ThomasZehetmair

Press

• Scottish Chamber Orchestra

  Queens Hall Edinburgh

  Oct 2021

  • Zehetmair’s high-energy, high-impact approach really came into its own in the concert’s closer, Haydn’s “Oxford” Symphony, from a shapely, stylish slow movement (with supple, sculpted contributions from principal flautist André Cebrián), to a boisterious (sic) minuet and trio that would have made its dancers break a sweat.

    • The Scotsman
    • 15 October 2021

• Seattle Symphony

  Benaroya Hall

  Jan 2020

  • Zehetmair displayed great dynamic contrast between exuberance and delicacy. The effect was invigorating and provided an exuberant ending to the evening.

    • Bachtrack
    • 19 January 2020

• Bach: solo sonatas and partitas

  recording

  Dec 2019

  • ...it is the more reflective episodes, beautifully veiled and intimate, that one remembers, while in the sonatas the contrapuntal detail is perfectly transparent, without ever being over-articulated. Some may prefer a more demonstrative approach to these perpetually fascinating pieces, but Zehetmair’s thoughtfulness is hugely rewarding in its own right.

    • The Guardian
    • 05 December 2019

  • The G minor sonata’s Presto Finale and the B minor Partita’s Presto Double finds Zehetmair’s virtuosity completely intact, together with newfound ferocity and abandon. An intelligent, inquiring mind and spirit informs these interpretations, for all of their quirks and provocative moments.

    • Classics Today

• St Paul Chamber orchestra

  Jun 2017

  • Thomas Zehetmair might have been born to conduct Beethoven's Seventh Symphony: His wiry dynamism is perfectly suited to its teemingly bacchanalian energies...The concert opened with Mendelssohn's Overture "The Fair Melusina." In Zehetmair's intense conception, this emerged as a mini-drama of contending emotions, the gently rippling figurations of the water sprite offsetting the bluntly priapic music of the knight she fatefully marries.

    • Star Tribune
    • 11 June 2017

• Schumann Violin Concerto

  Recording

  Mar 2016

  • Schumann’s Violin Concerto has a tricky history. It was composed in 1853 but deemed so weird at the time that it wasn’t performed until 1937, when it was hijacked for Nazi propaganda. Nowadays, advocates such as Thomas Zehetmair give the troubled and soulful piece the love it deserves. He first recorded it for Teldec in 1988 and recently helped prepare a new urtext edition – sorting out centuries of editorial meddling. His new account is warmer, more declamatory, more openly glorious in lyrical passages.

    • The Guardian
    • 24 March 2016