Utopia Orchestra
direttore Teodor Currentzis
pianoforte Alexandre Kantorow
soprano Regula Mühlemann
Brahms Concerto per pianoforte n. 2
Mahler Sinfonia n. 4
Utopia conquers Rome with Alexandre Kantorow and Teodor Currentzis. Sparks were flying of Poetry and Passionate involvement as the entire ensemble moved on a great wave of sound in a continuous flowing movement that reminded me of Stokowski and ‘his’ Philadelphia.
In fact the strings were on their feet as they swayed to Brahms’ Viennese waltz tempi in the final movement of the concerto .
For Mahler the seats were put safely away as the strings were all on their feet with only the cellos on a platform that entered this formation like a boat approaching port.
Creating celestial sounds of Utopian beauty and heart rending nostalgia as they swayed in time to the music just like the chorus of Peter Grimes that become one moving, swaying mass of extraordinary emotional power.
Chopin’s words come to mind as he likened rubato to being a tree with the roots firmly planted in the ground but with the branches free to move in the wind .
That inexplicable but universal word ‘soul’ springs to mind where music making on this level can reach places where words could never arrive.
I am glad that Kantorow took my seat for the Symphony as I had moved to ‘paradise’ to be able to watch as well as listen to the amalgam of sounds that moved as it indeed moved me with sounds being created as the shapes of the music miraculously unfolded in the beauty of Renzo Piano’s violin ‘belly’ auditorium . ( Anyone who has been to the auditorium of the violin museum in Cremona will understand what I mean ).
One miracle followed another.
I have never heard the opening duo between horn and piano at the opening of Brahms 2 recreated with such intimate whispered beauty.
A conductor living every moment as he swayed with the music looking Kantorow in the eyes with glances of burning intensity that could have stopped the world.
A magnificent performance of music making of rare unified intent. A freedom that only comes when the heart beats at the same rate as your companions who are listening to each other with chamber music intensity .
This surely is one of the finest performances that I have heard with playing of the same unforgettable emotions as with Gilels , Rubinstein or Curzon .
But when Kantorow whispered the entry of Agosti’s Firebird even the orchestra listened with baited breath as this young man , like Agosti who lived just around the corner in via Civinini, created sounds in his studio in Siena, that like tonight will never be forgotten .
The piano became a full orchestra, but not of piano bashing insensitivity, but with the colours and sense of balance of a magician of sound where percussiveness just does not exist. Sounds created with the horizontal beauty of poetic genius like a painter with his canvas
Another miracle was created , at the whispered end of Mahler 4, when after seemingly endless ovations and an orchestra that reached out to every corner of the hall in thanksgiving .
Suddenly the plaintive voice of a solo violin was heard intoning a melody that was so familiar and yet so enticing .
‘Morgen’ by Richard Strauss was the miracle that unfolded and just confirmed that we had truly been transported to a Celestial Paradise in this rather bleak ‘Settimana Santa’ in the Eternal City.
Utopia Orchestra
Founder and Music Director of musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir
Chief conductor of the SWR Symphony Orchestra from 2018 to 2024
Teodor Currentzis was born in Greece, where he began studying music. In 1994, he entered St. Petersburg State Conservatory to study under the legendary professor Ilya Musin.
Together with his ensembles, Teodor Currentzis regularly tours Europe and the world with performances in numerous prestigious venues including Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Philharmonic, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Munich Philharmonic, Philharmonie de Paris, Kölner Philharmonie, Auditorio Nacional, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, and La Scala. As a stage conductor and musical director, Teodor Currentzis has worked with the leading opera theatres including Opéra de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Real, and the Bolshoi Theatre.
He has also collaborated with the key figures in modern Western theatre: Robert Wilson, Romeo Castellucci, Peter Sellars, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Theodoros Terzopoulos, and others. Teodor Currentzis is a Resident Artist at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the RUHRtriennale Festival, festivals in Lucerne and Aix-en-Provence.
Works by Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rameau, and Stravinsky released by Teodor Currentzis on Sony Classical record label have received numerous international music awards: ECHO Klassik, Edison Klassiek, Japanese Record Academy Award, and BBC Music Magazine’s Opera Award.Teodor Currentzis has received the Toepfer Foundation’s prestigious KAIROS Award. He has also been awarded the Greek Order of the Phoenix and the international Musikfest Bremen
Two stars shining brightly and both performing in the same month in this very hall in Rome …….Bruce Liu and Alexandre Kantorow together recently at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg where they were both giving recitals on alternate days.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 