Gutman, Zander: Shostakovich, Dvořák, Bartók — Lucerne, 2015-06-29

Natalia Gutman played with rich rubato, exploring the depth, the melodic strength of Dvořák’s composition with her dense, soft and singing tone (…) often, in lyrical passages, the soloist appeared completely immersed into the music, listening and playing with closed eyes (…)
The fourth movement, Allegretto, “Intermezzo interrotto” is rhythmically intricate, playing with Bohemian folk melodies — in typical Bartók / Hungarian manner, the meter is changing almost from bar to bar, leaving western ears “hanging in mid-air”: the orchestra’s playing was very good and appeared almost effortless.

Sophia Jaffé / H.M. Förster — Zurich, 2015-02-15

With the entrance of the solo violin, though, the attention turned towards Sophia Jaffé, who presented herself as an experienced, expressive violinist, with a sonorous, full tone, delivering a solid, convincing interpretation.

Albrecht Mayer, Norrington / ZKO — Zurich, 2014-11-25

(…) The last position in the program (after the intermission) was Mozart’s Symphony No.40 in G minor, K.550, in its first version (without clarinets), preceded by some explanations (in English) by the conductor. Sir Roger Norrington first alluded to numeric relations between the two symphonies (No.4 vs. No.40 — second vs. second-to-last symphony), then referred to the fact that K.550 is overused, known too well even, and played in warehouses and escalators…

Yulianna Avdeeva — Warsaw (Live Webcast), 2014-05-30

On 2014-05-30, the final concert from the season 2013/2014 in the Warsaw Philharmonic Hall was broadcast online. The concert featured Yulianna Avdeeva, the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir under the direction of Jacek Kasprzyk, and the tenor Thomas Warmijak. The program for the concert included…