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"I fell in love with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 (“Choral”), at (ironically) age nine and have remained under its spell ever since. The Ninth’s power, energy, beauty, gargantuan size and scope (certainly for 1824 — its world-premiere year) and its use of the human voice for a chorale tune now universally known and loved have made it a must attend for concertgoers all over the world.
Beethoven’s mightiest symphonic opus also is a mighty challenge — a prime interpretive case study — for conductors. ISO music director Mario Venzago’s 2005 reading of it was far different from this one, and that contrast strongly favors the latter. To put it succinctly, this was the most exciting, rewarding Ninth I’ve ever experienced in live performance. "

"A Ninth taking scarcely an hour to play, with one Scherzo-repeat omitted! That’s what Venzago gave us, tempo-wise. (Traditional performances have run about 70 minutes.) Throughout the three instrumental movements, he made audible for us all those beautiful wind/horn parts, along with the first movement and the Scherzo’s inexorable energy: We were caught up in a whirlwind—one which occasionally moved the players into a slightly ragged, runaway mode. But each time Venzago quickly reestablished control, one which remained relentlessly constant throughout the Scherzo, along with nice dynamic inflections within those incessant triplet figures. "

"The Ninth was preceded by the ISO’s maintaining its performing excellence standard in Ravel’s popular Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2. He made good use of the choristers with their wordless “Ahh’s,” (since they happened to be standing there anyway). "

"…Venzago then completely redeemed himself with what is simply the best reading I’ve ever heard of Richard Strauss’ massively scored, lengthy tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), Op. 40 (1898). Energetic, precise, beautifully balanced and nuanced, our “hero,” in reality the composer himself, came to “life” with more zest than I formerly believed “he” could."

"Strauss and Hadelich are ISO standouts "

"The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra demonstrates a masterful command of a Richard Strauss tone poem in this week's Classical Series program, which also features a quietly virtuosic debut by Augustin Hadelich, a European violinist with local ties. "

"When ISO Music Director Mario Venzago has discussed the German composers who might be considered specialties of his, Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann have come up, but maybe Richard Strauss ought to be added. Venzago's interpretation of Strauss' symphonic tone poem "Death and Transfiguration" was extraordinary.
The ISO played "Death and Transfiguration," which chronicles an artist's painful, nostalgic and finally resplendent passing, with great depth and compassion.
Venzago coaxed expressiveness and orchestral coloring from every phrase in the Strauss, whether it was the faint rhythmic figure in the violas and timpani representing a fading heartbeat, the agitated low strings and furious brass depicting the anguish of illness, or the final, ethereal calm. The performance was definitely the highlight, even on a program with an agreeable guest soloist. "

"...Again, tell Mario that his performance yesterday was World Class!"

Triumph for Mario Venzago.

“...Mario Venzago’s reading of Don Juan was something one didn’t want to miss. He lifted the orchestras to incredible heights, the sound was wonderful and the glow and the coloring of the story of the tragic Don Juan really unique”

“Mario Venzago showed another side in the reading of Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Serenade in F. The orchestral treatment was of the same high class; but here the colours were more subdued and the intellectual analysis dominated. The result was a reading, thorough in every bar with all subtle nuances will taken care of; it was a pleasure to enjoy. And the orchestra must have been satisfied too, they honoured Mario Venzago with a fanfare.”

Wagner Tristan und Isolde, Liebestod
Schumann Symphony No. 4, “Spring”
Stravinsky The Firebird
Mario Venzago & GSO

“The Warmness of the reading touches the most”

“The introductory piece should have been Debussy’s Symphonic Suite Spring, but, due to the demise of Birgit Nilsson, the orchestra chose another first piece, Isoldes Liebestod from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. The conductor Mario Venzago asks the audience not to applause after the performance. The dense silence following becomes a continuation of the music, where memory, time and ambience melt together.
This communicative and transcending silence also seems to affect the playing of the rest of the evening. There is a gravity and familiarity in the readings of Schumann’s Fourth Symphony and The Firebird by Stravinsky. The lightness in Schumann, the quick associations of the faintly outlined, the thin orchestration that covers such strange rhythmical displacements, here floats in the upper regions. Not the Romantic aesthetic as a cult-following of the genius, or a wrestling with the Beethoven heritage. Rather a talk between friends out-doors, with quite some space between the notes.
The same thing with Stravinsky, who’s performed with a basically French sound, as if Ravel was on the outer edges. The reading becomes a triumph of musicality. The energies are set free and the rhythm becomes a living and flexible complexity rather than an exact, chiselled-out set of differences (which is not unusual in performances of Stravinsky). It doesn’t sound static but loving, and some of the orchestral contributions, such as the solos by bassoon and flute, are exquisitally shaped. It’s in moments like these that it’s obvious what a fine orchestra the Gothenburg Symphony is, when the music is breathing and something comes to life that wasn’t apparent before. It’s a magnificent Firebird, elegant but not the least frivolous.”

Wow – what a brave jubilee
The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its centenary with a work that no other orchestra would dare to include.

[selected parts of the review:]

""The silence needs your support", says Mario Venzago to the audience… Nono’s work is quite a test, one of the hardest in modern orchestral music, with its lack of hierarchies, its extreme nuances and a pulse so slow that it borders to the measurable. But as it turns out it’s not hard to accept Venzago’s invitation. The sounds from the orchestra, which is dispersed in the room, fills the hall with energy in a way the Gothenburg audience never before has experienced. And it’s quite obvious that one, during a concert, can withstand the thought that nothing in this world is definite. That the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra chooses a work by Nono as the main item on its 100th anniversary is nothing short of a sensation. Few, if any, symphony orchestras in the world would dare to do something similar. But that is a proof of the fearless, intellectual atmosphere that the Swiss Mario Venzago has contributed to. To enclose Nono with two keyboard concertos by Bach (No. 1 in D minor and No. 5 in F minor) creates yet another dimension. A vision of the future from Venzago and the orchestra with the message that the relationship to tradition must, continually, include taking risks and resemble an unending dialogue.”

[conclusion:]

"Seldom has a simple wow seemed so well-deserved"

Adams Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Janácek Jealousy & Sinfonietta
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4
Mario Venzago & GSO
Frank Peter Zimmermann violin

”With another kind of musicality”

“The elated mood continues in the brilliant reading of Janácek’s Sinfonietta where one hears that the orchestra under Venzago’s supervision really has worked with the details. The richness of this varied music is presented in a superb way: music as a swarming society, with countless voices and colliding energies.”

Whenever Mario Venzago is on the podium, something distinctive invariably happens.

Anything can happen, anything is possible: "A sense of adventure... does it lead to the wild or the classical, the careful or the experimental? Or all at once?"

Lieber Mario!
Auch ich will mich ganz herzlich bei Dir bedanken. Du warst WUNDERBAR! Ich hoffe sehr, dass unsere Wege sich bald wieder kreuzen. So oder so - es ist mir eine Freude Dich zu kennen und mit dir Musik zu machen. Das wird so bleiben!

Ich finde Ihre Schoeck-Aufnahmen (und dies kann ich wohl jetzt sagen, wo ich tausende von Meilen entfernt und nicht mehr “involviert” bin, ohne der Schmeichelei beschuldigt zu werden) einfach ideal; kein Dirigent hat mir beim Schoeck besser gefallen.

"The ISO's performance of the Shostakovich 4th Symphony was terrific. I've never heard the orchestra do a better job on anything. It's a piece that poses lots of problems putting it across, not the least of which is its monumental length. But (conductor Mario) Venzago absolutely understood exactly how to pace it, balance the orchestral parts, emphasize the textural and instrumentals contrasts . . . It was stupendous. I found it notable that the audience around us appeared to be completely caught up in the drama of the musical experience. No nodding heads. No shifting in seats. It ends with one of the most prolonged codas ever written, as if the composer wasn't sure exactly how to dissipate the moment of such a lengthy work. The coda very, very gradually peters out, evaporates. The audience was transfixed, not a sound to be heard anywhere, as if everybody had breathed in halfway and just stopped breathing. Unbelievably profound."