Jan-Geert Wolff, Allgemeine Beitung, 7th September 2021
“…it was a special sound experience, which was foremost also thanks to the empathetic playing of the musicians. If in the original one is astonished by the pianissimo in the beginning, here it sounds almost crystalline fine. Above all, the interpretation distinguishes itself by enormous transparency with its supple gestures and restrained, but on the spot accents by conductor Michael Francis…
The string players, with their full, vibrating tone impart a sizzling warmth and give the “symphony in pocket-sized format,” as the conductor called it, a persistent electricity…
Since all musicians perform as soloists anyway, the character of the work constantly changes between a full symphony and delicate chamber music.
Michael Francis tastefully allows the dialogues to play out, whereby the musicians seem to enter into an exhilarating competition to see who might be able to strike the most cantabile tone: everyone wins, the cello perhaps a little more.”
