Reviews: “Robert Levin plays Mozart”

With only two nights left to attend the first concert set of our 30th Anniversary Season, you may not want miss your chance to see Robert Levin perform with Nic and the orchestra. As one critic wrote, “this is a concert you want to attend.”

“To hear Mozart played in period style, the only way you could do much better than Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra would be to add the fortepianist Robert Levin into the mix – which is exactly what the orchestra’s splendid season opener has to offer.” Read more on SFGate

“[McGegan's] conducting gestures are often a bit nonconformist, but they always clearly reflect the musical material and [his] demands on his orchestra… And all of it inspired the players to paint a portrait of Mozart that is more in line with the letters and reminiscences about the man and his performance style than the sanitized mainstream Mozart we’ve come to expect. The results were never inelegant, but neither were they ever overrefined. In short, they were scintillating.” Read more on SFCV

“There is an endearing fearlessness – Levin used the word ‘danger’- in going up on stage not knowing what to expect, what cadenzas will fill the concerto or what melodies the audience will throw at him, so we have to salute Levin for his courage and his confidence in his technical abilities. And pulling it off! Live performance is about the unexpected, the chemistry of the instant. Levin chided “cookie cutter” performances, and his was definitely a concert that stands out.” Read more on SFist

“McGegan’s interpretation elevated [the incidental music from Thamos, King of Egypt] beyond the merely “incidental.”  Much of this may be attributed to his approach to conducting, which seems to be more focused on teasing out the rhetorical impact of every phrase… The result is that McGegan can endow even the slightest phrase with a significance that seizes the attention, leaving the listener wondering what the next phrase will bring… It is what makes Philharmonic Baroque experiences so exciting.” Read more on examiner.com

“It was a stunning opener for the Philharmonia Baroque’s thirtieth-anniversary season, one in which Mozart’s music sparkled with the vivacity and chamber-ensemble texture for which Nicholas McGegan’s band is renowned.” Read more on Musical Criticism

And, our favorite, Matthew K. Heafy of the heavy metal band Trivium tweeted “Just saw probably the best musician of my life. Robert Levin playing Mozart at the sf baroque philharmonic [sic]. Shreds anyone on anything.”

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