Gramophone Magazine
September 2024
Editor's Choice

Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

A concert in Baden-Baden's Festspielhaus ended to euphoric applause, with no one knowing who was at whose feet: The conductor the orchestra, the audience the conductor or all together the composer Johannes Brahms? The reason for the enthusiasm was his Second Symphony, nicknamed "Lichtentaler", because he had completed it here, in Baden-Baden's Lichtental district. And now, with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and its conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, it was given a performance that was one of the great moments in this house: orchestrally lightened, transparent to the core, but only seemingly embedded in an easily conquerable soundscape. The rhythms were constantly shifting. There was hardly a motivic turn that didn't immediately trigger a wave of syncopations, hemiolas and hidden changes of time signature, causing the musicians to despair of their stability. But everything was performed with the greatest naturalness: a rumble from the timpani, then the oboes called out into the open, the strings followed with a hint of delay, as if they still had to rub the remaining sleep out of their eyes. And what a climax the finale led to: an unleashed Brahms, an orgiast!

"These are spontaneous-sounding interpretations, sure, but they’re also thoughtful....Indeed, throughout this set, Nézet-Séguin hardly puts a foot wrong, and the COE play their hearts out for him." - Gramophone Magazine, September 2024