Jonathan Berman : Reviews

CONDUCTOR

ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCES

Błażejczyk Concerto for Electric Guitar, Percussion, Electronics and Orchestra, Mykietyn Prank (world premiere) and Penderecki Sinfonietta London Sinfonietta/April 2022

The London Sinfonietta was superb under Jonathan Berman’s direction…Nearly 30 minutes long [Mykietyn Prank], it was built on a series of accelerations, usually of rising pitches or chords, superbly executed by the London Sinfonietta under Jonathan Berman’s unflappable direction. These imploded into static “events”: a pitch-bending, pianissimo clarinet solo, a virtuoso drum break, and so on.

Financial Times

Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra, López Bellido Piano Concerto (world premiere) London Philharmonic Orchestra/February 2022

The concert as a whole was a showcase for the orchestra. The concerto was precededby John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine, and Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra received a rousing, broad-brush performance under conductor Jonathan Berman, a brave, last-minute stand-in.

Financial Times

Young British conductor Jonathan Berman did an excellent job under difficult circumstances [Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine] … Berman seemingly in command of the tricky transitions from mountain-peak to cliff edge [Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra],down into the abyss and up to the heights again; his championship of late-romantic Franz Schmidt puts him in the right zone… Berman’s greatest achievement was to have looked at Peruvian firebrand Jimmy López’s new Piano Concerto, composed for the very special sounds of pianist Javier Perianes for the first time that morning and to keep the orchestra phantasmagorically in synch with the soloist. No wonder Perianes’ first gesture at the end was to applaud and embrace his conductor.

The Arts Desk

Berman’s gift for taut and rhythmic conducting in the López Bellido, had been anticipated in the opening work, John Adams’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine. One of this composer’s most obviously minimalist pieces, Berman had no problems keeping the work tightly together – and more importantly meaningful to the vast jungle of rhythms that make it run on its very well-oiled orchestral engine … Berman paced the work [Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra] beautifully – some conductors take a less fashionable, more languid approach to this work – and managed to get exquisite playing from the LPO. Von der Wissenschaft was especially impressive, not least the magnificent fugue where Strauss has the cellos ascend in pairs beginning on their lowest strings. But there was so much more to the performance – careful attention to the trombones and horns, the brilliant woodwind phrasing, the freedom he gave to the solo violin. It was extremely impressive in a work that often gets lost in transitioning its movements together. These days one might expect more concerts to change soloists and conductors at short notice. They won’t always work. This one did exceptionally well under rather difficult circumstances, however.

Seen and Heard International

Birtwistle Pulse Sampler, Dillon Tanz/haus (London premiere), Knussen Coursing, Leith Balloon (world premiere), Stephenson Shuffle (world premiere) London Sinfonietta/January 2019

The Sinfonietta gave the composer’s [Dillon] intentions with absolute assurance and no little conviction, guided with evident precision by Jonathan Berman, a conductor demonstrably in the lineage of David Atherton and Oliver Knussen in terms not just of realising the score but interpreting it such that its essence was made readily perceptible to those listening.

Classical Source

Carter A Sunbeam’s Architecture, Knussen Two Organa, Maderna Serenata No.2 for 11 Instruments, Perle Critical Moments 1, Schuller Magical Trumpets (world premiere) & Concerto da Camera, Turnage Dark Crossing, Wuorinen Megalith Tanglewood Festival/July 2015

But all this proved good news for the young British conductor Jonathan Berman, who picked up all the works Mr. Knussen and Mr. Asbury were to have led and did so with the kind of clarity and assurance that might have made headlines had he been thrust suddenly onto the Boston Symphony’s podium in a program of repertory staples.

Wall Street Journal

Fortunately, the young English conductor Jonathan Berman was able to step into the breach, leading persuasive performances of several challenging works including the premiere of Schuller’s brilliant Magical Trumpets…The performers, which included five BSO players, principal trumpet Thomas Rolfs among them, nailed the first performance. Berman, while the crowd vigorously applauded, held the score aloft.

Boston Globe

Mr. Schuller would surely have appreciated – a fitting 75th anniversary tribute indeed.

The New York Times

The brass ensemble, under conductor Jonathan Berman, revelled in the compendium of 12-tone, jazz and just plain gorgeous proclamations.

Berkshire Eagle

Jonathan Berman conducted all five of the large works, a heroic feat… he did a spectacular job, his performances confident, shapely and alive.

Boston Musical Intelligencer

Jonathan Berman, a rising star in Europe and a 2012 Tanglewood conducting fellow, became one of the festival’s heroes by conducting, at short notice, this entire program-one of the pieces at such short notice it didn’t have a single rehearsal. Berman and the chamber orchestra captured so beautifully-the mercurial tenderness and wit of Carter’s endlessly morphing small ensembles, and the teasing and serious interplay of Cummings’s words.

Berkshire Review

Franz Schmidt Symphony no. 1 

“A potent performance from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Jonathan Berman. Full of life, energy and optimism. Berman communicates the natural organic quality he finds in the music which seems so simple he says but takes a great amount of work to achieve. Excellent recording as well and I’m delighted to say that they’re going to complete the series of all four symphonies in the run-up to the composer’s 150th birthday in 2024.”

Andrew Macgregor, BBC Radio 3 Record Review 

 

OPERA PERFORMANCES

English Touring Opera/October 2015
Debussy Pelléas et Melisande

Jonathan Berman expertly conducted Debussy’s enigmatic masterpiece

Financial Times

Jonathan Berman conducted with great care and elegance. It was a brave, deeply affecting achievement.

The Guardian

The chance to hear a Pelléas this good at venues right across the country is a rare one, and one that should be seized.

The Arts Desk

Jonathan Berman conducted with energy, clarity and admirable phrasing…Pelléas et Mélisande contains a great deal of ravishing music, and…was beautifully played and sung in this production.

BachTrack

The young conductor Jonathan Berman shaped the score poetically and his players brought out the redolence of Debussy’s own chamber music.

WhatsOnStage

Jonathan Berman conducted with a palpable sense of momentum.

The Stage

The reduced orchestral forces introduced an elegance and refinement to the score that made it seem vaguely reminiscent of Debussy’s chamber music, and conductor Jonathan Berman ensured a high degree of precision.

MUSICOMH

Jonathan Berman’s conducting was another strength…The ebb and flow of Debussy’s score rather seemed – and ‘seemed’ is surely the operative word here – to take care of themselves…this was more a matter of subtly enabling and, yes, leading a company effort. In that and much else, it proved a great success.

Seen and Heard International

The orchestral ensemble conducted by Jonathan Berman gave us some nicely atmospheric moments and the orchestral interludes made musical sense on their own terms, rather than seeming to be just hand-me-down versions of the full score

Planet Hugill