Paavo Järvi reviews
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos 2 & 4 (Tonhalle/P Järvi)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5; Francesca da Rimini
Schmidt: Symphonies Nos 1-4, etc
Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano
Erkki-Sven Tüür: Symphony No. 9 'Mythos', etc
Works by Pärt
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos 1-7
Messiaen: Le tombeau resplendissant, etc
Järvi and Estonian Festival Orchestra shine in wonderful performance of Shostakovich
Paavo Järvi conducts Brahms's Symphony No. 2 and Tragic Overture
The instant we hear the luminously pure wind chorale opening Brahms’s Second Symphony, we know we are in safe hands. All the hallmarks that distinguished Paavo Järvi’s Schumann cycle with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie are here: airy, vibrato-free strings, subtly-hued winds and natural horns. It’s worth noting that he uses the latest Henle urtext edition. The playing is crisp and alert, though not always fluent: the first movement waltzes have an idiomatic lilt, but the gears grind clumsily at the transition to the next episode.
Erkki-Sven Tüür: Magma
Not yet 50, Estonian Erkki-Sven Tüür’s claims to be considered one of the most vibrant contemporary talents can only be enhanced by this stimulating programme. Magma, nominally his Fourth Symphony, is really a percussion concerto that throws Evelyn Glennie (for whom it was written) exuberantly upon a large kitchen department, with ear-stupefying results.