experience here (Haydn Symphony No. 96) and conductor Paavo Järvi knows how to fill every note with meaning with his sense of dramatic moments, but also with wit. A rarely experienced closeness between conductor and orchestra, which then produces such magnificent musical blossoms.”
Nordwest Zeitung, Volkmar Stickan, 11 October 2022
“This first of Haydn’s great London symphonies comes with a historically sharp sound, lively and original, with a festive shine and delicate charm. At the same time, the spirit of Sturm und Drang, self-confidently triumphant …”
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Anke Demirsoy, 11 October 2022
”The Haydn sounded pithy, the rapid whispering of the strings in the finale was perfect. And in the Brahms symphony, after their speed recorded album of 2019, the Bremen musicians had taken out the pace, but not the explosive fire.”
Ruhr Nachrichten, Julia Gass 10 October 2022
TONHALLE ORCHESTER-ZÜRICH
SEASON OPENING
September 2022
Toshio Hosokawa: Ceremony
Soloist: Emmanuel Pahud
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
“The 154th Tonhalle Orchestra season opened with this splendid concert … A great start to what promises to be a great season.“
Seen and Heard International, John Rhodes, 16 September 2022
“Toshio Hosokawa’s Ceremony, dedicated to and premiered by celebrated flautist Emmanuel Pahud, is a work as enigmatic as it is demanding … While a high marker for a five-part work, Pahud and the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich rose to meet it with terrific dynamism in this season opener.”
Bachtrack.com, Sarah Batschelet, 15 September 2022
“What a memorable start (to the season)! … The overall clarity of the performance (Bruckner Symphony No. 8) – exemplified in the Scherzo, which was taken a little more fluidly than usual – have a compelling effect. All the more so as Järvi then gives space in the far-reaching Adagio to an elegiac enthusiasm and singing that seems to have fallen out of time.”
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Christian Wildhagen, 16 September 2022
PÄRNU MUSIC FESTIVAL
Estonian Festival Orchestra
July 2022
“… performances of colossal energy, passion and astounding orchestral playing. Paavo has created an ensemble to make Estonia pround.”
Gramophone, James Jolly, September 2022
”Sometimes it is the quality of the playing that bowls you over from the start. There are of course top-drawer orchestras all over the world, but hearing the Estonian Festival Orchestra at the Pärnu Festival for the first time was like finding a sparkling jewel in the most unexpected place. Drawn from the cream of European players, Paavo Järvi has created in the EFO an ensemble which is not only astonishingly flexible but which also has a depth of tonal resources not often matched elsewhere.“
Bachtrack.com, Alexander Hall, 17 July 2022
”The festival orchestra composed of top musicians brought together from the Järvi circle, exudes the joyful power that once distinguished the Lucerne Festival Orchestra: an immense will to show the conductor and the audience that you are world class.“
Scheiz am Sonntag, Christian Berzins, 6 August 2022
“… dramatic, passionate, painful, deeply touching the human heart, but not depressing. In the symphony (Tchaikovsky’s 5th), Järvi emphasizes dance-like lightness and raggedness, endless chant and sweet melancholy.“
Klasikaplus (Czech Radio), Alena Sojková, 7 September 2022
”For the epic, world-embracing final gambit, Paavo Järvi championed Sibelius’s early Lemminkäinen Suite … The adventures of the erotomanic hero of the Kalevala in a Tristanesque drama of love and death sounded so vivid, as individual a masterpiece as Sibelius ever penned; and the ppp(pp) mythic ghost of eight-part violins at the heart of what this time sounded like the most extraordinary movement, “Lemminkäinen in Tuonela”, was what the players call a “Paavo moment” … “
The Arts Desk, David Nice, 27 July 2022
BERLIN PHILHARMONIC
MAY 2022
Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Tüür: Flute Concerto (world première)
Soloist: Emmanuel Pahud
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
”A world premiere makes any concert a special occasion and this commission by the Berliner Philharmoniker to the Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür proved the point. His Concerto for Flute and Orchestra dedicated to, and performed by, their principal flautist Emmanuel Pahud, proved to be the highlight of this evening. The sophisticated, upbeat programme was akin to a three-course gourmet meal with Sibelius’ Symphony no. 7 in C major to start, Tüür as a hearty main dish, and Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony as a scrumptious dessert.“
Bachtrack.com, Zenaida des Aubris, 29 May 2022
DEUTSCHE KAMMERPHILHARMONIE BREMEN
ELPHILHARMONIE HAMBURG & KONZERTHAUS WIEN RESIDENCIES
October 2021
Haydn: London Symphonies Nos. 94, 99 and 105
At the concert of Paavo Järvi and his Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen with three late Haydn symphonies on Sunday in the Elbphilharmonie, one was a little reminded of the orchestra’s overwhelming Beethoven project a good decade ago. With Beethoven, too, the Kammerphilharmonie had set in motion a completely new dynamic in the interpretation of classical symphonies.
Haydn in particular has to be played as vividly as possible, and deliberately sometimes quite unconventionally, so that the hidden wit of his symphonies comes to the fore. And Paavo Järvi, Artistic Director of the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen for almost two decades, and his orchestra are true masters at this
Hamburger Abendblatt, Helmut Peters, 18 October 2021
The consummate work of Artistic Director Järvi and his joyful orchestra brings out the musical motifs with awe and at the same time irresistible wit … Thus the originality of Haydn’s late symphonies numbers 94, 99 and his final number 104 unfold in all their sophistication, elegance and virtuosity … An evening full of visual and acoustic stimuli that meet Viennese demands and are greeted with bravos and long applause.
Wiener Zeitung, 19 October 2021
Järvi and his musicians have a particular penchant for this – and showed it not only, but also in the minuets, which have long since left the courtly parquet in favour of the bourgeois dance floor. But already in the first movement of the “Paukenschlag-Symphonie” there was a delicious Hmtata, in the underestimated number 99 the soloistic somersaults of the wind instruments (with clarinets!) were a delight in the finale. And in the final number 104, everything came to the fore once again: Seriousness and grandeur, bouncy rhythms at brisk but not frantic tempi, baroque austerity, contrapuntal art, exuberant joy in playing.
Die Presse, Walter Weideringer, 20 October 2021