Mälkki was greeted with great enthusiasm by the audience, and then led a sparkling performance from the orchestra and chorus. The rhythms seemed to burst from her clear, detailed baton technique, and the instrumental colors were polished to a high sheen. The music seemed to shine all night with that special Stravinskyian light, which is like neon, even in the dark and tender stretches of the final scene. This was as energetic and fluent a performance as one has ever heard of this music, while still digging into the charm, pathos, and wit.
“Mälkki was greeted with great enthusiasm by the audience, and then led a sparkling performance from the orchestra and chorus. The rhythms seemed to burst from her clear, detailed baton technique, and the instrumental colors were polished to a high sheen. The music seemed to shine all night with that special Stravinskyian light, which is like neon, even in the dark and tender stretches of the final scene. This was as energetic and fluent a performance as one has ever heard of this music, while still digging into the charm, pathos, and wit.”
“Throughout the evening, the depths of Mälkki’s connections with Stravinsky’s score and with the MET’s musical forces were apparent. These connections fostered an abiding sense of espousal of the piece’s distinctive harmonic language, poised between Mozart—Don Giovanni often peeks out of the pages of Act Two—and Reimann. This faith in the opera, manifested in every aspect of Mälkki’s conducting, yielded a performance that was as enlightening as it was entertaining.”
“Susanna Mälkki conducted with a fine grasp of the score’s many felicities, from its invigorating brass fanfares to the knotty intricacy of the prelude to the Graveyard Scene, and, above all, the rhythmic surprises that keep performers and listeners alike on their toes and help insure the opera’s fascination.”
Musical America
“The conductor, Susanna Mälkki, led the orchestra most memorably in passages of eeriness and tenderness, as in the nocturnal glow of the prelude to the graveyard scene in the final act.”
The New York Times
“À la tête de l’orchestre du Metropolitan Opera, Susanna Mälkki déploie une richesse de nuances et d’idées qui placent l’unique opéra de Stravinsky parmi les plus hauts chefs d’œuvres de la modernité.”