A Baltic phoenix: Esa-Pekka Salonen brings Stockholm back to life

By Tristan Labouret, 10 September 2021

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“a spectacular and memorable opening concerts”

Reviewed at Berwaldhallen, Stockholm on 9 September 2021

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 32 in C minor, Op.111 (Arietta)

Hillborg, Kongsgaard Variations (The Arietta Quartet)

Bach, Violin partita no. 3 in E major, BWV1006: Preludio

Salonen, FOG

Sibelius, Symphony no. 2 in D major, Op.43

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Esa-Pekka Salonen, Conductor

Terés Löf, Piano

Johan Dalene, Violin

The Swedish RSO provides a flashy finish for Dvořák’s Prague

Frank Kuznik, 25th September

Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra bring their own fireworks to the festival finale.

****1

Handel's Messiah streamed from the Baltic Sea Festival

Sandra Bowdler, 18th September

Reinhard Goebel conducts a perfectly fine, straight-down-the-line Messiah as Sweden re-engages with live audiences.

***11

Elegant Mozart and monumental Schubert from Blomstedt in Stockholm

Cameron Kelsall, 20th November

The inexhaustible maestro shared the stage with Johan Dalene, an exciting violinist seven decades his junior.

*****

Mäkelä shapes Sibelius persuasively in Stockholm’s Berwaldhallen

Edward Sava-Segal, 13th November

Mäkelä brought out the harmonic inventiveness and the unexpected lyrical character of the music.

****1

A persuasively dark Don Giovanni from Swedish Radio

David Karlin, 14th June

Andrew Staples creates an austere, monochrome semi-staging that's strangely appropriate to the times; Peter Mattei and John Lundgren lead an excellent cast.

****1

Post-lockdown Sibelius from Daniel Harding and the Swedish RSO

Mark Valencia, 6th June

Although filled with beauty and sweetly played, the fragmentation of the symphony felt too disruptive.

***11

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Tristan Labouret

Musicologue diplômé du CNSMD de Paris, Tristan Labouret collabore avec de nombreux artistes et institutions musicales (Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre national d'Île-de-France, Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, festivals de musique de chambre de Deauville, Just Classik Festival…), menant des activités de médiation à destination de tous les publics. Ex-altiste toujours passionné par les répertoires chambristes et symphoniques, il occupe depuis 2018 le poste de rédacteur en chef de la partie francophone de Bachtrack.