New review of Beethoven Vol 2! Piano Concerto No. 2 and 3 by Ludwig van BeethovenArtist Niklas Sivelöv, piano, Orquesta Filharmonica de Bogotá, Joachim Gustafsson, conductorClassicMusic company AMC/NaxosYear 2024In recent years, Niklas Sivelöv has done what most pianists dream of. He has thrown himself into the repertoire he loves and recorded it on disc. All of Bach’s piano works are the mainstay, but the first and last piano sonatas of Beethoven suggest that a complete series of works may be in the works. The key to this productivity: the record label he himself is behind sets no limits. The big project now is Beethoven’s piano concertos, which started in 2022 with the fourth and oddly enough a version of the violin concerto with piano as solo instrument (not for purists perhaps, but it is Beethoven’s own version). Here a rather fantastic element enters the picture: the orchestra is the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra. A background to this surprising Swedish-Colombian connection is that Joachim Gustafsson has been chief conductor there since 2021, voted for by an orchestra that is among the leading in South America. In other words: when the symphony orchestras in Sweden can only extend to occasional commissions for Swedish conductors, a really good orchestra in Colombia could be the solution. Sivelöv is a pianist who strives for perfection, also when it comes to the material conditions. Admittedly, he doesn’t have his favorite grand piano shipped around like Benedetti Michelangeli once did, but apparently it took a whole day to find the perfect piano chair in Bogotá for the first recording. The Italian once canceled a concert just because cold air had entered the concert hall, while Sivelöv in Bogotá limited himself to having the grand piano re-tuned several times before he was satisfied. Sometimes perfection is an obstacle. Not in the case of Sivelöv. It is true that his extreme sense of touch and inventive mobility can have more scope without an orchestra, but he definitely also has the soloist’s power and delivery. Attack is found in his entrance to the C minor concerto on the new record, poetic power in the slow movement and rhythmic life in the finale. A second concerto is on the disc, number 2 in B-flat major, and there both soloist and orchestra show how musicianship can have free space even in a work that has ended up in the shadows of the three grander ones, numbers 3–5. Just in the second concert, it is clear how everything is flapping between the conductor and the orchestra. If any element is peculiar to the Bogotá Philharmonic, it is the rhythmic vigor. Sure, sonorously it’s exactly as it should be, and there’s a clear sense of the big form, but the vitality of the rhythm is so palpable. (The fact that the inserted Egmont overture becomes more melancholic than tragic must be placed in parentheses.) A new Beethoven cycle rivals that much. Alfred Brendel and Radu Lupu are among my favorites, but in the digital era the past becomes almost overpowering. More or less time-honored interpretations with hammer claves have been added. In the Nordics in recent times there are Leif Ove Andsnes and Olli Mustonen. But Sivelöv retains his hypersensitive distinctiveness here and the Bogotá orchestra under Gustafsson becomes a new, very rewarding acquaintance – for those who did not happen to hear them at the Tommie Haglund festival in Halmstad, where they were guests in 2022 and are planned for 2025. Today the center and periphery undeniably dissolved concepts. Erik Wallrup Svenska Dagbladet
We are continuing our celebration of Bruckner with his Symphony no 5 at Teatro Mayor .https://filarmonicabogota.gov.co/eventos/genialidades-de-mozart-y-bruckner/?occurrence=2024-08-25
Very happy to premiere the Divertimento by Niklas Sivelöv . The piece is dedicated to my orchestra Filarmonica de Bogota , so it is a great honour. Concerts at Friday and Saturday 9-10 of august
This is the second volume in a series of three recordings from AMC with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá and Joachim Gustafsson conducting, which will be the first recording made in Latin America of all of Beethoven’s concertos for piano and orchestra, including the piano version of the violin concerto. On this recording the wonderful and dramatic Egmont Overture is also included.The 24-year-old Beethoven likely gave the first performance of the sparkling Second Concerto at a concert of Prince Lobkowitz, where his playing “touched everybody”. The young musician had the honour of performing the concerto later that same year with the esteemed Haydn conducting. It is a charming and delightful work, with a beautiful slow movement that must have shown off Beethoven’s noted cantabile style of playing, as well as a light-hearted, comic finale.The cadenza in the first movement is by Niklas Sivelöv.The Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, Op.37 was generally thought to have been composed in 1800, although the year of its composition has recently been revised to 1803. It was first performed on 5 April of that year, with the composer as soloist, in a concert where the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also premiered. The concerto was published in 1804, and was dedicated to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia.
Todays concert of Mahler 3 will be live-streamed at Canal Capital at 5 pm Colombian time! Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá
For the first time the great swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar´s first symphony will be performed in the Americas! Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá! Concerts the 5th and 7th of April . Auditorio Leon de Greiff and Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo ! Bogota D.C.
Phillip ScottFanfare, July 2023 The recording is clean and the performances fine… this is a release of some interest that does not lack appeal. © 2023 Fanfare Read complete review Robert McQuistonClassical Lost and Found, June 2023 Swedish conductor Joachim Gustafsson and the Malmö Opera Orchestra…deliver superb accounts of both selections. In that regard, the MalOpO musicians deserve a big round of applause for the many, demanding, solo-instrumental passages they play so well, particularly in the later symphony. That said, both works will leave listeners with a strong desire to hear Sivelöv’s other five works in this genre. © 2023 Classical Lost and Found Read complete review Barry ForshawClassical CD Choice, February 2023 …there is no denying that [Symphonies 1 & 5]’s sinewy charm is comprehensively realised here. © 2023 Classical CD Choice Read complete review Stephen GreenbankMusicWeb International, January 2023 The recorded sound is exemplary, allowing all the instrumental details to be fully savoured. The Malmö Opera Orchestra under the inspirational direction of Joachim Gustafsson offer enthusiastic and convincing performances… Sivelöv’s music has an appealing freshness and makes for a compelling listen. © 2023 MusicWeb International Read complete review Stephen PageLark Reviews, December 2022 Further exciting contemporary Swedish sounds are to be found on this CD. The two symphonies here by Sivelöv date from 2013 and 2020. Both make great use of variety of timbre, tonality and rhythm. There is a stark, stripped back feel to the opening of the 5th Symphony which contrasts hugely with some of the more energetic writing of other movements here. © 2022 Lark Reviews Barry ForshawClassical CD Choice, November 2022 …it…rewards close attention, particularly performances as persuasive as they are here. Niklas Sivelöv has proved a prolific symphonist over the past ten years or so, with six completed symphonies and a seventh currently in progress. © 2022 Classical CD Choice
Else Marie Pade: The Orchestral Album In the motivation, the P2 jury says: “The listener is given a unique opportunity to gain insight into Else Marie Pade’s tonal language in a technically excellent recording with first-class musicians.” The album was also received with great enthusiasm in Sweden, when it was released. “Malmö Opera Orchestra’s posthumous premiere recording is the classical cultural achievement of the year” wrote Dagens Nyheter in an article with the critics’ favourite albums of 2022. Danish magazine Seismograf also selected the album for their list of Top 10 Danish albums of the year 2022. Stream the album here.