Orchestre de Paris
“Some programmes are like a declaration of intent. To inaugurate the 2022-2023 season of the Orchestre de Paris (OP) at the Philharmonie, the music director, Klaus Mäkelä, opted for audacity and generosity. The generosity of a particularly dense programme, highlighting the full orchestra through two of the most physical works in the repertoire: Strauss’ Zarathustra and Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy. The audacity of a new season programme comprising three contemporary works, including two premieres. And not a single concerto with soloist! The risk: a less full house. But we must obviously continue, for only in this way can we make classical music a living art and not a heritage.”
Le Figaro, Christian Merlin, 4 October 2022
” … an extraordinary Thus Spoke Zarathustra op. 30 by Richard Strauss … superiorly colourful and contrasting, with a striking expressive force valiantly solicited by desks of dizzying virtuosity from all the musicians of the Orchestre de Paris.”
Classique d’aujourd’hui, Bruno Serrou, 10 September 2022
“The orchestra sounds generously under the fluid gesture of Mäkelä who takes care of the transitions as much as the balances, celebrating the Straussian orchestration in all its panache and virtuosity.”
Resmusica, Michèle Tosi, 10 September 2022
“… the mastery of sound and the dramatic construction of this quarter-hour-long Adagio (Dusapin) are impressive, especially as Klaus Mäkelä leads the Orchestre de Paris with the same magnetism as in the pages of Kaija Saariaho and Richard Strauss. The Poem of Ecstasy … once again underlines the conductor’s sense of timbre and his ability to transmit it to his musicians …”
concertclassic.com, Jean-Guillaume Lebrun, 10 September 2022
Programme:
Kaija Saariaho: Asteroid 4179 : Toutatis
Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra
Jimmy López: Aino (premiere)
Pascal Dusapin: A Linea (premiere)
Alexander Scriabin: Poème de l’extase