Toronto Symphony fantastique in French program
“With the right conductor, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra is as good as the world’s best orchestras. They handed an enraptured audience the proof at Roy Thomson Hall on Wednesday night with the help of guest French conductor Stéphane Denève.” (…) “Denève managed to saturate the already colourful and theatrical music with even more colour and imbue it with a master storyteller’s sense of spontaneity.” (…) “Then came the pièce de...
Read MoreBBCSO / Denève
“As for the music, under Stéphane Denève’s nimble baton each tale was as colourful and comforting as an illustration from a long-lost childhood book.” (…) “Again, under Denève the orchestral playing was pacy and vivid, and the choral singing was vibrant.” (…) Erica Jeal The Guardian click to see a pdf of the full review Download (PDF,...
Read More“Stéphane Denève in Paris: no better conductor alive for French music”
“(…) It might seem reductive to limit a musician to national specialities, but having heard Denève’s Berlioz, Debussy and Roussel in concert, his captivating disc of Poulenc with the Stuttgart orchestra he commands and now his Ravel, I can honestly say there’s no conductor alive I’d rather hear in French music.” (…) “Denève, who had scattered brisk, sensuous stardust over his orchestra from the start, underlined Poulenc’s gravely beautiful...
Read MoreFrench conductor nods to Munch, brings rarities to Boston Symphony Orchestra
“Based on his skills, his career station, and his evident rapport with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the French conductor Stéphane Denève is rumored to be one of the candidates under consideration for the music director post. (…) [Denève] has brought with him a clutch of French rarities he admires, beginning with Berlioz’s Overture to “Les Francs-Juges” (…) With a boldly drawn performance, Denève made an eloquent case for hearing this very early work...
Read MoreStéphane Denève leads Philadelphia Orchestra, from Debussy to Gershwin
“(…) the ebullient Stéphane Denève turned out to be what was needed at the Kimmel Center concerts (…) Each piece was given its own sound envelope. Denève tapped into the minute details of Debussy’s sprawling orchestral descriptions of Spain, Scotland, etc., giving the music an almost 3D physicality, though not with the usual soft-focus Impressionist lens. Strings had a raw edge; this music isn’t merely pretty. (…) An American in Paris is as...
Read MoreAlexander Nevsky score brought vividly to life by Philadelphia Orchestra
“What was so striking Thursday night about the combination was imagining what would have been lost in a recorded-soundtrack iteration. It’s not just the three-dimensional sound of real bells pealing from the percussion section as bells wave on screen, or even the mass of chorus sound that accounts for the impact. But without live forces, details of the relationship between image and music couldn’t fully penetrate consciousness.” (…) “Stéphane...
Read MoreDenève, New World musicians deliver powerful Honegger symphony
“Although Prokofiev made three suites of selections from his ballet Cinderella, Denève prepared his own, intended to emphasis the most dramatic and romantic elements of the score. Under his baton, the orchestra gave a richly colored, brilliantly played performance in one of those scores that show off the orchestra at its most sensuous. There was radiant string playing throughout, but especially in the “Introduction and Amoroso,” in passages that soared in a manner...
Read More“At Tanglewood, a bright import from France” – The Berkshire Eagle
(…) the main attraction at Tanglewood Saturday night was conductor Stéphane Denève, who is pretty clearly a man to watch for the music director vacancy. His palpable rapport with the orchestra resulted in finely realized performances of three divergent works, culminating in a Shostakovich Fifth Symphony to drive a dagger into Stalin’s heart, if he ever had any. (…) Denève’s musical ideas, clarity of textures without loss of weight, and ability to get...
Read More“Tanglewood on Parade: Celebrations under moonlight” – The Berkshire Eagle
(…) In many respects, the 40-year-old French conductor Stéphane Denève’s lithe, sinuous interpretation of Stravinsky’s 1919 suite from his ballet “The Firebird” was the high flyer of the evening. A brawny presence on the podium, prone to sweeping and swooping gestures, he brought out the sometimes glossed-over inner lines of the soothing lullaby and the gentle Princesses’ round dance. (…) Denève is a rapidly rising leader worth close...
Read More“Opening Night at SPAC” – The Berkshire Review
(…) Stéphane Denève seemed entirely comfortable with the sound, as this resourceful and technically masterful conductor must be in a variety of acoustics. (…) The Tchaikovsky concerto opened the program (…) Denève steadily followed the structure of the succeeding sections with due attention to their contrasting moods, keys, and textures. (…) There followed a rich, flowing reading of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony. (…) A sympathetic performance...
Read More“Bernstein music enlivens night at SPAC” – Times Union
(…) Bernstein’s Overture to “Candide” opened the night and set the tone for a program that was colorful and energetic from start to finish. (…) Conductor and players delivered all the jazzy solos and crashing climaxes with style and dispatch. (…) And what should follow but Gershwin’s “An American in Paris”? The orchestra could probably play this one in its sleep, but Deneve kept the pacing lively. Joseph...
Read More“Schillerndes Kreuchen und Fleuchen” – klassik.com
Stéphane Denève hat während seiner Zeit als Chefdirigent des Royal Scottish National Orchestra einen Zyklus der Sinfonien von Albert Roussel erarbeitet, der internationale Beachtung, ja Hochachtung fand. (…) Mit vorliegender Einspielung bringt Denève dieser Roussel-Reihe bei Naxos zu Ende – es ist nicht übertrieben, von einer Vollendung im emphatischen Sinn zu sprechen. (…) Denève hat es während seiner Amtszeit geschafft, das schottische Orchester auf...
Read More“Stéphane Denève sets off Bernstein fireworks at the Bowl” – Los Angeles Times
There are nights at the Hollywood Bowl when the music alone produces fireworks. On Thursday, a large audience for guest conductor Stéphane Denève and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s program of sparkling works by Bernstein, Ravel and Gershwin got the benefit of both musical and actual pyrotechnics. The curtain-raiser was a rousing account of Bernstein’s colorful “Candide” Overture. In the composer’s Three Dance Episodes from “On the Town,”...
Read More“Stephane Deneve Returns to the Hollywood Bowl” – Broadwayworld
French conductor Stéphane Denève returns to the Hollywood Bowl to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Classical Tuesday and Classical Thursday series concerts, Tuesday, July 24, at 8 pm, and Thursday, July 26, at 8 pm. The Tuesday concert offers a program of Romantic Russian works including the rarely heard Conus Violin Concerto, played by LA Phil Principal ConcertMaster Martin Chalifour. The program also features Stokowski’s Symphonic Synthesis of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov...
Read More“face to face” – The Scotsman
Stéphane Denève, the internationally renowned former music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, comes face to face with a newly created bust of himself. The bronze profile, created by sculptor Alexander Stoddart, was unveiled at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh yesterday. The bust is a reminder to gallery visitors and concert goers of Denève’s...
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Stéphane's Orchestras
