Schubert Wanderer Fantasy & Schumann Fantasie Op 17
Orlando Jopling / English Chamber Orchestra
Signum Classics
Orlando Jopling does powerful, extraordinary things with this music, generating a structural momentum, emotional charge and climax that can evade even the best of pianists. I haven't been so satisfied with these masterworks for a long time. A revelation. ATES ORGA
OJ leads the English Chamber Orchestra and members of the Schubert ensemble in well-judged, lively performances David Hurwitz, Classics Today
Falstaff for Stanley Hall Opera 2005
"The score is an exhausting riot of light-fingered invention .. what a pleasure to hear a performance that actually opens your ears to the music. How a string quintet, the band's engine-room, can produce these sounds is beyond me, and the brass and woodwind never overwhelm the texture. Verdi's mercurial charm is preserved, and the solo instruments shoot it through with delicate transparency. Potentially fraught moments, as when Ford finds out about Falstaff's designs on his wife and has a jealous tantrum, are done with a brilliantly judged mixture of seriousness and play." The Times, July 2005
La Scala di Seta, Independent Opera, London, Octobert 2005
"most of the credit goes to conductor Orlando Jopling and soprano Lorina Gore. Jopling's 19-strong orchestra took this soufflé along with rare pace, shape, articulation and cogency. Rossini often judders along like a Ferrari in heavy traffic, but this hit the autostrada with the smoothest of gear-changes and an essential joy in its own existence." Robert Thicknesse
"Orlando Jopling conducted the small orchestra with gusto and loving care." Serena Fenwick, Musical Pointers
Kew Sinfonia
‘a sense of the unfolding musical drama … Jopling was a commanding presence throughout. A performance of astonishing power … a truly inspired and inspiring evening, rapturously received.’ (Kew Sinfonia) Richmond Times, 2002
‘Orlando Jopling directed with authority ... this was great music-making’ Richmond Times, 2000
Imaginative programming and superlative playing resulted in a landmark concert last Saturday. Kew Sinfonia’s orchestral sound now possesses a warmth, balance and homogeneity that is entirely new, with string playing of great tonal beauty and expressive intensity. Much of the credit for this must go to their principal conductor, Orlando Jopling. It has been a privilege to observe the steady development of his conductor’s art.
The performance of Schubert’s ‘Great’ C major symphony, which ended the programme, was one of the finest I have heard. Sustained rhythmic drive and fluid phrasing gave it an irresistible dance energy. Charles McLoughlin
The performance of Schubert’s ‘Great’ C major symphony, which ended the programme, was one of the finest I have heard. Sustained rhythmic drive and fluid phrasing gave it an irresistible dance energy. Charles McLoughlin
The Flying Fox (Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss)
‘cool, fizzy and deliciously intoxicating’ Time Out, 1998
Shorts
‘Orlando Jopling’s conducting was a tour de force of versatility’ Michael Kennedy, Sunday Telegraph, 2001
‘Orlando Jopling’s conducting was clean, incisive and sensible. This is where the real music making is happening. Go, please go.’ Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday, 2001
‘Tête à Tête’s presentation of 'Shorts' was undoubtedly the highlight of the season .... Musical preparation was of a very sophisticated quality. The series of short operas managed individually to provoke, entertain and move.’ Phill Ward (Arts Council of England), 1999
‘This engrossing evening is far more bracing and inventively operatic than anything else on offer in this moribund opera season’ Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 2001
‘Ingenious, touching and funny ... it seemed like one of the shortest evenings I have ever spent in the theatre ... I look forward ardently to my next encounter with Tête à Tête’ Michael Tanner, The Spectator , 1999
Vivaldi’s Orlando Plays Mad
‘‘the height of exuberance, outstanding performing in whole-hearted spirit … carried off with panache.’ Robert Thicknesse, The Times, 2000
‘an absolute treat’ Warwick Thompson, Metro, 2000
‘quality music-making’ Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 2000
Cambridge Strings
‘a moving performance conveying calm timelessness ... well rehearsed, tightly rhythmic and full of freshness’The Strad
‘brimmed over with effortless musicality ... a flamboyant and passionate performance ... a real sense of boundless energy and vivid colour ... the motive was clear: to enjoy making music ... an uplifting experience.’The Ham and High
‘a stirring London debut ... climaxes were strong and purposeful, depth of tone impressive, and driving sequences impassioned yet controlled .. a highly expressive account of Strauss' Metamorphosen crowned the evening the fugue radiated a taut, exciting ambience atmospheric ... eloquent ... assured ... polished ... a memorable performance.’ The Strad
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Camerata
Camerata
‘This Amahl was notable for a highly cultured performance by Orlando Jopling and Concilium, who treated Menotti’s often derided music with affection and allowed its many charms to breathe. From the start Jopling produced a soft, caressing, muted and melded sound. - a string backdrop for the attractive woodwind writing to rhapsodise against. It benefits hugely from such playing and the Peter-and-the-Wolf style entrance of the Kings, the Brittenish pizzicato of Kaspar’s aria, and the Resphigi-like pastiche of the shepherds dance were highlights of a performance which caught the mood perfectly. Not a dry eye in the house.’ Robert Thickness, Opera Now 2002
"An inspired Beethoven performance" by Charles McClaughlin
It has been my privilege over some years now to review concerts given by the Kew Sinfonia at St Anne's Church Kew.
It has been my privilege over some years now to review concerts given by the Kew Sinfonia at St Anne's Church Kew.
In that time I have recorded the steady development and growing artistic structure of this ensemble.
Nothing that has ever gone before however could have prepared us for the performance of Beethoven's Eroica which brought last Saturday's concert to a memorable close. From the arresting opening chords to the wonderful and so characteristically Beethovian final coda, this performance was inspired.
Conducting without a score Orlando Jopling set a daringly fast tempo for the first movement which I did not believe could be sustained. But sustained it was; with soaring dramatic intensity through the gigantic climax of scrunching dissonant chords at its heart through to its long and elaborate coda.
This absolute dramatic commitment was sustained through the second (funeral march) movement with its superb central fugal section where the theme rings out on all of the horns; through the scherzo where the busy rustling string playing at the beginning was so right. Again there was superb horn playing in the trio section.
For the Promethean finale Mr Jopling again set a strikingly fast tempo again sustained with total conviction. And so it was on Saturday as a great musical creation received a worthy and unforgettable performance.
