John Axelrol
A | EE
FAZ, 01.08.2008 | Jutta W. Thomasius
In Bregenz profitiert sie vom Feingefühl des Vorarlberger Symphonieorchesters und seines Dirigenten John Axelrod.

Stuttgarter Nachrichten | Helmuth Fiedler
Und der aus Houston, Texas, stammende Dirigent ließ gleich Igor Strawinskys frühes, von Nicolaj Rimskij-Korsakow inspiriertes und in seiner Motorik an Paul Dukas' "Zauberlehrling" erinnerndes "Scherzo fantastique op. 3" (1908) mit derart irisierender Farbigkeit musizieren, dass man nur staunen konnte. Noch Leonard Bernsteins bleischwer-dunkel timbrierte Interpretation von Johannes Brahms' dritter Sinfonie F-Dur mit dem Wiener Philharmonikern im Ohr, bildete die Wiedergabe des Bernstein-Schülers John Axelrod einen veritablen Gegenpol. Das dichte Geflecht der thematischen Bezüge, die der kürzesten aller BrahmsSinfonien ihre formale Strenge und Konzentration verleiht, wurde mit größter Transparenz durchleuchtet. Dabei wuchs den konzentriert musizierenden RSO-Sinfonikern eine innere Kraft zu, eine aus der Musik abgeleitete Expression, die keinerlei emotionalen Drücker benötigt, um bis zur leise auslaufenden Schluss-Coda Ausdruck zu schinden.

Frankfurter Allgemeine | Wolfgang Sandner
Not only does Axelrod has a phenomenal stick technique, he also has something you probably can’t learn in school: the power of creative suggestion which fires up even the last stand of the orchestra…

The Philadelphia Inquirer | David Patrick Stearns
Axelrod was just as effective with longer-built climaxes and a more theatrical sense of timing. […] Axelrod smartly embraced the episodic nature in ways that downplayed the music's repetitious nature, and the orchestra responded with its best glamorous sonority.

Bresciaoggi | Luigi Fertonani
The most convincing performance of the whole night was “Symphony n. 1 in C minor op. 68” by J. Brahms, and the reason of this success is the ability of John Axelrod to take the most and the best out of the Orchestra, from the first notes where it is definitely not hard to find the Beethovenian heritage, to the ’”Andante sostenuto” of the second movement. This Symphony requires a very stable control of each section of the orchestral group. […] Axelrod managed to give life to that tension, sometimes splitting that is typical of this Brahms symphony, in a true final crescendo that at the end of the piece, unleashed the enthusiasm of the audience.

L’Eco di Bergamo | Bernardino Zappa
About the performers we could say many things, or just get by saying that they were simply outstanding: the clearness of the orchestra, sumptuous in the woodwinds and tireless in the brass, the charismatic and very American energy of John Axelrod, who was pragmatic and inspiring, and finally Fazil Say, completely comfortable with the rhythmic divagations and with the lyrical soliloquies of Bernstein first, and then with the languid light-heartedness, shifting from jokes to melancholy, of Gershwin.

LE MONDE | 29.05.2008
L'Orchestre de Paris et son choeur, dirigés par l'Américain John Axelrod, avec Samuel Pisar en récitant, viennent de créer magnifiquement, à Paris, ce mercredi 28 mai, cette dernière mouture.