BRAHMS/SIBELIUS – Wiesbaden Kurhaus, Germany

10 September 2015
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, Leonidas Kavakos

“Saraste’s familiarity with the Lemminkäinen Suite op. 22 by Sibelius was evidenced by an abundance of sceneries unfolding with exquisite dynamics and tone colours, realised by the WDR Symphony Orchestra with great understanding of this fantastical subject. As ever, The Swan of Tuonela in particular made a lasting impression.”

12 September 2015
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

BRUCH/SIBELIUS – ALHAMBRA, GRANADA, SPAIN

3 July 2015
Orchestre De Paris, Renaud Capuçon

“A night of epic dimensions…Jukka-Pekka Saraste has the very essence of this superb symphonic creation imprinted on his DNA…”

4 July 2015
José Antonio Cantón, El Mundo

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BRAHMS/SCHOENBERG/TCHAIKOVSKY – COLOGNE PHILHARMONIE, GERMANY

20 & 21 March 2015
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, Minguet Quartet

“In Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony – the “Pathétique” – Jukka-Pekka Saraste assumed a very clear approach…with a very sober tone and subdued emotions, and maybe precisely because of this, achieved an incredibly impressive overall effect. No laments in the outer movements, no worldly melancholy in the waltz, no infernal cheers of triumph in the march. … a surprising performance”

23 March 2015
Gerhard Bauer, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger

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SIBELIUS/NIELSEN/TCHAIKOVSKY – WIENER KONZERTHAUS, BREGENZ FESTSPIELHAUS, INNSBRUCK CONGRESS

24, 25, 26, 30 January 2015
Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Marina Piccinini

“Saraste assumes full risk here, chasing the orchestra into a trapeze act without a net…much ventured, much gained!”

2 February 2015
hd, Die Presse

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SIBELIUS/SHOSTAKOVICH – COLOGNE PHILHARMONIE, GERMANY

16 & 17 January 2015
WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Frank-Peter Zimmermann

“Saraste controlled the waves of sound with a sure and sharpening hand”

19 January 2015
Christoph Zimmermann, Kölnische Rundschau

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MAHLER – GOTHENBURG CONCERT HALL, SWEDEN

11 & 12 December 2014
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

“A mesmeric Mahler Sixth”

“In Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s hands, Mahler’s Sixth Symphony is an unrelenting work which left the audience gasping for air at its stunning conclusion”
Five stars

12 December 2014
David Karlin, Bachtrack.com

BERLIOZ/DEAN/PROKOFIEV – BARBICAN HALL, LONDON

5 December 2014
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Håkan Hardenberger

“The BBC Symphony Orchestra had the music’s measure under Saraste’s exacting direction, whether the clarity of the cacophony or the unsettling stillness…there was much to compel during the emotional assault and strange suggestiveness that this great and graphic music exerts”

5 December 2014
Colin Anderson, Classical Source

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STRAUSS/BRUCKNER – Theater am Marientor, Duisburg, Germany

27 November 2014
WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Paul van Zelm

“Saraste does not build Bruckner 7 like a resonant cathedral, but rather lets the “large symphonic snake”, as it was named by the music critic Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904), run past the listener without any excess pathos or dynamics. […] Saraste´s sober interpretation does not lack force nor spatial width. And Bruckner´s instrumentation mastery is even clearer thanks to every single bar’s clarity of sound.“

“It is fascinating, how softly the slow movement of Bruckner subsides with the sound of the Wagner tubas, and how distinctively yet smoothly the strings react to that. Saraste holds the brass instruments under control, so that he manages to create an almost perfect balance between the instrument groups. And that without any loss of greatness and vigour.”

29 November 2014
Pedro Obiera, WAZ

Rihm/Reinecke/Schubert – COLOGNE PHILHARMONIE, GERMANY

5&6 September 2014
WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Xavier De Maistre

“A standard interpretation would not reveal the sense of this particular passage…to the listener – as its signals would remain buried in the depth of the score. Not so with a conductor of Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s stature… His interpretation of Schubert’s late work stems from Mahler – he unearths what is agitated and disturbing, and makes a compositional logic tangible which, while not that of Beethoven, does not miss out on the lyricism and the flow of the melodies.”

8 September 2014
MaS, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger