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Press Quotes
The Times, UK, 2/4/08
'These multinational musicians, almost all in their early twenties, attacked their assignments with a sparkling gusto hard to retain in later life. They brought off the [Symphonia Domestica] with tremendous colour and bravura.'
Liverpool Echo, UK, 31/3/08
'You should pay little attention to the word "youth" in its title. They are musicians to rival any regular orchestra in the 27 countries their members represent.'
NCR, Amsterdam, 20/8/07
‘With boundless dedication strings and winds gave sound and meaning to Bruckner’s ingenious score, after which all instrument groups were rightly awarded with bravos and applause.’
Der Tagesspiegel, Germany, 21/8/07
‘Amidst the banners of Europe and the EU-nations the Orchestra crowns the [Young Euro Classic] concert series that is now in its 8th year. It is called “the most important jewel of the EU” by Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament, in a concise opening speech.’
Der Tagesspiegel, Germany, 21/8/07
‘The stage is filled to bursting point. Despite this Blomstedt manages to build the phrases in Bruckner’s 7th symphony like slender golden bridges, to allow the lower strings to sing with a precious voice. Every general pause is dedicated to a new beginning every full brass fortissimo maintains elegance. It is an interpretation of superb cohesion.’
Berlinerzietung, Germany, 22/8/07
‘The European Union Youth Orchestra adapted to his [Kavakos] playing with congeniality, sounding in tender yet shining colours.’
Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland, 23/8/07
“The musicians performed the piece [Bruckner, Symphony No 7 in E major] with truly electrifying virtuosity…The EUYO confirmed its excellent musical reputation and class. Simultaneously, the extraordinary enthusiasm and youthful energy flowing from the playing of the music infected the audience. This precisely defines the unique character of this orchestra and is an aspect undoubtedly distinguishing it on the international circuit.”
Telegraph, UK, 13/8/07
‘The European Community Youth Orchestra, like all the world’s great youth orchestras, played with reckless energy and attack, tempered by the reflective, wise hand of Colin Davis.’
Guardian, UK, 13/8/07
‘A thrilling and authoritative performance.’
Il Resto del Carlino, Italy, 5/4/07
‘The impressive expressive maturity of the Orchestra was present from the very first bars of Ravel's Rhapsodie Espagnole, evoking the Feria's dances and drunkenness. Amazing proof of Orchestra’s virtuosity followed, along with an astonishing performance given by Janine Jansen, who interpreted the Mendelssohn Concerto with great personality, displaying overwhelming pluck and passion, together with a virtuosity that was very nearly impetuous.’
Telegraaf, The Netherlands, 20/8/06
‘This youth orchestra, which contains the pick of the biggest musical talent of the European Union, stands to the test against top European orchestras quite handsomely.’
Tagesspiegel, Berlin, 18/8/06
‘The way in which these superior and technically brilliant young people, conducted by Ashkenazy's last minute substitute Andrey Boreyko, mastered this monumental piece was incredible’
ND, Berlin, 18/8/06
The visit was breathtaking: the performance was a highlight of the Festival, thanks to the young musicians and their Russian conductor, Andrey Boreyko…..In a Rondo full of glittering sounds and colours, the playing of the young Europeans was transparent, joyful and deliciously entertaining. [Schnittke, (K)ein Sommernachstraum]
The question of whether young musicians can interpret a philosophically profound piece with such a level of spiritual depth will always be asked, but under the meticulous direction of Andrey Boreyko and with grandiose power from the brass and verve from the strings; they did it!’
The Independent, UK, 12/8/06
‘Heart-wrenching to witness such profound performance from such young musicians’
The Evening Standard, London, 12/8/06
‘…the Shostakovich was played with bravura and electrifying virtuosity - from the sour opening reveille to the dank, watery mystery of the finale.’
Münchner Merkur, 24/4/06
‘The Orchestra let sound Strauss’ symphonic poem with an enthusiasm that pushed the audience right back into their seats’
Abendseitung, 24/4/06
‘The music students are able to keep up with the international class orchestras and even better them, without ever loosing the joy they bring to their performance’
Trouw, The Netherlands, 12/08/05
‘You Can’t Get More Mahler For Your Money’
‘There are many professional orchestras who will never performance at this top level.’
Summer 2004
“Magnifico stupore, questo è il giudizio in sintesi per la bravura di giovani musicisti”
‘Magnificent astonishment - this, in short, is the judgement for the bravura of young musicians”
Comune dell’Alto Adige, Bolzano, Italy, 6 August 2004
“Enraptured… The orchestra performed masterly, balanced in all respects (even in terms of concentration and responsiveness of the sexes in the group), ready for contact with silence and to grow tonically to glorification”
Jure Dobovisek, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 9 August 2004
“Because of a very high level this orchestra could easily be compared to thebest world professional musicians orchestras”
Nemunas, Kaunas, Lithuania, August 2004
“The sound brightness of the orchestra and the power of the overall impression were shockingly suggestive and at the same time musically balanced and compact”. Sirp, Tallinn, Estonia, 19 August 2004
“In all, a moving interpretation and an orchestral feast impossible to praisetoo highly”
ND, Berlin, Germany, 24 August 2004
“the full orchestra joined in the raging, almost as if hammering with clenched fists…then came the musical salvation of the Eucharist…in other words: all of Messaian distilled into fifteen sublime minutes”
Berliner Morgenpost, Berlin, Germany, 24 August 2004
Royal Albert Hall, London
Thursday August 28, 2003
Andrew Clements
The Guardian
When Mahler's Sixth Symphony was first performed at the Proms, 40 years to the
day before this concert, it formed only the first part of the programme, a mere
aperitif to the main course that was Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. This is such a
gruesome thought that even the most value-conscious concert-goer should have
been thankful that the European Union Youth Orchestra was playing the Sixth and
nothing else. And the way in which Bernard Haitink, returning to the orchestra
of which he was musical director until 1999, presented this gargantuan piece of
musical architecture hardly suggested that some other piece could ever have
followed the nihilism of the last movement.
That finale was the high point of Haitink's performance, the conclusive,
all-embracing tragic statement for which the previous three movements had been
merely preparation. It wasn't that the first movement lacked seriousness -
though Haitink's opening tempo was reasonably fast, and he did not hang around
much for the lyrical second subject either - just that the real weight of tone
from the EUYO (with quintuple wind and 10 horns) was kept in reserve. Coupled
with Haitink's avoidance of overemphasis, this kept the music buoyant and
outward-looking; after all, the movement does end in A major rather than A minor
(the symphony's home key).
From then on, however, the tension was steadily ratcheted up, edging ever nearer
to the abyss of the finale. The Scherzo was searching and relentless, the
Andante a combination of serene hymnody and increasingly tangled lines that
built into an almost unruly climax. Then it was straight into the last movement,
for which the conductor and the orchestra had evidently been saving themselves.
This was a raving journey to extinction in which no detail was spared. The way
in which Haitink navigated his course so unswervingly through what is one of the
most original and structurally complex of all symphonic finales was a reminder
that he has been conducting Mahler longer than anyone else around today. The
EUYO brass were unsparingly assertive; the strings just occasionally could have
done with a greater depth of tone, but on the orchestra surged, pausing
momentarily as Haitink coaxed the symphony into one last attempt at an
optimistic ending. However, life's not like that, and the final bars, as devoid
of hope as anything in the repertory, were pitiless.
Prom 49: Haitink at the centre of the maelstrom
(The Telegraph, 27/08/2003)
Ivan Hewett reviews the European Union Youth Orchestra conducted by Haitink at
the Albert Hall
A symphony should be like a world, it should embrace everything - so said
Mahler. Which is why in his Sixth Symphony you find sublimity next to grinning
parody, and everyday banalities next to hauntingly strange inventions that peer
forward into modernity. Not all conductors are happy with this aspect of Mahler.
They tone down the raucous, fairground clarinets, the parade-ground drums, the
sudden incursions of moonlight and nightmare. Bernard Haitink used to be one of
these "classicising" conductors, concerned to reveal the bones of the form
underneath the neurotic surface. But lately his Mahler has become more generous,
more alive to the music's transgressive energies.
This performance of the Sixth Symphony, in which he led European Youth
Orchestra, was full of these unsettling moments. The harps at the beginning of
the finale imported a flavour of Chinese zithers, the scherzo was shot through
with glistening sounds that might have issued from an electronic studio. Haitink
clearly revels in the strange way a full texture will collapse into parody or
bathos, or lose its way, as if suffering from a memory lapse. "Revel" doesn't
mean exaggerate, in fact the delicacy of this performance was its most striking
feature. In the first movement the normally clattery xylophone was like a subtle
coloration, and the cow-bells were played so softly they seemed to come from
inside one's own head rather than "out there".
It turned out, though, that Haitink was merely holding things in reserve for the
scherzo, whose raucous energy was all the more startling for being so
unexpected. All these contrasts reach an apocalyptic confrontation in the
finale, a titanic battle between light and dark, meaning and chaos. Haitink
paced the giant structure unerringly, and made the heaven-storming bombast of
the music seem lucid and frenzied at once. The bleak ending, where the
minor-mode finally wins its battle against the major, carried total conviction.
Haitink was the authoritative centre of the maelstrom, but the triumph - for it
was a triumph - really belonged to the European Youth Orchestra. It was the
reckless energy of their performance, as much as their amazing technical
precision and musicality, which made the evening so memorable.
Youngsters show their mettle
Reviewed by Stephen Pettitt, Evening Standard (27 August 2003)
The youth orchestras that visit the Proms - and happily there seem to be more each year - have some important advantages over the seasoned pros.
Their boundless energy, natural inquisitiveness, reckless bravura, lack of cynicism, and sense of wonder at what for many is newly discovered great music can be put down to their youth. But they've also usually enjoyed the luxuries of exhaustive rehearsal and valuable bonding time at residential courses.
Add to the equation a world-class conductor in whose hands they are utterly malleable and it's not surprising that the results are so often so impressive. That was certainly the case in last night's Prom, given by the technically and musically superb European Union Youth Orchestra with conductor Bernard Haitink.
The only work in their programme was Mahler's Sixth Symphony, that vast opus of angels and demons which traverses emotions of joy, nostalgia and more but whose principal design is to confront with disturbing candour Mahler's - and our -
fear of death. Its end, an almighty explosion that rapidly subsides to nothing, is the abyss opening up beneath our feet. Not much to succour comforting thoughts of an after-life here.
Haitink's reading was as Haitink's Mahler readings are. Initially, he gives an impression of slightly removed objectivity. Immaculate phrasing, balance, ensemble and colour is his first priority. The result here was a texture of outstanding clarity allied to a fine sensing of the work's larger shape.
Yet not far beneath that cool exterior beats a fervent heart, and soon it became clear that his exactitude was to be complemented by an involved passion. Marching rhythms underpinned the first movement with a sinister, relentless impetus while brass were allowed free rein in their sounding of ideas more exultant.
And Haitink relished powering the initially lyrical, idyllic slow movement, played third according to Mahler's initial intentions (he later swapped its position with that of the sardonic Scherzo) to a climax of fervent eroticism, while the finale was a veritable maelstrom, a soul enmeshed in self-torment as the last moment of its existence approaches.
Rarely has this work, and particularly that moment, terrified more.
Mahler/EU Youth Orchestra Usher Hall, Edinburgh DAVID MURRAY
By David Murray
Financial Times; Sep 01, 2003
Hard on the heels of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, with Mahler's grand Fifth Symphony, came the European Union Youth Orchestra with his even larger Sixth. Edinburgh's legion Mahlerites are well stoked up for the winter.
The EUYO gave Bernard Haitink an enormous orchestra (10 French horns, with matching numbers in all the other sections) to tackle the "tragic" Sixth, yet the most furious climaxes never blotted, as happened twice or thrice in the Mahler Jugendorchester's Fifth: here searing clarity was the order of the day. There was an irresistible impetus.
I doubt that any blindfolded listener could have guessed that these splendid players were all in their early 20s at most. Nor, if it comes to that, that so many of them were female (also true of the GMJO): not only most of the strings, but the first horn and first trumpet the fatal giant mallet in the last movement. (It was too pious of Haitink to omit the third and final blow: Mahler deleted it only out of superstition, and it is needed to mark the ultimate collapse.) Clearly even the most hide-bound orchestras - Vienna, Berlin - will have to abandon their sexist biases any day now.
Kenneth Walton, The Scotsman
USHER HALL
Mon 25 Aug 2003
IF strength in numbers is anything to go by, the European Union Youth Orchestra is a sure-fire winner. 120 young musicians packed the stage on Saturday under Bernard Haitink for an explosive performance of one of music’s scariest symphonies - Mahler’s Sixth, the "Tragic".
It’s a symphony that holds no prisoners. Gruesome and terrifying, the pounding fatalistic rhythms haunt every inch of its lengthy score. The sheer virtuosity required to navigate its animated wind flourishes, exposed brass and tortuous string writing, is unrelenting. What the EUYO lacked in ultimate polish - and it was only on very few occasions that the ensemble juddered - they made up for in sheer adventure and daring.
Haitink played to their strengths. His calm and authoritative presence moulded Mahler’s scorching tapestry of wild ideas into a rock-solid narrative. When he indicated a shift in the weight and mix of orchestral colour, the result was instantaneous. Spring 2003
....It was with Rachmaninov's story of loss and nostalgia that Pletnev - together with the European Union Youth Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy - achieved glory.
.On Saturday it [Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony] was performed by the EUYO with the utmost joy.
Tages Angzeiger Zurich
Summer 2002
Auf den triumphierenden Schluss von Mahler Sinfonie folgte ein tosender Schlussapplaus.
A roaring applause followed the triumphant
conclusion to Mahler's Symphony.
Berner Zeitung
Die begeisternden, zwischen 13 bis 24 jaehrigen Mitglieder des Jugendorchester der Europaeischen Union haben mit ihrem Dirigenten Vladimir Ashkenazy fasziniert und mit Gefuehl, Jugend und Koennen romantisches ' Erwachen der Natur' ins Festivalzelt gezaubert und die 'Standing Ovation' herlich verdient.
The inspiring members of the European Union
Youth Orchestra....along with their conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy
conjured the romantic 'awakening of nature' in the Festival
Tent and warmly deserved their standing ovation.
Anzeiger von Scanen
'Das European Union Youth Orchestra, das aus Musikerinnen und Musikern zwischen 15 und 25 Jahren besteht spielte mit Leichtigkeit und spuerbarer Spielfreude, was der Musik noch einen Zusaetzlichen Zauber verlieh'
The EUYO, which consists of male and female
musicians aged between 15 and 25, plays with an ease and noticeable
joy that lent the music an additional magic.
Berner Zeitung
Das Publikum applaudierte am Ende begeistert und rief dem Jugendorchester wie dem Dirigenten Bravos zu..
The public applauded at the end with great
enthusiasm and with bravos for conductor and orchestra.
Echo online
Summer 2001
Es gibt Konzerte, da wunscht man sich, die ganze Welt Hatte sie miterlebt. Was das European Union Youth Orchestra jetzt beim Rheingau Musik Festival im Kurhaus Wiesbaden bot, war phenomenal...
There are concerts one wishes the whole
world had experienced. What the European Union Youth Orchestra
offered at the Rheingau Music Festival was phenomenal...
Offenbach Post, Hessen
Tchaikovsky's Fourth, a performance in which [was]...playing that surmounted the music's emotional peaks and ignited its flames. The Elgar was simply superb, confident, stirring and suffused with a rich humanity
Daily Telegraph, London
EUYO: on croirait un cri de guerre. Les jeunes de L'European Union Youth Orchestra...sont plein d'ardeur bouillonnante dans leur tenue bleue etoilee.
EUYO: one will think of a war cry. The
young people of the European Union Youth Orchestra...full of
bubbling enthusiasm in their starry blue dresses.
Midi Libre, Montpellier
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