A Proms debut by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

By Matthew Rye, 17 August 2018

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“Jeux... febrile, shimmering, sensual dreaminess beautifully projected”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 16 August 2018

Debussy, Jeux

Ravel, Violin Sonata no. 2 in G major (orch. Yan Maresz)

Massenet, Thaïs: Méditation

Stravinsky, Petrushka (1911 version)

Ligeti, Concert Românesc (Finale)

Renaud Capuçon, Violin

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Jonathan Nott, Conductor

Bal Impérial & Boléro: multi-layered work challenges in Geneva

Daniel Pratt, 19th November

The premiere of Bal Impérial by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui challenges and interrogates to great effect in Geneva.

****1

Nott shapes a visceral arc with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

SangKwon Lee, 6th July

Fragmentation to ritual: this was no Rite of Spring of two halves but a single, vast architectural crescendo.

****1

Penthouse decadence for a shattering new Salome in Geneva

Mark Pullinger, 22nd January

The Grand Théâtre de Genève is certainly not risk-averse and Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó controversially translates the action to a penthouse bar in New York.

*****

An arthouse staging for Messiaen's testament of beauty in Geneva

Peter Quantrill, 11th April

Installation art sounds a dissonant note with the sublime harmony of Saint François d’Assise in Adel Abdessemed's creation at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

****1

Justice in Geneva: musically appealing but missing its mark

David Karlin, 22nd January

Director Milos Rau, composer Hèctor Parra and librettist Fiston Mwanza Mujila put the operatic spotlight on the fight for justice after a mining disaster in the DRC, with mixed results.

**111

Golden Age Spain meets Soviet Russia in Geneva’s season opener

Laura Servidei, 15th September

A grand rendition of Verdi’s Don Carlos opens season at the Grand Théâtre de Genève under the inspired baton of Marc Minkowski, in his first encounter with the opera, directed by Lydia Steier.

***11

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Matthew Rye

Matthew read music at Oxford and worked in music journalism for 30 years as a writer, critic and editor. He wrote numerous programme and CD booklet notes, spent 13 years as a Daily Telegraph critic, worked at BBC Music Magazine and was reviews editor of The Strad. He also wrote for The Wagner Journal and Opera and blogged at ferneklang.blogspot.co.uk. He was general editor of 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die (Cassell Illustrated, 2007) and was the author of a new series of eBooks, Masterpieces of Music (Erudition).

Prom 45: A Franco-Russian Proms debut from the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande