Reviews
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, October 2006
"...led by highly valued guest conductor Günther Herbig... the BSO gave a tight, forceful account of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture at the start. Herbig and the Orchestra were operating in total synch when, after intermission, they turned to Brahms' Symphony No 2.
The conductor shaped it lovingly, allowing poetic impulses to unfold in spacious fashion, without hindering the overall flow of the performance. He reached particularly eloquent heights in the Adagio, looking deeply into the music's dark beauty. Encountering such a big-hearted approach to Brahms is a treasurable thing, and it continued right through the concluding movement.
The players seemed thoroughly engaged in the experience, paying great attention to nuances of dynamics and coloring as they responded to Herbig's sure, sensitive guidance." The Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith
Columbus Symphony Orchestra, June 2006
Maestro ends season with magical program
"With Günther Herbig on the podium, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra smashed home the closing program of the season... Last night's concert was performed before an attentive and enthusiastic Ohio Theatre crowd.
... Herbig successfully guided the Orchestra and the audience to each location in decisive, emphatic and ultimately convincing interpretations...
A sweet lyricism pervaded the third movement and much of the finale (Brahms Symphony 2), with Herbig only giving the Orchestra its head just in time for a stunningly exuberant final statement.
Perhaps the most admirable quality of the performance of the Shostakovich (Symphony 5), in addition to its clear purpose and focus, was the way in which Herbig tied the music of this composer to what comes before. Shostakovich was very much mired in the spiritual devastation of post-war Soviet society, and that surely colored everything he wrote. But too often, contemporary interpretations of his music stop there.
Yet it has beauty, it has passion, it has melody, and Herbig and the orchestra found these qualities - as well as the searching despair we more readily associate with his music. The much debated last movement lived up to its quizzical reputation, even in this very deliberate performance. By taking his time through the supposedly uplifting and celebratory last bars, Herbig only seemed to underscore how forced, how labored they truly are..." Barbara Zuck, The Columbus Dispatch
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, March 2006
"Herbig brought Louie's (Music for Heaven and Earth) deliberately-paced score to shimmering life...
Then there was the sweet Brahms symphony (2). It's a work Herbig obviously knows well, since he conducted it without a score in front of him. The result: pleasant, balanced and mellow." The Toronto Star, John Terauds
Seattle Symphony Orchestra, February 2006
A world-class orchestral experience
"The occasion of a guest conductor is always an auspicious occasion, because the Orchestra sounds different as it responds to new direction. So it was Thursday night, as Günther Herbig brought his unique insight to three staples of the repertoire and gave us a world-class orchestral experience. Herbig has conducted major U. S. and European Orchestras and has garnered an international reputation doing so.
The highly listenable Weber "Overture to Oberon" is an ideal opener in that it has something for everyone: mystery and enchantment, excitement, and love. Herbig infused it with a sprightly buoyancy within a reasonable tempo, always with an underlying rhythmic insistence. Ensemble was razor-sharp, strings sounded warm and lush, and the woodwinds clean and smooth.
Herbig gave us a regal performance of Schumann's Third Symphony, the "Rhenish." In the grand opening theme and ensuing material, he coaxed a wealth of nuance from the Orchestra. His no-nonsense conducting style is direct and capable of great inflection within the beat, without excessive self-serving gestures. It was the polished, intriguing product of a mature artist who brings an accumulation of insight and introspection to his work. From the lilting Landler-like scherzo to the Bach-inspired fantasia-like splendor of the fourth movement (with its fine brass playing), Herbig left me inspired and grateful for the experience." George H Pro - The Seattle Times
BBC Philharmonic – Bridgewater Hall - January 20, 2007
MANCHESTER'S two symphony orchestras each put on big show-off concerts last week, linked by the fact that members of the Association of British Orchestras were in town - and, oddly enough, by the same little tune. The variant version of Three Blind Mice used by Bruch in the slow movement of his violin concerto (Halle, Thursday, soloist Janine Jansen) also occurs in a totally different context in Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony (BBC Philharmonic, Saturday, conductor Gunther Herbig). Strauss used to joke about it: maybe a strange sense of humour gave us this connection, too. But more noticeable was the fact that each orchestra programmed a Strauss blockbuster to end its performance.
Gunther Herbig began his concert with Brahms' second symphony. What a joy this was: with beauty throughout, in both solemn and lighter passages, and wistfulness pervading all. He shaped every phrase, it seemed, and balanced the most complex textures with a master's hand….
Herbig brought charm and forcefulness in equal measure to the third and final movements, and - characteristically - saved something special for the end, when the closing bars from the brass were a thrilling paean of joy.
After that, the Alpine symphony was a hard act to bring off, and he aimed (again conducting scoreless) to emphasise its musical as well as sound-effect qualities (minimising, indeed, the bleating sheep and clinking cow-bells). The sunrise, summit and sunset were superb moments, and the storm an equal of any we saw outside last week. Robert Beale, Manchester Evening News
Royal Scottish National/Edinburgh Festival - Usher Hall, Edinburgh - Bruckner 3 - August 2006
"... Conductor Günther Herbig revealed the symphony's almost willful juxtapositions to great effect, giving its quirky dramatic energy beautiful expression. The strings playing polka against the brass chorale in the finale was sublime." Jan Fairley, The Scotsman
"... the strings of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra produced a convincing warmth of musical tone. Indeed, Günther Herbig achieved a general standard of performance that bore very favorable comparison with what has been heard over recent years from distinguished visiting outfits." Sandy Strang, Edinburgh Evening News
Royal Scottish National - Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall - February 2002
"...two vibrant Beethoven performances. A radiant Egmont overture benefited from deep thrusting playing by the RSNO strings, and set the tone for a sweeping performance of the Eroica symphony.
Here Herbig was in his element, giving the fast movements a majestic breadth, and shaping the funeral march with monumental authority..." Kenneth Walton, The Scotsman
Press Quotes
KMI
GÜNTHER HERBIG, conductor
