Tripping the light fantastic in Köln

By Hugo Shirley, 04 September 2017

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“Roth conducted it with affection and a cool eye for detail”

Reviewed at Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne on 3 September 2017

Debussy, Première Suite d'orchestre: Rêve

Schumann, Symphony no. 3 in E flat major "Rhenish", Op.97

Strauss R., Don Quixote, Op.35

Nathan Braude, Viola

Edgar Moreau, Cello

Gürzenich Orchestra

François-Xavier Roth, Conductor

Wagner’s Dutchman drops anchor in Provence

Mark Pullinger, 10th April

The Flying Dutchman – or Le Vaisseau fantôme as it is known in French – makes a fleeting appearance at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in a rousing concert performance conducted by the dapper François-Xavier Roth.

****1

An excellent Rhenish from the Rhineland

Simon Thompson, 22nd June

Schumann's Third returns to its spiritual home as François-Xavier Roth conducts the Gürzenich Orchestra in a fine Rhenish.

***11

Punch and passion from Gürzenich Orchester Köln

Mark Thomas, 13th April

An exciting, though brief, world premiere and Schubert’s turbulent Fourth Symphony were given impressive readings by the Gürzenich Orchestra under Michael Sanderling, with Raphaela Gromes sensitive and passionate in Schumann.

****1

Raising a glass to greatness: Gürzenich's splendid Stravinsky marathon

Roy Westbrook, 6th April

The players gathered at the bar for a Scotch as the credits rolled. After three hours and twenty minutes of note-taking, I decided to follow suit.

****1

Musical contrasts from Fabien Gabel and the Gürzenich Orchester Köln

Phillip Nones, 16th March

In Cologne, Stravinsky's neoclassicism comes up against the echt-romanticism of Schreker and Korngold, ending in a draw.

****1

Beethoven and beyond: the Gürzenich reinvents the concert programme

Matthew Rye, 21st February

François-Xavier Roth and the Gürzenich Orchestra tear up the traditional concert programme to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.

****1

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Hugo Shirley

Hugo Shirley is a Berlin-based writer and musicologist. He has written widely as a critic in the UK, including for The Spectator, the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph, and has held editorial posts at both Opera and Gramophone. He was editor of 30-Second Opera (Ivy Press, 2015) and has a PhD in musicology from King's College London, where his thesis focused on Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s Die Frau ohne Schatten.

Tripping the light fantastic: a refreshing season opener from the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln