Currentzis, Melnikov and musicAeterna at the Elbphilharmonie

By Alexander Hall, 21 April 2018

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“His gestures are sometimes extraordinary, but also extraordinarily effective”

Reviewed at Elbphilharmonie: Grand Hall, Hamburg on 20 April 2018

Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), K492: Overture

Mozart, Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major, K453

Beethoven, Symphony no. 7 in A major, Op.92

musicAeterna

Teodor Currentzis, Conductor

Alexander Melnikov, Piano

A hole in the heart: Salzburg Festival’s new Don Giovanni

Hugo Shirley, 4th August

The pairing of controversial director and bad-boy conductor brings some thrills but the Salzburg Festival's new Don Giovanni proves disappointingly uninvolving.

***11

An online Beethovenathon: all nine symphonies across Europe in one day

Alexander Hall, 6th June

An all-day Beethoven experience European style with both highs and lows: much diversity revealed and exploited but of variable quality.

***11

An outstanding New York debut for Teodor Currentzis and musicAeterna

Edward Sava-Segal, 21st November

In Currentzis' vision, Verdi's Requiem was both a spectacle and a soul-searching exercise for the musicians, as well as for the listeners.

****1

An evangelical happening in Aix

Mark Valencia, 14th April

The musicians of MusicAeterna were impassioned, engaged and energised into a single force in this performance of Verdi's Requiem at the Aix Easter Festival.

****1

Cool brilliance: Currentzis conducts Mahler at the Philharmonie

Hugo Shirley, 5th December

Theodor Currentzis and his musicAeterna bring blistering detail and revelatory playing to Wunderhorn-period Mahler, but it ultimately proves short on warmth.

****1

Electrifying Beethoven from Currentzis and musicAeterna

Mark Pullinger, 28th July

The Greek conductor and his hand-picked Russian orchestra offer high-voltage Beethoven that crackles.

*****

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Alexander Hall

Alexander Hall divides his time between London and Hamburg, where he had a career in academic administration and teaching. He reviews for Bachtrack and Opera Today, and has also reviewed for Classical Source. A connoisseur of the great orchestras of the world, his musical memories stretch back to Karajan/Berlin Phil, Mravinsky/Leningrad Phil, Bernstein/Vienna Phil, and he has seen most of the great conductors from the past, including Böhm, Klemperer, Kubelik, Ormandy and Szell.