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CHICAGO ON THE AISLE
"The 47-year-old maestro’s fundamental musical elegance suggested that of CSO music director Riccardo Muti. On this first visit, Gabel’s leadership was fluent and efficient, the musical result as eloquent and nuanced as it was brilliant."
CHICAGO CLASSICAL REVIEW
“In this all-Russian program, Gabel was relaxed, confident and fully in command from the jump in an impressive local debut.”
BACHTRACK
“…his interpretation of the symphony, which was both emotionally probing as well as being beautifully shaped, was mightily impressive.”
Pack a picnic, bring a blanket, and relax under the stars to the sounds of atmospheric music from the French Impressionistic period, with Spanish flare. Vivid, colorful works by Ravel bookend a program filled with dance steps and evocative melodies.
POINT DE VUE
FR: Le maestro, fils et petit-fils d’anciens musiciens de l’orchestre de l’Opéra de Paris, fait cette saison ses débuts dans la fosse de Bastille en dirigeant Carmen*. Une belle reconnaissance pour cet amoureux de la musique française qui a su aussi s’imposer à l’étranger par sa maîtrise du répertoire germanique.
CONCERT CLASSIC
EN: “For his debut en loco, Fabien Gabel relentlessly dissects the score to find the accents and sounds best suited to this reading with a scalpel that banishes all clichés.”
FORUM OPERA
EN: “Fabien Gabel conducts the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Paris with firmness and precision.”
LYRIK MAGAZINE
EN: “Fabien Gabel conducts with contrasting tempos, drawing real dramatic tension from these contrasts."
BACHTRACK
EN: “… it is not without a certain irony and a keen sense of entertainment that the maestro advances in the score, plays with the rhythms, juggles with the serious and the frivolous; in doing so, the musicians immerse the spectator in a reality that reveals its share of imagination and Hispanic phantasmagoria."
CULTUR’EASY
EN: "Before the curtain rises, the musical prelude is marvellous, lively... directed with talent by Fabien Gabel."
TOUT LA CULTURE
EN: "In the pit, Fabien Gabel, who is making his debut at the Paris Opera, knows how to bring out contrasts, textures and tempos, and maintains a good balance between the orchestra and the singers."
PREMIÈRE LOGE
EN: "Great success, finally, for the choirs and for the conductor Fabien Gabel, who makes his debut here at the Paris Opera and offers a precise, refined direction of the work, devoid of excess."
OLYRIX
EN: "The Orchester de l'Opéra national de Paris offers bright and shimmering colors under the crisp and invigorating baton of conductor Fabien Gabel"
EUROPE 1
EN: “Every Saturday and Sunday at 7:17 p.m., Pierre de Vilno receives an offbeat guest to shed new light on current events. Tonight Fabien Gabel, conductor, and musical director of Carmen.”
RESMUSICA
FR: Fabien Gabel, le geste preste et précis, agence avec art les couleurs de cette séduisante musique, dans toute la palette qu’elle offre…altière ou dramatique.”
EN: “Fabien Gabel, in quick and precise gestures, artfully arranges the colors of this seductive music, in all the palettes it offers... haughty or dramatic.”
LE FIGARO
EN: “Coming from a long dynasty of musicians from the Paris Opera, the Frenchman made his debut as an orchestral conductor in Bastille, with "‘Carmen.’”
THE SPECTATOR
“Gabel’s approach was unexpected – lyrical, reflective and dappled with moments of delicate, glinting sunlight”
SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL
"We got a concert with a BBC SO on magnificent form, masterfully guided by the French conductor Fabien Gabel... This was a concert that was rare for its high artistic quality in a Prom season that has sometimes been short on it."
BACHTRACK | ★★★★
“Gabel wears his love for this work both on his sleeve and in his heart, and after a measured start he coaxed a rousing account from the BBC SO. They oozed excitement and, even better, pure conviction.”
THE GUARDIAN | ★★★★
“Presenting works rarely seen at the Proms, the BBCSO were at their best, led by the magnificently brooding Fabien Gabel”
LIMELIGHT | ★★★★
"... Gabel and WASO navigated Brahms’ masterly writing with reverence rather than romantic indulgence."
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD | ★★★★½
"Superbly rendered expressions of love and loss were at the heart of this generous and deeply satisfying program."
BACHTRACK
"Gabel and the ONF were perfect collaborators, contributing their own share of “sass with class”... The interpretation had atmospherics in spades; Gabel really played up the spiky brass outbursts, while the flute and trumpet solos were particularly noteworthy, hypnotic and even haunting in places.“
CONCERTONET
EN: “Former assistant to Kurt Masur, long-time director of the Orchester Symphonique de Québec, Fabien Gabel, one of the best French conductors of his generation, has had a fine career and his Parisian concerts are always satisfying, especially when he puts on the bill uncrowded.”
FR: “Ancien assistant de Kurt Masur, longtemps directeur de l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Fabien Gabel, une des meilleures baguettes françaises de sa génération, fait une belle carrière et ses concerts parisiens satisfont toujours, surtout quand il met à l’affiche des œuvres peu fréquentées.”
RADIO FRANCE
FR: "J'adore défendre la musique française, sans me contenter des œuvres phares. C'est bien de faire redécouvrir humblement du grand répertoire."
EN: "I love to defend French music, without being satisfied with the flagship works. It's good to humbly rediscover the great repertoire."
LËTZBEURGER LAND
FR: “C’est que le Français dirige large, avec une gourmandise voluptueuse, propre à exalter le naturel sensuel des œuvres qui lui sont confiées.”
EN: “It is that the Frenchman directs large, with voluptuous gluttony, capable of exalting the sensual naturalness of the works entrusted to him.”
LUXEMBOURG TIMES
“The Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra gave a faultless performance, with conductor Fabien Gabel, leading his musicians with gravitas and aplomb…”
THE STAR TRIBUNE
“Among the three conductors who seem to hold the inside track on succeeding Osmo Vänskä as the Minnesota Orchestra's next music director, fate has made Fabien Gabel the one who's auditioning in the most surreptitious fashion.”
DÍAPASON
FR: “[Gabel] est encore un jeune mahlérien, qui compte approfondir cet univers dans les prochaines années… avec l’énergie, l’autorité et l’ambitus dynamique de cette lecture toute en présence et vitalité, fulgurante par moments.”
EN: “[Gabel] is still a young Mahlerian, who intends to deepen this universe in the coming years… with the energy, the authority and the dynamic ambition of this reading all in presence and vitality, dazzling at times.”