“To judge by the enchanting performance of Vivaldi of “I Solisti Veneti” … Venice today must be as passionately in love with the violin as it was around 1700. Claudio Scimone proved a worthy heir to ancient tradition through his inventiveness in devising all manner of instrumental shades and colors … one of the best foreign orchestras that we heard…”.
London Times
“The Venetian players have a complete dynamic range, a tone of incredible beauty, and an animation in playing that is as vital in slow movements as in the spirit rapid passages…The entire program could be cited, movement by movement, for superb musicianship and performance”.
Washington Post
“Il faut l'aimer la musique pour la comprendre et l'aimer comme eux … “I Solisti Veneti” sont les aristocrates de leur art”.
Free Belgium
“Ihnen das Spiel spürbar Freude macht um ihnen gegeben ist, instinktiv das Richtige zu tun”.
Salzburg News
“A new extraordinary example, paradoxical as it may seem of collective soloistry”.
Tokyo Mainichi (Klaus Pringsheim)
“The best of the several Groups specializing in the Italian Classics for strings”.
Tokyo Yomiuri
“An enthousiasming soirée placée under the sign of the most communicative joy… Scimone peut se permettre un éventail infini de nuances dont il joue avec un sourire de gourmet… musicians of an unassailable solidity, tous rompus a une très belle technique”.
Paris, Le Figaro (Pierre Petit)
“I Solisti Veneti presents a large musical radius and is the klangtechnich of the culturally popular Streicherensemble which we have a great voice”.
The World, Hamburg
"…in I Solisti's performances one hears the crisp attacks, bright timbres and robust, high-energy ensemble playing. This made for unusually vital readings of Vivaldi. There was an admirable flexibility in Mr. Scimone's phrasing and his approach to texture… it gave the performance an edge of unpredictability that kept it exciting".
New York Times
"(L'Elisir d'Amore a Covent Garden) Claudio Scimone's adroitly judged tempi and buoyant rhythms had the score dancing. Orchestral details sparkled, yet Donizettian sentiment was given its due. It is a long time since I have heard an opera buffa conducted with such an immaculate sense of style".
The Observer, London
"When the maitre d'ouvrage calls himself Claudio Scimone there is the revolution in the museum, the poussière flies under the coups of bows of the marvelous Venetian Solists. Under the paganinienne baguette of Claudio Scimone the n'y a rien que ces musicians ne sachent faire: there is the inspired chef, sublime comedian here souls Immobilité, qui fait danser les statues figées des pièces des siècles et pleurer les pierres… habité par les geniuses de surprendre le moindre frémissement de vie dans les chefs d’oeuvre du passè”.
The Figaro (Jacques Doucelin)
“A voice from above, sonorous, at La Scala, a spontaneous comment: how wonderful, how good you are! And then the audience that never tires of asking for an encore. The beloved Solisti Veneti of Claudio Scimone were on stage, good and generous as always”.
Milan, Corriere della Sera
“Claudio Scimone is someone special, a super stylist with a sharp ear for sonority, rhythm, light and shade… a delight, an example of how a greatly musical conductor can obtain disciplined yet thoroughly spontaneous performances from an ensemble…”.
Edinburgh, The Scotsman
“These musicians played as perfectly as is humanly possible, sparking new life into Vivaldi, Albinoni and Boccherini. And the audience loved every crystal-clear note”.
Melbourne, Herald
“Its standard of ensemble playing is an example to all musicians; and the combination of pleasure and concentration with which Scimone imbues the Group is clear evidence of its well-earned distinction”.
Melbourne, The Age
"Claudio Scimone… beherrscht suggestiv seine Musiciker die sich spuhrbar von ihm lenken lassen, aber dabei zB ein hauchzarter Pianissimo produzieren, das sich noch an der Grenze des Hörbaren niederliess. Was macht Scimone mit diesem Pianissimo-Fundamente? Er beflügelt seine jeweiligen Solisten zu innig-bewegten Ton, baut nach und die Strukturen der jeweiligen Satze auf, wandert von Musiker zu Musiker, beschwort sie mit gestrenger Gestik, korrigiert, inspiriert Und was kam dabei heraus, glutvolles Beherrschen des Bogens, verfürerisch Aufblühen der? Dynamik… This Werktreue ist “to be eaten”.
Dresden, Saxony Newspaper
“Ungetrübte Freude an Musik… die Homogeneität des Gesamtklangs faszinierte ebenso wie die Virtuosität der einzelnen Musiker die sich die solostischen Aufgaben in schönster demokratischer Harmonie teilten und dabei auf so hohem Niveau agierten das keinerlei Unterschiede bemerkbar wurden. Claudio Scimone ist of entwaffender Liebenswürdigkeit und derart grosser Freude am Musizieren erfüllt das den Musikern nicht anderes übrig bleibt als seine Wunsche in idealer Weise zu erfüllen”.
Wiener Zeitung
“Eine einmalige und unverwechselbare Mischung aus Musikalität, Charme, Lockerheit und gegebenenfalls auch Tiefgang kennzeichnet den Stil der Solisti Veneti unter Claudio Scimone seit Jahrzehnten”.
Salzburg News
"It was amazing what Scimone can get from his instrumentalists. I Solisti Veneti's superb control of tone, uniformity of attack and intonation coupled with their fabulous range of dynamic nuances – they can pack a punch as well as subside to an almost inaudible whisper at the drop of a hat – were extraordinary and showed that this ensemble belongs to the very cream…
The Gazette, Montreal
"Such a conductor plays Tchaikowsky's big Symphony! It should not be missed. It was really characteristic and fascinating. From the introduction the clear dynamics was shown and the main part had the fast tempos that I ever heard. In the climax he presented the splendid forwarding force, having been in a body with the frantically playing orchestra, and excited the audience. However it was not only bright, but also its balance of the instruments and making the most of the tones were always meaningful, and the motion of tempos was unique. Scimone is a presenter of his original music, the precious existence of our own time. When he appears with a Japanese Orchestra I definitely recommend You to go to hear the performance”.
Ongaku Gendai, Tokyo (translation care of Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra)
"Das Beste Kammerorchester das ich in den letzen zehn Jahren gehört habe! Welch ein sublimes Konzert!"
(Luxemburg) Day sheet
"... a marvelous lesson of nature, of spontaneity, of imagination, at the base of which there is a prodigieuse instrumental science, a technique that knows how to do oublier! Some performers are a virtuoso capable of holding the part of a solo voice, and with that brio!"
Vevey-Riviera (Festival de Montreux)
“…not only a parfaite ensemble established with an inattentive quantity of soloists, one also accomplices the other: …dynamic finesse, rich and nuanced coloration, delicate phrasing, is not negligible to charm the auditors… the way to experience music in the young genre a communicative joy, leurs interpretations éblouissantes remain inoubliables”.
Luxembourger Wort
"Scimone here [recording of Rossini's Armida] confirms what has already been clear from his earlier Rossini recordings – that he has an unique, perhaps the unique understanding of his master. ...Throughout the orchestral playing [of I Solisti Veneti] is awesome but especially in the great ballet sequence that closes act II".
Record Magazine, David Johnson
"Scimone's arms turn into a woman with the exact rhythmic impulse, the familiar character of the accent, survolés par la transcendance du flux musical. The communique à tous cette joy inappréciable de faire de la musique, qui se lit sur ce visage fin, illuminé, pice-sans-rire, qui va parfois jusqu'au fou-rire. Autour of him the music flamboie, souffle en tempête, murmure, câline et berceuse, des secrets et des songs”.
The World (Jacques Longchamp)
"Long live the superlative I Solisti Veneti! Long live its great conductor, the smiling and kind Maestro Scimone! Let all listen to this great ensemble coming from North of Italy… Thank You for visiting Syria and sounding Your celestial tones to Syrian and Damascus audience who enjoyed Your magic notes!"
Syria Times (Sadek Paraon)
