PRESS - Poska in Metz

Crescendo Magazine: The final part of the concert was devoted to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. While emphasizing the Mozartian nature of the strings—especially the violins and violas—the conductor made use of the supple, noble elegance of the winds—including, this time, the brass as well, such as the horns played by Julien Meriglier, Hugo Pons, Jean-Philippe Chavey, and Khalil Amri—in the second movement to reveal Tchaikovsky’s striking modernity. She also pointed out the proximity of the second movement to French orchestration, such as that of Massenet or Fauré, and of the third movement to that of English composers like Elgar. In doing so, she revealed the modernity of the Fifth Symphony as a forerunner of the famous Sixth Symphony—an alpha and omega for Stravinsky and Prokofiev, among others. Drawing once more on the qualities highlighted in Schumann’s Piano Concerto, she showed how Tchaikovsky places one foot in the twentieth century while keeping the other in Romanticism, with roots in Mozart and affinities with Richard Strauss. Spiraling toward the modernity of Justė Janulytė while illuminating the modernity of Tchaikovsky, the conductor brought the concert to a magnificent close. Another excellent concert at the Arsenal with the Orchestre de Metz Grand Est.