Orchestre de Paris

“Mäkelä offers us a phenomenal demonstration of absolute rigour and infinite poetic freedom. He approaches the work (Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique) as he would a new work, not bothering with any tradition or convention, and thus makes us literally rediscover a revolutionary score … He constructs a narrative that will keep us on the edge of our seats until the end of the final nightmare of the “Sabbath night”, exalting its modernity, bringing out many details of instrumentation, accents and colours, and embracing all the rhythmic inflections … we have never felt so much the shadows, the monsters, the skeletons, the terrifying noises that Berlioz describes with unbounded greed.”

Bachtrack, Jean-Pierre Rousseau, 3 March 2023


“This terrifically “maintained” approach no doubt has the counterpart of sacrificing a part of romanticism, but with what clarity, what intensity of colour, the incredible modernity of Berlioz’s music shines under a baton whose precision and fluidity, just like the balance he achieves between the sound planes, is literally captivating.”

Concertclassic.com, Alain Cochard, 2 March 2023


“Klaus Mäkelä delivers, alas, an interpretation of outrageous theatricality, which, by its inability to federate the timbres into a coherent reading, quickly borders on boredom.”

Resmusica, Patrice Imbaud, 3 March 2023


Programme:
Kaija Saariaho: Ciel d’hiver
Jean Sibelius: Concerto for Violin in D minor, Op. 47
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 1 
Soloist: Janine Jansen