Praise for European tour Netherlands Radio Philharmonic
On 1 March 2010 the Netherlands Radio Filharmonic Orchestra played in Manchester. This was the first of six concerts in England, Germany and Austria. At Bridgewater Hall (on the right) the orchestra performed at full strenght conducted by chief conductor Jaap van Zweden. Critic Robert Beale was present and wrote a favourable review in the Manchester Evening News.
‘Europe’s finest’
He thus opened: “It was the biggest army of orchestral players on the Bridgewater Hall platform that Manchester is likely to see this season outside the Mahler symphonies cycle - and what an orchestra!..... it was an opportunity to hear one of Europe's finest in music that could have been chosen to display their qualities.”
'Assets’
The orchestra accompanied Simon Trpčeski in Rachmaninov's first piano concerto. About this performance Beale continues: “That was created against a lovely cushion of string tone which is one of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic's greatest assets. Another is its brass ensemble, which, if telling in the Rachmaninov finale, was all the more effective in Shostakovich afterwards.”'Awesomely climactic'
According to Beale “Jaap van Zweden's contribution included both rhetorical impact and clarity of articulation, qualities which were also to the fore in the 'Leningrad' symphony (Shostakovich's seventh).” He concluded with “….the final pages were superbly sustained and awesomely climactic.”Read the entire review here.
More praise
The seconde concert in Engeland has been very well received too. About this one Ivan Hewett wrote in The Telegraph: "Together with brilliant pianist Simon Trpceski, the Dutch orchestra gives a thrilling rendition of some Russian masters. Rating: * * * * " He ended his appraisal with "Van Zweden and his orchestra are a marvellous team – let’s hope we hear more of them."This is the entire text.
The Times
In The Times Geoff Brown adds to this: "...the gutsy and gifted Netherlands Radio Philharmonic....Every time Rachmaninov rolled out one of those long-legged, haunting tunes, the strings pounced with full-blooded song whose tone grew more focused as the symphony’s hour progressed." Hij besluit zijn oordeel met: "Smiles all round."Read the entire review here.
Neues Deutschland
Headed by ‘Tödlicher Ernst, junger Schwung’ [deadly serious, youthful swing] Antje Rößler writes in the daily paper Neues Deutschland about the performance of Shostakovich’ 7'th symphony at the Berlin Konzerthaus among other things: "Jaap van Zweden, Chefdirigent des Ensembles, zwang das 75-minütige Stück in einen großen Bogen, indem er die Spannungskurven der einzelnen Sätze deutlich aufbaute. […]Mit seinem energischen, straffen Dirigat arbeitet van Zweden die markanten Brüche in diesem Stück heraus, das auf eine Weiterentwicklung von Themen verzichtet und stattdessen verschiedene Sphären übergangslos nebeneinander stellt: ländliche Folklore, Choräle, Militärklänge, grausig verzerrte Walzer und Märsche."
This is the entire text.
Laatste aanpassing op Wednesday 12 January 2011