USA TOUR MARCH 30 - APRIL 6 2008

2008 US tour dates and programmes:
New York City, Rose Hall, Times Warner Center, March 30, 5 p.m.
Washington DC area/North Bethesda, MD, Strathmore Hall, April 1, 8 p.m.
Cleveland, OH, Severance Hall, April 2, 7.30 p.m.
Palm Desert, CA, McCallum Theatre for Performing Arts, April 4, 8 p.m.
Greater Los Angeles area/Costa Mesa, CA, Segerstrom Hall, Orange County, April 5, 8 p.m.
Berkeley, CA, Zellerbach Hall, University of California at Berkeley, April 6, 3 p.m.

Tour concert program:
Ludwig van Beethoven           
Coriolan Overture (all cities)
Piano Concerto No. 1 (all cities)  
Symphony No. 7 (New York City, Palm Desert)

Robert Schumann                 
Symphony No. 2 (North Bethesda, Cleveland, Costa Mesa, Berkeley)

Quotes from preview articles and reviews:

"Founded in 1995, The Swedish Chamber Orchestra has quickly established itself as one of today's most fascinating ensembles praised for its fresh sound and vital approach. With just 38 members, the tightly knit ensemble has an extensive discography which includes the complete orchestral works of Beethoven as well as recordings of Schumann, Dvorak, and Bruckner, among others."

"Dausgaard and his musicians are renowned for their dynamic interpretations of traditional chamber orchestra classics as well as repertoire that is normally considered more within the realm of a full-size symphony orchestra."

"... the orchestra brings to this music a textural clarity and steely edge unattainable by most period-instrument groups. And in Mr. Dausgaard who molds its performances for maximum impact. In the "Coriolan" Ouverture, which opened the concert, the ensemble's playing crackled with fierce electricity and dramatic urgency ... Mr. Dausgaard´s flair for drama was especially keen in the Symphony No.7. In the first movement he lingered ever so slightly in the transition between the slow introduction and the Vivace section, rightly emphasizing its strangeness. The Presto had a saucy bite, and the Finale was a dizzying flurry."

"Under Dausgaard, this modern-instrument ensemble has incorporated 18th-century practice to build a gorgeous, highly disciplined Beethoven sound -- dark-tones, vibrato-less strings, forthright and often ravishing winds, whip-cracked timpani, horns with hand-stopped bells creating a rustic bray. Dausgaard's propulsive tempos, Toscaninian control of attacks and cutoffs and scrupulous weaving of instrumental lines made Beethoven's Coriolian Overture and Piano Concerto No. 1 into edge-of-the-seat events."
 
A reading of Schumann's Symphony No. 2 proved no less revelatory. The furious energy in the outer movements, the hairpin turns of rubato in teh Scherzo, the almost spiritual radiance that shone through the slow movement -- this was (with the exception of a hapless hornist who came to grief repeatedly in the first movement) playing of a white-heat and emotional commitment that is exceedingly rare to find.

"The whirlwinds who sent gales of fresh musical air from the Severance Hall stage Wednesday had never been here before. Shall we urge the concert's host, the Cleveland Museum of Art's Viva! & Gala Around Town series, to extend an invitation for a quick return?
The Swedish Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble of exceptional discipline, was visiting with its daring music director, Thomas Dausgaard, and pianist Piotr Anderszewski, who compels an audience to sit forward and listen anew. In works by Beethoven and Schumann, with Elgar and Brahms for dessert, these musicians exulted in the possibilities before them ...
Dausgaard clearly has lit a blaze under the group. He is a dynamic conductor who takes nothing in a score for granted. Details are scrupulously considered, tempos judiciously judged and expressive contrasts emphasized. Along with sizzling energy and sonic brilliance, Dausgaard and the orchestra embrace the airiest hushes.
They pointed out the intense drama in Beethoven's "Coriolan" overture with stabbing chords and stormy phrasing, while also delineating the work's surging lyricism. The mellow winds were fine foils for the shining strings, with first and second violins split on either side of the conductor in Classical fashion.
Schumann's Symphony No. 2 might have been diminished by such small instrumental forces, but Dausgaard sustained the suspense so vibrantly that the score pulsed with life. A mixture of lightness and muscularity lifted the dramatic episodes. In the scherzo, the violins were dazzling acrobats amid witty inflections in the trio. At the end of a jubilant reading of the finale, the titanic timpani essentially announced, to magnificent effect, "Listen to this!"

The program opened with Beethoven´s “Coriolan" Overture, Op.52.  The sharp attack of the opening chords and the powerful sforzandos made my ears perk up and heralded an unusually exciting evening to come.  Conductor Thomas Dausgaard´s podium manner was hawk-like, marking the beats with artful economy but dead-on precision. 

Joining the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in Beethoven´s Piano Concerto No. 1 was Polish-Hungarian pianist Piotr Anderszewski, who gave a profound yet spontaneous reading of this youthful work, opting for Beethoven´s own cadenza in the first-movement Allegro. Anderszewski played the Allegro´s opening theme in a dreamy, lightly embellished and rhythmically-free fashion, but soon unleashed the full force of his sparkling virtuosity to match the vital, vigorous playing of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.  Throughout the concerto, the dreamy free-spirited poet never crossed the bounds of good taste.  A perfect rapport between the orchestra and the piano was achieved when, at the return of the siciliano-like melody in the slow movement, there was a slight pause, a total stillness, then gently the piano whispered out the first few notes of the melody, to which the strings responded with the softest and sweetest magic carpet of sounds.  This was truly a collaborative labor of love.

For the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, playing the standard repertoire is anything but standard fare."

"It's always a pleasure and thrill to hear an orchestra that plays as tightly and as gustily as this. Thomas Dausgaard, its Danish music director, has the group, 40-strong and only 12 years old, both dancing on a pin and shouting in your face.

... After intermission, the orchestra applied its period manner to Schumann's Symphony No.2. In such Romantic music as this, the Swede's method can lead to excess, a breathlessness of expression, and so it did here but in an almost entirely riveting way. Gone was the composer often criticized for his clumsy orchestration, the tuneful songster and noble poet; in his place the extremist, the heaven-stormer, the manic depressive on a manic high."

"He (Dausgaard) has put it (The Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Örebro) and himself on the map. The orchestra has an enviable record contract with the Swedish BIS label and tours extensively."

"Nobody had to hold back, and raw energy was a characteristic of the evening."