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nicholaskraemerconductor
Stamitz, Kreisler & Vittali violin concertos - Hideko Udagawa & The Scottish Chamber Orchestra,
This is a remarkably fine work brilliantly played by Hideko Udagawa, Nicholas Kraemer and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
The Classical Reviewer 17 Feb 2015
Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Complete Brandenburg Concertos
… the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is devoting its weekend subscription concerts to all six of the master's "Brandenburg" Concertos, under Nicholas Kraemer's discreet but invigorating direction … Kraemer, whose day job is that of principal guest conductor of Chicago's Music of the Baroque, is as comfortable playing Baroque repertory with symphony orchestras as with period-instrument groups. He had no trouble transferring his ideas about balance, scale, articulation and phrasing to the various CSO soloists and accompanying chamber groups, leaving them free to realize the tonal possibilities of working in their natural musical environment.
Conducting from the harpsichord, Kraemer made adherence to matters of period style a means to an end rather than the end in itself. The end was vigorous and polished Bach playing. His interpretative hand was unobtrusive, nudging a cadence here, a contrasting figure there, keeping things moving along in a bouncy, rhythmically inflected manner.
Chicago Tribune 21 Nov 2014
Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven: Music of the Baroque
…principal guest conductor Nicholas Kraemer[’s] conducting characteristically vital and energetic … The genial equanimity at the heart of Kraemer’s musical personality is well-suited to much repertory—most Baroque, lighter Bach works, and Haydn especially, a composer in which Kraemer has few peers.
Chicago Classical Review, 21 October 2014
Kraemer's vision proved powerful and strongly dramatic.
Chicago Tribune, 20 October 2014
Belshazzar - Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Blackheath Halls
Kraemer drew from them a well-nourished sound, and there was no let-up in the finely-judged pacing and shaping he imposed on the performance.
Opera, 1 September 2014
Music for the Royal Fireworks - Music of the Baroque
There was ample energy and vivacity in this season-closing concert led by Nicholas Kraemer… Kraemer led an exhilarating performance.
Chicago Classical Review, 20 May 2014
Bach and Handel - Music of the Baroque
Kraemer brings a zest and exuberance to even the most familiar works and the reading was delightful, deftly balanced and rhythms pointed with lilting flair.
Chicago Classical Review, 23 April 2014
Bach -Music of the Baroque
Nicholas Kraemer is in charge, balancing historical awareness with communicative expression.
Chicago Tribune, 8 October 2013
Nicholas Kraemer direct[ed] with characteristic insight and ebullience.
Chicago Classical Review, 8 October 2013
La Finta Giardiniera – Buxton Festival
On the rostrum Nicholas Kraemer conducted with a nice balance of Mozartian taste to match his overall pacing and support for the singers.
Seen and Heard International, 9 July 2013
authoritatively conducted by Nicholas Kraemer,
5 stars The Guardian, 9 July 2013
Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra – Heroic Classics
Haydn's 85th Symphony is nicknamed La Reine, having received theroyal nod from Marie Antoinette. Kraemer's finely gauged take madeone realise the French Queen certainly knew her music better than her politics. The delights were in thedetails.
Kraemer and the orchestra uncovered new worlds in Beethoven's Eroica. The opening Allegro unlockeddances that can remain a mystery to some conductors and, among Kraemer's many daring touches, adramatic rubato in the movement's second subject stood out.
The New Zealand Herald, 6 April 2013
Music of the Baroque, Chicago – Haydn & Handel
for those who love Haydn, thechance to once again hear two of the Austrian composer’s symphonies under the inimitabledirection of Nicholas Kraemer was all the incentive needed…
[Kraemer] is masterful in this repertoire…
Kraemer made child’s play out of the musical hurdles.
Kraemer and company largely served the music well with trim,graceful playing, impeccably balanced by the conductor.
Chicago Classical Review, 23 February 2013
Collegium Musicum, Bergen – Dvorak & Handel
WhenCollegium invites to Bergen the charismatic conductor Nicholas Kraemer, the result is anexperience characterised by quality and enthusiasm.
From the very onset, Maestro Kraemer released vibrant dynamics …
it was obvious thatMaestro Kraemer had trust in the singers, and he did not shy away from quick tempi and boldaccentuation.
It seems clear that the choice of conductor was a success. Nicholas Kraemer bringsout the very best in the choir and the orchestra.
BirgensTidene, 29 October 2012
Idomeneo – Grange Park Opera
Conductor Nicholas Kraemer demonstrates Mozartean affinity, whipping up spine-tingling excitement in the splendidly-sung chorus scenes.
The Stage, 06 June 2012
St John Passion – Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Nicholas Kraemer does Bach in an extremely inviting way. It is as though Baroque music’s tendencies to exaggeration are swept away and the musical texture, tight and intricate as it is in Bach, is brought to the fore in an incredibly refined way. When orchestra, choir and soloists all adopt the same style, the result is close to perfection.
Fædrelandsvennen, 30 March 2012
Music of the Baroque, Chicago – Telemann, Purcell, Corelli & Rameau
Conductor/harpsichordist Nicholas Kraemer mixed it up nicely, with four nations, five composers (and their respective national styles), and two concertos. As usual the ensemble’s principal guest conductor brought a knowing, authoritative air to the performances, withtempos that seemed consistently “right,” no easy feat in an era when such basic decisions involve plenty of educated guesswork.
Chicago Classical Review, 27 February 2012
Music of the Baroque, Chicago – Handel & Vivaldi
It has been nearly a decade since Music of the Baroque named Jane Glover and Nicholas Kraemer as its music director and principal guest conductor, respectively. Since 2002, these superb British musicians have expanded the repertory while infusing their interpretations with bracing vigor and a keen sense of style that makes early music leap off the page in a wonderfully immediate manner.
MOB's performance of Handel's psalm setting "Dixit Dominus," paired with Vivaldi's better-known "Gloria" on Tuesday's concert at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, gave Kraemer a chance to revisit cherished haunts. The Handel was his audition piece – the first work he conducted at his MOB debut nine years ago this month. This remarkable choral masterpiece came off well then, but Tuesday's reading was altogether more confidently realized.
Kraemer's reading was exact of execution, alive to the spiritual drama. Tempos proved to be on the brisk side, and there was plenty of spring to the rhythms. Kraemer reminded us that period forces are not needed as long as period manners are so faithfully observed.
The most famous of Vivaldi's three settings of the "Gloria" also came off well under Kraemer's enlivening direction.
Chicago Tribune,11 November 2010
Kraemer led the orchestra and chorus in a vividly dramatic, richly characterized performance that consistently put across the imagination and audacity of Handel’s music.
Kraemer showed a fine hand, bringing expressive poise to the Largo movements, stately poise to the Andante and avoiding the temptation to inflate the closing Hornpipe, keeping it in scale with lightly sprung rhythms.
Kraemer led a lively performance, with notably fleet, virtuosic choral singing in the opening Gloria enhanced by Barbara Butler’s gleaming trumpet and a notably thrilling account of the fugal finale.
Chicago Classical Review,08 November 2010
RTE National Symphony Orchestra & Philharmonic Choir Bach: C Minor Mass
Nicholas Kraemer is clearly a man with definite ideas about the BachMass … He favoured brisk speeds and pointed energy. Kraemer’s was a performance which, at its best, achieved considerable expressive traction.
The Irish Times, 19 October 2010
Aspen Festival Orchestra
Kraemer got lively, idiomatic playing in Rodrigo's marvelous 1954 suite Fantasia para ungentilhombre.
Aspen Times, 12 August 2010
Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Mozart, Haydn, Telemann, Strauss
At the Symphony Center, Nicholas Kraemer led the CSO in a deeply expressive rendition of Richard Strauss’s tragic Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings. A man sitting in front of me shed a tear …
Time Out Chicago, 31 December 2010
Under Kraemer, CSO ensembles entertain at a convivial musical soiree
Kraemer kept everything animated, transparent and well-balanced in the Mozart as well as in Haydn's Symphony No. 88. Here tempos were judicious, rhythms nicely sprung and witty asides deftly projected
Chicago Tribune, 12 December2009
Kraemer proves man for all seasons
Nicholas Kraemer led a breezy and often hilarious night of wildly inentive period works by Vivaldi, Jean-Fery Rebel and Telemann … the orchestra sounded beautifullyechoic and full-bodied in Harris’ cavernous theatre, lending a distinct dreamlike flow to Telemann’s 10 movement suite.
Chicago Sun-Times, 18 November 2009
But Kraemer and his players truly pushed the envelope in their program’s wildly dramatic depiction of the earth’s basic elements.
Chicago Classical Review,17 November 2009
Northern Sinfonia – Theodora
Nicholas Kraemer, directing from the harpsichord, demonstrated that every bar is suffused with drama …
Not for the first time, a performance of Theodora seemed to make the earth move.
The Guardian, 03 November 2009
Haydn’s Oxford in Edinburgh
Kraemer and the SCO flirted and danced their way to the last giddy bar in this thrilling performance.
The Scotsman,17 January 2008
Chicago Symphony début
We know from Nicholas Kraemer's work with Chicago's Music of the Baroque these past several seasons that he knows his way around the 17th and 18th Century orchestral repertory so well that it doesn't matter whether period or modern instruments are used -- the music lives, breathes and dances just as stylishly.
Chicago Tribune, 16 November 2007
Philharmonia Baroque, San Francisco
…a program of Vienna’s heavy hitters led with spirit and polish by guest conductor Nicholas Kraemer … Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven have rarely sounded so novel and, well, funky.
San Francisco Classical Voice, 12 October 2006
Under Kraemer’s assured, energetic direction, each work benefited from the orchestra’s characteristically tight ensemble playing.
San Francisco Times, 12 October 2006
Judas Macc. in Chicago
…he [Kraemer] tapped into the composer’s dynamism, and the music moved forward with a swift inner energy.
Chicago Sun Times, 20 September 2006
Central City’s Poppea
…helmed by first-rate baroque conductor Nicholas Kraemer. The effort paid off with authentic accompaniment that greatly enhances the performance.
The Denver Post, 14 July 2006
Agrippina in Aachen
The guest conductor Nicholas Kraemer obviously relished his task and achieved dynamic variety, lively phrasing and a transparent sound from the orchestra.
Opera, June 2006
Handel’s Belshazzar with the Berlin Phil.
… the triumph ofNicholas Kraemer, an early music expert making his Berlin Philharmonic début.He produced a light, radiating sound from the harpsichord, directing elegantly and precisely. The effect was like shining a torch into the darkness of mankind.
Der Tagesspiegel, 28 May 2004
Kraemer achieved an almost classical and finely delineated dynamic treatment rather than the vast sequences of loud and soft passages which tend to predominate in poor interpretations of baroque music.
Berliner Zeitung, 29 May 2004
St John Passion at The Barbican
Kraemer was faultless, finding violence as well as pity in the score, as the protracted dissonances that sting like lash strokes gave way to mementos of timeless serenity
The Guardian,12 April 2004
A St John Passion that was as richly satisfying, various and yet sharply focused as could be … From a properly urgent, anxious start with opening chorus, Kraemer sustained both dramatic tension and musical meaning throughout. It would be years before we hear another St John Passion as scrupulously illuminating and balanced.
The Financial Times, 13 April 2004
The Magic Flute at ENO
… Nicholas Kraemer serving up a delicious, limpid stream of rushing strings, woodwind striving towards the 19th century and a barely suppressed awareness of the Romantic revolution round the corner … Kraemer gives Mozart's simplest truths the headroom they want.
The Times, 23 March 2004