Punch and passion from Gürzenich Orchester Köln

By Mark Thomas, 14 April 2021

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“full of dense clusters, crushing dissonances and a rhythmic immediacy”

Reviewed at Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne on 13 April 2021

Gander, From Dust till Dawn (World premiere)

Schumann, Cello Concerto in A minor, Op.129

Offenbach, Cello duo in e major, Op.54 no.3

Schubert, Symphony no. 4 in C minor, "Tragic", D 417

Raphaela Gromes, Cello

Angela Chang, Cello

Gürzenich Orchestra

Michael Sanderling, 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

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

A very palpable hit: Hamlet in Cologne

Matthew Rye, 24th November

Brett Dean's operatic reworking of Shakespeare's Hamlet receives its German premiere in a powerful new staging by the work's librettist Matthew Jocelyn.

****1

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Mark Thomas

A lifelong devotee of classical music, Mark caught the bug after listening to The Planets, The Rite of Spring and Beethoven’s Fifth when he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He has degrees in non-musical subjects and currently works as a Chartered Governance Professional, but these have proved to be mere distractions from the wonders of sonatas, concertos and symphonies. He has been reviewing for Bachtrack since 2016, plays viola and violin (very shakily) and used to sing a bit (even more shakily).