PRESS - ‘BLISSFULLY SUCCESSFUL’
Kristiina looks back to a succesful debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The program included Pärt’s Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, the wonderful Callaloo for piano and orchestra by composer Stewart Goodyear and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony.
BarczaBlog: “I was mindful of the version I listened to most as a teen, conducted by Herbert von Karajan leading the Berlin Philharmonic, that seems so slow in comparison. With some interpreters the “Eroica” and its associations with Napoleon and heroism encourages macho bombast, loudness that is bravado and empty rhetoric. How ironic that a woman conductor shows us what real heroism can sound like. The TSO was never harsh sounding even when loud, but many of the passages I’ve known as loud were more delicate in Kristiina’s interpretation, so that the climactic section of the development –leading to the loud dissonances– seemed especially powerful. At other times the quick triple time of the opening movement was confident and effortless, dancing rather than stomping, the blitzkrieg completely absent, and shown to be unnecessary. Thank goodness. Kristiina was able to inspire the orchestra to play for her, not just quickly but cleanly. I love the sense that she knew exactly what she wanted and was able to get the TSO to do it.
The funeral march of the second movement also was faster than usual, but still with sufficient gravitas to be meaningful, particularly in the last part of the movement. The scherzo was delightfully energized, the trio featuring the most impressive playing from the horns. And as we continued the quick tempo in the final movement, the logic of this approach is confirmed in the final bars, when the seemingly endless passage Beethoven writes to finish the symphony finally works: when done at this speed. It was truly fabulous and well received.”
La Scena Musicale: “The ‘Eroica’ was featured in the second half. Beethoven heroically wrote the symphony after coming to terms with his deafness. It is a study in contrasting emotions: from elation to grief, to freshness and rebirth. The range of human emotions that the composer confronts is vast. The audience endures grief offset by optimism. One of the tasks of a conductor is to select a tempo that is endurable both from an emotional and technical perspective. To Poska’s credit—and that of the TSO—the effort was blissfully successful. She is currently recording the complete Beethoven symphony cycle with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra for the label Fuga Libera. Recordings to watch for!”
