The San Francisco Chronicle's music critic Joshua Kosman writes about the centenarian orchestra's first two-night visit to Davies Symphony Hall in the American city that it was fair to say that Carl Nielsen dominated the programme. Helios openings, which the reviewer calls a magnificent image-filled enlivening of the sunny Greek landscape on the first night. And the next evening, Nielsen's 6th. Symphony, which the critic calls angular and fleeting. And somewhat amusingly, he writes that Helios ”sells itself”, while the symphony is a harder nut to crack for the listener because it is fragmented and full of feints and in connection with the scherzo he recalls the late Spike Jones (undeniably a different genre, ed.) running amok through woodwinds and percussion.
He describes the orchestra as a fast, resourceful ensemble characterised by powerful string groups and warm brass playing. And that it helped to find order in Nielsen's symphony that the orchestra seems to have his characteristically sharp language in their veins.
Chief conductor Fabio Luisi is said to have traced the orchestra to an extravagant expression of emotion in the other repertoire, Beethoven's Eroica And Richard Strauss' Don Juan, which was interpreted with rhythmic excitement and a keen sense of the dramatic.
And The San Francisco Chronicle's music editor notes that the encore both nights was Jacob Gade's Tango Venetian blind.
In the Los Angeles Times, the reviewer, Timothy Mangan, would have liked some contemporary Danish music as well. The highest praise went to vocal soloist Deborah Voigt for her Wesendock songs, which she also sang in the Concert Hall before her departure. Perhaps the praise is an expression of a kind of local patriotism, as Voigt comes from Orange County, where the concert in LA took place.
The reviewer may have thought it was a little slow to get going, but writes about Helios that the orchestra added a Nordic touch to the story of the Greek sun, and he also praises Mahler's Symphony No. 1. Symphony, which Luisi and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra received huge applause for at the concert in Copenhagen just before their departure.
Summing up, Timothy Mangan writes that the orchestra gave Luisi what he asked for and gives top marks to the ”rustic-sounding woodwinds”.
In addition to the reviews, the orchestra's tour to five cities on the West Coast of the United States was covered in a number of media outlets, and several Danish media reported on the concerts. On this website you can also find choir and orchestra director Kim Bohr's two travel letters from the tour.
If you want to read the US reviews, the addresses are here:
San Francisco Chronicle: Danish orchestra makes a strong case for Nielsen http://www.sfchronicle.com/music/article/Danish-orchestra-makes-a-strong…
San Francisco Classical Voice: Fabio Luisi and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra Are a Vital Partnership https://www.sfcv.org/reviews/san-francisco-symphony/fabio-luisi-and-the-… Santa Barbara Independent: The Danish National Symphony Orchestra http://www.independent.com/news/2017/apr/03/danish-national-symphony-orc…
Classical Voice: Danish Symphony's Debut Concert in OC is a Wild Success http://www.classicalvoice.org/review/losangeles/2017/3/31/danish-symphon…
The Orange County Register: Deborah Voigt handles tricky Wagner with ease in Costa Mesa http://www.ocregister.com/2017/04/01/deborah-voigt-handles-tricky-wagner…
Los Angeles Times: Danish National Symphony debuts at Segerstrom with Deborah Voigt http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-danish-symphony-revie…
The Mercury News: Fabio Luisi, the Danish National Orchestra and soprano Deborah Voigt collaborate in Davies Hall http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/03/fabio-luisi-the-danish-national-or…
oigt.