Concert Schedule 2014 / 2015

Rian Evans, The Guardian, 24th September 2014
★★★★
“Works by Janáček and his Czech compatriot Bohuslav Martinů framed this concert given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Janáček’s programmatic symphony poem Taras Bulba tells the grisly tale of the eponymous leader of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, and under the baton of Michael Francis, the picture of Janáček as a force of nature emerged just as strongly as that of Bulba.Francis’s reputation as a conductor initially rested on his stepping into the breach more than once, most notably taking over concerts from Valery Gergiev and John Adams. But his briskly methodical style has its own virtues, as this performance showed. From the blood and guts of the Janáček to the bold, gutsy writing of Martinů’s Sixth Symphony, Francis brought a dynamic drive to the proceedings, recognising both the influence of the older composer and the difference of emotional tone implicit in Martinů’s subtitle, Fantaisies Symphoniques. Martinů was also the link with Albert Roussel, the latter his teacher in Paris in the 1920s, and represented here by his Concert for Small Orchestra, sometimes acid of harmony and austere of orchestral texture but with an irresistible balletic spring…”Paul Corfield Godfrey, Seen and Heard International, 25th September 2014
“The programme for Janáček’s symphonic fantasy Taras Bulba is of a violent barbarism which makes Game of Thrones look like Paddington Bear, with each of its three movements describing the grisly death of a member of the same Cossack family. Nevertheless Janáček’s music manages to provide plenty of lyric contrast, interlacing pastoral episodes with the more full-blooded dramatic tableaux. The orchestra under Michael Francis made the most of all these juxtapositions, with a biting savagery in the string playing that is exactly what the music demands, and avoiding any sense of tameness such as one sometimes finds in performances that stress the symphonic nature of the writing at the expense of the pictorial. The tortured clarinet playing of Robert Plane at the end of The death of Ostap froze the blood…

As I observed earlier this year when reviewing the performance of the Frescoes of Piero della Francesca at St David’s Hall, Cardiff audiences have had a soft spot for Martinů ever since Mackerras’s performances of The Greek Passion at Welsh National Opera in 1981, and this symphony only whetted the appetite for more of [Martinů’s] original yet totally characteristic music. The orchestra played like gods, and Nick Whiting’s solo violin counter-melody in the final movement was perfectly balanced against the tumultuously surging background. The climaxes were properly overwhelming.”

Mareile Hanns, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 29th September 2014
“…The Dresden Philharmonic had it well and truly in their grasp, together with the young English conductor Michael Francis. He delivered as an inspiring orchestral leader relying on subtlety and expressivity who knew exactly how best to convey his understanding of the timbres and structural characteristics.Edward Elgar’s concert overture “In the South” – a work in which the composer’s impressions from his travels in Italy can be heard to a large extent – had its premiere in 1904. In this performance one had the feeling of positively being able to sense the magnificence, luminosity and scents of the Mediterranean landscape. Michael Francis encouraged an emotionally-tight orchestra and a lively, pulsating musical approach without pathos or flashiness.Forty years after Elgar’s composition, Ralph Vaughn Williams began his 6th symphony, a work full of contrasts which counts as one of the most personal symphonies from the post-war era. Francis masterfully succeeded in forming an overriding arch which never lost tension; from the uproar of the opening movement, throughout the gloomy Moderato and the burlesque Scherzo right through to the mysterious shades of the Epilogue…”

Jens-Uwe Sommerschuh, Sächsische Zeitung, 29th September 2014
“…Francis let the Philharmonic rage and struggle and directed them towards a desolate and yet delicate pianissimo at the finish [of Vaughan William’s 6th Symphony in E-Minor] which faded into nothing. Thundering applause for such expert endeavours.”

James McQuillen, The Oregonian, 12th October 2014
“Francis has earned a reputation as a conductor superhero, stepping in at the last minute for one orchestra after another and leading brilliant performances as though he’d been rehearsing with them for weeks. Affable and unflappable, he has a terrific rapport with the OSO, for which he stepped in twice in one month three years ago; even if you didn’t hear the buzz back then, you could tell just by listening Saturday night. His easy way with the players seems to encourage their most responsive, enthusiastic performances, and his clear gestures elicited precise attacks and cutoffs, bringing out all kinds of crisp detail.”

Stephanie Hayes, Tampa Bay Times, 25th October 2014
“The concert began with an odd nugget of music in Ives’ Central Park In the Dark, an experimental piece from 1906 that imagines just what the title says. The strings were sequestered off stage, providing distant sounds of night. It all rose into a cacophony of street cars and fire engines before fading with an echo. It was fun once you figured out what was going on……It was the final piece that had special significance to Francis, who is moving to Tampa Bay from England. British composer Edward Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 brought a taste of his old home to his new one.The symphony flips between uplifting hope and worrisome doubt, which is Elgar trying to come to terms with the troubling polarity of his own personality. The violas and woodwinds ushered in the lovely opening theme, followed soon by the discordant tritone, often called the ‘devil’s tone.’ It’s the same thing you hear in Bernstein’s West Side Story when everything gets real complicated. It was forbidden in early church music and to this day imparts an unsettling chill.

Elgar’s attempts to work out his demons brought out the most passion in Francis, who might have galloped off the stage with the military rhythms of the orchestra. A few magic moments had everyone in the theater syncopated, tied together in the sights and sounds. And that felt most significant of all.”

Charles Pope Jr, ConcertoNet.com, 20th November 2014
“Opening and closing with stunning presentations of Britten and Hindemith, this week’s subscription concert by the National Arts Centre Orchestra was arguably the most vibrant to date in NACO’s forty-fifth season. Major credit goes to yet another rising UK conductor, Michael Francis, who commanded the orchestra with subtlety and aplomb from the first note of Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, scored solely for strings. The performance displayed exceptional transparency and dynamic range through the elegantly plaintiff harmonics of the fourth variation, Romance, the atypical rhythms of the sixth, Bourrée classique, the satanic brio of the eighth, Moto Perpetuo, and the pizzicato double bass crescendo of the ninth, Funeral March. The climactic Fugue and Finale was breathtaking, a virtuoso performance from every player on stage and the kind which happens only when a superb conductor is in charge.Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphoses of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, using the full ensemble, brought the same rarefied finesse to the opening Allegro and to the Scherzo [additionally titled Turandot and derived from the Carlo Gozzi play which also inspired the Puccini opera] which concludes with a delicate fugue. The Andantino then final March are further characterized by Hindemith’s unique sense of evolving tonalities and concurrent melodic development. The constant dialogue within dense orchestration, especially percussion, was featured with particular brilliance……Hopefully, he’ll be a regular guest on NACO’s podium in future seasons.”

Natasha Gauthier, Ottawa Citizen, 19th November 2014
“Francis conducted the NAC Orchestra just last season, and on Wednesday he returned with an eclectic program of themes and variations.

Benjamin Britten honoured a former teacher in his Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge. It’s an early work for string orchestra, a slightly academic series of display pieces—a waltz, an Italianate aria, a funeral march—that exploits most of the effects at the instruments’ disposal. Francis, a string player himself, has an incisive rhythmic sense and a light, delicate touch. He painted in flickering, graduated colours and a lively feel for the dance character of the movements…”

Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati Enquirer, 31st January 2015
“Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 in A-flat Major formed the second half, and Francis spoke engagingly to the audience about the work. Friday’s concert was Cincinnati Symphony’s first performance of it in more than 70 years, under then-music director Eugene Goossens.

A onetime bass player, Francis, 37, recently was named music director of the Florida Orchestra. He is also chief conductor and artistic adviser to the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. After Friday’s performance, it was clear that he is young conductor whose star is on the rise.

To anyone who has ever marched to ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ or heard Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations, the music was instantly recognizable. The orchestra, which has been sounding superb lately, played well for Francis, and he made an impressive case for the rarely-played symphony.

It travels from cheerful tunes to the depths of despair, sometimes turning on a dime. Francis’ leadership was confident and intelligent. The orchestral sound was rich with color and expression, and the conductor’s phrasing was beautifully shaped throughout its four movements.

If there was a shining moment, it was the Adagio, which included lyrical solos for violin and clarinet (Timothy Lees and Jonathan Gunn). In the finale, Francis built his forces to a stunning peak, capped by what he described as ‘a hymn of hope,’ nobly introduced by the CSO’s brass choir.”

Michael Bruze, Norrköping Tidning, 15th February 2015
“Michel Francis lifted the orchestra in a sharp performance which exposed the full potential of this crowded piece´s wide rythmical surcharge and compelling momentum….”

William Thomas Walker, Classical Voice of North Carolina, 10th April 2015
“Guest conductor Michael Francis led the orchestra in a superb interpretation [of Messiaen’s Les Offrandes oubliées]. It had all the French virtues, clarity, color, and precision – all hallmarks of correct style since the age of the Couperins. String intonation was excellent in the opening and, most importantly, in the slow and drawn out ending, evoking eternity…

…Michael Francis led the symphony musicians is a brilliant and effective performance [of Berlioz’s Symphonie fanstastique]. Every section played superbly.”

Elizabeth Bloom, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 16th May 2015
“To keep the symphonic literature fresh, the only thing as effective as premiering a new work is giving a repeat performance of a slightly older one. To that end, Friday’s Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert marked one of the most important artistic endeavors of the season.

Led by British conductor Michael Francis, music director designate of the Florida Orchestra, the program hinged on the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s “The Work at Hand,” a concerto for cello and mezzo-soprano commissioned by the PSO and Carnegie Hall. The performance featured PSO principal cellist Anne Martindale Williams and the Heinz Hall debut of the exciting young opera singer Jamie Barton…

…Against the tapping of bongos, the cello slid between the dueling halves of the pungent opening melody, followed by the cantorial entrance of the voice. A march-like second movement embodied the yoga pose, reflecting the speaker’s mixed feelings about predicting defeat. Rising melodies from the voice and cello mimicked the act of lifting hands in the yoga pose. The third part, opening with a long cello solo, is an ethereal appreciation of nature.

The work had a profound emotional intelligence, matching and uniting music and text…

…The concert opened with the PSO premiere of Mason Bates’ ‘Alternative Energy.’ The four-movement piece explores the notion of energy across time and space, from a Midwestern farm in 1896 to a Chinese nuclear plant in the future. With a large orchestra, including a car-parts drum-kit, the work from 2011 also employed the composer’s trademark electronics (which he was on hand to perform). It touched on elements as diverse as techno, jazz and the recordings of a particle collider, connected by an idee fixe, introduced by guest concertmaster Jonathan Crow of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The piece was effective when it offered varied rhythmic ideas and fully realized the timbres of the ensemble, such as the ballad-like Thai gongs in the finale.

Because Mr. Bates is the PSO’s composer-of-the-year, his music has been on several programs; this was the best performance. Mr. Francis enhanced these new pieces with his clear musical ideas and technique…”

Garrett Harris, San Diego Reader, 8th June 2015
“The final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 made everyone’s temperature rise as wave after wave of sound washed over the audience. Just when we thought there couldn’t possibly be more, Beethoven and the orchestra ratcheted it up another notch. The effect was explosive — if you know what I mean…

…All three pieces, including the opening Haffner Symphony by Mozart, were paced to perfection. Great conductors find a tempo for the entire piece. They don’t conduct from movement to movement. There is a fundamental beat upon which the entire work rests.”

Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 7th June 2015
With newly minted Mainly Mozart Festival Music Director Michael Francis on the podium Saturday (June 6), the first festival orchestra concert of the 2015 season catapulted the packed Balboa Theatre audience into an ebullient mood. A combination of Francis’ bracing tempos, pianist Jon Kimura Parker’s keyboard wizardry, and the orchestra’s ever reliable finesse produced a rewarding musical trifecta.

Although no one would judge a serious novel after reading only the first chapter, I came away with some clear first impressions of the new maestro (I was unable to attend his Mainly Mozart debut in 2014). On the podium Francis proved a busy, detail-oriented conductor, diligently exploiting contrasts and quite unafraid of the extreme ends of the dynamic continuum…

…I was particularly taken with the second movement [of Symphony No. 35 (“Haffner”)], the Allegretto, where he drew soulful sighs from the low strings and a myriad of cleanly outlined colors in the deft fughetta. In his program notes Francis aptly described this movement as a stately dance, and I also heard in it a stately procession wending its way through the Balboa…”

Jim Chute, U-T San Diego, 6th June 2015
“Francis’ gift is his ability to energize a melodic line, or a phrase, or a group of phrases, or an entire section of music. There are no dead spots. The line, whether on a micro or a macro level, is always in a dynamic state, and most often gaining energy.

You can see it in his baton, where most of the energy is not in the downbeat, but in the upbeat, as if he’s pulling the music out of the musicians, and he often uses his left hand for much the same purpose.”

Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 11th June 2015
“Ever since Robert Schumann proclaimed Felix Mendelssohn as ‘the Mozart of the Nineteenth Century,’ it has seemed entirely natural to program the music of these two composers side by side. Too often, however, Mendelssohn’s mellifluous ease is overshadowed by Mozart’s quicksilver psychological complexity, but Mainly Mozart Music Director Michael Francis put Mendelssohn in the driver’s seat at Wednesday’s (June 10) Festival Orchestra concert at the Balboa with a masterful account of Mendelssohn’s Fourth Symphony.

From the opening phrases, the Fourth Symphony (called the ‘Italian,’ since he wrote this work following an extended visit to Italy) exploded with buoyant bursts whose energy never dissipated. Francis drew a silken, integrated ensemble from the strings, to which the winds added luminescent colors to balance the composer’s elegant musical equation. Because Francis deftly shaped the work’s dynamic trajectory, myriad details glossed over by typical symphonic accounts—with their massive string sections—came vividly to life.

Frankly, I have never been so completely enchanted by the “Spring” Symphony and now see it from a completely different perspective.

Some details to cherish: the low strings’ haunting bass line that propelled the religious procession depicted in the second movement; the sleek, well-tuned horn fanfares of the third movement; Principal Oboe Nathan Hughes’ glistening solos throughout the symphony, and the flutes’ delirious fluttering motifs in the closing movement.”

Jim Chute, U-T San Diego, 10th June 2015
“…The Mendelssohn symphony that closed the program, the ‘Italian’ symphony, had plenty of light and warmth. Francis was careful to keep things relatively light through the first three movements, but in the Saltarello Presto, the final, dance-like movement, Francis let the orchestra out of its constraints and it took off in a gallop…”

Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 21st June 2015
“Michael Francis climaxed his first Mainly Mozart Festival with a rousing program that had Saturday’s (June 20) sold-out Balboa Theatre patrons on their feet cheering. Like his pedal-to-the-metal Beethoven Seventh than concluded his opening night concert two weeks ago, his Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G Minor crossed the finish line with the unrelenting determination of an Olympic runner going for the gold…

…Francis’ zeal for the music of Mozart and his era explodes into vibrant tempos that test the mettle of his players, but, for the most part, not at the expense of attention to the finer points and myriad details of the score that make this music rewarding. For example, in the opening movement of the Mozart Symphony—marked Molto allegro and Francis was relishing the molto—he brought out with equal precision all of those gorgeous counter melodies that balance the shorter motifs that propel this exciting movement.

In the brisk Menuetto, he stressed the subtle cross rhythms that pepper the movement, and stepped back to allow the Trio its elegant allure. On the podium, Francis consistently rewards the attentive listener and invites a closer inspection of pieces we think we know well.

Francis also brings in unfamiliar works that he believes will provide context for understanding Mozart. On this program, for example, he offered Johann Christian Bach’s Symphony No. 6 in G Minor, a short, three-movment Italianate sinfonia that bristled with those nervous Sturm und Drang effects that swept European music after the high drama of Baroque counterpoint fell out of favor…

…As long as Francis is conducting, the festival orchestra upholds the best Mainly Mozart standards, with the bonus of a slightly more buoyant, less constrained musical profile. I await programming from him that will lift the fog of predictable, repetitive choices that have beset this festival in recent years.”

Arthur Kaptainis, Musical Toronto, 28th July 2015
“The main event was Holst’s The Planets. Mars is in no danger of losing its bellicose reputation. All the same, the British conductor Michael Francis managed to add an edge by upping the tempo while keeping articulation clear. Seldom has that quintuple beat sounded so convincingly like a menacing, off-kilter march…we also enjoyed the lively chatter of Mercury; the strange swagger of Uranus; and the virility of Jupiter…”

Charles Pope Jr., Concerto.net, 30th July 2015
“Canada’s National Youth Orchestra again gave a stunning summer performance in Ottawa during late July. As always, the orchestra comprised the cream of top young players, most of them already well launched on careers as orchestral musicians and future teachers. A good deal of the credit this year goes to UK maestro Michael Francis, no stranger to this city, having guest conducted the National Arts Centre Orchestra with brilliance and aplomb last November…

…Conductor Francis was in his element leading [Holst’s The Planets] work, and directed a performance which was worthy of an established professional ensemble. The opening movement Mars, the Bringer of War was appropriately brutalist. Venus, the Bringer of Peace was delicately serene; the very brief and soft first desk violin and cello solos were a highlight. Mercury, the Winged Messenger is characterized by Puck-like fidgeting until the strings take a turn dominating this scherzo-like movement. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity may be best known of the seven movements and starts with bustling preparation leading to a parade-like march, constant bustling energy, then a march recap with strings. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age incorporates a variant on Dies Irae leading to an ending more serious than ominous, and possibly suggesting the beginning of a near death experience. Uranus, The Magician, after a fine brass opening soon launches a seeming homage to Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, leading to another march (this one more military, and with ‘canons’ going off, thanks to the percussion), then soft strings before a ferocious, dissonant climax.

The final movement, Neptune, the Mystic, is mainly quiet and taut, until the off-stage chorus (thanks to absent female string players) brings this extraordinary, colorful work to a near silent climax, almost as startling as its brutalist beginning.”

Geoffrey Newman, Seen and Heard International, 13th August 2015
For a long time, I was suspicious of how good national youth orchestras could be. This all changed about 20 years ago when I heard Christopher Seaman put the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain through its paces at the Barbican and bring an unforgettable freshness and energy to Elgar’s First Symphony. There was something of the same feeling on this occasion: 90 young Canadian musicians aged 16-28, playing their hearts out under young British maestro Michael Francis, the culmination of 5 weeks of intensive training for their 2015 TD National Tour…

…The ensemble showed the results of pretty rigorous training under the maestro, and all parts of the orchestra displayed their mettle. The brass was incisive throughout ̶ the horns impressively smooth ̶ and the winds exhibited musicality and occasional virtuosity, particularly the clarinets. The strings were clean and disciplined, although the slight lack of richness and smoothness, relative to professional groups, was to be expected.

Strauss’ Don Quixote is not the easiest work for a youth orchestra to come to grips with, but it came out quite splendidly in a sharp, tightly knit reading, electric in feeling and concentration, perhaps somewhat in the spirit of Pierre Fournier and George Szell many years ago…The full ensemble handled both Strauss’ more exotic and more exuberant passages with finesse and confidence, making for quite a magnetic experience.

The work that followed was Ocaso, by Vancouver composer Alfredo Santa Ana, commissioned by NYO Canada; it received its world premiere just three days earlier in Montreal. This is a well-written piece that did not outstay its welcome. It started from string pizzicato, vaguely in the spirit of the second movement in Britten’s Simple Symphony, eventually broadening out to allow a more cinematic theme on the brass. After a relaxed interlude for winds, a neoclassical fervour in the strings took over in the concluding section, building to an abrupt ending. The structural cogency of the work was distinctive, and its performance here was impeccable.

The showpiece of the evening was Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, dispatched with tremendous drive and verve, and displaying what the orchestra is capable of…this was a true spectacle, showcasing the skills and sheer joy of these young musicians performing at white heat. It was quite sufficient to bring the house down.