THE NEW YORK TIMES
From France Avec Style, a Mingling of Generations
May 2, 2008
Last Thursday, after an impressive concert in Paris, the musicians of the Orchestre National de France and their conductor, Kurt Masur, headed to the airport to embark on an American tour. MORE...

THE BOSTON GLOBE
A master performance, decades in the making
April 30, 2008
After 60 professional years, most of Kurt Masur's resume has collected honorifics. Conductor laureate of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and music director emeritus of the New York Philharmonic, Masur will add another in the fall: honorary music director for life of the Orchestre National de France - but not before one last tour as music director proper, which brought orchestra and conductor to Symphony Hall on Sunday afternoon. MORE...

LE FIGARO
Le poids de la fatalité
April 27, 2008
La Symphonie no. 5 de Tchaïkovski dirigée par Kurt Masur au TCE PLUS...

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Masur's Vigorous Last Laps in Paris
April 26, 2008
As Kurt Masur made clear in interviews at the time, he was not ready to give up the music directorship of the New York Philharmonic when his contract ended in 2002. But after his 11-year tenure in New York, he landed on his feet in Europe. He continued as the principal conductor of the London Philharmonic, a post taken two years earlier. (He left it in 2007.) And he became the music director of the Orchestre National de France. MORE...

CONCERTONET.COM
Masur and Transfiguration
March 22, 2008
J.S. Bach's most towering and dramatic religious work does not end with the Resurrection of Jesus. It ends with his death, with the double chorus singing tenderly (in German) "My Jesus, good night... ...Rest ye weary limbs... Utterly content, the eyes close in slumber." Jesus need never be risen, though. Not so long as Kurt Masur, the crusty ever-younger ever more dynamic conductor, resurrects Jesus every year at this time. And like a poem by John Donne, each time of the resurrection, it is done differently, with a different layer added to the Glorious Mystery. MORE...

THE NEW YORK SUN
Masur Serves the Music
March 21, 2008
Kurt Masur returned to the New York Philharmonic on Wednesday night. He was music director of the orchestra from 1991 to 2002. During that time, he programmed some Bach — which is rare for a symphony orchestra. And Bach is what he is conducting this week: the St. Matthew Passion. Is this the greatest of all Bach's works — and the greatest of all works? It is an argument, certainly. Mr. Masur has lived with this work a long time. He was born in 1927, and started studying the Matthew in his teens. He did not conduct it until he was in his 50s. And he has decided views on the passion — and those views are right. MORE...

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Kurt Masur, With Bach and a Choral Force
March 21, 2008
Even when he was younger, Kurt Masur seemed the embodiment of the Old World conductor, a German musician of discipline and rectitude, steeped in the great repertory, technically assured and immune to flashiness. Among the core composers he laid claim to was Bach, who spent the last 27 years of his life in Leipzig, a city closely associated with Mr. Masur, who had a career-defining tenure as music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. MORE...

KRONE
March 1, 2008
Musikverein: Mit heftigen Akzenten, scharfen Kontrasten, spannender Dynamik ging Kurt Masur mit seinem Orchestre National de France auch am zweiten und dritten Abend an sein Beethoven-Bruckner-Programm. MEHR...

KRONE
Beethoven mit feiner Klangkultur
February 29, 2008
Die ersten drei Klavierkonzerte Beethovens, deri Pianisten und das Orchestre National de Prance präsentierten sich unter seinem Chef Kurt Masur (seit 2002): überzeugend am ersten Abend der Berliner Martin Helmchen (25). An Beethoven C-Dur-Konzert zeigte er gepflegte Klang-Eleganz, Spielfreude, Lust an funkelnden Kaskaden. Sehr musikalisch, sehr kultiviert!

Masur demonstrierte an Bruckners "Neunter" seine Freude an klarer Architektru, feinen Farber. Sehr französisch!

ÖSTERREICH
February 28, 2008
Die Wiener Philharmoniker spielten in Paris soeben Liszt und Tschaikowsky. Das Pariser Orchestre National kommt nach Wien mit drei (!) Symphonien von Anton Bruckner. Verrückte Musikwelt, kuriose Reiseprogramme. MEHR...

KÖLNISHCE RUNDSCHAU
February 26, 2008
Auch am zweiten Abend seiner Geburtstagsgala gab Kurt Masur in der Philharmonie seiner Liebe zu Beethoven und Bruckner beredten Ausdruck. Wieder waren das Orchestre National de France und ein junger Pianist seine kongenialen Partner Till Fellner war der Solist in Beethovens 3. Klavierkonzert Er griff Masurs zügiges Tempo auf, schritt forsch voran, entfaltete den Dialog mit seinen einfühlsamen französischen Begleitern konsequent. MEHR...

GENERAL-ANZEIGER
Spirituelle Dimension
February 26, 2008
Kurt Masur setzt seinen Zyklus mit Bruckner-Sinfonien und Klavierkonzerten Beethovens in der Kölner Philharmonie eindrucksvoll fort. Solisten sind die beiden jungen Pianisten Till Fellner und Martin Helmchen. MEHR...

CONCERTONET.COM
Sous le signe d'Eros
February 9, 2008
Un jour après la Sinfonia domestica par Eliahu Inbal, Kurt Masur dirigeait Don Juan. Les deux œuvres n'affichent pas les mêmes ambitions et leur mise en place ne saurait se comparer. On ne pouvait s'empêcher cependant de trouver avec le National l'homogénéité, l'onctuosité que le Philhar' nous avait refusées la veille. PLUS...

RESMUSICA.COM
Le National guidé par Kurt Masur réussit l'ascension des Alpes
December 12, 2007
Voilà un programme de concert digne d'un orchestre allemand ou autrichien, puisqu'avec le Double Concerto de Brahms joué, comme souvent là bas, par le premier violon et violoncelle de l'orchestre, venait le redoutable exercice de virtuosité orchestrale que constitue la Symphonie Alpestre de Richard Strauss. PLUS...

YORKSHIRE POST
Orchestre National de France -- Leeds Town Hall
November 23, 2007
We are extremely fortunate that the French National Orchestra has thus far avoided the globalisation that is progressively robbing us of that joy of hearing orchestras from around the world with their own intrinsic "National" sound quality. MORE...

THE OBSERVER
Maestro with the mostest
July 22, 2007
Every Proms season has its memorable nights, but this year's reached a pinnacle even before the first week was out when Kurt Masur chose to celebrate his 80th birthday with one hell of a party, inviting not one, but two orchestras and 6,000 adoring fans. MORE...

DIE WELT
Champagner unter nachtblauem Himmel
July 21, 2007
Maestro Masur, der Meister der Metropolen, feierte am Mittwoch seinen 80. Geburtstag in einem gloriosen Dank- und Freudenfest in London. MEHR...

FINANCIAL TIMES
BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London
July 20, 2007
Let the retirement age among conductors be a lesson to us all. On Wednesday, Kurt Masur spent his 80th birthday giving a celebratory concert at the BBC Proms with a capacity audience of 5,000 as his guests, capping Charles Mackerras's 80th birthday performance at Covent Garden a couple of years before. It was no ordinary Prom. MORE...

THE TIMES OF LONDON
Proms: London Philharmonic Orchestra/Orchestre National de France/Masur
July 20, 2007
High up at the back of the orchestra, a row of a dozen double basses, backlit by tiny blue lights: this was the birthday treat for the 80-year-old Kurt Masur, as he celebrated the day by conducting both his orchestras at once, in front of an Albert Hall filled almost to capacity. MORE...

DAILY TELEGRAPH
Proms: Sound of an era long gone
July 18, 2007
Last night's concert was also on a grand scale, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France coming together to celebrate the conductor Kurt Masur's 80th birthday with a performance of Bruckner's epic Seventh Symphony. MORE...

CLASSICALSOURCE.COM
Kurt Masur 80th-Birthday Concert
July 18, 2007
This day marked Kurt Masur's 80th-birthday and culminated in a Proms concert that united the two orchestras that Masur currently heads up – as Music Director of Orchestre National de France and as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic... MORE...

DEPECHE DU MIDI
La leçon de vie de Kurt Masur
May 6, 2007
Un sublime Adagio de plus de vingt minutes, une musique qui s'éteint peu à peu comme pour mourir en un dernier accord. PLUS...

RESMUSICA.COM
L'adieu à la vie
May 5, 2007
Après Das Lied von der Erde, symphonie qui n'ose pas dire son nom, Gustav Mahler devait bien s'attaquer au chiffre fatal de la symphonie au moment le plus gai de sa vie... PLUS...

THE PLAIN DEALER
Under Masur's baton, Bruckner comes alive
March 10, 2007
Only a variation on Shakespeare will suffice to portray the past two weeks at Severance Hall: Now is the winter of our sonic contentment, made glorious by two German-born former music directors of major American orchestras. MORE...

AKRON BEACON JOURNAL
Masur comes, conquers crowd
March 9, 2007
Cleveland was long overdue for a visit from 79-year-old Kurt Masur, who last conducted the Cleveland Orchestra in February 1991. Thursday night's concert with the orchestra at Severance Hall was a reflective and thoughtful event, notable for the intense concentration in both pieces on the program. MORE...

THE PLAIN DEALER
Masur returns to an orchestra he has known long and well
March 8, 2007
Few conductors today know the Cleveland Orchestra as well as Kurt Masur, even though he has been away from the ensemble's podium since 1991. MORE...

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky at the Party
March 2, 2007
Composers have worked out ways to stretch the celebrations of their milestone birthdays over two seasons, and now it seems that conductors are taking modest steps in that direction too. Kurt Masur turns 80 in July, but since he is here to conduct the New York Philharmonic, the orchestra celebrated his birthday with a party after his concert at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday evening. The party was also a fund-raiser for the International Mendelssohn Foundation, in Leipzig, Germany, of which Mr. Masur is the president. MORE...

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Masur Approaching 80: Raising the Baton for a New Movement of Life
March 2, 2007
In 1997 the New York Philharmonic gave an elaborate surprise party at Avery Fisher Hall for Kurt Masur, then its music director, celebrating what he called "a birthday I tried so hard to ignore," his 70th. MORE...

SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE
Showbiz and Style
January 16, 2007
Conductor Kurt Masur has mellowed like a fine wine since his 1980 San Francisco Symphony debut. At 78 years old, he chose a program of 19th century staples for the Davies Symphony Hall audience last week, with a soloist he has championed, violinist Sarah Chang. In the process, he showed how gratifying such programming can be in the hands of a master. MORE...

THE NEW YORK TIMES
An Affectionate Homecoming for Masur
November 30, 2006
If psychologists ever made a study of post-departure syndrome, they might begin with Kurt Masur's return to New York with the London Philharmonic. In his time as music director of the New York Philharmonic Mr. Masur was received as something of a drill sergeant in charge of a wayward platoon, a kind of bitter medicine designed to purge the orchestra of its loose ways. But waves of friendship greeted him at Carnegie Hall on Monday and Tuesday nights, a genuine warmth like nothing he experienced during his years in New York. MORE...

NATIONAL POST
A maestro lacking in both flaws and baton
November 28, 2006
It is sobering to reflect that London, great musical capital that it is, boasts no fewer than five major symphony orchestras. One of them, the London Philharmonic, opened a North American tour on Sunday at Roy Thomson Hall, with its principal conductor, Kurt Masur, on the podium. MORE...

TORONTO GLOBE
Familiar works made exciting again
November 28, 2006
With Beethoven's Eroica Symphony and Sibelius's Violin Concerto lurking behind every bush and tree these years, do we really need a visiting London Philharmonic Orchestra, with Kurt Masur conducting and Sarah Chang as soloist, to reveal these familiar marvels to us yet again? Well, as it happened, yes, we do, because on this occasion, under that conductor and with that soloist in the Sibelius, these works were revealed and fulfilled as they seldom are... MORE...

TORONTO STAR
Age and youth enthrall equally
November 27, 2006
Given their size and the expense involved, there aren't many orchestras that tour the world. But those who do are usually the best, like the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which played at Roy Thomson Hall yesterday afternoon. It's not an old orchestra, having been founded in 1932, but it is a great one.... MORE...

THE TIMES OF LONDON
Prom 60
September 3, 2006
Masur and his French orchestra brought Henze's exquisite set of miniatures, Five Messages for the Queen of Sheba (extracted from his most recent, and probably last, opera, L'Upupa — still, shamefully, unperformed in the UK), as a prelude to an unusually thoughtful account of Shostakovich’s sometimes bombastic Leningrad Symphony (No 7). MORE...

THE OBSERVER
Prom 60
September 3, 2006
...The same could never be said of the music of Hans Werner Henze — least of all his atmospheric Five Messages for the Queen of Sheba, given its London premiere at Tuesday's Prom by the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur. MORE...

EVENING STANDARD
Messages Delivered with Finesse
August 30, 2006
The first thing you notice about the Orchestre National de France is that they treat their tuning seriously. MORE...

INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW
Britten: War Requiem/London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO0010
Summer, 2006
The War Requiem has inspired some unusually fine recordings, and you would he hard pressed to find a seriously disappointing version at any price today. MORE...

CLASSIC FM
War: the power of a simple word
July 1, 2006
Kurt Masur and the LPO's live recording of Britten's War Requiem captures the range of human emotions conjuered up by a single phrase MORE...

WASHINGTON POST
NSO Blossoms With Kurt Masur And Beethoven
June 2, 2006
The Kennedy Center has done something wonderful this year for the National Symphony Orchestra — and, by extension, for all music lovers in Washington. Never before have so many distinguished guest conductors been invited to appear in a single season. MORE...

RESMUSICA.COM
Kurt Masur s'amuse dans l'Ile aux enfants
May 28, 2006
En voyant la programmation, on se demande d'emblée qu'elle sera l'unité de la soirée. Entre un Prokofiev qui choisit, par bravade, de composer une symphonie classique, un Matthus qui écrit pour Kurt Masur une œuvre exprimant le chef allemand mieux que n'importe quelle interview, il y a déjà deux mondes musicaux. PLUS...

MUSICALAMERICA.COM
Masur Conducts the 'Leningrad' in Paris
May 26, 2006
Now in his fourth season as music director of the Orchestre National de France, Kurt Masur is perhaps today’s most acclaimed classical music figure in France. His Beethoven and Mendelssohn symphony cycles (Nov. 2002 and Feb. 2003 respectively) were both popular and critical successes; his ongoing Schumann symphony cycle has been attracting sell-out crowds; and people are still talking about his stunning realization of Beethoven’s imposing "Missa Solemnis" earlier this month. MORE...

CONCERTONET.COM
Les concertos de l'Ascension
May 25, 2006
Le lundi de Pentecôte n'est certes plus un jour férié, mais l'Orchestre national de France et son directeur musical, Kurt Masur, n'ont pas hésité pas à renoncer au jeudi de l'Ascension et à offrir aux Parisiens, en cette période généralement assez pauvre en concerts, un beau programme qui, malgré une forte connotation contemporaine, a rassemblé un nombreux public. Une expérience à renouveler! PLUS...

ALTAMUSICA.COM
Plaidoyer pour la ferveur
May 8, 2006
Rare dans les salles car d'une difficulté à peine surmontable, la Missa solemnis a trouvé en Kurt Masur l'un de ses plus ardents défenseurs. À la tête de Chœurs de Radio France et d'un ONF admirablement préparés, le chef allemand, servi par un quatuor de solistes des plus engagés, fait du chef-d'œuvre sacré de Beethoven un plaidoyer pour la ferveur. PLUS...

RESMUSICA.COM
Missa Solemnis de Beethoven
May 7, 2006
Une œuvre à l'exécution difficile, qui exige un engagement total des solistes, du chœur, de l'orchestre au grand complet et du chef. Kurt Masur offre un concert superbe de ferveur, de méditation et de spiritualité. PLUS...

CONCERTONET.COM
Un opéra sacré
May 5, 2006
On transforme parfois la Missa solemnis en une liturgie un peu statique, comme s'il fallait insister sur son côté brucknérien avant l'heure. Tel n'est pas le cas de Kurt Masur... PLUS...

FINANCIAL TIMES
LPO/Masur
May 2, 2006
Though there is plenty of 20th-century music in Kurt Masur's repertoire, this Silesian-born conductor – now 77, and music director of the Orchestre National de France as well as the LPO's principal conductor – is admired above all in Beethoven and his Romantic successors. MORE...

IL GIORNALE
Masur esalta la Nemtanu Che forza nel suo violino di Pietro Acquafredda
April 20, 2006
Straordinario concerto a Roma, davanti a un pubblico di rango seppure esiguo, della Filarmonica Toscanini, la fuoriclasse sinfonica dell'omonima fondazione che, proprio quando si prepara al più importante appuntamento della sua breve esistenza, attraversa un momento gestionale non facile. PIÚ...

ALTAMUSICA.COM
Un modèle beethovénien
March 3, 2006
Concert triomphal pour le National et son chef Kurt Masur, de retour d'une convalescence qu'on a presque du mal à croire tant le chef allemand brille de toute sa superbe. Un riche programme Beethoven, avec la participation de l'incontournable Beaux Arts Trio, et un orchestre qui se transcende dans une trépidante 7e symphonie. PLUS...

LE FIGARO
Beethoven sublimé par Kurt Masur
February 25, 2006
Musique. De retour d'une courte convalescence après une opération bénigne, Kurt Masur a montré jeudi soir à la tête de l'Orchestre national de France que la meilleure thérapie et son bain de jouvence, c'était Beethoven. PLUS...

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Pastoral Vistas, Thunder and Insouciance
January 21, 2006
Looking healthy, trim and a bit wistful, Kurt Masur returned to his old podium last night to conduct the New York Philharmonic in the first of three performances in Avery Fisher Hall. Before a single note was played, he received a familiar warm welcome from the crowd. MORE...

LUXEMBURGER WORT
Tchaïkovski de main sûre
December 8, 2005
Dans la série Grands Orchestres, la Philharmonie vient d'inviter l'Orchestre National de France sous la baguette de Kurt Masur pour une soirée exclusivement consacrée à deux oeuvres majeures de P. I. Tchaïkovski, son fameux premier Concerto pour piano et sa 5e Symphonie. PLUS...

LE FIGARO
La soirée des mouvements lents
Kurt Masur dirige Tchaïkovski
November 19, 2005
Le début et la fin du deuxième concert du cycle Tchaïkovski programmé par l'Orchestre national sous la direction de Kurt Masur avaient de nombreux points communs. PLUS...

LE MONDE
L'ONF en finesse avec Masur
November 11, 2005
Au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (TCE), l'Orchestre national de France (ONF) donnait le premier des quatre concerts d'un festival Tchaïkovski, voulu et dirigé par Kurt Masur, son directeur musical. PLUS...

LE FIGARO
Une soirée de bonheur
August 8, 2005
Il est difficile d'entendre la IXe Symphonie de Beethoven comme si c'était la première fois. PLUS...

LE DAUPHINÉ LIBERÉ
Kurt Masur: "La musique, mon élixir de jeunesse"
August 6, 2005
Kurt Masur, un des plus grands chefs d'orchestre au monde, dirigera l'Orchestre national de France pour la IXe Symphonie de Beethoven ce soir à 21 h 30 au théàtre antique dans le cadre des Chorégies. Portrait d'un homme riche d'expériences et d'émotions, dont l'objectif, à 78 ans, est de tranmettre sa passion aux jeunes générations de chefs et de musiciens. PLUS...

LA PROVENCE
Beethoven, Schiller, Masur: trio magique à Orange
August 6, 2005
Ce soir, Kurt Masur est au théâtre antique pour sa re-création de la "Neuvième". "Beethoven était un idéaliste, son idéal est aussi en moi", dit ce chef que le monde admire. PLUS...

MIDI LIBRE
Orange: Masur et Beethoven
August 6, 2005
Pour la première fois, il dirige à Orange. A la tête de l'Orchestre National de France, Kurt Masur propose ce soir la IXe symphonie de Beethoven. PLUS...

LE FIGARO
Kurt Masur, un chef heureux
August 6, 2005
C'est avec la IXe Symphonie de Beethoven que s'achèveront ce soir les Chorégies d'Orange. Une façon magistrale de mettre un terme à l'édition 2005, puisque l'interprétation en est confiée à l'Orchestre national de France sous la direction de Kurt Masur. PLUS...

FOLHA DE SÃO PAULO
Kurt Masur commands Mahler with enthusiasm
August 1, 2005
With the final chord of "Symphony no. 1" by Mahler, which ended his presentation on Friday at the Winter Festival of Campos do Jordão, Kurt Masur actually shed tears. MORE...

O ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO
Opening doors, with Kurt Masur
July 29, 2005
White hairs, nearly two meters tall, the serious, sober look. Everything in Kurt Masur is frightening until the moment he opens up a smile and congratulates the young conductor for the beautiful introduction in the piece by Brahms or the group of violas that finally loosens up and achieves the result expected in the Adagio by Barber. MORE...