In defense of leisurely pacing

“The 34-year-old conductor from Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin led this piece beautifully at last week’s Philadelphia Orchestra concerts. He took the opening (Franck’s Symphony) slowly and gently and let the music unfold with nuance and expressiveness. The Philadelphians sounded at their considerable best with rich lower strings, lower woodwinds and brass set off against frequent soft plucking by the violins.”

“The pacing was relaxed but never lost momentum, and the climaxes rang out dramatically. “

“The pacing of that classic (Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1) was, again, leisurely, but it never dragged. I found it to be quite engaging, as was Angelich’s calm, untheatrical persona at the keyboard.”

“Orion (from Vivier) was fun, with some jazz influence ... and exotic percussion effects.”

Making others look good. Nézet-Séguin stands out by standing back

“Yannick's Schumann takes flight.”

«  L’orchestre, sous la direction du jeune chef canadien Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a réussi dès le premier mouvement à mettre en valeur de façon spécialement claire les voix thématiques secondaires. »

« Des cris de joie et de triomphe les ont acclamés: l’Orchestre de Chambre d’Europe et le jeune chef d’orchestre Yannick Nézet-Séguin ont enthousiasmé le public de Bâle de même que la violoniste Lisa Batiashvili.»

 « Rarement a-t-on entendu du Haydn aussi voluptueux, avec des sonorités à leur meilleur. Nézet-Séguin ne met pas l’accent sur le côté léger et humoristique de Haydn, comme plusieurs le font, mais il fait ressortir ses abîmes harmoniques. Et l’on a pu le constater également dans certains passages de Beethoven, qui fut l’ancien élève de Haydn. »

Le phénomène Yannick-Nézet Seguin

“ Dirigeant le Chamber Orchestra of Europe, le jeune et bouillant chef québécois s'exprimait dans un répertoire germanique dont il excelle à renouveler l'approche ”.
“ Après sa mémorable interprétation de la huitième symphonie de Bruckner à la tête de l'Orchestre du Capitole, le 5 avril 2007 dans cette même Halle-aux-Grains, comment ne pas admirer le grand pouvoir d’adaptation au répertoire de Yannick Nézet-Séguin. ”

“ Ainsi jouée, la dernière symphonie de Haydn, la n° 104 titrée “ Londres ”, rayonne d’une joie et d’une énergie pétillantes comme du champagne. ”

“ Le chef déploie une palette de phrasés d'une incroyable richesse. ”

“ Rien n’est laissé au hasard. L'orchestre suit sa direction (sans baguette ni partition !) avec une admirable précision et un sens étonnant du jeu collectif. Mobilité, légèreté, grâce, équilibre bien dosé des pupitres. Contrairement à ce qu'une vision 'romantique' avait établi, les cordes ne dominent plus de leur tapis confortable les interventions savoureuses des bois et des cuivres. Un vrai bonheur. ”

“ Dans le concerto pour violon et orchestre de Beethoven, l'orchestre conserve le même dynamisme et la même transparence. Il entoure d'un cocon coloré et fruité le jeu somptueux de la jeune et belle violoniste Lisa Batiashvili. ”

“ Yannick Nézet-Séguin y insuffle (Symphonie 'Reformation' de Mendelssohn) encore cette vitalité qui caractérise sa direction. Les bouffées d’énergie sont canalisées avec rigueur. ”

“ Contrastes et nuances animent le discours. Jusqu'au choral final, l'oeuvre coule comme un fleuve vers son embouchure. Du grand art ! ”

“Nezet-Seguin has obviously studied the symphony intensely and has thought long and hard about a range of complex interpretative matters. He has also built a rare relationship/rapport with the LPO and has thoroughly rehearsed them.”

“There was grandeur, gravitas and drama here which never degenerated into grandiosity.”

“The huge build up in the first movement to the mid-movement climax, ... was managed with an absolutely rock-like ( should I say Klemperer-like?) hold on the ground bass rhythm”

“The wonderful sustainedly intense sotto voce passage which follows this climax ... was managed with a clarity I have rarely heard.”

“Previously I thought only the Vienna Philharmonic could deliver such Austrian passages authentically, but tonight Nezet-Seguin drew playing from the LPO (especially the string sections) which sounded equally at home!”

“A broad,solemn adagio which has a forward and trenchant momentum.”

“The beautiful, gradually descending coda was superbly moulded and sustained, with a particularly memorable quasi horn cadenza.”

“From the whole progression of the opening urgent rhythmic bass figures in C minor, to the blazing C major coda peroration of all preceding motives, the finale was a triumph. Nezet-Seguin managed a basic structural line throughout. But also he managed to interpolate into this line sequences of varying dynamic and harmonic contrast. Nothing sounded static or marmorial. Bruckner’s invention here (some would say over-invention) was superbly moulded into the whole.”

“In this performance I could totally empathise with the great American novelist William Gaddis's characterisation of this coda as '...rising to the heavens...' More than most conductors, Nezet-Seguin emphasised the sheer range of orchestral textures in Bruckner's score.”

“In this performance of the Eighth Symphony, in the Haas edition, Nézet-Séguin presided over an interpretation which was notable for its long-breathed, patient exposition, steady tempos and structural coherence. The Adagio alone lasted over 29 minutes. Another distinctive feature was the rich, almost saturated sound that Nézet-Séguin drew from the orchestra, not to mention the ethereally beautiful string sonorities of the Adagio's coda.”

“The conductor was Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who pulled off the impressive feat of conducting this immense piece from memory. Perhaps it was the freedom this gave him to think in the long-term that made his shaping of Bruckner's long paragraphs so convincing. The piece makes huge demands on the orchestra's stamina, especially the brass, but the LPO rose to the challenge magnificently. The most telling moment was the very last, when Nézet-Séguin shaded off the final chord rather than going for sheer volume. It was a canny substitute for the cathedral-like final echo the piece needs, and created a sense of something immense fading away on the air.”

“Yannick Nézet-Séguin directed a performance of Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony that exuberantly confirmed what an asset he is to London’s musical life.”

“From the first bars, he was reactivating the nerves and innermost fibres of the music: making us feel as though we were hearing that mysterious, circling bass theme, and those characteristic Brucknerian triplets and little cadential turns, for the first time. The LPO, too, seemed to be relishing newly minted music — imagining those plangent and elemental bird cries, experiencing that sense of rising sap as never before.”

“This was achieved not only by Nézet-Séguin’s obvious deep assimilation of the work; but also by his sheer sensitivity and authority in seeking out its proportions and judging its pacing.”

“Nézet-Séguin's curiosity about this work was inexhaustible. Every phrase, from the halting opening of the first movement to the blazing close of the last, was laden with emphasis.”

“LPO played tremendously, the brass especially rich and fine.”

”Nézet-Séguin is undoubtedly the greatest Bruckner conductor alive today. That’s the sum of it. His performance of the Eighth – as with the Seventh earlier this year – was among the finest concert-going experiences of my life so far, attaining a level of intensity, a unity of purpose, that led one friend to wonder whether perhaps Nézet-Séguin was in fact a reincarnation of Bruckner himself.”

”There was a vitality from the off. The opening phrase lept from the anxious, fiery depths, in a clear sign that what we were about to witness was going to be very special indeed. It was this and more: spontaneous, potent and masterful. Perfection, in a word, musical lines flowing out from Nézet-Séguin as effortlessly as the air from his lungs.”

”Moments that have always seemed odd or incongruous were given new meaning and coherence. Sweep and structure, phrasing and pacing, balance and coloration were being juggled with a supreme and rightful self-confidence.”

”Never has it (the final movement) sounded so satisfying or so exciting and the audience responded by rising to give this tiny conductor a huge standing ovation.”

”Right from the start, Nézet-Séguin created a sense of a strange wanderings through mists and miasmas, so that it was impossible to guess what would come next. This sense of smiling wonder at the audacious unpredictability of Haydn, even while working in the most familiar of forms, was characteristic of the entire evening’s music-making.”

“Such "novelties" sounded freshly minted under Nézet-Séguin, surely the conductor to be watching right now.”

“ There was a renewed spring in Haydn's jaunty tunes, grace and grit in the articulations, and an added robustness to those feisty developments with fiery interplay between first and second violins and arresting timpani tattoos. The way the young French-Canadian lengthened and intensified the general pause into one of Haydn's more audacious modulations could not have better demonstrated his instinctive nose for this music.”

“Most of all, though, it was the sheer vitality and joy of the OAE's playing and that communal sense of rediscovery at how these phrases turn and how individually the harmonies move beneath them.”

“Nézet-Séguin translated everything (in Mahler’s Ninth Symphony), the totality and the details, extraordinarily well: with strength, vigour, dynamism, intensity, momentum, an overflowing energy and more-than-proven physical and mental stamina, without aggrandising or disguising the music’s tension. He did it both in the powerful sound explosions and in the most moving lyrical moments.”

“The music was so full of nuance that no one wanted it to end.”

“There is hardly a greater contrast imaginable between György Kurtág's subdued Songs of Despair and Sorrow and Beethoven's extroverted Ninth Symphony. On Thursday, Yannick Nézet-Séguin created a bridge between these worlds. Gloominess effortlessly changed into euphoria.”

“In Beethoven's voluminous Ninth, Nézet-Séguin sustained the dark atmosphere. A raw, almost fatalistic and insistent Molto vivace succeeded a throbbing first movement.”

“A characteristic of Nézet-Séguin's conducting style is the combination of unbridled enthusiasm and versatile vitality.”

“There was a magically blossoming opening (in the third movement, the Adagio molto e cantabile) which was succeeded by delicate woodwind parts that were not only played beautifully, but sounded as near and intimate as chamber music in the hall.”

“In the final movement [...] Nézet-Séguin gave shape to the rugged music in a natural way.

“Yannick Nézet-Séguin [...] seems to be mainly interested in the new roads opened by Mahler.”

“Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has started his second season in Rotterdam, made a deep impression with an extremely personal rendering of Mahlers Ninth Symphony.”

“ The one and a half hour lasting journey to the other side, Mahler's autobiographic music about death and about fading away into eternity, sounded as a story full of lovely memories, menace and doom, confusion, chaos and desperation.”
 

Richard Strauss and Nézet-Séguin: A Hero's Life

It’s hard to fathom the arrogance of a thirty-four year composer who writes a huge orchestral piece called Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) – about himself! What’s more, in the section called "The Hero’s Works of Peace" he quotes from his own previous compositions! Then you have the case of a thirty-four year old conductor who programs this virtuoso piece with a part-time orchestra. Fortunately, the supremely confident young composer was named Richard Strauss, and, as they say, the rest is history. As for the conductor, he happens to be a leader who can galvanize his players to perform way beyond themselves as they did this week at Place des Arts in Montréal.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin celebrated his tenth anniversary as artistic director and conductor of the Orchestre Métropolitain this week and demonstrated yet again why he is not only a Canadian treasure, but also one of the most sought-after maestros on the international scene. It was an all-Richard Strauss programme with Don Juan leading off, followed by a set of orchestral songs featuring soprano Barbara Bonney and, after intermission, Ein Heldenleben.

Don Juan was well-rehearsed and urgent in spite of some shaky trumpet playing and the love music was meltingly beautiful.

I must confess that I am a huge admirer of Strauss’ vocal music, especially in the endlessly imaginative orchestrations by the composer himself. Earlier this summer we heard some of them in fine performances by Ben Heppner and Thomas Hampson at the Knowlton Festival. Strauss had a genius for capturing the very essence of the poetry he set to music. Bonney led off with one of my favourites, Die Heiligen Drei Könige aus Morgenland (Three Holy Kings from the Land of the West). The poem by Heine is a very simple telling of the role of the Wise Men in the Christmas story. Strauss makes it a thing of wonder and childlike innocence.

(...)

« À 34 ans seulement, Nézet-Séguin apporte à cette musique - qu'il adore, de toute évidence - une passion dévorante et contagieuse qui rappelle les grands soirs de Mehta et de Decker »

« les deux partitions comportent des moments d'accalmie et de tendresse sur lesquels Nézet-Séguin s'attarda amoureusement. »

“The new Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic reached a high level in the love dreams of Zemlinsky's Lyrical Symphony.”

“The orchestra is noticeably happy with its young Music Director, which is both understandable and deserved.”

“The SSO played with aplomb and obvious relish and the ovation was about the closest Sydney gets to a Proms night at the Albert Hall.”

“Nézet-Séguin nursed the expressiveness of the slow movement with care, and the blend between organ tones (David Drury) and orchestra was subtle and clear.”

“The spacious first movement (Bruckner’s Third Symphony) had not a hint of hurry and his tempo was a notch or two slower than the norm, yet the structure blossomed. It was as though each component, freed of the stress to press forward, and with its distinctive shape nurtured, found inner strength to take its place in the huge architectural arch.”

“A notable feature of the orchestra's playing was the unforced openness of sound and care with balance and intonation, particularly in the first two movements. In the extended slow movement the quality of sound and attention to each utterance concentrated the listener on each moment.”

“Bruckner's changeable finale sounded paradoxically economical, so that as soon as the final blaze of sound recalled the work's opening trumpet idea, it was clear the work had said what it intended to say and stopped.”

“With Haydn's Symphony No.100 in G (The Military) Nezet-Seguin used enormous podium energy to shape, darken and enliven phrases as though each of Haydn's ideas had to be rescued from the danger of complacency.”

“In the opening work, Haydn's Symphony No. 100 (Military), expectations were fully met with a stylish, invigorating performance. Brisk tempos, strong dynamic contrasts and sharply etched accents generated boisterous energy. By contrast, shapely phrasing, lilting rhythms and an engaging lightness of touch brought warmth and elegance.”

“Once again, he demonstrated a sure understanding of Bruckner's unique musical architecture (Symphony No.3). In particular, his appreciation of how the composer uses silence created pauses of Pinteresque profundity when he shifted between the contrasting slabs of sound.”

Just Barely Mozart

Conductor Embraces His New York Moment

“Mr. Nézet-Séguin tried to make “Pulcinella” seem a real Stravinsky piece with a contemporary character. There were wonderfully sour wind chords, bone-dry plucked string lines and driving rhythms in the dance movements. The Presto, a patter song for tenor, recalled “Les Noces” a bit. The restless Allegro assai sounded like an Italianized episode from “Petrouchka.””

“the performance (Mendelssohn’s Symphony No.4 “italienne”)had sweep, line and lightness. The Andante was a revelation, taken at a true ambling pace, with a steady walking bass line in the lower strings and an austerely shaped melody. It was almost Baroque in its stateliness and quiet rigor”

“I must say that Nézet-Séguin’s and the SCO’s performance was as pleasant as it was skilful. He managed a dynamic and genuinely balletic interpretation of Stravinsky’s imaginative score (Pulcinella), effectively conveying its carefree, lively and witty characteristics.”

“With a varied programme that encompassed two of this year's themes, alongside Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, this young Canadian conductor yet again proved that he is not only the most exciting conductor of his generation but has the Midas touch when it comes to interpreting a wide-encompassing repertoire.”

“Nézet-Séguin's scrupulous ear for detail meant that the work came across freshly-minted and he was rewarded with wonderfully buoyant playing by the SCO.”

“The Scottish Chamber Orchestra responded with effervescent, precise playing, each note lifted into the air as though the musicians were the dancers. Instrumental colouring stayed equally bright.”

“It was clear that Nézet-Séguin and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra were delivering a first-rate performance, daringly shaped and marked by attention to detail.”

“Nézet-Séguin showed his mettle here, easing his orchestra into fruitful communion with a pianist (Nicholas Angelich) who, given less sensitive handling, could easily have sounded awkward.”

Le Sacre de Nézet-Séguin se rapproche de l'idéal: entier dans la sauvagerie et la dissonance, entier dans la subtilité et le mystère.

Principal among these was Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring as performed by the Orchestre Métropolitain under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Here was a fine mix of force and expressive fluency. The texture was colourful and symphonic, the beat vibrant rather than just relentless.

Un autre grand Bruckner de Nézet-Séguin

« Tout comme il y a cinq ans, Nézet-Séguin dirigeait de mémoire cette heure et demie de musique et cet orchestre augmenté à 85 musiciens. J'avais alors parlé de son «immense» Bruckner. Mon impression est la même et j'y ajoute d'autres considérations, la plus significative étant la force de concentration qu'en dépit d'un horaire de plus en plus turbulent notre génial jeune chef parvient à conserver et à communiquer à ses musiciens et, par le fait même, à l'auditoire entier. »

« La foudroyante virtuosité des deux timbaliers est à signaler, comme le sont, tout à l'opposé, les trémolos mendelssohniens du Scherzo. »  

“Right from the start, in Mozart's Overture to The Magic Flute we heard how beautiful the Rotterdam orchestra can play under their enthusiastic young Canadian Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. A large dose of transparency – in which not only the main structures but also the small motives and patterns in the inner voices were brought out very clearly, and in which also the beautiful timbres and the blending of colours in the winds had full play – was combined with a lively, energetic way of  playing with great musicality and dramatic expressiveness.”

“Mozart's Piano Concerto in C had the same qualities. Sometimes the attention was even drawn away from the wonderful performance of the soloist Daria van Bercken and directed to the beautifully detailed workmanship in the orchestra. At last there is a conductor who takes an accompaniment seriously. Van Bercken played the concert beautifully light, clear and with true sensitivity”.

“The grandiose highlight of the evening, however, was a magisterial and highly original rendering of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. The amount of bunched-up energy that burst forth into the hall was breathtaking. Limburg probably has never seen such a sublime and enervating performance of Beethoven's Seventh before.”

“From the start to the end the audience was spellbound and fascinated, and enjoying this top orchestra with its absolute top conductor. Everyone on stage appeared to be having enormous fun.”

“The highest honour, however, goes to Nézet-Séguin. The unequalled amount of energy and momentum he put into the work made this performance an event of which people will still ask each other in a few years' time: "Were you there?"

*****
Aldo Ciccolini makes a rare, yet unforgettable visit to London with a transcendental performance of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the LPO.

For someone approaching his mid-eighties, he delivers playing of such astonishingly assured virtuosity that one is left grasping for superlatives.

Italian born pianist Aldo Ciccolini has been far too infrequent a visitor to these shores, which probably goes some way to explaining why this mid-week LPO concert was packed to the rafters. Italian born, yet French domiciled, his career spans more than six decades. These days his appearances on the platform are becoming increasingly scarcer so this performance of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto promised to be a very special event, but nothing could have prepared the audience for the emotional impact of Ciccolini’s quite mesmerising performance.

Looking frail when he made his way onto the platform, and bearing a startling resemblance to his idol Liszt, once installed at the piano became a man possessed. He launched into the first movement with playing of vigour and energy that took one’s breath away and with loving support from Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the LPO, showed that he was blessed with the digital dexterity of a man half his age. His virtuosity was spell-binding and having been taken aback by his agility in the first movement, the poise, feeling, expression and elegiac introspection he brought to the second movement came over as pure unadulterated aural balm.

The fiendishly difficult third movement held no terrors for him and he crowned his performance with playing of such scintillating brilliance that he rightly brought the house down and was awarded one of most heartfelt and thoroughly deserved standing ovations I’ve witnessed in this hall in recent years. He gave one encore – a delicately played account of an unpublished piece by Schubert entitled the Kupelwieser Waltz.

The concert opened with a sun-drenched performance of Mendelssohn’s 4th Symphony, (Italian) which Nézet-Séguin infused with Mediterranean warmth from the ebullient opening, through to the energetic close, eliciting alert playing from all sections of the LPO.

After the interval this prodigiously gifted young conductor once again proved that his appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the LPO is one of the most exciting things to happen to musical life in London in recent years. The LPO quite simply play better for him than for any other conductor, and I can think of no other musical partnership in the capital at the moment that produces such consistently electrifying results.

His reading of Dvorak’s 7th Symphony perfectly captured the dark, brooding qualities of the work. There was fire and passion in the tempestuous first movement which gave way to an achingly beautiful slow movement whose melancholic overtones were perfectly judged. The Slavonic character of the infectiously lilting rhythms of the scherzo was beautifully handled whilst the final movement had an almost Wagnerian grandeur – its optimistic D major conclusion was properly shattering. The playing of the LPO was exemplary and impassioned throughout.

A truly unforgettable concert, that will live long in the memory.

Bringing sun to England: Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Half a century of age and experience separated the conductor and soloist in last night’s LPO concert, with enthralling results.

While the dynamic young French Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin has been setting audiences alight with his electrifying interpretations since becoming principal guest conductor of the orchestra, Aldo Ciccolini, now well into his eighties, is something of a legend. Neither disappointed.

Nézet-Séguin brought the Mediterranean sun of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony to the Festival Hall, showering it with love and affection.

In Dvorák's Symphony No 7 in D Minor, by contrast, he sought the darker, Wagnerian timbres, in a reading that combined lyrical rapture and volcanic intensity. For all the lilt, winningly done, of the dance music featured in the last two movements, this was a performance both physically demanding for the players and emotionally draining for the audience.

In Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, Ciccolini demonstrated that he could still command impressive agility and litheness. Curiously, though, there was less freedom in much of his phrasing than Nézet-Séguin had invoked in the Mendelssohn. Occasionally, however, he broke free from metrical constraints and revealed a poetic gift ripened by a lifetime’s wisdom.

“Ravel's Ma mère l'Oye was again fairytale-like, frivolous and sophisticated, like sultry swirls of summer wind which evoke memories from a far past in a Proustian way.”

“The program he conducted last Friday in a packed Concertgebouw was not very adventurous, but it fit the French Canadian conductor very well. Nézet-Séguin is Québecois, and therefore Ravel's music is dear to him (he conducted Ma mère l'Oye by heart), with Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique he indirectly professed his love for Beethoven, and with Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 (soloist: Stephen Kovacevich) he could demonstrate that he is familiar with early music practice, but that he is not sectarian about it.”

Mahler 5 : Minutes-long Standing Ovation

“As soon as the last note of Mahler's Fifth Symphony had sounded, the audience leapt to its feet to reward musicians and conductor justly with a long applause. The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, once led by Gergiev, lived up to its expectations in the Bruges Concertgebouw. Mahler sounded as it should.”

“A worthy concert with a worthy orchestra, a worthy audience and a masterful conductor.”

Traduit du Hollandais par Geertje Hoekstra

(...)

Reconstructed Mendelssohn and spell-binding Brahms make for a thrilling LPO concert under Yannick Nézet-Séguin

On the basis of this evening alone, Yannick Nézet-Séguin's appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the LPO is a cause for major rejoicing.

The first half of this memorable evening was devoted to one work, namely Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto in E minor, which if he had lived to complete it would have been his third. At the time of his death he had only managed to sketch the opening bars, the solo piano part for the remainder of the first movement, the entire second movement and a few melodic fragments for the third. It was tonight's pianist, Roberto Prosseda, who suggested to scholar Marcello Bufalini that he reconstruct the piece from what little fragments the composer had left.

Whether Mendelssohn would have followed the same train of thought as Bufalini is open to endless conjecture but what can be in no doubt was Prosseda's technical virtuosity throughout this exhilarating performance, which concluded with a breathtaking finale.

After the interval, we were treated to the most moving, reverential, illuminating and ultimately uplifting performance of Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem I've ever heard, either in the concert hall or on CD. In deciding against setting the Latin Requiem Mass, Brahms delivers a far more personal work, heavily influenced by the death of his great friend Robert Schumann and his mother. There is none of the fire and brimstone, hell and damnation that is found in most other Requiem Masses, Brahms instead finding a compositional voice of quiet emotion and profound humanity that when faced with such an enlightening a performance as this, even the most fervent unbeliever cannot fail to be moved.

From the hushed introspection of the opening, delicately played by cellos, then violas it was evident that this was going to be a remarkable performance – a view confirmed when the LPO Choir entered singing 'Selig sind, die da Lied tragen (Blessed are they that mourn)' on barely a thread of tone. Throughout the evening they never put a foot wrong, and I don't think I've ever heard such glorious choral singing, whether at full throttle in 'Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras (For all flesh is as grass)' or in the quiet valedictory hymn 'Selig sind die Toten (Blessed are the dead)' which concludes the work. Quite astounding, and they and their superb director Neville Creed were rightly awarded a thunderous ovation at the end.

Both announced soloists cancelled but we were lucky that their replacements, Elizabeth Watts and Stéphane Degout, more than compensated. She achieved lyrical nirvana with her impassioned singing of 'Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit (And ye now therefore have sorrow)' whilst he was forthright and resplendent in 'Denn wir haben keine bleibende Statt (For here have we no continuing city)'.

(Rated 4/5)
Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem should be mandatory for anyone (and there are many) who has ever uttered a disparaging or ill-considered word against its composer.

Under the conspicuously talented Yannick Nezet-Seguin it shone, it thundered, it inspired awe and consolation in equal measure. I can’t honestly remember when it last sounded so all-enveloping.

(...)

And then it was forgotten. As that richly consoling alliance between cellos and violas proffered solace in lamentation from the opening bars of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem and the chorus’ words “Blessed are they that mourn” left one in no doubt as to its grateful recipients, Yannick Nezet-Seguin’s labour of love on a work he so clearly reveres put not a foot wrong. With wonderfully sensitive and articulate singing from the London Philharmonic Choir the fine balance between the work’s deep and abiding compassion and its death-defying exultation was memorably achieved. Awe was duly forthcoming as the mighty cortege of “Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras” rolled out, low horns and pounding timpani accentuating its black splendour, and those fugal codas were properly rollocking, hopeful affairs – blasts from the past powering towards the future.

“The monumental opening was followed by an avalanche of contrasting emotions, from the deepest darkness to the most radiant joy, all realized in one large gesture. The Adagietto was not overly slow and made a sunny upbeat to the enervating final movement.”

“This Mahler (Symphony No.5) was a real event.”

“ Under his hands, Mahler's Fifth Symphony developed into a solid, broadly-breathing structure with well chosen nervousness in the carnival-like fragments. The Adagietto for harp and strings was conducted without the baton en radiated supernatural peace without becoming melodramatic.”

“ The Adagietto was so beautiful it could make you weep.”

Nézet-Séguin coaxes TSO into vibrant colour
****(out of 4)

To call Wednesday night an embarrassment of riches doesn't begin to describe its musical pleasures.

First, in Roy Thomson Hall, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra offered up one of its shortened "Afterworks" programs, which start at 6:30 p.m.

The orchestra members and CBC Radio Two host Tom Allen, on emcee duty, may have been dressed in casual black, but the performances vibrated with colour.

Guest conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in his early 30s already an established favourite at major concert houses around the world, coaxed particularly rich sounds out of the orchestra in a powerful reading of the World War II Symphony No.5 by Sergei Prokofiev and conjured a deliciously effervescent rendition of the 1931 Piano Concerto in G Major by Maurice Ravel, with pianist Louis Lortie appearing to have the time of his life at his Fazioli concert grand.

Tomorrow, pianist and conductor add on Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in one of this season's unmissable concert dates.

“Moreover, it wasn’t all Argerich. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a 34-year-old Montreal native, is making his L.A. Phil debut this week and he conducted the concerto as if the occasion were as important as it turned out to be. He was also extraordinarily attuned to Argerich, facing her during her cadenza passages and really listening. The Philharmonic also rose to the occasion with absolutely top-flight ensemble work. I’ve never heard this concerto played better.”

“Following the well-deserved thunderous ovation, Argerich playfully joined Nézet-Séguin in a four-hand arrangement of an excerpt from Ravel’s “Mother Goose” Suite, which proved that, in addition to his other talents, Nézet-Séguin knows his way around the keyboard” 

“Add Los Angeles to the list. Nézet-Séguin is cut from the same bolt of cloth as Gustavo Dudamel: tres-exuberant on the podium, rapier-like baton thrusts, beaming with wide smiles, etc. Despite seating the cellos in the middle of the ensemble, which would normally produce a deep, luxuriant tone, Nézet-Séguin coaxed the orchestra to deliver the lean sort of sound that we used to hear from the Montreal Symphony (that city’s “other” orchestra) when Charles Dutoit was at its helm.”

“However, this most familiar of Shostakovich's 15 symphonies was laid out expertly, to my taste. Conducting without a score (as was the case in La Valse), Nézet-Séguin’s tempos tended to be on the deliberate side for the most part but the tension never flagged, even for an instant, and everything made sense. The third movement, in particular, unfolded as one gigantic arch, and the final movement built inexorably to a majestic, shattering conclusion.“

“Nézet-Séguin is clearly a conductor to watch carefully in the future. Let’s hope there are plenty more opportunities in Los Angeles.“

“Thursday’s program began with Ravel’s “La Valse” and ended with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.  In everything, Nézet-Séguin -- who is flashy and hyper-expressive in his gestures -- got a sound I had never quite heard before from the Angelenos.  It was lean, sleek, tart in the French manner, yet also very bold and forward.  It reminded me of the sound of the Montreal Symphony during the Charles Dutoit era, but with more punch.”

“In complete command of everything, Nézet-Séguin brought out interesting details in every phrase.  He quickly figured out what the orchestra could do and what Disney could do, and he went for an extreme dynamic range.  Climaxes did, however, turn a bit brittle.” 

“His interaction with Argerich was especially intriguing.  Ravel began his concerto with a snap of percussion, and conductor and pianist were off like racehorse and rider.  Argerich was the rider, but she challenged the conductor to be wild, seeming to take delight in being able to maintain her balance no matter what.  Through it all, she was ever cool, tossing off ethereal trills, when required, with a flick of the wrist.  The slow movement alone was worth the price of admission.  She has not lost her art of seduction.”

“For an encore, the conductor joined Argerich at the keyboard in a brief excerpt from Ravel’s “Mother Goose” Suite in its four-hand arrangement.  For all his cockiness at the podium, Nézet-Séguin, sitting next to Argerich and playing the second piano part, was like a proud but nervous schoolboy.  The performance had considerable charm. “

“La Valse” had a kind of charm as well in its suave parts and in that astonishing French sound Nézet-Séguin was able to achieve.“

“It had moments of great beauty.  The young conductor wrung from the (Shostakovitch) Fifth every ounce of emotion, and the composer gave him a lot to work with.  Inner lines were illuminated.  Orchestral colors were vivid.“

“Nézet-Séguin is a considerable virtuoso, able to slow down to a near stop and rush to finish with dazzling speed.  The last movement was not Soviet triumphalism but mad fury.“

Wonderful Schubert's Ninth

The Viennese Classics are in good hands with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In November 2007, he demonstrated this with a brilliant performance of Beethoven's Eroica. Last Thursday, with Mozart and Schubert on the programme, he decidedly proved that he has a very personal style.

This was immediately evident in Mozart's Adagio and Fugue. The opening was stern, but Nézet-Séguin continued in a subdued way, which had an alienating effect. And in the fugue, the attention was drawn to the commanding way in which the bases and the cello's (who were placed in the centre) performed their parts.

Mozart's Piano Concerto Nr. 24 was beautiful. The opening received a symphonic approach and Stephen Kovacevich was a soloist with an excellent sense of style. The woodwinds finished the song phrases that Kovachevich had started in a lovely way. Together they played a fascinating game.

Just like last month with Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted the massive torso of Schubert's Ninth Symphony (almost an hour of music), completely by heart. As if it was nothing. The advantage was that he could keep in touch with the orchestra and did not have to look at the score.

Montreal-born conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin teamed up with French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet to make an impressive Boston Symphony debut. A relative newcomer to American audiences, Nézet-Séguin guest-conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra last December in performances of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto (with André Watts) and Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathétique’ Symphony and is scheduled to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic (with Martha Argerich) in a program of Ravel and Shostakovich this March.

Although Americans are just getting to know Nézet-Séguin, he has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since March 2000 and has been making his mark in concert halls on the other side of the Atlantic since his 2004 European debut with Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. At 34 years old, he has been appointed to succeed Valery Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic this season, and since last September has been principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic.

The concert opened with a captivating account of Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales, music firmly established within the BSO repertoire. Nézet-Séguin elicited all the sumptuous textures and rich colors in the alluring score, the woodwinds sounding especially on their game, along with the orchestra’s eloquent strings, bright-sounding brass and gleaming celesta. The orchestra, so long accustomed to the expressive mannerisms of Seiji Ozawa and the swooping gestures of James Levine, responded with assurance to Nézet-Séguin’s vividly demonstrative conducting style.

The first half of the program concluded with a superb performance of Liszt’s compact Second Piano Concerto. Thibaudet’s sparkling articulation was matched by great tenderness and poetic feeling in the dreamy, more amorous sections, but there was plenty of bravura and panache in the more energetic passages. Thibaudet’s playing was splendid throughout, as was his rapport with Nézet-Séguin and the BSO players, who provided him with excellent support. Martha Babcock’s cello sounded especially gorgeous in her solo.

“ Thirty-four-year-old Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin reminds me a little of stage director Peter Sellars — he's small, with spiky short hair, and a dynamo. He conducts the Orchestre Métropolitan du Grand Montréal, and he's just taken over the directorship of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from Valery Gergiev. He's hot. In his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut, he led tight, eloquent performances of Ravel's elegant Valses nobles et sentimentales, Liszt's bravura but offbeat Piano Concerto No. 2, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Dvorák's earthy, nationalistic Symphony No. 6. He always seemed a step ahead of the orchestra, and the orchestra seemed to be hanging on every beat, ready to follow him wherever he wanted to go.

FBSO debut for a rising Canadian

The career of the French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin has been moving at light speed, though American symphony audiences are just now starting to get to know him. At just 34, he is in his first season as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, attempting to fill the shoes of Valery Gergiev, and this season he also began as principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2000, he has been leading Montreal's Orchestre Métropolitain. Last night, he made an auspicious debut leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra in works by Ravel, Liszt, and Dvorak.

Walking out onto stage Nézet-Séguin cuts a diminutive figure but once the music begins he is a whirl of irrepressible energy. His podium approach is vividly demonstrative and almost dance-like yet his gestures seldom seem designed for the audience's benefit rather than the musicians'. At least last night his technique served him very well as he drew vibrant performances from the orchestra, at once structurally coherent and viscerally exciting.

The program opened with Ravel's "Valses Nobles et Sentimentales" in a reading that seemed to relish this music's luxurious textures and rich palette of color. But the center of gravity on the first half was Liszt's brief but capacious Piano Concerto No. 2, with the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Given this soloist's reputation for keyboard elegance, one would hardly expect a brash firebreathing account of this virtuoso work, and true to form, Thibaudet delivered a graceful and nuanced reading that strived for much more than pyrotechnic display. The work's passages of soft-toned reverie came across as cherished moments of repose, though Thibaudet did not shy away from the flashy and thunderous runs, dispatching them with a clear and forceful technique. Cellist Martha Babcock made the most of her solo turn.

Fresh from the London Philharmonic and looking forward to the Boston Symphony, Yannick Nézet-Séguin managed on Sunday to make his Orchestre Métropolitain sound like an ensemble that can compete in that league. Since the program included Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, there was little margin for error.

This exquisite score has lengthy interludes of chamber restraint and intimacy, which YNS balanced to perfection. Woodwind contributions were no less songful than the vocal solos. Strings made a radiant sound.

Singers were excellent on their own terms and ideally contrasted. John Mac Master brought rugged tone and forthright expression to his drinking songs. A comparison with another Canadian tenor, Jon Vickers, is not overdrawn.

Christianne Stotijn, a golden-toned Dutch mezzo-soprano, occupied the more placid and poetic numbers with equal propriety. The final Abschied movement was built with radiant arches. She also managed to hold the stage with her long-tressed Nordic looks during the extended orchestral passages.

To say the conductor was involved in the music is putting it mildly. Always an exuberant and balletic figure, Nézet-Séguin seemed ready at times to sing along.

String sound had been less burnished in Haydn's Symphony No. 100. The orchestra was energized, however, by the lusty development of the first movement and the surprising outburst near the end of the second, where Haydn introduces premonitions of the romantic future. The stirring trumpet fanfare could have passed for Mahler.

Nézet-Séguin et Stotijn: un Mahler troublant

L'interprétation du Chant de la terre que Yannick Nézet-Séguin et la mezzo Christianne Stotijn nous ont donnée hier après-midi fait partie de ces expériences troublantes - et rarissimes - qui déconcertent l'observateur. Celui-ci cherche tout simplement ses mots pour décrire ce qu'il a ressenti; il ne sait d'ailleurs pas par où commencer son analyse de l'événement.

Et si on commençait par la toute fin? Par le silence qui a suivi le «ewig» («éternellement») doucement répété de la chanteuse? Un silence incroyable, que Nézet a maintenu pendant ce qui semblait une éternité, justement, prolongeant ainsi l'atmosphère qu'il avait établie dans la salle depuis une heure. 

L'OSM et Nagano avaient donné cet ultime Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde, le mois dernier dans la version facultative où un baryton remplace la mezzo. Nézet revenait hier à la version traditionnelle ténor-mezzo, plus intéressante en raison du contraste des voix. Encore faut-il une mezzo à la hauteur. Ce qu'est tout à fait la Néerlandaise Christianne Stotijn (on prononce «chto-taïn»).

D'un maintien très digne, avec une voix belle et toujours égale et un phrasé caressant, Mme Stotijn livra entièrement de mémoire le texte, tour à tour poétique et contemplatif, dont elle avait bien pénétré le sens. L'Abschied final, qui fait à lui seul une demi-heure, soit la moitié de l'oeuvre complète, donna lieu à un dialogue plein de mystère - et véritablement mis en scène par Nézet - entre la voix et des instruments comme la flûte et le hautbois traités à leur tour comme des voix.

Les yeux dans sa partition, même quand il ne chantait pas, John Mac Master fournit la prestation de Heldentenor que Mahler souhaite. C'est finalement un ivrogne qui gueule ici et le corpulent Mac Master rendit bien le personnage, même que ses efforts à l'aigu cadraient avec le contexte assez délirant.

Le grand héros reste néanmoins le jeune chef du Métropolitain, pour avoir obtenu de celui-ci une réalisation aussi précise et aussi convaincante de cette partition très difficile.
L'exécution était accompagnée de surtitres et d'images d'une sculpture d'Anne Kahane inspirée par l'oeuvre de Mahler. Mme Kahane était présente parmi les quelque 2000 auditeurs. Le concert était donné sous la présidence de Mme Sophie Desmarais.

En première partie: la Symphonie no 100 de Haydn, jouée avec toutes les reprises, une nette articulation des violons et une amusante turquerie.

« Vendredi soir, il (YNS) a poussé son orchestre et son choeur à leur maximum, non seulement dans le sens de la puissance, mais encore des plus fines nuances. » « À cet égard, il suffit de rappeler, par exemple, l'articulation des violons dans l'ouverture des Nozze di Figaro ou les solos de flûte et de hautbois dans les pages orchestrales de Carmen. Même soin des détails chez le choeur et notamment le célèbre «Va pensiero» de Nabucco, où les voix se prolongeaient au-delà du dernier accord de l'orchestre. »

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall, London

“ Nézet-Séguin has such a high level of engagements in next year’s diary that London must feel lucky to have caught him while it still could.”

Nézet-Séguin  has been receiving plaudits from everybody who  experiences one of his concerts. I’ve heard some live concerts conducted by him on CBC, Canadian Radio, in the days when live concerts were regularly broadcast by them, and I was impressed with what I heard. It was obvious that a major talent was at work, one who could get the very best from his orchestra and deliver performances of  great power, energy and insight. Tonight was my first experience of him live and he exceeded all expectations.

It’s unusual for someone as young as Nézet-Séguin  to have the full measure of the later Symphonies of Anton Bruckner and to be able to understand, and bring together, the many and various strands which go to make up one of these towering edifices. What was most impressive 
about this performance of Bruckner’s 7th Symphony was Nézet-Séguin’s superb understanding of the architecture of the piece. From the opening minutes, with the long, soaring, cello theme, it was obvious that our conductor had his sights firmly set on the closing pages of  the work where this theme returns triumphant on full orchestra. What happened in the sixty minutes between these two events were full of high drama, malevolence and searing passion.

The slow movement, with its four Wagner tubas, is an elegy on the death of Wagner and here Nézet-Séguin  encouraged the long lines to breathe, building the climaxes with care and allowing them to grow naturally from the ever changing musical landscape which surrounds 
them. The coda was sombre and tragic, indeed, it was heart–breaking, as befits an in memoriam for a great artist. The scherzo is another of Bruckner’s malevolent allegros. Nézet-Séguin  kept his feet firmly on the ground and this music stamped its way, so it seemed to me, to a very disturbing end. The finale is a difficult movement to bring off  successfully, not least because, with all the huge, insistent, downward movement of the musical ideas it is easy to loose the beat  and let it run away with itself, as it did when Giulini conducted it at the Proms about 20 years ago, and then the whole structure is put in jeopardy. Nothing like that happened tonight for Nézet-Séguin  kept a very firm hand on the proceedings and, by slightly holding back the 
forward momentum, and gradually building a large structure, the final statement of the opening theme felt like a satisfactory homecoming, rather than just a loud peroration.

One more point. Bruckner’s music is full of silences, some Cathedral–like in their size, and these are important for the audience, letting it take in what has just happened and preparing it for what is about to happen. Tonight Nézet-Séguin  filled those silences with the most intense meaning, making them speak volumes as part of the whole and understanding them as part of the composition, not just gaps between  bars. This was most exciting for I have never fully appreciated the silences quite as much before.  This interpretation was a magnificent 
achievement and the London Philharmonic, which was on top form, can be proud of their commitment to the music, and what they gave to their audience.

“the real showpiece came after the interval, with Bruckner. All the composer’s symphonies are “big things”, and the conductor, from his Montreal base, has made a speciality of them. We heard the Seventh (in the Nowak edition). Conducting from memory and passion, Nézet-Séguin exerted an inexorable grip right from the start, when tremulous strings rose from the ether toward the motto theme, caressed in a voluptuous legato.”

“Good sense and sensibility governed every speed transition, always a test in Bruckner. Splendour of orchestral sound was abundant too. Woodwind details and counter-melodies glinted and winked. The brass melded into a mighty phalanx. Those unison chords in the finale seemed sliced with a knife: so straight, so sharp. The LPO’s warmth and exuberance even made palatable the one instrumental detail that in most performances seems to be a mistake: the cymbal clash and tinkling triangle at the height of the great adagio.”

The London Philharmonic Orchestra's guest conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin fans the slow burn of Bruckner.

It was an astute move on the part of the London Philharmonic Orchestra to sign up the young Québécois Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin as its principal guest conductor.

The orchestra has seldom played with such a potent fusion of radiance and animation as it did in this coupling of Haydn and Bruckner, recalling a similarly sit-up-and-listen experience I had when I first heard him conduct Mendelssohn and Ravel with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra two years ago.

Since then, Nézet-Séguin has been wowing audiences worldwide. He is still in charge of the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, and in the autumn of last year took over from Valery Gergiev as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic.

A young man tackling Bruckner is not a common phenomenon. Nézet-Séguin is only in his early thirties, but the Seventh Symphony, which he has already recorded with his Canadian orchestra, is one of his calling cards.

He has a sure feel for the slow burn of Bruckner's epic scores. He is not afraid to adopt measured tempos, but crucially can also clearly see the end of the road, the culmination to which Bruckner's broad lines and sometimes seemingly discursive excursions are leading.
This LPO performance was exemplary in its cohesion. It was closely argued but judiciously took its time to make its points.

There was a glow to the string tone, a luminous halo to the entire orchestral sound, enhanced by the solemnity that a quartet of Wagner tubas can bring to the general timbre.

Restraint and energy seemed to coalesce, so that Bruckner's hallmark climaxes, where the resolution of a cadence is tantalisingly postponed through the piling on of new dissonances, grew inexorably towards the final release and resplendent sunburst.

Nézet-Séguin could galvanise the orchestra into granite-like statements and coax it into beguiling lyricism. Buoyancy and firm rhythmic impetus in the scherzo were contrasted with the mellifluous shaping of the intense adagio, and ever present alongside Nézet-Séguin's sense of overall perspective was his ear for subtly drawn details of expression within the complex texture.

On a much smaller scale, Haydn's C major Cello Concerto showed Nézet-Séguin's finesse in the 18th-century classics.

Truls MØrk gave a concentrated, calm and collected account of the solo part, to which the orchestra added a healthy spirit and a range of aptly highlighted instrumental colouring.

Nézet-Séguin was worth snapping up
*****
Riveting: Nézet-Séguin conducted an excellent show

The French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin made his European debut as recently as five years ago but the LPO wasted no time in snapping him up as principal guest conductor. This is his first season in that capacity and already he is creating a sensation.

He began last night’s programme by accompanying the Norwegian cellist Truls Mork in a lithe, supple account of Haydn’s C major Concerto.

While Mork is somewhat restrained, even phlegmatic, in demeanour, Nézet-Séguin generates every nuance with his bodily gestures. Sweeping the air, stooping, caressing, he exhorts his players to shape every phrase anew. That was the key also to one of the most remarkable performances of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony I have ever heard. An intensely physical reading, its long phrases energised rather than coolly objective, it was wrung from the members of the LPO, playing their hearts out for this charismatic young athlete, conducting from memory.

Where a traditional Brucknerian like Bernard Haitink minimises his involvement, creating in the process a monolithic structure as awesome as a cathedral, the Canadian offers something far more subjective — more analogous to a living organism.

Changes of dynamics and tempo are strongly contrasted, phrasing is highly expressive and the nerve endings of the music exposed.

Passage after passage was revealed in a new light, but one stood out. After the massive climax of the slow movement, the Amen-like coda on Wagner tubas, joined by horns, sounded like a magnificently elegiac bellow, a great beast in pain. Then came the wind-down on flute and strings, detumescent and consoling.

Some may prefer their Bruckner to have more gravitas but I found it utterly riveting and emotionally draining. Judge for yourself by listening to the Radio 3 broadcast next Tuesday.

There's almost too much music going on in this great city of ours. As a professional critic, difficult choices have to be made; it just isn't possible to cover everything. But sometimes the biggest surprises come when one is off-duty - like last night at the Royal Festival Hall when the London Philharmonic under its principal guest conductor - Yannick Nézet-Séguin - gave us a truly uplifting account of Bruckner's 7th Symphony. It's been many years since I heard a conductor (a young one at that) so completely in sync and sympathy with the pulse of this music. Too often in Bruckner performances only half the picture emerges. Bruckner, the devout spiritualist, the visionary, is wholeheartedly embraced but Bruckner, the hale and hearty outdoor man, is downplayed. In other words Bruckner performances are invariably too reverent. One mood, one tempo. Not so this Nézet-Séguin performance. The young French-Canadian truly created a gripping odyssey, as surprising as it was inevitable. It was beautiful, passionate, raw, incandescent. The silence of the audience spoke volumes for the atmosphere he created. Even the Wagner tubas were in tune. I would have given it *****.

Check out my interview with Yannick Nézet-Séguin :

http://www.lpo.co.uk/about/nezet_seguin.html

Yannick Creates Volcanic Eruption

You can still go. And it is warmly recommended. For tonight and tomorrow afternoon, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will doubtlessly make the volcanoes that are hidden in the symphonies by Beethoven and Berlioz erupt with a lot of force. On Thursday night he did this in a spectacular way. In the last movement of Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique this was to be expected, but in Beethoven's First Symphony it was a surprise.

Between those two churning streams of lava, the Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci sang Berlioz' solo cantata La mort de Cléopâtre, generating smoke and fire. Antonacci is considered to be the most important tragedienne among today's singers. She can make the words burn and adapt her vocal cords to any dramatic colour she wants.

In harmonious cooperation with Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, which gave an electrifying performance, she let Cleopatra die in a spine-chilling way. Berlioz' music is bizarre, even hallucinatory now and then. The proud widow of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony ends her life in a grand way and asks the great pharaohs if she is worthy enough to enter their pyramids. Considering Antonacci's unique and magnificent performance this should be no problem.

Nézet-Séguin is in the middle of a Beethoven cycle in Rotterdam. During this concert, Beethoven's First symphony was linked very inventively to Berlioz' "First", which is what the Symphonie fantastique in fact is. The classical bud in Beethoven's music, bursts open in a romantic and fantastic way in Berlioz' score. It is wonderful to see how the conductor reveals this connection in his interpretations.

Berlioz with Terror and Grace

A phenomenally good concert programme may be performed every five, six years. Therefore it was appropriate that Yannick Nézet-Séguin repeated the combination of music by the revolutionary Beethoven with two pieces by the young avant-gardist Hector Berlioz: the lyrical scene La mort de Cléopâtre (1829) and the Symphonie fantastique that was written immediately after it in 1830. It is a combination that was earlier programmed by his predecessor Gergiev in 2003. Berlioz' works are very evocative and not only anticipate his operas Les Troyens (1895) and La damnation de Faust (1846) but also the works of Strauss and Mahler.
 
Gergiev started the programme with Beethoven's Die Weihe des Hauses. Nézet-Séguin surpassed him with the energetically stirred up First Symphony, which was performed with lots of character, and even sounded "authentic". Some time ago, the new Rotterdam Music Director performed an unrestrainedly explosive Seventh.

The Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci, with her easy, radiant high register and her beautifully dark low register, dramatically performed the Egyptian queen Cleopatra's poison suicide. Cleopatra is embarrassed and disillusioned after her defeat against the Romans, but when she sighs for the last time "César", the orchestra shudders.

Hellish Fanfares with a Graceful Undercurrent

Delusions and delirious dreams or stylised turmoil in classical form: Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the new Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, knows how to deal with both. The hallucinations are from Hector Berlioz, the clear language Beethoven's. The two combine very well, which is not surprising since Berlioz was a great admirer of Beethoven.

Six months after the official start of his tenure, Nézet-Séguin, the 33-year-old daredevil from Canada, is completely at home in Rotterdam. But what we hear from him, is   repertoire that fits him like a glove: works by composers who were not yet 30, and who had passionate temperaments. In Beethoven's First Symphony this becomes especially evident in the effervescent optimism of the performance, in which Yannick, as the young conductor is popularly called, brings forward a wide range of shades and colours. He seduces, he stirs, he coaxes the winds to soar over the strings and the other way around, but he never forces and always remains courteous.
 
Berlioz' music is much more impulsive, but Yannick also knows how to channel this composer's fantastic eruptions. In La mort de Cléopâtre [...] the soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci naturally took the lead. Her performance, full of melancholy and bitterness, was of an uninterrupted intensity, which made the audience in de Doelen listen in breathless silence. During the musical cardiogram in which the orchestra taps away the last minutes of Cleopatra's life, Yannick kept the tension perfectly.

The Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz' obsessed love expressed in music, was the impressive finale of the evening. Again the conductor and the orchestra gave a performance in which the audacity of the composer was given its full due without disturbing the balance and the self control. This major work contains many extremes, ranging from gallant and graceful dances to fascinating, vaguely changing harmonies, and from peaceful stillness, so quiet it is  almost beyond the limit of audibility, to the hellish fanfares of the Witches' Sabbath. And Yannick achieves it with an undercurrent of gracefulness that was usually hard to find in the interpretations of his predecessor Valery Gergiev.

Soprano with Emotional Berlioz in de Doelen

Her voice filled de Doelen with apparent ease, her timbre was on the cool side. In this case, a cool timbre is an advantage, because before you know it this piece becomes sentimental. Here dies a queen.
 
Anna Caterina Antonacci [...] sang Berlioz' cantata La mort de Cléopâtre expressively, beautifully articulated and most of all in a dignified way. The accompaniment by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the RPhO was expressive as well. At the end, the cold wind that blew over the string section was spine-chilling.
 
However, compared to the Symphonie fantastique, Cleopatra's death is a cabinet piece. Because the Symphonie fantastique is about Berlioz himself. It is a journey through the emotional life of a wronged romantic hero, or a disturbed genius. The performance was formidable, exciting, fascinating. With four rustling harps and entrancing strings in 'Un bal', and with Nézet as the perfect maitre de ballet. But he does more: he takes things to a higher plane. Like the woodwinds who were in excellent shape. Everything was magnified: the 'Scène aux champs' was even more sinister than usual, the 'March to the scaffold' almost festive, the 'Witches' Sabbath' crazier than crazy.

“Joined by a sizeable SCO chorus and soloists, the orchestra makes their passion and understanding of the music apparent from the opening. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a joy to watch, making his intentions clear while holding a compelling focus throughout.”

“ It is performances such as this one that maintain the genre of Oratorio, and open up such works to new audiences. This fantastic Mendelssohn celebration continues in style.”

“it would be hard to imagine a more essentially exciting performance than the one given in Edinburgh this week.  The star, again, was the exciting young conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who did such a great job with Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony last weekend.  His sense of drama gave the work a real shot in the arm, particularly in the climactic moments of the story, such as the contest on Mount Carmel, or the moment when the Lord passes by the mouth of the cave.  He is clearly convinced by this work: the architectural grasp of the overture was compelling, as was the sheer excitement of Is not his word like a fire?  Quieter moments have time to breathe, though, such as the gently questioning aria that begins Part Two.”

*****

“Nézet-Séguin took the slow burn of the first part of Mendelssohn’s oratorio (something that can sink many a performance) and turned it into a gradual, inexorable buildup of momentum that was sustained throughout.  In the process, he showed Elijah to be far from the stodgy Victorian relic it is sometimes said to be, but a vital, intensely dramatic work.  This was not a revisionist, small-scale performance; those who like their Mendelssohn delivered with pared-down clarity would probably have found it over the top.  Yet, though it was luxuriant, it was not wilful; the weightiness and grandeur never came at the expense of the litheness of the performance.”

“Bringing his customary attention to detail to play on a vast canvas, Nézet-Séguin made the smallest gestures and phrases seem vitally important.  He elicited from the SCO Chorus a performance perhaps more sensitive than anything it has done in recent years.”

“this was one of those rare occasions when every aspect of the performance coalesced into a greater whole.”

*****

“this young genius of a conductor did on Friday with his magnificent battalion of vocal and orchestral musicians ...  a performance of unremitting focus, unwavering clarity and absolute assuredness of purpose”

“This was Elijah reinvented and rediscovered; a dramatic journey through anguish and despair to radiance and serenity, projected through the wondrous voices of some of the best singers in the world”

*****

“Under the impressive baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin – his second successive week with the SCO – detail was watchword.  From the chorus, only marginally stifled by its rearmost position onstage, he drew a stunning clarity that gave meaning to every distinct word.  This was theatre of the mind.  The unanswered fanaticism of the priests of Baal and the terror of the smitten Israelites were presented with gripping realism.”

“On the technical front, tuning was immaculate, Nézet-Séguin visibly insisting on pinpoint accuracy of attack.  So much for the backbone of the work, inspired too by an on-form SCO which responded instantly to the conductor’s exploration of every powerful nuance in Mendelssohn’s masculine score.”

“In every respect, this Elijah was a tour de force.”

4 stars on 5

“Under the baton of the exuberant French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the whole performance with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, soloists and chorus was memorably enthralling.”

Few young conductors on the international circuit are arousing as much interest as Yannick Nézet-Séguin just now. Recent feathers in his cap include replacing Gergiev as Music Director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and becoming Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic, as well as many commitments in his native Montreal. The SCO have done us all a service by bringing him to Scotland to cast his energetic vision on these Romantic staples. He is scheduled to conduct Elijah at the end of this week: if this concert is anything to go by then it will be a surprising and exciting reading indeed.

Nézet-Séguin’s style is characterised above all by a compelling sense of energy and thrust. His gymnastics on the podium are exhausting to look at (no wonder that he was drenched in perspiration by the end of the evening!) but he is one of the few conductors I have seen where watching him genuinely enriches the experience of listening. With most conductors the nuts and bolts are taken care of in rehearsal; this young man makes you think that he continues to create new things in the crucible of the performance.

Manfred started as he meant to go on: with a compulsive drive that feels unstoppable.  The opening three chords exploded off the page as if we had joined in mid-way through a conversation, and the main allegro surged forward with the passionate intensity befitting Byron’s hero. It suited this music brilliantly, especially the poignant drama of the tempestuous strings. Similarly, the Piano Concerto was stamped with an unmistakably extrovert feel. Angelich’s opening tumble down the keyboard felt almost out of control and the first movement seemed to career towards the cadenza. It was certainly exhilarating, though I couldn’t help but feel that some of the sentiment and subtlety of the work got lost en route. This was certainly true in the Intermezzo, which here felt almost brash, except for the marvelously distinguished contribution of the cellos. It wasn’t helped that the dynamic level had very little variation at all throughout the concerto: both orchestra and soloist played at a steady forte or mezzo forte from beginning to end. This wasn’t a problem for the finale, which really danced, particularly in the coda which had an irresistible skip to it. I got to the end feeling excited and exhilarated, but also a little drained. As a coda Angelich played Träumerei, which was everything the concerto was not: soft, nuanced and subtle.

5 out of 5

Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony is largely overlooked and unloved, often dismissed as an occasional work rather than an enduring masterpiece. Yet, played well, the symphony rarely fails to come across as something more special.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has had interesting things to say about the symphony in the past, notably under then principal conductor Joseph Swensen. On this occasion the conductor was the young Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who made an extraordinary impression on his first appearance with the orchestra a couple of seasons ago. Here, in the first of two programmes with the SCO, he again demonstrated what made that first concert so memorable: his remarkable rapport with the orchestra.

PROPHECY in this game is a dangerous pastime, but let me give you a tip. This Friday, get to the City Hall for the SCO’s performance of Elijah, with its world-class series of soloists. They are at the top of their game.

But there is another reason, and that is Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the young French-Canadian conductor, one of the most energetic and sought-after conductors working today.  His musicality, which informed every nuance of the programme he conducted with the SCO on Friday, is completely natural and emanated every pore of his body.

He is the complete conductor; the genuine article is every department of his craft. With the SCO at its most responsive, Nézet-Séguin – in a programme that opened with Schumann’s Manfred and closed with a refreshed and compelling account of Mendelssohn’s  Reformation Symphony – laid out his artistic credentials.

The young man’s expressive art, surely, is unparalleled. He moulds phrases, dynamics, colours and accents, weaving them into a seamless, unforced and indissoluble unity. I have seldom heard playing of the supple, pliable quality that he secured from the SCO.

And I have never heard an accompaniment so scrupulously integrated as that provided by Nézet-Séguin for the breathtakingly liberated version of Schumann’s Piano Concerto, played by Nicholas Angelich with a magnetic mix of power and poetry.

IN THE wrong hands, the weighty combination of Schumann's Manfred Overture and Piano Concerto with Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony could so easily have descended into the musical equivalent of a stodgy meal. But we know enough from Yannick Nézet-Séguin's recordings (and from his previous encounter with the SCO) to have expected nothing of the sort from this conductor, who has replaced Valery Gergiev as musical director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Every one of his performances on Friday was notable for its probing clarity and subtle dynamism. Nézet-Séguin's meticulous control of the textures in the Manfred Overture avoided every potential trap, giving a delicious airiness to its melodic phrases and solid textures. Its most satisfying outcome was the sensuous ambivalence he achieved between the robust and contemplative characters feeding through Schumann's Byron-inspired score. If the SCO strings sounded a little under-nourished to this point, they opened up for the same composer's Piano Concerto. This performance brought with it another shining star in the form of American pianist Nicholas Angelich. 

Strolling onstage like a benign giant, Angelich gave a brilliantly individual account of the concerto. To introduce so many fresh thoughts to such an old warhorse of the repertoire was an extraordinary achievement. Sheer strength of body made possible an infinite range of tone, but it was the bold mannerisms with which he shaped the melodic line – a teasing unpredictability – that overcame the famously deceptive pitfalls that litter this music.

The spotlight turned again on the conductor for Mendelssohn's glorious Reformation Symphony. And once again the emphasis was on communicating the music's silvery finesse, though never at the expense of its stoical opulence.

The guest conductor at this Scottish Chamber Orchestra concert was the exuberant French-Canadian Yannick Nezet-Seguin who first made his debut with the orchestra in April 2007.  Bringing out the best in the orchestra, his passionate energy quite mirrored the turbulent emotions which permeated the compositions chosen for the programme.

The performance began with Robert Schumann's 'Manfred' overture.  Composed in 1848-49, it was first performed in 1852 with the composer at the helm.  The overture forms part of Schumann's incidental music based on Lord Byron's poem of the  troubled, tormented Faustian soul who wanders the Bernese Alps.
Like the character in Manfred, Schumann too was a tormented soul and empathised totally with Byron's "restless, wandering, distracted man, tormented by fearful thoughts". And this agony of emotions is all too prevalent in his powerful overture, which ends on a dark, foreboding note.

Next on the programme was Schumann's piano concerto in A minor, played by the American pianist Nicholas Angelich, who has performed on many occasions with the conductor Nezet-Seguin.

Composed as a showcase for Schumann's wife Clara, this concerto is one of the most beautiful piano concertos ever written and orchestra and conductor, coupled with Angelich's accomplished interpretation of the rolling chord structures and the appassionatta passages resulted in a memorable rendition of this work.  For an encore, Angelich exquisitely played Traumerei (Dreaming) from Schumann's Scenes of Childhood.

The final piece, where the SCO quite excelled itself, was Mendelssohn's Symphony No 5 in D major entitled 'Reformation'.  Performed as part of this year's bicentenary celebrations of Mendelssohn's birth the 'Reformation' Symphony is a powerful piece of music.  Conducted in 1832 by the composer, the Symphony is based on (16th century) Martin Luther's setting of Psalm 46.

A fitting tribute to pay Mendelssohn

THE SCOTTISH Chamber Orchestra’s (SCO) Mendelssohn 200 is a series of concerts celebrating the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Thursday’s concert in St Andrews saw Mendelssohn paired with Schumann by the SCO in the Younger Hall.

The Manfred overture is one of Schumann’s finest orchestral works, but the orchestra and its conductor, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, gave it a new lustre—from the opening chords to the subdued ending.

The other items written alongside this overture have long since died a death, but this fine work deserves its everlasting popularity.

Schumann’s piano concerto has seldom been performed and obscured unfairly by its romantic counterparts.

However, it is a marvellous work, which the performance of Nicholas Angelich confirmed.

The orchestra was no slouch either, with one of the highlights being the exchange between it and the soloist in the second movement.

Mendelssohn came into his own in the second half of the evening.

His fifth symphony is magnificent work, but it shares the same fate as the Schumann concerto, and is overshadowed by the Italian and Scottish symphonies.

Thank goodness the SCO decided to share this with us, with a performance that could easily send it shooting up the popularity charts.

Nezet-Seguin seemed to play every note, such was his ebullient direction, but while such energy from other conductors might have detracted it only added positively to the overall effect.

The Scherzo’s rustic charm and the short and smooth as silk andante paved the way for the final movement’s chorale, Ein Feste Burg, started by the woodwind, developed and finished in exhilarating fashion by the whole orchestra.

GEORGINA COBURN admires the podium style and musical direction of rising star conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin

A musical interpretation of Byron’s dramatic poem, Robert Schumann’s Manfred Overture opened the programme, followed by the same composer’s Piano Concerto in A Minor. A work infused with Romantic heroism and brooding characterisation, the Manfred sees Schumann exploring the range of the orchestra and concludes beautifully in a hush of melodious sound.

Schumann’s A Minor Piano Concerto relies less on keyboard gymnastics characteristic of 19th century piano works and infinitely more on creating a meaningful dialogue between soloist and orchestra. The opening movement is particularly beautiful and pianist Nicholas Angelich delivered a performance of great sensitivity and subtlety, with exquisite interplay between piano and woodwind. Written for Schumann’s beloved wife Clara, who performed as soloist at its premiere in 1845, the A Minor Concerto is a passionate and thoughtful work brought to life on this occasion by an equally engaged performance.

(...) In the third movement (of the Symphony No. 5 in D Major, Op.107), an Andante in G Minor, mellow melodic strings and solo flute give a more introspective and expressive flavour to the work. The unity of the orchestra under the direction of guest conductor Yannick Nézet- Séguin was evident throughout, and despite not entering the concert hall a Mendelssohn fan, the SCO’s performance encouraged my appreciation and desire to hear more of the composer’s work.

It is easy to see why Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet- Séguin is so much in demand worldwide, an appeal that extends beyond his lively, almost balletic style to sensitive and compelling articulation of the musical score. It would be wonderful to see him at the helm of different touring orchestras exploring a range of musical styles and I hope this will be one of many future visits to the Highlands. (...)