Gerhaher, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Blomstedt, Royal Albert Hall | reviews, news & interviews
Gerhaher, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Blomstedt, Royal Albert Hall
Gerhaher, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Blomstedt, Royal Albert Hall
Not a concert but a masterclass in Bruckner conducting
Thursday, 02 September 2010
Herbert Blomstedt 'is a conduit to some of the most extraordinary musical journeys I've ever been on'
Yet again I leave a Herbert Blomstedt concert with a sense of wonderment and bemusement. Wonderment at the extraordinary music-making that this man is capable of. Bemusement as to why he is not better known, his talents not more widely recognised, his services not more often called upon in this, his 83rd year. Last night's masterful Prom saw him leading the youngsters of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester first into the heavens of Hindemith's Mathis der Maler Symphony and then into the fiery wastes of hell in Bruckner's terrifying Ninth.
Yet again I leave a Herbert Blomstedt concert with a sense of wonderment and bemusement. Wonderment at the extraordinary music-making that this man is capable of. Bemusement as to why he is not better known, his talents not more widely recognised, his services not more often called upon in this, his 83rd year. Last night's masterful Prom saw him leading the youngsters of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester first into the heavens of Hindemith's Mathis der Maler Symphony and then into the fiery wastes of hell in Bruckner's terrifying Ninth.
This wasn't a concert; it was a masterclass, in programming, in conducting, in playing. The Proms are basking in an Indian Summer. What a joy
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