Other orchestras

BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Principal Guest Condcutor 2000-2003)

Swensen is the complete musician: a virtuoso violinist and composer as well as conductor, ostensibly well suited to Mahler. From the very first sinister opening march, his approach was one of taut, thrusting vigour, and while the music is shot through with melodic material that represents glimpses of a soaring but seemingly unattainable joy, this mitigated little against the overall impression of a relentless underlying force. In the scherzo too (played as the second of the four movements, thus eschewing the controversy that Mahler himself effectively began by re-ordering the central sequence) the highly imaginative instrumental colouring and the sardonic humour was quickly submerged in a harsher reality. Only in the central andante did Swensen's brisk demeanour alter, the desire to create a deeply lyrical sound bringing out the performer in him, arms as though embracing his fiddle, his baton a bow lovingly drawn over the strings, a gesture whose intimacy characterised the nature of Swensen's rapport with the players.

The Guardian (UK)

Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Sometimes an entire orchestra can act like a single instrument, with a complete, unified sound that enjoys an integrity all of its own, no matter how it is used of how it is played. That was the case Wednesday with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the baton of guest conductor Joseph Swensen. The principal conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Swensen created a very particular sound for the orchestra, open, confident, and extroverted, that carried through the entire programme, whether the music was by Schumann, Brahms or Aaron Copland...... It was a fine evening of music making, and the TSO responded well to Swensen's athletic demands of them. Because classical music is a mature art, with much of its repertoire fixed and honoured, interpretation becomes an exciting part of a classical-music concert. Swensen let the audience think about the music as well as enjoy it, the twin pleasure that classical music offers to its fans in spades.

Globe and Mail

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Under the modest, supportive direction of Joseph Swensen, himself a highly successful violinist, the CBSO supplied rich collaboration. A remarkably concentrated reading of Sibelius' First Symphony brought to the fore not merely its backward leanings but also its presages of the maturer composer to come. Swensen effected a gratifying tautness of structure, and orchestral highlights emerged naturally and excitingly. Copland's youthful Music for the Theatre, neat and witty, splashed verve and colour around before achieving a beautifully calm ending.

Birmingham Post (UK)

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

If violinist Joshua Bell was the main attraction, conductor Joseph Swensen nearly stole the show.....The evening's peak experience was a brilliant performance of Haydn's Clock Symphony, No. 101. Haydn's symphonies stand at the center of his achievement, and his last six contributions to the genre are the best of the best. Swensen's tempos were fleet - in the case of the famous Andante, controversially so. But from the beautifully shaped slow introduction to the buoyant finale, everything worked. The conductor's mastery was a match for Haydn's own. The orchestra, too, was in grand form.

Star Tribune

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

The young American conductor Joseph Swensen, making his first appearances in St. Louis with this weekend's performances, is one to watch. Energetic, balletic in his movements, and equipped with the sweep and style to handle three very different works with idiomatic musicality - as well as a sense of humor - he scored a solid hit

St Louis Post-Dispatch

Hallé Orchestra

The Hallé seems to romp through it [Beethoven Symphony no.3] effortlessly, but that impression was deceptive. While Swensen seemed to give free rein to the work's boisterous exuberance, it was tautly controlled, with a coiled precision that energised the whole performance

The Guardian (UK)

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

Joseph Swensen conducted with great dynamism..... Swensen charmed a seductive performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni overture from the orchestra. There was heavy breathing in the rise and fall of the wind section's scales and smut in the timpanist's libidous, tight-skinned thump. In Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht, the strings produced real fleshly, sensuous tone.

Evening Standard (London)