Susanna Mälkki with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg

By Nicholas Reed, 18 January 2013

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Reviewed at Konzerthaus: Rolf Böhme Saal, Freiburg on 15 January 2013

Debussy, Images, for orchestra: Ibéria

Pauset, Symphony no. 4, "Der Geograph", for piano and orchestra

Ravel, Miroirs: Alborada del gracioso

Scriabin, Le Poème de l'extase (The Poem of Ecstasy), Op.54

SWR Symphony Orchestra

Nicolas Hodges, Piano

Susanna Mälkki, Conductor

In tempore belli: Britten's War Requiem at the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 16th June

As Teodor Currentzis' time in charge of the SWR Symphony Orchestra draws to a close, he bids farewell in a series of nationwide performances of Britten's memorial to the pity of war.

****1

A kaleidoscope of kinetic colour from Currentzis, Avdeeva and the SWR

Alexander Hall, 15th September

Teodor Currentzis, conducting the SWR Symphony Orchestra, and Yulianna Avdeeva do Prokofiev proud in his Third Piano Concerto and Fifth Symphony: all the colours of the rainbow delivered with sophistication, élan and boundless effervescence.

*****

Alina Ibragimova and Nils Mönkemeyer in love with Mozart

Laurence Vittes, 8th May

The soloists turn out to be the perfect couple, while the camerawork covers the action like it was a soccer match.

*****

Spookiness in Stuttgart with Eschenbach and Kopatchinskaja

Alexander Hall, 26th February

The darker sides of Romantic inventiveness are explored in Schumann’s neglected violin concerto and the clandestine woodland rustle of Dvořák’s G major symphony.

****1

Teodor Currentzis and the SWR Symphony triumph in Mahler 9

Alexander Hall, 17th December

Say what you like, Teodor Currentzis understands the music of Mahler, especially in that composer's final symphonic statement, to the manner born.

*****

A study in suffering: Currentzis at the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 19th December

Teodor Currentzis, on tour with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, pairs two Russian masterpieces written a century apart: Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and Schnittke's Viola Concerto with Antoine Tamestit.

****1

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Nicholas Reed

British percussionist Nicholas Reed studied at the Royal College of Music, London and the Paris Conservatoire. A Royal Philharmonic Society award enabled him to complete his studies in Freiburg, Germany where he now resides. Specialising in the performance of contemporary music he has performed extensively around the world.