Sep 19, 2017
Stravinsky: Le Rossignol
Orfeo – C919171A
“It is indeed a gem, beautifully polished up in this new recording. Jukka-Pekka Saraste brings out a remarkable amount of detail in the score, with each line precisely etched and vividly conveyed. The playing is superb – the twittering singsong of many solo lines strikingly alive – and the engineering is natural and detailed.”
Gramophone Magazine, Hugo Shirley, September 2017
Aug 23, 2017
CHOPIN/SIBELIUS – USHER HALL, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
18 August 2017
Scottish Chamber Orchestra , Marc-André Hamelin
“Definition, drive and determination: Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s evening with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra was an electrifying and constantly surprising experience. Most of all, perhaps, in his concluding Sibelius Third Symphony, which he grabbed by the scruff of its neck in an urgent, vigorously projected first movement, and which he finished in a blaze of affirmation. The SCO players lapped up Saraste’s exacting attention, with beautifully translucent but chiselled textures, and a bite to their playing that made it thrillingly present.
…. Saraste opened with an expansive Beethoven Leonore No. 3 Overture that felt like he was barely keeping the music’s surging power in check. It was an evening of bristling energy, guided and channelled by expert hands.”
21 August 2017
David Kettle, The Scotsman
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Jul 20, 2017
BRAHMS – COLOGNE PHILHARMONIE, GERMANY
13 July 2017
WDR Sinfonieorchester
“Whoever thinks that the Nordic cool of a Scandinavian conductor might affect the Romantic sound of Brahms, can rest assured given the coherent, almost song-like fluent passages, glowing horns and perfectly blended sounds…
Saraste crafted the sonorous interplay between, in his own words, optimism and pessimism, to a sculptural effect.
He and his musicians accomplished this in a sensational manner.”
15 July 2017
Olaf Weiden, Kölnische Rundschau / General-Anzeiger
Jul 20, 2017
TAMMISAARI FESTIVAL 2017
J-P and the Finnish Chamber Orchestra focus on the next generation as they celebrate 100 years of Finnish independence
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Jun 10, 2017
SUMMER TOUR TO THE BALTIC
Jukka-Pekka and WDR Sinfonieorchester bring Brahms and Dvorak to Baltic cities and Katowice
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Jun 5, 2017
Berlioz: Requiem “Grand Messe des Morts” – Cologne Cathedral
18 May 2017
WDR Symphony Orchestra, WDR Rundfunkchor, Tschechisch Philharmonischer Chor Brno, Andrew Staples
“That the chief conductor of WDR Symphony, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, does not concern himself with superficial effects makes him even more intense, as he conveys an internal tension and transparency. These images of sound were as powerful as they were subtly structured.”
20 May 2017
Josef Oehrlein, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
May 15, 2017
SHOSTAKOVICH/SIBELIUS – WIENER KONZERTHAUS, AUSTRIA
5 & 7 May 2017
Wiener Symphoniker, Sol Gabetta
“Jukka-Pekka Saraste ensured an original Finnish sound experience with Sibelius’ second symphony: the towering heights, elfish light reflections and bold eruptions were achieved with technical perfection and a flourishing wealth of colours.”
11 May 2017
Heinz Sichrovsky, news.at
May 15, 2017
BERLIOZ REQUIEM IN COLOGNE CATHEDRAL
Jukka-Pekka leads the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Berlioz Requiem on Thursday 18 May.
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Apr 25, 2017
CHOPIN/SHOSTAKOVICH – PHILHARMONIE DE PARIS, FRANCE
19 & 20 April 2017
Orchestre de Paris, Jan Lisiecki
“The final Allegretto, very complex in format, was especially convincing in the coda, culminating in a storm of applause by the audience for the conductor and the orchestra, then by the musicians for a chief who seems to have truly convinced them.”
20 April 2017
Vincent Guillemin, altamusica