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Recordings Dvorak Violin Concerto / Czech Suite This is a recording that does more than give pleasure in its own right (although it does that in spades). It’s also of a kind that can take your perception of the composer and his music onto a different level. The natural appeal of Dvorak’s style is deservedly time-honoured. Meanwhile this disc reminds us that his music can also offer serious emotional weight, along with an inventive imagination that can hold its own in any company. All this is happily proclaimed both by the loveliness and incisive class of the orchestra’s playing, and by Swensen’s capacity for leading by example. He brings remarkable firepower to the Violin Concerto’s solo part, plus an unaffected, gloss-free lyrical grace that suits the music’s sunlit moods as truly as its darker ones. Malcolm Hayes, Classic FM Orchestral Disc of the Month, January 2006 Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 (Classical),Violin Concerto No. 2, Five Melodies (arr. J Swensen) It was tempting to take one look at this all-Prokofiev programme and wonder why the SCO hadn’t chosen to follow the two well-know works with a more substantial rarity like the sparkling early Sinfonietta. As it turns out, conductor-violinist Joseph Swensen’s orchestration of the Five Melodies is the real reason for enthusiasts to search out this disc. Never, in my experience, have these curious miniatures of 1921 sounded as compelling, either as the original wordless vocalises or in the later violin-and-piano transcriptions. Somehow the arrangement of the piano part for strings gives the sequence both impressionistic allure – Swensen is right to mention Debussy in his liner-note comments – and a greater narrative thrust. It’s very simple: Swensen indulges in no tricksy effects as an arranger. [In] the Classical Symphony, … the benefits of hearing a sprightly chamber orchestra in clean recorded focus are immediately obvious – bassoons, in particular, run alongside strings with greater clarity than usual.... with a nicely teased-out Gavotte and a finale which flies as only a smaller-scale version can, the Russian country spring which inspired Prokofiev in 1917, far from the revolutionary hullabaloo, really comes to life. David Nice, BBC Music Magazine, August 2005 Mendelssohn Violin Concert / Symphony No 3 / Hebrides
Overture Bright, lean sonorities, clear textures and relative prominence of winds and bass create distinctive sonic metrials from which conductor Joseph Swensen draws spirited, fully-engaged music making. Sure the most stimulating performance on the disc is that of the Violin Concerto. I've never heard the solo part realised quite so spontaneously, not with such a richly varied palette of expressive devices. Swensen meets the pieces's demands, but even so takes technical chances in pursuing expressive ideals. BBC Music Magazine
A new collection of orchestra l works by James MacMillan: as much a calling-card for the superb partnership of Joseph Swensen and the SCO as for the composer himself. Gramophone
Royal Danish Opera/ Le Nozze di Figaro/ Nov-Dec 1999 Figaro was in the best possible hands at the premiere on Saturday night with the American conductor Joseph Swensen. His quick and precise tempi, lively phrasing and richly varied and nuanced tone colouring were extraordinary. The Royal Danish Orchestra was always in perfect balance with the singers. Berklingske Tidende It was so good to see how Joseph Swensen created such a beautiful sympathy between himself and the singers. He is obviously a conductor singers love to sing for. Helsingar Dagblad |
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