Bamberger Symphoniker

“The vivid colours of Bartók’s miraculous orchestration popped off the stage, the intensity driven from the first note, fleshing out Bartók’s busy street scene in a cacophony of lurid strings and brass, climaxing in a brief sigh of ecstasy from an Edinburgh Festival Chorus who had clearly been metaphorically unbuttoned by their chorus master Christopher Bell. And if there was not quite enough sleaze in the prostitute’s clarinet, the narrative was convincingly drawn, with a chase scene that in its relentless pump oddly recalled the clockwork inevitability of Nott’s take on Messiaen’s weighty Chronochromie earlier in the evening...This was music of the head, intelligently thought through and virtuosically realised”. (The Times, September 2011)

“What Jonathan Nott and his dedicated Bambergers delivered on Saturday was very special.” (The Scottish Herald, September 2011 )

"Conductor Jonathan Nott and the Bamberger Symphoniker...finished with Brahms First Symphony, for once not weighed down in the complex structures, but transparent and with a real sense of line. A full-bodied sound, completely with beautiful dynamic nuances and a fine sense of developing tension graced this impressive performance: Brahms on a very high level." (Eindhovens Dagbladed, March 2011)

"The orchestra was just as impressive. The dreamy sounds of the middle movement, with its plangent oboe melody buoyed up by the swaying accompaniment, sounded perfect." (The Daily Telegraph, July 2009)

"...The orchestra' majestic but fine-grained sound was so right for Bruckner, and Nott's pacing was so firm and well-judged, that it seemed utterly convincing." (The Daily Telegraph, July 2009)

"Nott made a strong case for the work...simply by being sensible. No bullying the argument with extreme speeds or cavernous pauses; no churning up mud in the rustic episodes; no crude trumpeting of those noble chorales and Wagner echoes, riding the orchestra's waves like Poseidon. ... And whichever way Bruckner's kaleidoscope turned, the momentum kept up, furthered by the Bamberg sound: warm, brilliant, finely blended."
(The Times, July 2009)

"With the last piece of the concert, Anton Bruckner's 3rd Symphony, the orchestra inspired the audience. ... After the final bar, the English audience rewarded the orchestra with standing ovations." (German Press Agency, July 2009)