Paavo wins award!

BBC Music Magazine, April 2006

Our friend Friederike Westerhaus from Radio Bremen writes to tell us that Paavo won the Best Orchestral Recording category from the BBC Music Magazine Awards for his
Peer Gynt Grieg CD with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra!

WHAT THE JURY SAID:
Järvi brings true theatrical excitement, heartfelt melodic warmth and a grainy, flavoursome feeling for the folk elements. It's all delightful, and ultimately very touching.

IN RECORDING GRIEG'S INCIDENTAL music to Peer Gynt, conductor Paavo Järvi risked comparison with a particularly lofty antecedent - his own father, no less. In 1987, Neeme Järvi’s groundbreaking disc brought the Norwegian composer's folklore-infused accompaniment to Ibsen’s play to an audience previously familiar only with the suites of the same name. Now, after a few judicious cuts to the score, Paavo’s had his turn – with glorious results, as his Virgin recording with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra plus choirs and soloists shows. But what does Järvi Senior make of it? ‘He likes it,’ says Paavo. ‘He himself was formerly director of the orchestra, so for him to see this continuation makes him very proud.’