performs with style and quality
Critically acclaimed worldwide, the Vienna Chamber Philharmonic with music director Claudius Traunfellner and Violin Soloist Nigel Kennedy held its audience captive for over two hours Friday evening; [
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The group chose to open the performance with the well known Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Bach and continued with a selection by Mozart and an especially powerful presentation of Tschaikowskys Serenade for Strings in C major.
The Vienna Chamber Philharmonic and Nigel Kennedy then brought the house to its feet with Vivaldis Four Seasons as a finale.
(THE ANCHOR)
Remarkably warm, identifiably Viennese sound
[
] The players are obviosly well prepared to strut their technical and musical stuff: The groups tonal sensitivity and scrupulous attention to ensemble and dynamic values allowed them to produce a remarkably warm, identifiably Viennese sound despite their modest size.
(CHICAGO TRIBUNE)
Nigel Kennedy and the Vienna Chamber Philharmonic showed an overfow audience in Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon that the future of music is in very good hands.
For the first half of the program, the orchestra, under its music director, Claudius Traunfellner, offered similarly rewarding modern looks at Bachs Third Brandenburg Concerto, and two works influenced by the baroque, Mozarts Adagio and Fugue and Griegs Holberg Suite.
DETROIT FREE PRESS)
The first half of the concert was performed by the orchestra alone. It was marked by a wonderful version of Griegs Holberg Suite and a youthful Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Bach. [
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(THE MICHIGAN DAILY)
at Orchestra Hall , October 21
[
] When Traunfellner gave the downbeat for the opening allegro movement of the Brandenburg, I held my breath, it was so fast. Not that fast is everything, but if you play this music on Baroque strings, you become aware of the tempo that Bach intended. Playing Baroque music that fast on modern instruments means having to fight the instruments much more to produce the same effect as older instruments.
Traunfellner didnt mind the challenge and kept a brisk tempo and lively feel throughout the two fast movements. They were joined together by a long, slow harpsichord cadenza, which Bach intended to be improvised, although it virtually never is today.
This was not cuckoo-clock Bach, every beat discernible and squarely in time; this was Bach that was allowed to breathe, with free and lyrical phrasing, extraordinarily precise ensembling, and perfect balancing. [
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(READER-CHICAGO)