 |  |
|
Music is a better world
Other pages that are currently not available: LINKS: Sony-BMG Masterworks
| Explosion of Beethoven – set alight by the spirit of Mozart (Die Welt, 7 November 2005) It may have only been Beethoven on the stands of the Musikhalle, but it’s hard to imagine a programme sounding more exciting and modern, unless of course the Zurich Tonhalle is the orchestra on stage, displaying with every explosive note the classical composer’s radically contemporary and humorous spirit. Tradition doesn’t necessarily mean revering the past, but rather handing on the flame – David Zinman has communicated to his orchestra Gustav Mahler’s vision of the new recurring in the old with the passion and excitement of the pedagogue. The New Yorker has been working with the Tonhalle as their Chief Conductor for 10 years, and this continuity has paid off. Zinman has worked to create an individual orchestral character, and not just to produce a highly polished international symphonic sound. This was evident in the first few bars of the less often heard Beethoven overture “Consecration of the House”. Hard, crisp accents, flexible dynamics and a superb orchestral balance flow from the alert collective mind of the musicians, a single body full of musicality, intelligence and motivation. You can hear it and see it at the same time. We have seldom heard such beguiling playing from the distinguished musicians at the front desks, who communicated to each other cheeky rhythms, syncopations and unusual phrasings as both sign and consequence of their shared inspiration in their music-making. The master’s Second Piano Concerto was at the same time lively and light, hard-hitting and sparse, set alight by the spirit of Mozart. The soloist Yefim Bronfman was no more or less than a leader among equals in this bright cosmos. As for the often played Eroica, it came across as though newly composed, passionately urgent, sprightly, and yet with remarkable depth of field. Simply fantastic. DAVID ZINMAN |
