Electrifying Beethoven from Currentzis and musicAeterna

By Mark Pullinger, 29 July 2018

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“a contrabassoon... that looked as if it could double as a howitzer on the battlefield”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 28 July 2018

Beethoven, Symphony no. 2 in D major, Op.36

Beethoven, Symphony no. 5 in C minor, Op.67

Beethoven, Symphony no. 7 in A major, Op.92: Allegro con brio

musicAeterna

Teodor Currentzis, Director

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

A beautiful but infuriating Clemenza in Amsterdam

Nicolas Nguyen, 7th May

The transfer of last year's Clemenza di Tito from Salzburg delights and irritates in equal measure.

***11

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Prom 18: Electrifying Beethoven from Teodor Currentzis and musicAeterna