Nzherald.co.nz 15/10/2017:Conductor's hyper energy whips up staggering orchestral display
Conductor James Judd was the perfect guide for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Travels in Italy concert. The hyper-energetic Judd's almost fanatical zeal provided a small audience an electrifying evening.
Elgar's In the South offered an English point of view. Judd stirred up some thrilling grandeur, with nods to Richard Strauss along with premonitions of Mahler and even Ravel.
William Dart - Article
Seen and Heard International 12/10/2017: James Judd and the NZSO’s Travels in Italy
Conductor James Judd was made Music Director Emeritus of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra after serving as Music Director between 1997 and 2005. He recently returned to the orchestra’s podium to conduct what I thought was, for the most part, a stunningly brilliant concert, …
Berlioz’s Harold in Italy - …Judd and the players ‘exploded’ the finale’s opening chord with proper vehemence, the strings muscular, the heavy brass wild and weighty, repeatedly throwing down their challenge to the traveller in response to his recounting of past experiences. I liked the ‘glint’ of the orchestral exchanges, the brass pulling both winds and strings into the fray, the forces seemingly imbued with a wild and restless mountain spirit, unable to be tamed or quelled! … Elgar “In the South”… The exuberant opening of the piece here threw the figurations skyward and then burgeoned excitingly with weight and brilliance, brass snarling with energy and strings sending swathes of tone across the soundscape. Judd and his players here seemed on fire with vigour and excitement, a feeling which resounded amidst the orchestral textures before melting into nostalgic beauty with some lump-in-the-throat clarinet playing echoed in wind-blown fashion by the strings – and what wonderous answering surges of Straussian string tones delighted our more sensuous sensibilities!
… the memory of Antoine Tamestit’s performance of Harold in Italy with James Judd and the NZSO won’t be easily forgotten. Peter Mechen - Article
www.resmusica.com 16/10/2015: Le chef James Judd au Slovak Philharmonic orchestraLe chef d’orchestre britannique
James Judd (66 ans) devient le nouveau directeur musical et chef principal du Slovak Philharmonic orchestra pour une période initiale de trois ans à partir de la saison 2017-18, relaie notre confrère Norman Lebrecht sur son site slippedisc.com.
James Judd est également le directeur musical et chef de l’Israel Symphony Orchestra et également du Little Orchestra Society de New York.
www.slippedisc.com 15/10/2015: Maestro move: Bratislava grabs roaming Brit stick
The widely-travelled James Judd, 66, is to be music director of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra from 2017. He was formerly music director in Florida and New Zealand.
Press release:The British conductor James Judd becomes the new Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra for an initial three year period with effect from the orchestra’s 69th season 2017/18. In his first season he will conduct six double concerts and the opening concert of the 2017 Bratislava Festival. His next visit is scheduled for May 2017 with two different programmes, one featuring Ernő Dohnányi’s second symphony, the other Beethoven Symphony No 7. Maestro Judd, who is also chief conductor of the Israel Symphony Orchestra and New York’s Little Orchestra Society says of his new appointment “I feel proud and privileged to be connected to this orchestra which has such a profoundly interesting historical background. I am looking forward to continuing and developing the wonderful tradition of this great Slovakian cultural icon.” Norman Lebrecht
www.pizzicato.lu 15/10/2015 : Slovak Philharmonic Taps James Judd
British conductor James Judd will become the new Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra for an initial three year period with effect from the orchestra’s 69th season 2017/18. In his first season he will conduct six double concerts and the opening concert of the 2017 Bratislava Festival. His next visit as Music Director Designate is scheduled for May 2017. James Judd (*1949) is also chief conductor of the Israel Symphony Orchestra and New York’s Little Orchestra Society.
www.opusorchestra.org. 14/02/2014: Symphony in the Gardens
…What a spectacular opening to the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival. ….International conductor and Music Director Emeritus of the NZSO, Dr James Judd who was honoured by the University last year played a pivotal role in the outstanding success of the Opus Orchestra, Symphony in the Gardens concert.
The New York Times 3/06/2013 : A New Baton for the Little Orchestra Society
James Judd, a British conductor who has been music director of the Florida Philharmonic – with which he made an acclaimed recording of Mahler’s First Symphony – and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, has taken over his first New York ensemble, the Little Orchestra Society. - Allan Kozinn
Le Monde 15/07/2013: La messe peu orthodoxe de Leonard Bernstein
… On ne peut qu'admirer la précision mathématique, quasi miraculeuse, du chef d'orchestre britannique James Judd : pas un décalage dans les rangs, choraux ou instrumentaux, pas un raté dans les enchaînements avec la musique enregistrée. - Marie-Aude Roux
www.resmusica.com 21/03/2013 : Invitation à l’excellence avec Benjamin Grosvenor
Rhapsody in Blue de l’Américain George Gershwin - … Grosvenor, solidement soutenu par un orchestre incandescent, fermement soutenu par un Orchestre philharmonique royal de Liverpool survolté sous la baguette de James Judd, enflamme la partition que l’on voudrait sans fin. Une heure magique et enthousiasmante de délectation musicale! - Jean-Luc Caron
www.theartsdesk.com 29/12/2012: CD Grosvenor, RPO & James Judd
British music from a much-missed conductor, effervescent concertos from a young pianist and some underrated Tchaikovsky
…Immaculate, characterful orchestral playing from James Judd and the RLPO too, together with three delicious solo encores. - Graham Rickson
www.thirdcoastdaily.com 13/12//2012: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chorus & James Judd
Guest conductor James Judd led a vigorous and thoughtful reading of Messiah … Judd also has a good sense of the dissonant, expressive pressure points of the music and got his singers and players to lean into them to just the right degree. He gave almost every choral sustained tone a dynamic profile. Such detail enriched the piece and invited and rewarded close listening. -Tom Strini
www.audaud.com 29/08/2012 : CD Saint-Saens & Ravel with Benjamin Grosvenor , James Judd& Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orch
…James Judd and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic are spot-on playing their part, with sensitive accompanying along the way, shimmering strings in the Saint-Saëns, chamber-music style answering by the wind, warmth in the Ravel, and all with that magic touch of spontaneity.
Die Presse 8/06/2012 : Elgar 'The Dream of Gerontius'
With sensual sound and total dedication the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the sovereign direction of James Judd made a wonderful case for this magnificent work, its painful beauty and beautiful pain.
Corrieredello Spettacolo 9/02/2012: Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky Accademia di Santa Cecilia
The orchestra performs extremely well under the leadership of James Judd, who beats time but never forgets to draw the emotions that the orchestra must paint.
Het Parool 8/12/2011: Schönberg 'Verklärte Nacht', Holst ' The Planets', Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Judd did not disappoint. The orchestra’s string section turned out a performance of the very highest calibre. After the interval, Judd had an opportunity to really go at it in repertoire that is close to his heart: Gustav Holst’s The Planets. Judd showed the audience that he knew exactly what he wanted to achieve with Holst’s spectacularly orchestrated score full of intriguing tonal blends,…
www.nzherald.co.nz 14/03/2011 : New Zealand Symphony Orchestra & James Judd
…The evening set off very well. James Judd created a dawn-to-dusk life experience out of Richard Strauss's Thus Spake Zarathustra.William Dart
The Guardian 11/02/2010 : CD BEETHOVEN - New Zealand Symphony& James Judd - Ah! Perfido
…Conductedby James Judd, the performance is very grand, intense, at times genuinely ecstatic, and there are fine contributions from soprano Madeleine Pierard as a feisty Klärchen. …. - Tim Ashley
The Guardian 31/07/2009: CD Zemlinsky: Sinfonietta; Die Seejungfrau
…James Judd's performance is excellent, making the best case for the piece. - Andrew Clements
The Guardian 20/08/2005 : New Zealand Symphony/ Judd
…Sibelius's Second Symphony. The players sounded absolutely on top of the piece, and Judd's astute conducting charted its structure with a sure touch. The result gained in concentration and dynamism right through to there splendent close. - George Hall
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