Four Temperaments and a serenade: Paavo Järvi conducts in Hamburg

By Linda Holt, 07 May 2021

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Reviewed at Elbphilharmonie: Grand Hall, Hamburg on 7 May 2021

Tchaikovsky, Serenade for strings in C major, Op.48

Nielsen, Symphony no. 2, "The Four Temperaments", Op.16

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester

Paavo Järvi, Conductor

Bychkov's uneven Mahler 8 at the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 11th April

Doing justice to the vast scale of Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" is itself the mightiest of tasks. Semyon Bychkov and his NDR forces only partially succeed.

***11

A searingly powerful Duke Bluebeard's Castle at the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 9th February

Alan Gilbert and his NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester partner first Igor Levit, and then Michelle DeYoung and Gerald Finley, in a night of outstanding music-making devoted to the music of Bartók.

*****

Two Sergeis with Vinnitskaya and Valčuha at the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 14th September

Rachmaninov and Prokofiev not only shared a first name. In their individual ways they helped define Russianness too. Anna Vinnitskaya, Juraj Valčuha and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester are here the exponents.

***11

Music that makes the flesh creep: Kochanovsky's powerful Prokofiev 6

Alexander Hall, 20th April

Three diverse works written within 15 years of each other, by Kodály, Poulenc and Prokofiev, given with panache by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the amazing Jussen brothers and Stanislav Kochanovsky.

****1

Operatic Wagner and symphonic Shostakovich in the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 15th September

Conducting the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the Latvian Andris Poga reveals a surer hand in Shostakovich's final symphonic statement than in the partnering of Nina Stemme in Wagner, where her big voice often missed the essential intimacy.

***11

Death and what comes after: Alan Gilbert's Mahler 2 in Hamburg

Alexander Hall, 2nd September

Opening the new season, Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester send out a clear message in Mahler's Second Symphony, both lyrically shaped and dramatically inflected.

****1

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Linda Holt

Linda Holt writes about classical music for broadstreetreview.com and newyorkclassicalreview.com, with a special interest in the life and works of Beethoven. She has a doctorate in arts-and-letters from Drew University (U.S.), studied music theory and history at Rider University, and teaches humanities courses. She is president of the Princeton Research Forum ( princetonresearchforum.org ) and member of the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society and American Beethoven Society. As L.L. Holt, she is the author of two acclaimed novels based on Beethoven’s early years: Invictus (Harvard Square Editions, 2019) and The Black Spaniard (Unsolicited Press, 2016).

Four temperaments and a serenade: Paavo Järvi conducts at the Elbphilharmonie