Reviews - quotes

Cape Times (Deon Irish) April 6th 2006
"Arjan Tien has established himself as a favoured conductor in Cape Town and with good reason, since his by now frequent visits have invariably produced performances characterised by careful preparation and sound musical instinct."

Die Burger (Pieter Kooij) April 1st 2006
"As before Tien impressed with his well-considered vision and good sense for balance."

De Gelderlander (M.J. Dongelmans) May 5th 2005
"Beethovens "Ninth" unleashes cheers from concerthall...the appreciation is justified..."

Die Beeld - Johannesburg (Thijs Odendaal)
"Tien ... enchants in classical Beethoven"

Dispatch - Online (Jilly Gooud)
"The highlight of the concert was César Franck's D minor Symphony…, and the unity achieved in its composition was made even more evident in Arjan Tien's superb interpretation here."

De Gelderlander (Paul Vergeest)
“Conductor Arjan Tien pulled out all the stops to conjure a pure authentic Italian opera sound from his orchestra, with an overwhelming success.”
Paul Vergeest – De Gelderlander

Cape Times (Deon Irish)
"The orchestra, playing quite splendidly under the elegant direction of Arjan Tien, delivered the lengthy - indeed symphonic - exposition which commences the work. It was unusually delicate in its opening phrases, building expectations with increasing intensity of tone and colour..."

Die Beeld - Johannesburg (Paul Boekkooi)
"Tien gets a straight A for his way of handling the string orchestra...., the young Dutch maestro enabled the strings to make music with chutzpah as seldom before. Every musical accent, every melody and counter melody was performed naturally, while the rhythms were flexible and full of character."

Daily News (Henry Presney)
"It has become something of a custom that when guest conductor Arjan Tien takes to the KwaZulu Natal Philharmonic podium, local concertgoers are treated to an evening of high art."

De Gelderlander (Ton Gijsbers)
"The performance of Brahms' opus 98 became artistically a very memorable event under his hands. Feeling for the architecture of the work and rhetorical persuasiveness were practically one in this passionate and remarkably light and very chambermusical performance:"…"Quirine Viersen was the soloist in Elgars' celloconcerto. The co-operation fitted like a tight glove."

The Mercury (Barbara Trofimczyk)
"Under the direction of the young Tien, the orchestra sounded wonderful, playing with superb clarity, rythmic precision and dynamic interpretation. It is clear the orchestra feels comfortable with this young conductor, who succeeded in inspiring its members to one of the finest performances of the New World Symphony that we've heard in Durban:"

Sunday Tribune (Anthea Johnston)
"Once again, Tien demonstrated a fine sense of style and attention to detail, which resulted in a performance of integrity and depth:"

Die Burger (Juan Burgers)
"In Durban Arjan Tien has become synonymous with insightful musicianship and the messenger of the joy that music should be."

Daily News (William Charlton Perkins)
"Tien's far-flung account of Bruckner's Romantic Symphony no.4 swept aside lingering preconceptions of possible tedium. This was a finely tuned, passionate reading of a great work which had the orchestra constantly on their toes…"

De Gelderlander (Paul Vergeest)
"Conductor Arjan Tien showed... how confident he is with the difficulties in this German Requiem (Brahms)…In short, this German Requiem was a memorable event as we seldom experience it in the concert-hall."