Irish Times 15 January 2007 Harding's prowess is characterized by flamboyance, stamina and a communicative intensity that places no restrictions on his remarkably fluid gestures - a fusion of spontaneity and authority, of freedom and tension, that's closely akin to Mahler's fusion and angst. Andrew Johnstone The Times 15 January 2007 Daniel Harding's Mahler carries the force of the young conductor's considerable conviction - and it made for a impressively disciplined performance. Clarity and focus counted for a lot. Harding's ability to control the many shards and splinters of Mahler's last complete symphony infused the whole journey with a cogency, transparency and thrust that belied its 90-minute span. Harding's now well-established relationship with the Staatskapelle Dresden ensured that it came with enough spine-tingling moments to savour along the way. This ensemble is the Richard Strauss orchestra par excellence, and it showed in the glossy capers of the rambunctious second movement and the polished fervour - not chaos - of the ensuing Rondo Burleske. The soundscapes were all curdled Romanticism, full-blooded and uproarious, into which the trumpets snapped to attention with near-disarming ease... Harding's real achievement was to rouse these forces in an intriguing interpretation that blew the gloom away. If the Ninth really is the composer's farewell to life, then Harding showed us Mahler's pleasure at the ride rather than his anguish at its conclusion. The massive climaxes of the Andante were hurled out with heroic, rather than desperate bravado, and the horns that bid that movement farewell seemed to do so with an affectionate smile rather than a grimace. And, after Harding had embraced the storms and surges of the Rondo with determinedly boyish enthusiasm (even that eternally sarcastic instrument, the E-flat clarinet, seemed cheery), the final fade-out came as thankful relief. No, this wasn't a performance for the terminally afflicted. Nor was it the final word on a slippery masterwork. But, put simply, it definitely had guts. Neil Fisher The Independent 12 January 2007 A young man's response to the idea of getting older is likely to be - in common with the healthy man's attitude to the inevitability of dying - a lust for life. This, above all, made Daniel Harding's reading of Mahler's valedictory 9th Symphony so compelling. To see this pale, slightly built, vulnerable-looking, young man stand before one of the most venerable and venerated orchestras in the world - the Staatskapelle Dresden - cannot begin to prepare you for what follows. Out of apparent contradiction comes breathtaking accord...Perhaps the most startling aspect of the performance was Harding's overwhelming sense of a harmonic language teetering on the brink of collapse. I don't think I've heard the inner-dissonance, the near-atonality, of the score quite so ruthlessly exposed. This was a dying man's dark night of the soul but one shot through with anger as much as fear, with determination as much as desperation. Harding's account of the second movement's mad ländler was gritty with abandon. This is dance music with attitude, and Harding and his string players pitched heavily into the downbeats - triple-time elegance supplanted by the two-left-feet school of dancing. It was invigorating...the final dissipation was memorable; the fade to black numbingly beautiful. Paradise found. Edward Seckerson Evening Standard 11 January 2007 To the final Adagio, Mahler's farewell to life, Harding and his players brought an intense concentration, one that filled the long silences as well the heartfelt hymn-like utterances. This was not a reading of heart-on-sleeve passion like Bernstein, or refined spirituality like Abbado. But it was highly individual, evincing an impressive dramatic sweep and structural grasp. And in that infinitely tender finale deeply touching too. Barry Millington Chicago Sun-Times 12 November 2005 Harding is a flamboyant conductor...he knew what he wanted, and the CSO gave it willingly. Poetry was high on Harding's agenda, and there were some wonderfully still moments in Berlioz's "The Corsair" overture, Grieg's Piano Concerto and Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben". The CSO strings floated like a slow-moving cloud in the opening of "The Corsair," a beautifully shaped and arresting touch in a work that orchestras often toss off as a warmup. The arrogance of "Heldenleben," Strauss' portrait of his important self battling ignorant enemies, is appalling, but its beauties are undeniable. Harding allowed the music plenty of room to breath without losing control of its complex structure. Wynne Delacoma The Guardian 27 October 2005 The first movement...was powered by with such sweep and grandeur that you wondered whether Harding would be able to sustain it. The answer was yes; this was a red-blooded performance, thickly textured and heartfelt yet always with the balance under control. Erica Jeal The Times 26 October 2005 No one could deny the extraordinary power of Harding's first movement, ever sweeping, powered onwards by legato strings and the sculpted swoops of the conductor's arms...we were certainly given a performance to remember. Geoff Brown The Observer 16 January 2005 In both works, Harding's attention to detail was meticulous. Anthony Holden Financial Times 11 January 2005 (Harding) kept the accompaniment to Schumann's Violin Concerto as slim and trim as if the orchestra had shed pounds... The performance of Mahler's Symphony No.4 was fresh and lively. The easy way to play this symphony is to wallow in the whipped-cream sentimentality of its Viennese lyricism. Harding was alert from the first bar to the last, pacing the music swiftly, keeping his eye on the big picture, preferring bright and clear textures to orchestral fat... In sum, it was the kind of performance that exhibited the authority of a possible music director. Richard Fairman The Telegraph 11 January 2005 The towering string chords of the slow movement were perfectly placed, the numerous tempo changes impeccably handled... Ivan Hewett The Spectator 15 January 2005 The Vienna Philharmonic, Mahler's own orchestra, took to the young Englishman with such warmth that one senses that a striking new musical partnership may in time emerge... He was rewarded by a public handshake from the concertmaster, Rainer Kuchl, who welcomed him back to the stage when he accepted a personal ovation from the audience. It was a gesture that was not intended to go unnoticed, and it did not. Michael Henderson Wiener Zeitung 21 December 2004 ...So heart-wrechingly beautiful was the well-known flute solo in the last moment that were it not for the narrow row of chairs the wish to just lie down and cry would have been great. Daniel Harding seems to have secured the confidence of the players. Unfailingly the feeling developped that the conductor, in spite of his youth, can lead the orchestra back to previous glory. ...His interpretation combined the elaboration of musical details with an unerring flair for musical maelstrom effects. He fascinated through flexible transitions of tempo and a power of persuasion that captivated not only the orchestra. Rainer Elstner The Times 13 December 2004 The LSO played with a degree of refinement and clarity exceptional even by its standards... Harding's account (had) genuine tension and yearning generated in the adagio, and emotions dextrously juggled in the finale. Geoff Brown The Guardian 10 December 2004 He had the measure of the whole work - the three central Scherzos had been sharply characterised, the otherworldly opening to the final carefully stage-managed. Andrew Clements Toronto Star 28 November 2004 Harding fashioned the astonishing variety of the music into a cogent and coherent whole, clearly comprehending its monumental architecture. The work bristled tangibly from the very beginning and the players, especially the strings who were powerful and warm (but never sentimental), generated a thrilling interior glow - to these ears they have rarely sounded better. The conductor gifted the mighty slow movements that bookend the symphony and contain dense counterpoint and anguished climactic moments with alert playing, which managed to remain homogenous and demonstrate expressive commitment... Harding's high-adrenalin reading of (the Mahler) has to be one of the season's highlights. Geoff Chapman Globe & Mail 27 November 2004 Harding's performance with the TSO was a model of fidelity to a score condemned to be unfaithful (another irony: Mahler was writing the 10th when he discovered that his wife was cheating on him). The depth of tone in the strings, the clarity of the winds, the persistent concentration on the balance of details -- all these were a pleasure to hear. Robert Everett-Green Los Angeles Times 20 November 2004 Harding's approach to the 10th was embracing... (He's) got technique to burn, and he found his way through all the 10th's thorny passages with disarming confidence and seeming ease.   Los Angeles Daily News 19 November 2004 (Harding) was at his best in the latter parts of the Finale, which he led touchingly, the coda gentle and heartfelt. There is little doubt of this conductor's bright future...   The Guardian 11 June 2004 Nobody, though, seemed to have more fun than Daniel Harding. With posters advertising his Brahms in the foyer, he was here to conduct the most famous of LSO's soundtracks - Star Wars, a film he'd have had to be taken to in his pram - and seemed to be loving every minute. Erica Jeal The Times 11 June 2004 Young Daniel Harding tore through John Williams's Star Wars theme - and rightly gave a bow to Maurice Murphy, the LSO's indestructible principal trumpet, whose thrilling clarion-calls have launched a thousand film scores. Richard Morrison The Argus 6 April 2004 A magnificent and flawless reading of Mahler's epic Tenth Symphony... Harding showed within seconds that he had total control over the orchestra. He knew exactly how he wanted the symphony to sound and succeeded in getting it. (He) dazzled and mesmerised... Mike Howard (of performance at Brighton Dome) The Sunday Telegraph 4 April 2004 His control of each of its five movements was phenomenal and he went to the core of the work's contrasting and conflicting moods, from the anguish and terror of the first movement to the joy of the first scherzo and the bitter gall of the second, the enigmas of the 'Purgatorio' and the transcendent rapture and transfiguration of the sublime finale. Michael Kennedy The Guardian 2 April 2004 Harding, with his fondness for extremes of mood and tempo, is an ideal interpreter of the piece, taking its tensions almost to breaking point then seeming to hold time still for the music to achieve tranquillity. Tim Ashley The Times 2 April 2004 Harding caught much of the anguish and terrible feeling of enforced renunciation that is the essence of Mahler's last testament...his interpretation will be judged remarkably assured. Richard Morrison Financial Times 1 April 2004 Harding and his musicians went to its heart and in the visionary finale transcended (any) passing problems. Richard Fairman The Times 1 November 2003 No matter what the music's quality, Harding and the LSO excelled themselves; performances were brilliantly polished. Geoff BrownAuther Philadelphia Inquirer 18 October 2003 Harding is a lot of fun to watch. His gestures are extravagant and sinewy, which produced long lines of phrasing from the orchestra. His left hand alone is a one-man corps de ballet. What he achieved in Strauss' 'Don Juan' was an extremely moving and cohesive account of one of Strauss' most moving and cohesive works. The pizzicato period that ends the piece had an unusually solid presence. Peter Dobrin Star Tribune 10 October 2003 (He) led a knowing and deeply felt account of (Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations), each of its variations sharply etched... His reading (of 'Don Juan') was sensuous and full-throated, with strings sonorous and horns ablaze. Larry Fuchsberg The Times 15 August 2003 Harding and the DKB enlivened us with music from Rameau's opera 'Hippolyte et Aricie', in which they turned the dignified, straight-backed trot of the early Baroque into a rein-snapping gallop into the wind. In fact Harding and his friends were so full of energy and dash that the concert's finale, Beethoven's Seventh, lifted straight into the sky. The first, third and fourth movements were vivacity itself. Matthew Connolly The Guardian 14 August 2003 It isn't easy for conductors to put their individual stamp on works as familiar as Beethoven's symphonies, even if they've had a long career in which to experiment. But Daniel Harding, who made his professional debut nine years ago but remains pretty much the youngest British conductor on the international scene, managed it here, concluding his farewell concert with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen with a performance of Beethoven's Seventh that had us on the edge of our seats. It was driven partly by Harding's remarkably detailed attention to balance, something that bore fruit especially in the opening minutes of the second movement, which grew from barely a whisper. By persuading this chamber orchestra to play really softly, Harding was able to create contrasts and stirring crescendos of a kind you rarely hear, even from a band twice the size. The finale raced along, but he conducted as if it were a slow piece, building excitement from broad, expansive phrases. To follow all this with the third of Webern's Five Pieces for Strings as an encore - a muted, intense drop of music largely for viola and cello - was an almost subversive choice, but one that came off brilliantly. Erica Jeal The Telegraph 13 August 2003 Last night's was a terrific concert...with works by Rameau and Beethoven that highlighted the dynamism and discipline of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Daniel Harding. The characterisation was full of vitality, Harding taking care to illuminate telling inner strands of the musical fabric. At the same time, he maintained an inexorable drive, and, in the final pages, whipped up such a boisterous frenzy that the restrained encore...seemed the only possible way of release. Geoffrey Norris The Independent 28 April 2003 Harding produced one of the most stylish performances of the overture and dances from Rameau's opera 'Hippolyte et Aricie' I've ever heard; the kind of performance that...make historically informed performance practice such a gloriously confused issue. Long trumpeted as the natural successor to Sir Simon Rattle, Harding is now looking more likely to follow Norrington's example in applying the tempi and phrasing of original instruments to their brighter, more technically reliable successors. Harding went on to give a Beethoven Seven that made Rattle's recent recording with the Vienna Philharmonic seem dinosaur-like in shape and sound. With confident, supremely expressive adjustments of tempo throughout the first movement, bassoon and oboe playing of the highest order, a cleanly wrought Allegretto, and a finale as fast as any arch-authenticist's, this was a highly characterful, tantalisingly promising performance. Anna Picard The Independent 28 April 2003 More rewarding still to hear a reading under the baton of Daniel Harding that made the most of the contrasts Haydn insinuated into his restricted brief... He maximised shifts of key and texture... Perhaps most memorable of all was the exquisitely fine-spun fade-out that Harding, his four soloists and the OAE's distant horns achieved at the end of the seventh slow movement... Bayan Northcott Financial Times 23 April 2003 ...An exemplary performance of Haydn's 'Seven Last Words'... It can be difficult to sustain the intensity, but nobody would have thought so from the concentration here under conductor Daniel Harding. Richard Fairman The Guardian 20 April 2003 The dynamism he encouraged from the players was evident... with Harding drawing out a buzzing edgy sound from the strings. Erica Jeal The Times 18 April 2003 (The 'Seven Last Words') took inspirational flight here thanks to the conductor Daniel Harding. (He) conjured up all this music's lofty intensity...instead of making (it) sound morbid, as some interpreters do, Harding made it mystical. John Allison The Daily Telegraph 17 April 2003 There was a definite rapport between conductor and players and together they drew (out) all the Sturm und Drang angst (of Haydn Symphony 49)... There was also much telling detail in the phrasing and subtlety in exploiting Haydn's fluid instrumental textures... Harding paced the 'Seven Last Words' well, allowing the drama of the emotional conflicts in each movement to provide the contrasts, and giving the final explosion of fast music a true feeling of catharsis. Matthew Rye The Times 1 April 2003 Daniel Harding's cap must be fanning out like a peacock's tail with the number of feathers in it, and this concert won him another. (He) is still only in his twenties...but the gravitas lines are there for all to see in his forceful, rigorous conducting style. Harding threw his...body into a finale of terrific power, and the applause roared out, as did a drumming sound - the orchestra stamping their feet in admiration. Matthew Connolly The Guardian 29 March 2003 Harding's energy on the podium is relentless. There is no doubting...the strength of Harding's conviction. (And, he) proved a sensitive and subtle accompanist...in a compelling performance of Mozart Piano Concerto K456...a blaze of orchestral sound... Tom Service The Daily Telegraph 29 March 2003 There was a marked clarity of texture, and a terrific amount of instrumental detail. Geoffrey Norris The Times 22 March 2003 On the podium he has fluency of gesture, and an easy confidence... Ivan Hewett ( Of Anderson's 'Stations of the Sun' ) :   The Classical Source Online 18 November 2002