14th January 2024, Alois Ecker, Die Rheinpfalz
“The German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate, with a gigantic symphonic line-up, unpacked a program under the title “Unendliche Weiten” with which they had already caused a sensation in the Speyer Technology Museum last summer. Under its chief conductor Michael Francis, who acted with energetic body language and precise signaling, the Ludwigshafen-based ensemble presented itself in top form across all instrument groups and displayed a flawless playing culture…
The State Philharmonic pulled out all the stops, shining with precise entrances and finely balanced dynamic build-ups. Fantastically confident in their intonation, balance and melody, the musicians were not embarrassed by either the dreamy, melancholic piano passages or the voluminous, turbulent tutti outbursts…
[Michael Francis] catapulted his Philharmonic Orchestra to true musical heights in the field of tension between a martial atmosphere (Mars), folk-song-like lightness (Mercury), life-affirming joy (Jupiter) and striking sighing figures (Saturn), before a wordless siren song in the final Neptune movement took the audience into galactic spheres…
After this fantastic concert, the desire among visitors to hear the State Philharmonic in Frankenthal more often is all too understandable. That would also be entirely in the spirit of the musicians, who – as we learned – really appreciate the excellent acoustics of the large hall.”
