Gastspiel Sydney

»This concert more than proved that the audience is in good hands for the journey, Barenboim and the Staatskapelle giving a masterful performance highlighting the different personalities of Brahm’s first two symphonies. […] It’s not often you hear Brahms like this.«

Limelight Magazine, 26 November 2018

»With antiphonal violins and eight double basses arrayed across the back wall, Barenboim drew a sound of incredible depth from the Staatskapelle, giving a flexible reading of the First that stretched the quieter moments and pulled them taut in the crescendos.«

Limelight Magazine, 26 November 2018

»[…] the superb Staatskapelle Berlin (founded 1570), a richly energized mixture of young and experienced players who filled the Concert Hall with serenely balanced, subtly blended sounds – a string tone of refined radiance, brass of noble warmth, and wind solos that emerged like suddenly coming across an exotically shaped, uniquely coloured flower.«

The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 November 2018

»Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin bring breathless excitement to Brahms in Sydney«

Bachtrack, 26 November 2018

»The almost unanimous standing ovation at the end was a testimony to how compellingly these well-known masterpieces had been delivered.«

Bachtrack, 26 November 2018

»Barenboim directed all of this – as he had in the first concert – with an eye to dynamic detail and an unwavering command of the larger architecture, swaying on the podium as the melodies rocked from one side of the split violins to the other.«

Limelight Magazine, 27 November 2018

»Barenboim pedals a breathtaking Brahms cycle«

The Daily Telegraph, 28 November 2018

»Conductor and musicians seem to breathe as one in symbiosis – each knows what the other wants, even with gestures as small as a reaised eyebrow.«

The Daily Telegraph, 28 November 2018

»[…] he [Daniel Barenboim] relies on his awareness of harmony, counterpoint, emotion and acute musical intuition to produce what he needs from his orchestra. The result is simply breathtaking.«

The Daily Telegraph, 28 November 2018

»The Staatskapelle is an orchestra which has its own signature sound, powerful but not overpowering in the strings, glorious in the woodwinds and lustrous, almost silken, in the brass section.«

The Daily Telegraph, 28 November 2018

»Barenboim also unerringly established the right atmosphere at any given moment. Every telling gesture and detail was made to count on its own terms while seamlessly melding into the overall concept.«

The Australian, 27 November 2018