STAATSKAPELLE BERLIN – NOVEMBER 2014
“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 exceptionally 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 feather-lightly performed, with such noble, almost tender restraint like one hardly ever hears from this powerful ensemble … 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.” Clemens Haustein, Berliner Zeitung, 19 November 2014
How does he do it? Paavo Järvi is Chief Conductor of the Orchestre de Paris and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and, from 2015, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo additionally. In the meantime, he has even been Music Director of four symphonic ensembles simultaneously. And of course, the 51-year-old Estonian gives guest performances with the top orchestras around the world, as he does now with the Berlin Staatskapelle. This vast creative output can only be achieved with iron discipline – and an unshakeable self-confidence. In the sold-out Philharmonie Järvi is showing off his maximum effective conducting style which is both elegant and effective
Frederik Hanssen, Der Tagespiegel, 18 Novemer 2014
… The Estonian star of the podium springs and dances, reigns back and carries the music. This is a Schumann, which wants to completely convince you. A Schumann, which does not allow the seated audience to brood on details – because Järvi has already thought about everything. The audience can enthusiastically enjoy. Felix Stephan, Berliner Morgenpost, 19 November 2014