“Revzen, director of the Minnesota Chorale, leads that ensemble…and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra in a trimly au courant reading, which does not slight the grander aspects of the music.”
~ LA Times, Herbert Glass

“I cannot help but think the prime force behind this performance is conductor Joel Revzen. His strong hand is, perhaps, best exemplified in his tasteful, yet powerfully dramatic use of rubato, which heightens tension without ever violating the established pulse… More than anything else, Revzen suggests all of the music’s joy, tenderness, and almost Mozartean delicacy. Indeed the highest compliment I can pay his direction is to say that produces the kind of performance I often imagined Toscanini might have led, most notably, perhaps, in it’s cumulative power, coherence, and its sense of text.

“Joel Revzen obtains thrilling sounds from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra”
~ CD Review, Octavio Roca

“Conductor Revzen pulled together all the elements into a cohesive structure that was, truly, greater than the sum of the already quite fine parts. The timing between movements, the tempos and the dynamics were al beautifully executed to create a single work out of the dozen individual sections. It was well-crafted and memorable performance.”
~ The Washington Post (Ed Roberts)

“Here is an unexpected treat…A strongly rethought vivid version of Haydn’s great rolling score, free from the encrustation of antique performing traditions, related in spirit to the sense of discovery that has given us all those splendid authentic readings of 18th century orchestral music.”
~ Alan Rich, National Public Radio, ‘Performance Today’ June 5th, 1989

“Not yet as famous, but surely destined to be with performances such as this one, is the Minnesota Chorale, the official chorus of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra. This chorus, under Conductor Joel Revzen, also its Music Director, has a velvety yet precise (excellent German diction, warm, human sound.”
~ High Performance Review/June 1989

Larsen: String Symphony, Songs of Light and Love, Songs from Letters
Scottish Chamber orchestra – Benita Valenti, soloist
“Joel Revzen has immersed himself in the subtleties and riches of Larsen’s orchestral palette, and, with the aid of engineer Phil Hobbs, has brought full measure to each score’s potency.”
~ Stereophile, November 2000 (Daniel Buckley)

Larsen, ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’: Arleen Augér
“Joel Revzen assisted Auger at the piano…, then conducted the Larsen cycle – outstanding in both capacities.”
~ Musical America, January 1990

The Art of Arleen Auger
“She is lucky in her accompaniments, especially in having Joel Revzen, who is so musical and supportive. The recording is tangibly vivid and kind to the voice.”
~Penguin Guide to Classical CDs

DIE SCHÖPFUNG

(St. Paul Chamber Orchestra)
“Revzen, director of the Minnesota Chorale, leads that ensemble…and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in a trimly au courant reading, which does not slight the grander aspects of the music.”
Herbert Glass, The Los Angeles Times

“I cannot help but think the prime force behind this performance is conductor Joel Revzen. His strong hand is, perhaps, best exemplified in his tasteful, yet powerfully dramatic use of rubato, which heightens tension without ever violating the established pulse. This is most clearly evident in Die Himmel erzählen, which here is thrilling in a way that I have never before heard. And Nun beut die Flur, so often sentimentalized in other performances, has a flowing lilt that never drags. More than anything else, Revzen suggests all of the music’s joy, tenderness, and almost Mozartean delicacy. Indeed, the highest compliment I can pay his direction is to say that it produces the kind of performance I often imagined Toscanini might have led, most notably, perhaps, in it’s cumulative power, its coherence, and its sense of text. It is this last trait, no doubt, that accounts for the intelligent rendering of recitatives as conveyors of action rather than as mere bridges between arias. And despite the relatively small chorus and orchestra…no lack of impact exists…I look forward to hearing Revzen conduct other repertoire. The singers, incidentally, are all first-class, conveying the same sense o f drama and of the music’s wide emotional range suggested by the conductor.”

“In addition, the conductor has a sure sense of pace, not only animating sections that are often permitted to drag, but also building each of the work’s three parts to imposing climaxes.”
Mortimer H. Frank, Fanfare

“Conductor Revzen pulled together all the elements into a cohesive structure that was, truly, greater than the sum of the already quite fine parts. The timing between movements, the tempos and the dynamics were al beautifully executed to create a single work out of the dozen individual sections. It was well-crafted and memorable performance.”
Ed Roberts, The Washington Post

“Here is an unexpected treat…A strongly rethought vivid version of Haydn’s great rolling score, free from the encrustation of antique performing traditions, related in spirit to the sense of discovery that has given us all those splendid authentic readings of 18th century orchestral music.”
Alan Rich, National Public Radio, ‘Performance Today’ June 5, 1989

“Joel Revzen obtains thrilling sounds from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.”
Octavio Roca, CD Review

“The performance is well paced, and conductor Joel Revzen keeps things moving along with generally brisk tempos.”
S.L., Stereo Review

“…Finally, there is Revzen’s dramatic pacing of the oratorio, always attuned to the words, brisk but not rushed, dignified but not pompous.”
Michael Fleming, St. Paul Pioneer Press

“Interpretively, Joel Revzen takes a sensible middle ground in his new recording with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Chorale, and with rewarding results. For instance, he makes much of the work’s orchestral tone painting, the ‘cheerful, roaring lion,’ ‘nimble stag’ and other newly-created creatures are graphically drawn, and the appearance of light in the world is carefully prepared – a great choral and orchestral outburst on the word ‘light.’ And though his tempos are leisurely, except in the big choral numbers that conclude each of the work’s three parts – all taken with great momentum – the acing is held firmly – none of Bernstein’s sudden accelerandos.”
Michael Anthony, The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

High Performance Review/June 1989
“Not yet as famous, but surely destined to be with performances such as this one, is the Minnesota Chorale, the official chorus of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra. This chorus, under Conductor Joel Revzen, also its Music Director, has a velvety yet precise (excellent German diction, warm, human sound.”

Larsen: SYMPHONY NO. 4 ‘STRING SYMPHONY’; SONGS OF LIGHT AND LOVE; SONGS FROM LETTERS (Scottish Chamber Orchestra)

Stereophile, November 2000 (Daniel Buckley)
Larsen: String Symphony, Songs of Light and Love, Songs from Letters
Scottish Chamber orchestra – Benita Valenti, soloist
“Joel Revzen has immersed himself in the subtleties and riches of Larsen’s orchestral palette, and, with the aid of engineer Phil Hobbs, has brought full measure to each score’s potency.”

ARLEEN AUGER:
Musical America, January 1990
Larsen, ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’: Arleen Augér
“Joel Revzen assisted Auger at the piano…, then conducted the Larsen cycle – outstanding in both capacities.”

Penguin Guide to Classical CDs
The Art of Arleen Auger
“She is lucky in her accompaniments, especially in having Joel Revzen, who is so musical and supportive. The recording is tangibly vivid and kind to the voice.”