“Punchy Prokofiev Piano Concerto #3 and a crisp rendering of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe...”

“This Monday, the Juilliard Orchestra provided a bracing experience for the audience at Alice Tully Hall.”

“Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe in its complete 3-part version is a workout for large orchestra. Led by Philadelphia Orchestra music director-designate Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the Juilliard Orchestra gave a reading of propulsive clarity.”

“Panache and freshness characterized the Juilliard Orchestra's collaboration with conductor Nezet-Seguin.”

“ If he imbues half that same zing to the Philadelphia Orchestra next fall, audiences in the City of Brotherly Love are in for a treat.”

“From the start (Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto) the orchestra played assertively, at times with brutal force, as well as a clear sense of when it fully owned the spotlight and when it was seeking to wrest it from the soloist.”

“Mr. Nézet-Séguin offered a glimpse of his approach to “Daphnis et Chloé” in his richly nuanced recording of the Suite No. 2 with the Rotterdam Philharmonic (on EMI Classics).”

“ His kinetic, demonstrative conducting style is suited to music this vivid, and the Juilliard players, augmented by the Dessoff Choirs, responded with the lush textures, enveloping shimmer and vigorous sensuality that Ravel’s score and its underlying story demand.”

“ The playing was powerful and polished, with superb individual contributions from players in every section.”

Nézet-Séguin on Home Turf

“ Not only was Montreal’s wonder boy, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, on home turf last Thursday night, he had also decided to tackle one the most impressive calling cards of Charles Dutoit, former music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM). And in the same hall that is home to the OSM. In his remarks to the audience, Nézet-Séguin called Daphnis et Chloé "une œuvre fétiche à Montréal" (a cult composition in Montréal). But the confident young conductor, fresh from triumphs in Philadelphia, New York and Berlin, had nothing to fear.”

“When I first heard this orchestra seven or eight years ago in a neighbourhood hockey arena, it still had some work to do before entering the same class as the OSM. Today it can play with the same integrity, precision and finesse as the best.”

“It was evident from the first magical whispers of the basses and timpani that this performance would be special, that an enchanting nether-world was being revealed. Nézet-Séguin has the ability to take total command of an orchestra and to breathe life into a work. I am not speaking metaphorically. From the eighth row of the orchestra one can easily hear his long, sustained breaths that carry his energy and passion to every player. And he can maintain this concentration and tension within the dramatic line of a piece without wavering. Even better, he takes the audience along with him.”

“Nézet-Séguin’s evenly paced, 60-minute reading painted a palette of colors that perfectly matched the varying dance rhythms of the ballet. And can this conductor generate excitement! During the climax of "Lever du jour", with his arms extended towards the ceiling, trembling like a leaf, it appeared that he was going to levitate from the podium! No wonder audiences from Los Angeles to Berlin go wild after his performances.”

“Daphnis et Chloé is noted for its innovative, demanding and dramatic contrasts in orchestration. From the delicate sensitivity of the introduction to the orgiastic splendour of the final bacchanal, Nézet-Séguin sculpted an almost Brucknerian cathedral to nature. The wordless choir and the wind machine, both rarities within the orchestral repertory, also made significant contributions to Ravel’s magical sound world.”

“All sections of the orchestra played impeccably. Standouts included Marie-Andrée Benny (flute), Lise Beauchamp (oboe), Louis-Philippe Marsolais (horn) and Yukari Cousineau (concertmaster).”

“The evening’s performance began with Bach’s Magnificat in D Major. This was chosen, according to the conductor, to mark a joyous beginning to the festive season and to illustrate dance similarities with the Ravel.”

(...)

« Yannick Nézet-Séguin, précédé de récents triomphes très médiatisés, de Berlin à New York, a été accueilli hier soir par une salle Wilfrid-Pelletier archi-comble, soit quelque 3000 personnes qui, en fin de concert, l'ont ovationné debout, lui et ses 200 musiciens et choristes, pendant de longues minutes. »

« Un exquis solo de hautbois de Lise Beauchamp (Magnificat) »

Rattle’s ghost, R.I.P.

“As good as Rattle and the Berliners sound in this recording, Yannick’s live performance with the Philadelphians was better.”

“The Philadelphians delivered more presence and more color. Their attacks were more precise and had more impact. This, I am sure, was largely because Nézet-Séguin makes his intentions clear to the musicians. They can see what he wants. There’s no confusion or hesitancy about when to dig in and attack a note.”

“With this confidence, the Orchestra members were able to produce a rich sound that reminded me of its Stokowski and Ormandy eras.”

“Exactly how Nézet-Séguin communicates his intentions is a bit of a mystery.”

“Yet in the short time Yannick has worked with these players, he is getting results. In his first rehearsal of the Mahler, Yannick ran through the first two movements without stopping, and the musicians say that it sounded like a concert performance. As Peter Burwasser wrote in BSR, the orchestra’s sound bloomed.”

Mahler and Yannick: Two peas in a pod?

“Like Mahler, Nézet-Séguin is a young, gifted and enthusiastic conductor who in a short time established his competence and was then given an opportunity to lead one of the great world-class orchestras (for Mahler, it was the Vienna Hofoper).”

“Like Mahler, he is a noted opera conductor, and like Mahler, he brings exceptional ambition, vigor and discipline to a stellar ensemble. Also like Mahler, Nézet-Séguin is a perfect match for his orchestra, a group of exceptional musicians crying out for new leadership.”

“Moreover, Nézet-Séguin enthralls audiences in much the same way as Mahler did. His interpretive style is precise, powerful and full of momentum, adhering closely to the score.”

“In this concert, Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra gave a performance that excited an audience hungry for that fabulous Philadelphia sound and for a fresh, young conductor with the capability to make the most of it.”

“He took both the Haydn and the Mahler symphonies at a rapid clip, made the most of dynamic changes, and showed a command of both the music and the orchestra.”

“With an excellent sense of timing and dramatic tensions, Nézet-Séguin brought out some features of Mahler’s music that illustrate why Mahler deserves a place among the great symphonic composers.”

“Via Nézet-Séguin’s fast-paced, lucid and powerful performance— for which the Orchestra is also to be thanked— one could vividly discern Mahler’s mastery of the orchestral ensemble: its instruments, their timbres: and all of its possibilities for elaboration.”

“Another feature of the music that was beautifully brought out by Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestra is Mahler’s development of new sonorities, using novel (for his time) combinations of instruments, such as horn and clarinet in unison to establish strikingly evocative orchestral sounds.”

“Nézet-Séguin’s tight and precise conducting manner brought out more than others’ interpretations of those modern features of Mahler that foreshadowed the music that was to come.”

A child shall lead them, or: ‘You’ve got to see this guy conduct!’

“It was among the most joyous nights of music making I’ve ever seen or heard.”

“ I cannot recall ever hearing a Haydn Symphony performed with such grace and passion. As its slow introduction began, I was astonished to find tears in my eyes. Nézet-Séguin immediately took the whole orchestra, winds and strings, to the luminescent lyrical heart of Haydn’s language and kept it there for the whole work.”

“To be sure, Nézet-Séguin‘s Mahler Fifth was passionate, powerful, controlled— a masterful performance.”

“The players seemed wholly under the spell of Nézet-Séguin’s musical vision. Just as important, especially at this moment in the Orchestra’s history, Nézet-Séguin communicates his musical joy directly to his audience as well.” 

Yannick, the hopeful one

“The musicians seemed especially alert, watching for the conductor’s cues with unusual care, and seemingly sitting just a bit closer than usual to the edges of their chairs. The looming weariness of recent concerts was, perhaps, supplanted by– happiness?”

“ They sounded terrific. It’s tremendously gratifying to hear this band deliver the glorious roar that emanated from Verizon’s stage.”

“In the wonderful Scherzo, one of Mahler’s most ingenious creations, Nézet-Séguin conducted with a subtle swing that gave the music a remarkable buoyancy. This section is, by itself, as long as a Mozart symphony, and yet it was disappointing to hear it come to an end.”

“The Scherzo was also an opportunity to showcase the superb playing of principal hornist Jennifer Montone, who stood for the duration of the movement, practically transforming it into a horn concerto.”

“Nézet-Séguin sounded somewhat seduced by the great sound of his new ensemble.”

“In the Haydn “Military” Symphony, Nézet-Séguin signaled a personal approach to the music of the Classical era”

Cheers for Nézet-Séguin and his new home team

“In his third-ever program with the orchestra - and his first since being named music director beginning in 2012 - the 35-year-old Montréaler showed his new public what they might expect from the Nézet-Séguin era.”  

“Emotionally, this was exactly the night this orchestra and its city needed to spend together.”

“It was also only the beginning of a musical exploration.” 

“ Players were on their mettle, which can only be seen as a promising sign.”

“Using a healthy sized string section, Nézet-Séguin drew unusual refinements from the Haydn.”

“In the second movement, principal percussionist Christopher Deviney went wondrously long on quality of sound in his gentlest of cymbal work (bringing the same timbral sensitivity to the same instrument in the Mahler), while a velvet of blended winds benefited from clarinetist Ricardo Morales, oboist Richard Woodhams and bassoonist Mark Gigliotti.”

“It was a reading that sighed, whispered and wept, measuring out its emotion in simple, heart-felt doses.”

Curtain calls

“BERLIN - The music was finished. But listeners were still there and still clapping. Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin obligingly scooted back onto the Berlin Philharmonie stage with characteristic energy, and was greeted with yet another approving roar.”

Yannick Nézet-Séguin débute avec grand succès avec le Berliner Philharmoniker

« La première prestation de Yannick Nézet-Séguin avec les musiciens de la Philharmonie de Berlin fut mémorable. »

« Yannick Nézet-Séguin respire à même la musique, chaque fibre de son corps vit à son rythme et il réussit à entraîner tout l'orchestre dans son envoûtement. »

« Regarder Nézet-Séguin faire son travail de manière si impeccable, avec des mouvements énergiques sans jamais d'affectation, est un régal aussi jouissif que la délectation acoustique de l'œuvre. »

« Il a allumé des feux d'artifice aux couleurs sonores innombrables. Il dirigeait de mémoire et avec une incroyable précision. »

« Nézet-Séguin réussit la plupart du temps à imposer ses conceptions musicales nuancées. »

« Sa technique de direction est loin d’être classique, mais elle est si forte et si claire que les musiciens du Berliner Philharmoniker ne peuvent ni ne veulent se passer de lui, comme ils ont souvent fait ces derniers temps avec d’autres chefs invités. »

« Dans sa rigueur, Nézet-Séguin cherche à éviter la routine, la banalité et les effets sonores trop simples. (Symphonie fantastique de Berlioz) »

« Nézet-Séguin demeure fidèle au compositeur: cette œuvre (Les Offrandes oubliées d’Olivier Messiaen) s’inscrit parfaitement dans la tradition orchestrale française dont les passages les plus endiablés ressemblent à du Stravinski ou à du Honegger alors que dans les passages plus calmes, on croirait entendre Debussy ou Roussel. »

Un jeune Canadien fait ses débuts au pupitre du Berliner Philharmoniker

L'art du mouvement

« Yannick Nézet-Séguin, âgé de 35 ans, peut se considérer comme béni des dieux pour avoir reçu une telle intelligence corporelle qu'il arrive à maîtriser. »

« Il est le premier Canadien (à diriger le Berliner Philharmoniker). »

« Il ouvre amplement les bras comme s’il s'agissait d'une bénédiction et ramène les mains vers sa poitrine. Ce n'est que par la suite qu'il fait les premiers gestes et que les premiers sons sortent. »

« Il fallait entendre et voir touts ces effets d'éclats et de scintillement. Bien au delà de toute l'hystérie théâtrale de cette oeuvre avec ses changements abrupts, le chef a réussi à produire une grande unité de mouvements qui englobait la scène et l'atmosphère générale de la salle. »

Avec fougue et enthousiasme

« D’entrée de jeu, les timbres du Philharmonique de Rotterdam frappent par leur plénitude »

« Yannick Nézet-Séguin dirige le premier mouvement (qui aura occupé Bruckner pendant près de 14 mois, au cours des deux années que dura la composition!) de manière inflexible, intervenant toujours à bon escient pour mettre en valeur tel ou tel pupitre, faisant ainsi montre de véritables talents de coloriste. »

« Après un Scherzo tout en puissance (il faut voir Nézet-Séguin alimenter avec son poing gauche l’ostinato rageur des violoncelles!), l’orchestre interprète magnifiquement le Finale en dépit des nombreux changements d’atmosphère et des césures dont celui-ci est parsemé. »

Orchestre Metropolitain launches with colossal work, capacity crowd and clear vision

“From the opening crisp string attacks, the audience could tell they were in for a special night.”

Nézet-Séguin / Mahler : encore plus loin

« Nézet-Séguin continue de raffiner sa conception de l'oeuvre, qui était déjà pleinement convaincante en 2001. Je parlais alors de «puissance épouvantable de tout l'orchestre», de «fracassantes timbales» et d'«immense progression vers la lumière finale». Pourquoi chercher d'autres mots? C'est exactement ce que le jeune chef nous a encore donné hier soir. »

Nézet-Séguin leads the home team to blazes of glory
Orchestre Métropolitain takes on Mahler’s ambitious Second Symphony with verve

“It was clear from the opening bars that Nézet-Séguin and his players are exceptionally responsive to each other.”

« sa «Résurrection» a galvanisé le public: formidablement vivante et contrastée » 

« Dès les premières mesures, il transmet tension et expressivité »

Cette interprétation « offre un intéressant compromis entre puissance et clarté (quel pupitre de violoncelles!). »

« Un concert réjouissant qui s'est clos par un miracle: le public parisien a laissé un silence avant d'applaudir! »

Yannick Nézet-Séguin dirige la Symphonie « Résurrection » - Prophéties et foudroiements

« Dès le Maestoso, on est saisi par une fureur contrôlée mais pourtant active, visiblement fascinée par les audaces de l’écriture. »

Splendeurs orchestrales

« La monumentale Deuxième Symphonie de Gustav Mahler se prête à de très belles démonstrations de direction d’orchestre. Le jeune chef canadien Yannick Nézet-Séguin vient encore d’en apporter la preuve au Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, à la tête de l’Orchestre de Rotterdam. Un concert impressionnant de force, de technique et d’intelligence. »

« l’Orchestre philharmonique de Rotterdam a de la personnalité et de très vastes possibilités.»

« Tous les pupitres sont d’une absolue sûreté musicale et technique, les cuivres ayant en particulier l’occasion permanente de susciter l’admiration, tout comme les percussions d’ailleurs. Dans les immenses tutti flamboyants comme dans les épisodes pianissimo, le grain du son reste parfait, précis, au service du plus minuscule détail comme des envolées d’ensemble les plus monumentales. Rien ne nous échappe, tout sollicite l’oreille de manière significative. »

« Un tel instrument trouve avec Yannick Nézet-Séguin, une personnalité de taille à lui faire donner le meilleur de lui-même. Le jeune chef canadien – à trente-cinq ans, on est encore un jeune chef – possède en effet une éblouissante technique de direction. La clarté du geste, l’engagement de tout le corps, sans rien d’outrancier ni d’artificiellement théâtral, ont une force de conviction irrésistible qui domine totalement l’énorme masse orchestrale et chorale présente. »

« On sait la complexité des messages que Mahler a voulu communiquer dans chaque mouvement. À cette complexité de pensée correspond une complexité d’écriture peu commune et en fin de compte une richesse sonore et expressive elle aussi hors du commun. Nézet-Séguin domine tout cela de façon magistrale, avec une lucidité, une intelligence, une capacité d’analyse exceptionnelles. »

« Le Collegium Vocale Gent et l’Academia Chigiana Sienna, les deux solistes, le mezzo Ekaterina Gubanova et la soprano Kate Royal, apportent tous une contribution de haute tenue au travail si investi, enthousiaste, entier, du chef dont Paris ne connaît pas encore toutes les possibilités. »

« Nézet-Séguin sait clairement ce qu’il veut et sait exactement comment y parvenir. »

« Nézet-Séguin, dont l'énergie et la passion semblent inépuisables, a bien rendu les séquences tumultueuses et les moments d'accalmie et de mystère, sans exagérer cependant dans un sens ou dans l'autre. »

This Mahler was big and beautiful

“This was a stunning performance, easily the best live Eighth I have heard.”

“All the magnificence entailed no loss of inner clarity in fugal sequences.”

“This clarity of image, sharpened by Nezet-Seguin's unerring ear for dynamic variety, made the setting of Veni, Creator Spiritus that is Part 1 a much more nuanced and less stentorian thing than it can be.”

“There was no feeling of discrepancy between what Mahler wanted, what the conductor asked for, and what the performers gave him.”

 « Nézet-Séguin a donné à l'oeuvre sa transparence, son unité, son envol, aussi. Des limites du silence aux crescendos élancés, vivante et fraîche comme une fin de printemps à Maiernigg, où Mahler composa la « Huitième » en... huit semaines, ce fut « une ascension dans les hautes et pures cellules de la création musicale », comme l'écrivit le critique Korngold après la première, le 12 septembre 1910, à Munich. »

Cast of hundreds honours Symphony of a Thousand

“The combined orchestras were excellent. One would scarcely imagine that these musicians don’t normally play together.”

“The string playing was full-bodied and lush when it needed to be.”

“The brass sound was well-blended and balanced.”

L’impact et la violence de la transparence

« Samuel Kummer et la Staatskapelle de Dresde ont amené pour la première fois ce monument symphonique à la Frauenkirche et l’ont fait de façon convaincante, même du point de vue acoustique. »

« Nézet-Séguin jouait avec la partition, permettant aux instruments à cordes des trémolos prolongés, aux cuivres de briller et à l’orgue de manifester sa puissance. »

Une oeuvre impressionnante

« Lorsqu’il y a une concordance aussi heureuse entre le lieu, l’orgue et l’orchestre, comme il nous a été donné d’entendre dans le cadre du festival des Journées de la musique de Dresde, alors le public est conquis et enchanté. »

« Le Canadien Yannick Nézet-Séguin a dirigé de façon convaincante et a su atteindre des sommets inégalés malgré les difficultés acoustiques du lieu. »

“This exciting and eclectic programme proved yet again that with Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium, the players of the LPO never fail to deliver.”

“Violinist Lisa Batiashvili was on spellbinding form in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto 1 in D, making this an evening to savour.”

“Rarely has Beethoven’s jubilant Symphony 7 in A been giving as rip-roaring and viscerally thrilling performance as it was here.”

“Nézet-Séguin and the pared down sections of the LPO convinced with their Baroque credentials.”

“Nézet-Séguin paced the work well and unerringly captured the celebratory nature of the piece”

“Her (Lisa Batiashvili) agility in this movement (of the Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto 1 in D ) was truly breathtaking, but it was her glowing account of the lyrical passages that will linger long in the memory.”

“It was illuminating to hear it (Stravinsky’s Fireworks ) in the context of the rest of the evening.”

“Despite the excellence of everything that had preceded it, Nézet-Séguin had saved the best til last as he and the players delivered a reading of Beethoven’s Symphony 7 in A so thrilling in its execution that it quite simply took the breath away.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard such meticulous or exuberant playing in this work and as all of Nézet-Séguin’s tempi were spot-on the final movement was edge of the seat stuff.”

“ This was as thrilling a performance as Carlos Kleiber’s on disc, and no praise is higher than that.”

“Infectiously energetic, with an ear for the sweetest curve and swell of a phrase, and a taste for the silkiest pianissimi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin opened his performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra with a declaration of war.”

“For 30 years, the early music movement has owned Handel. Yet here was the LPO, reduced, but still with three double basses and an armour-plated harpsichord, playing Music for the Royal Fireworks, each dance ending with a perfect, oval-shaped chord and peppered with notes inégales, those teasingly swung quavers that whisper Historically Informed Performance Practice.”

“If this bold, stylistically diverse programme was an audition, Nézet-Séguin has got the job.”

“Nézet-Séguin is a sensitive accompanist too. He conjured the faintest wash of nocturnal midsummer sound from the violas at the opening of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No 1, and bent closely to Lisa Batiashvili's heathery, flinty sound.”

“This London Philharmonic concert, with the orchestra’s young principal guest conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, was little short of a firestorm.”
“Thanks to Batiashvili’s intense concentration of focus, and the conductor’s sensitive chamber-musical balance, the outer movements (Prokofiev Concerto No 1) were diamond-cut. And the central Scherzo was a miracle of quicksilver fingerwork, creating sound that seemed to float free of its source.”

(Rated 5/ 5 )
“Fireworks from Handel and Stravinsky but most of all from Yannick Nézet-Séguin in a performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony that redefined its rhythmic exuberance in ways that made sitting to listen to it an almost impossible requirement.”

“Feet and hands twitched involuntarily throughout the hall. If you hadn’t yet woken up to the fact that the young French-Canadian is as vital a talent as any burgeoning on the international scene then this was the performance to do it.”

“There was an air of coolness, too, about Lisa Batiashvili in the ravishing opening measures of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto. They emerged from near-silence in one of Nezet-Seguin’s breathless pianissimi – a tremolando which barely moved air before reaching our ears. Batiashvili’s response was as poised as it was chaste, an almost wilful reluctance to succumb to the enticement of the melody. Then the beast within surfaced in the gruffly overworked G-string and we began to realise that appearances can be deceptive. The scherzo had a devilish glint and ear-pricking clarity – indeed it would be hard to imagine an exposition of the orchestral part more subtly tailored to a soloist. Enchantment, when it finally came in the aerial flutterings of the closing pages, felt earned – and all the more satisfying for it.”
 
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more brilliant or revealing account of Stravinsky’s Fireworks. The apparent madness of assembling such a huge orchestra for a mere four minutes of music seemed almost justified and, of course, it effectively lit the touch-paper for the Beethoven Seventh.”

Gold-medal performance by Rotterdam Philharmonic

Montreal conductor owns the podium as he introduces us to his new orchestra

Canadians may not own the Olympic podium. But, for those who prefer classical music, a Canadian was in spectacularly golden possession of the podium at Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday night.

Montrealer Yannick Nézet-Séguin brought the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet to town as part of his North American debut tour as music director of the Dutch ensemble. Together, they presented a spectacular evening of music shaped by deep convictions and propelled by prodigious life force.

Nézet-Séguin, who turns 35 this year, has so far rarely picked up a piece of orchestral writing that he can't turn into a great musical narrative. But he had a head start for the Toronto program, which featured Les offrandes oubliées, a piece French composer Olivier Messiaen finished in 1930 (when he was 22), Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, a year younger than Messiaen's piece, and Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), written in 1899 by Richard Strauss.

Between Thibaudet and Nézet-Séguin, the Ravel concerto alternated between a shimmering elegance and steel-edged force. The difficult piano part, written for Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost the use of his right hand, is difficult to shape, but Thibaudet attacked it confidently and with panache. The conductor was in the same mood, maintaining a steady rhythmic clarity that drew connections to Ravel's popular Boléro.

The Messiaen piece showed how nicely balanced the Rotterdam Philharmonic sounds, and how subtly the violins can express themselves.

These two pieces made for a fantastic buildup to the evening's climax. In Strauss's work, "hero" of the title is the composer himself. The piece, divided loosely into four movements, is an opera without words, with the concertmaster's violin playing the prima donna assoluta. The Rotterdam Philharmonic's Igor Gruppman was more than up for the spotlight.

Nézet-Séguin shaped Strauss's cleverly constructed, lushly orchestrated interplay of musical motives like an old master, infusing the music with a deep voluptuousness that blocked out the senses' ability to pick up anything else but this glorious sound.

The Canadian maestro has not even entered the prime of his career, and is already showing that he can master many different styles of music – both symphonic and operatic.

Is it possible to play too well?
Of such debates are great evenings made

You know the drill. The conductor walks to the podium, acknowledges the applause, turns to the orchestra, gets to work. Except on Sunday night the applause continued, forcing Yannick Nézet-Séguin to face his fellow Montrealers and bow again.

Then he asked the players to rise a second time, serving notice that the evening was as much about the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra as it was about his leadership of it. Sure enough, the concert comprised the best pure playing we have heard in Place des Arts this season.

Surprised? (...). All I can say is that I heard a top, top ensemble. Right from the opening of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, the focus of the lower strings - at low volume - was impressive. Soloists spoke sweetly and ensembles were balanced. Lucid brass, jocose bassoons, burnished violins and violas, sassy trombones, all superbly coordinated.

So fine was the soundscape that the thought stole over me: should Bartok sound more rough-and-tumble? Was this Hungarian music, or French? Of such debates are great evenings made.

An athletic cheerleader in front of the Orchestre Métropolitain, YNS was perfectly in step with the Dutch musicians. They were giving him the detail he wanted. He did not need to plead for more.

It might even be argued that the 18 who addressed themselves to Theo Verbey's so-called Conciso played too well, making this routine nine-minute exercise in neo-classicism seem better than it really was.

Did they overdo it in Brahms's Violin Concerto? There was an abundance of detail that we rarely encounter on MSO nights. Never have I never heard the staccato swordplay of the finale realized with such clarity. Upright and implacable as ever, Viktoria Mullova, ostensibly the soloist, provided a stately obbligato for what I heard as a lively concerto for orchestra.

The encore was the Fairy Garden finale of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. It was like a bouquet of flowers. There was a big sustained ovation for this concert, presented by a Toronto organization, Show One.

Get ready for show two: The Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev on March 14.

Orchestre Philharmonique de Rotterdam : triomphe à Rotterdam

« On peut, sans l'ombre d'un doute, parler de triomphe à propos du concert que l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Rotterdam donnait ici dimanche soir, dans le cadre de sa brève tournée de l'Est de l'Amérique.»

« Cet orchestre est inconnu ici. Mais ce n'est pas du tout le cas de celui qui le dirige depuis deux ans. Le nom de Yannick Nézet-Séguin est certainement à l'origine de l'auditoire de plus de 2300 personnes massées à Wilfrid-Pelletier, qui se sont levées pour ovationner le jeune chef dès son entrée, renchérissant à la fin du concert pour lui faire, ainsi qu'à son orchestre, une ovation encore plus considérable. Le Concerto pour orchestre de Bartok valait à lui seul toute la soirée.»

« Comme le titre l'indique, la partition met en lumière les composantes d'un grand orchestre et leur virtuosité individuelle et collective. Tous les instruments ont ici leur mot à dire, souvent deux à deux; tous, jusqu'à la caisse claire, et l'exécution doit être parfaite, sinon le titre n'a plus de signification. Et parfaite elle fut…

« L'oeuvre ne s'arrête pas au numéro de virtuosité: elle mêle une espèce d'humour noir à des épisodes calmes et nostalgiques. Autant d'éléments qui rappellent les conditions pénibles dans lesquelles Bartok composa cette oeuvre, parmi ses dernières, et que Nézet-Séguin souligna avec une rare vérité.»

Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Tout en lumière

«  Le jeune maestro québécois a développé une direction nuancée dans Bartók, nous exposant ainsi tout le potentiel des sections (les bois surtout) et d'une oeuvre qu'il voulait lumineuse. Une direction altruiste qui nous montre bien le tempérament humaniste de l'artiste. »

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Phil give the Concertgebouw a run for its money

Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin may have laughed off the idea of a Royal Concertgebouw/Rotterdam Phil smackdown when asked about their coinciding visits to New York this past week. However, there was no doubt that the latter orchestra’s first trip to the States with its new music director was the chance to show New Amsterdam that Old Amsterdam has some competition. And it’s stiff.

Both Wednesday’s and Friday’s programs at Avery Fisher Hall were keenly curated, displaying the youthful range and vibrancy this orchestra shows under Nézet-Séguin’s leadership. This included a bold and dynamic account of Messiaen’s Les offrandes oubliées, an Ein Heldenleben that painted with all of the colors on offer in Richard Strauss’s palette and showed off the rich talents of principal violinist Igor Gruppman, a percussionist’s wet dream in Theo Verbey’s Conciso and an electrifying Concerto for Orchestra that illuminated Bartók like light through stained glass. An encore from Ravel’s Ma Mère L’Oye both nights magnified all the twinkling charm of the orchestra’s recent EMI recording of the piece.

While his arms are either constantly akimbo with allegro or caressing an adagio, the music starts in Nézet-Séguin’s face. He is in the orchestra and of the orchestra, connecting with his players on a visceral level. In the rare moments of pure silence, you can hear him come up for air and take a deep breath before plunging back into the score. Here, he also built two impressive bridges between guest soloists Jean-Yves Thibaudet on Wednesday and Viktoria Mullova on Friday.

Physically, Mullova was a marked contrast to her conductor. Though she stood rigid throughout Brahms’s heady Violin Concerto, her technical perfection was complemented by the passion and soul of the orchestra, and she pulled several voices out of her instrument. Thibaudet, staggering, audacious and bombastic in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2, matched the showmanship of the orchestra note for note. He was particularly well paired with first cellist Marien van Staalen for an achingly longing duet and his cadenza was fiercely intelligent, even quoting a waltz by Chopin (who, though a contemporary of Liszt, could not have been any more different from the flamboyant composer-pianist).

A Fresh Look at a Familiar Violin Concerto

The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall Friday with the violinist Viktoria Mullova.

During the two concerts that the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra presented at Avery Fisher Hall last week, all eyes were fixed on the orchestra’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a strikingly gifted young Canadian conductor whose international career has lately assumed a meteoric velocity. But on Friday night, in the second of the orchestra’s New York events, the Russian violinist Viktoria Mullova proved equally worthy of consideration during an uneven but fascinating account of Brahms’s Violin Concerto.

Early in her career Ms. Mullova sometimes brought a Romantic sensibility to bear in Baroque and Classical repertory. Over time she earned a sterling reputation for the keen intelligence and focused intensity of her interpretations.

Recently she has been investigating historical performance practice on record and in concert. Just over a week ago she played the Brahms concerto with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, a Bay Area period-instrument ensemble.

Here, watching Ms. Mullova play from a score, you sensed that she was thoroughly reconsidering a canonical work without having reached any firm conclusions. There was no faulting her rock-solid technique or coolly incisive tone. She was imposing in Joachim’s first-movement cadenza, gracious in the Adagio and just buoyant enough in the finale.

Mr. Nézet-Séguin, leading an appropriately scaled-down complement, was an alert accompanist, and the Rotterdam strings were mellow and warm. But Ms. Mullova’s reserve did not always mesh comfortably with Mr. Nézet-Séguin’s flair for sumptuous sound and sharp dynamic contrast, and that opposition contributed to a nervous edge throughout.

“Conciso,” a 10-minute piece for 18 players by the contemporary Dutch composer Theo Verbey, opened the concert’s second half with a bustle of fidgeting strings, driving rhythms and tart Stravinskian wind voicings. But only in the final work on the program, Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra, did Mr. Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam players hit the assured stride demonstrated throughout their Wednesday night performance.

Youthful Intensity, Onstage and in the Program

“With a haunting account of an early work by Messiaen, a demonic performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the fearless French virtuoso Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and a lush, urgent rendering of Strauss’s autobiographical symphonic work “Ein Heldenleben,” Mr. Nézet-Séguin proved that his fast-rising career is built upon deep talent, technical flair and passion.”

“Almost as if the previous hellish descent had not happened, the music (Les Offrandes oubliées) becomes ethereal, with glowing harmonies and quizzical phrases, all conveyed vividly by Mr. Nézet-Séguin and his players.”

“The conductor and Mr. Thibaudet were clearly on the same page for their performance of the Liszt concerto.”

“Bringing structural coherence to Strauss’s 40-minute, six-section “Heldenleben” is a challenge. The performance Mr. Nézet-Séguin drew from his orchestra had taut narrative integrity. Each episode moved inexorably to the next.”

“The concert took flight with a hugely accomplished and enjoyable account of Poulenc's beguiling concerto for two pianos. Ronald Brautigam and Melvyn Tan provided just the right mixture of panache and insouciance in the solo parts, while Nézet-Séguin allowed the score's moments of stillness to flower.”

“Best of all, though, were the accounts of Debussy's Prélude l'Après-Midi d'un Faune and La Mer.”

“The atmospheric languor of the prelude was never forced, while La Mer was given a ­performance to remember, in which the overall pulse was never sacrificed to Debussy's ­endless array of brilliant strokes.”

LPO/Nézet-Séguin – Ravel, Debussy, Fauré & Poulenc

“Nézet-Séguin expertly projected the alternating moods, aided and abetted by uncommonly fine work from the London Philharmonic Choir, whether in the infinitely touching and almost a cappella ‘O quam tristis’, or in the more energetic and equally demanding ‘Quis est homo’ and ‘Inflammatus’ movements.”

“The concert began with Ravel’s Le tombeau de Couperin’, in which the orchestral playing was hors concours, and, similarly, in Pavane pour une infante défunte’, Nézet-Séguin’s careful attention ensured that all the inner parts stood out with great clarity. Debussy’s Nocturnes were also startling in terms of orchestral virtuosity, with truly silken playing from the strings in ‘Nuages’

“In this movement, beyond conjuring up an aural picture of clouds floating across the sky, Nézet-Séguin added an almost otherworldly dimension that was quite haunting. The dancing rhythms of ‘Fêtes’ were projected with great vitality, the passage starting with distant trumpets projected with élan.”

“There's a particular way of not just playing but feeling and touching French music.Watching Yannick Nézet-Séguin, without a baton, shape and sculpt Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin Suite in this beautifully proportioned all-French programme was an object lesson in how phrasing and articulation can shift emphasis and weight in ways that you might never have imagined. Hearing is believing - almost.”

French music teases and tantalises and Nezet-Seguin kept the exquisite Baroque allusions of Le Tombeau on the breath and off the string, repeatedly taking the sound away as if it really was just a figment of the imagination.”

“At the close of the first piece, fleet and breathless, the effect of the pay off - a fleeting harp glissando, a flash of piccolo, a vapour trail of violin harmonics - left remnants of sound in the air even after it had finished. Not for nothing did Nezet-Seguin hold on to those precious moments before silence.”

“There was so much air around the sound that even the Festival Hall sounded atmospheric - and when the lowering cloud formations of "Nuages", the first of Debussy's Nocturnes, rolled in, the precipitation of Sue Bohling's cor anglais and sustained tremolandi in string basses rendered the whole soundscape overcast in the best sense.”

“The fantastic mix of textures and moods in this piece (Poulenc’s Stabat Mater) - angelic one moment, all grimacing gargoyles the next - lends it a slightly subversive tone and there's something sensually Caravaggian about its pained chromaticism.”

“Then came La Mer, by far the concert’s greatest music. Passion and commitment gripped Nézet-Séguin and his players as never before.”

*****

“Expectations ran high for this evening of French masterpieces conducted by the LPO's prodigiously talented principal guest conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.”

“The concert not only met those expectations, it far exceeded them as the LPO's partnership with Nézet-Séguin proved once again to be the most exciting in London.”

“Nézet-Séguin brought out all the iridescent orchestral colours of the 'Lever de jour' and the concluding 'Danse générale' possessed an appropriate air of savagery.”

“This coruscating performance was followed by a glowing account of Ravel's Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, Nézet-Séguin and the orchestra perfectly capturing the sense of nostalgia that pervades the piece whilst revelling in the adventurous harmonies that the composer uses throughout the work.”

“The shifting harmonies and chromatic tonal language which Debussy employs in the former piece (Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune) sounded as original and revelatory as they must have done at the premiere in 1894, and thanks to some outstanding playing, especially from guest principal flute Karen Jones, we were magically transported to an imaginative, languid, sultry afternoon. Under Nézet-Séguin's inspired baton the orchestra positively oozed Mediterranean warmth.”

“The delicate, restrained opening (Debussy’s La Mer ) brilliantly evoked the shimmering waves at dawn and gave notice that this was going to be a performance full of orchestral colour and detail and so it proved to be. Each section of the LPO played outstandingly well”

“It was a fitting climax to a glorious evening of music making and confirmation that when Nézet-Séguin is at the helm of the LPO, there's no other musical partnership in London to touch them.”

Rotterdam Philharmonic and Jean-Yves Thibaudet in Dortmund

A sublime and effortless performance

“The young Canadian is a lively musician. He seems to embody the music, constantly pushing the orchestra to new and dramatic heights.”

 “A direct, unambiguous interpretation of the piece. (Messiaen: Les off­randes oubliées)

« Yannick Nézet-Séguin et l’Orchestre philharmonique de Rotterdam : tout un spectacle et un événement ! »

« Le héros de Nézet-Séguin s’impose naturellement tout comme Le Canadien s’affirme au pupitre. Diriger cette œuvre magistrale qu’est l’Heroica de Richard Strauss lui fait plaisir : à chaque mesure, il esquisse un sourire, malgré ses vigoureux mouvements de bras. »

« Remarquable la façon dont il laisse jouer les vents, on dirait qu’ils cisèlent la pierre. »

« Nézet-Séguin réussit à extraire le meilleur de son formidable et prestigieux orchestre, permettant au public de s’abreuver à la musique. »

« Sa baguette est le prolongement de son cœur. »

« Ils ont exploité toutes les possibilités théâtrales de l’oeuvre. »

« Les supplications d’une beauté presque divine du Salva me ou de l’introduction orchestrale du Recordare sont comme la Genèse le décrit dans le rêve de Jacob: une vraie échelle que pourraient emprunter les anges salvateurs pour se rendre au paradis. »  

« Le tempo lent de l’Introït est suivi d’une forte progression et la respiration logique du Kyrie  laisse tout l’espace aux vents! L’Offertorium est nerveux et mouvementé, comme si l’on ne croyait toujours pas à l’apaisement des notes du Dona eis Requiem! Et l’Agnus Dei peut être qualifié de divin! »

« L’orchestre était d’une telle précision, le chœur était si puissant, d’une clarté et d’une délicatesse comparables au verre, les solistes Dorothea Röschmann, Birgit Remmert, Michael Schade et Franz-Josef Selig étaient si solides ! À plusieurs moments, ce Requiem ressemblait à du grand opéra. » 

La jeune étoile filante canadienne Yannick Nézet-Séguin fait ses débuts avec le Wiener Philharmoniker dans une oeuvre de Kurtag et le Requiem de Mozart.

« Nézet-Séguin possède une formation en direction de chœur et il a complété ses études de direction auprès de Carlo Maria Guilini. Il en a tiré profit lors de cette soirée à guichets fermés. »

« Il est fascinant de voir comment Nézet-Séguin fait résonner de manière si émouvante les six lieder (Lieder der Schwermut und Trauer op. 18), sur des registres allant de la résignation au déchaînement fougueux, et comment il s’assure d’un équilibre idéal entre le chœur et l’orchestre. »

« Le compositeur (Kurtag) en était lui-même emballé. »

« Le chef d’orchestre, avec sa gestuelle ample, ne laisse aucun doute quant à sa conception de l’œuvre (Requiem). Il évite toute sentimentalité et accentue plutôt les sections dramatiques. »

Nézet-Séguin: encore le triomphe

« Nicholas Angelich, pianiste américain de naissance et français d'adoption, a joué le Brahms (Concerto No.1) avec la technique puissante que l'oeuvre requiert et l'expression d'un véritable interprète. » «  Nézet-Séguin et l'orchestre lui accordèrent un soutien constant, avec des cordes sombres et expressives. »

Nézet-Séguin makes smooth return
Orchestre Métropolitain gives pure performance

“Returning from New York a conquering hero, Yannick Nézet-Séguin walked from the wings of Salle Wilfrid Pelletier on Monday night to a warm ovation, much of it standing. Of course, the welcome that really mattered was the one given him by the Orchestre Métropolitain.”

“Yet on this occasion the score (Bruckner’s 1st Symphony) seemed scarcely less impressive than the later masterpieces. The first movement was virile, the Adagio thoughtful, the Scherzo wild, the finale daunting and complex.”

“Nézet-Séguin always seemed to find the right tempo, and the orchestra responded to his direction with playing of striking purity. Strings sounded both rich and lucid and the woodwinds conversed amiably. Have we heard smoother horns this season? Even the timpanist was having a good night.”