Le Figaro: Le bonheur d’un son non mondialisé
Where the Lucerne Festival Orchestra sounds like one of those bright 21st century glass skyscrapers, the Gewandhaus sounds like a sumptuous Gothic palace that has been regularly restored, but has kept its original colours and materials. The strings have the dark patina of antique furniture, the matt brass evokes an organ with wide and deep stops, never flashy. Andris Nelsons' warm direction trusts musicians whose mutual listening is permanent, his little aesthetic body language invites more than it imposes. The result is a luminous Bruckner Eighth, which flows from the source and trusts the music, without seeking to prove anything. And this is does a lot of good.
„Where the Lucerne Festival Orchestra sounds like one of those bright 21st century glass skyscrapers, the Gewandhaus sounds like a sumptuous Gothic palace that has been regularly restored, but has kept its original colours and materials. The strings have the dark patina of antique furniture, the matt brass evokes an organ with wide and deep stops, never flashy. Andris Nelsons‘ warm direction trusts musicians whose mutual listening is permanent, his little aesthetic body language invites more than it imposes. The result is a luminous Bruckner Eighth, which flows from the source and trusts the music, without seeking to prove anything. And this is does a lot of good.“