A selection of recent review quotes (English)

Les Solistes Européens, Luxembourg at the Festivald’Echternach

“The musicians consistently expressed a feeling of involvement with their Chief and an obvious pleasure in making music together. From the opening Coriolan Overture the dynamism of the reading testified to an engagement, an urgency and a breath of communication served by the clear and articulate gestures of the Music Director. The same vision infused the “Pastoral” Symphony with its sated rhythms and colours and showed fresh blood, fortifying and invigorating. The lyricism and ethic of pure beauty seemed closer to a fluid and flexible reading than the heavier mould of the Germanic tradition… Leaving this concert, the feeling prevailed of a moment of pure happiness as if these old warhorses had benefited from a cure by the youthful grace of these interpreters and their intention at every moment.”

Le Journal, Paris Alain Cochard11 June 2010

Real Filharmonia de Galicia

“König is a conductor who is taking his career calmly. And this is evident when you see him come onto the stage in an assured manner; without rushing, with a firm step and with a hint of a smile. His technique gives an even stronger impression of confidence: entirely unlike the ostentatious techniques of many young conductors, König knows how to conduct a phrase – more than just beating time – using restrained but always elegant and effective gestures. His hand and the whole of his left arm continuously invite the orchestra to make music. However, more than anything, it is his overall concept of the music which reminded me of the great conductors”

www.mundoclassico.com 26 November 2008

MELCER Piano Concertos 1 and 2, Jonathan Plowright, Hyperion CDA67630

“Christoph Koenig and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra accompany with panache.”

The Observer 6 January 2008

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: BARTOK Dance Suite; BRAHMS Piano Concerto No 1; BEETHOVEN Symphony No 2

“König succeeded …in tempering the discipline of the BBC SSO’s playing with warmth of sound and vitality [ Bartok Dance Suite ]. …König’s flexible shaping of tempos imbued the piece with the swagger of Bartok’s folk arrangements. With Beethoven’s Second Symphony preceding Brahms [ Piano Concerto No1 ], the Bartok didn’t appear to have much connection with the rest of the programme. Yet König’s Beethoven turned out to be a pleasure: sprightly, but with a depth of sound that made it more than a lightweight approach.”

The Guardian 1 December 2007

“In the familiar inflections of Beethoven’s Symphony No2, the elegant tumblings of Brahms’ D minor Piano Concerto and the consciously aggressive poundings of Bartok’s Dance Suite, both the sentimental and the subversive assumed significance as conductor Christoph König teased out the dissenting voice in each. Within the uplifting sound of an enlarged orchestra, he encouraged the unnerving grit of the midrange – a spry bassoon, a grumbling bass clarinet, silken violas – to rise to the top of the mixture time and again.”

The Scotsman 29 November 2007

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: FAURÉ; SAINT-SÄENS; BEETHOVEN

“His vibrant enthusiasm and energy coupled with a warm understanding of both soloist and orchestra made this a performance to treasure [Saint-Säens' Cello Concerto No1 / Daniel Müller-Schott]. …. Christoph Konig’s fiery enthusiasm also made for an eye-opening performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No 3, Eroica. He kept the orchestra going with considerable elan in theopening movement, yet never too fast for the expansiveness of Beethoven’s melodies, or to allowdetails of the instrumentation to speak for themselves.”

The Herald 19 February 2007

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: MACMILLAN The World’s Ransoming

“König let the music unfold naturally, its emotive colouring emerging with seething impact, its mangled use of familiar plainsong and German chorale melodies all the more thrilling when given their space…”

The Scotsman 14 October 2006

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

“With Kevin Bowyer as soloist and Christoph Konig as conductor, the performance savoured the Frenchness of the music’s wit as well as its grander Bachian aspects. …it showed the young German conductor to be someone worth watching.” The Herald 26 June 2006

Malmö Symphony Orchestra: TURNAGE; STRAVINSKY

“Mark Anthony Turnage’s Fractured Lines requires flexibility from the conductor, and Malmö Symphony’s new Principal Conductor, Christoph König, certainly shows a talent for syncopation. Stravinsky’s Firebird was performed with flair and rhythm.”

Dagens Nyheter 15 August 2004

“There were deserved ovations … for the young conductor Christoph König, who … rendered Mozart´s music

smooth and flexible and negotiated tricky parts in the score with fresh tempi and youthful verve …”

Salzburger Nachrichten 25 June 2003

Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria: RACHMANINOV Symphony No 2

“The beautiful Adagio of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No2 was received with quasi-religious silence: irrefutable confirmation of the complete communion between public and orchestra. We were listening, stunned, to one of the most beautiful performances by our orchestra, which showed its great potential and what it is capable of when under the right baton. The young Christoph König achieved heights great musical heights from an orchestra which played like one single instrument.”

Festival de musica de Canarias 2003

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