On »Don Juan«, Herbert Gietzen demonstrated an unbridled and often raging temperament, but he metamorphosed into a calm and flexible lyric poet during the concert with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra of Brahms’ Third Symphony.
Frankfurter Allgemeine - H. H. Stuckenschmidt
With this piece (»Don Juan«), the first bars of which are decisive as to the whole, Herbert Gietzen, performed a breathtaking trapeze act without net. For years I haven’t heard the tone poem of the young Strauss so refreshing, so authentically abundant as here, where the music’s programme was interpreted almost naively out of the enthusiasm of its genesis.
Süddeutsche Zeitung - Norbert Miller
His convincing sovereignity seems to be innate, and the elasticity of his movements is additionally, an outpouring of musical fluency. Gietzen’s gestures are at ease to an extent that allows him to develop sophisticated sonorous figures in the course of conducting.
Hannoversche Neue Presse – CH
Gietzen immediateley wins the audience by his flowing and outstandingly aesthetic conducting movements. Thus, to watch him, is simply a pleasure. During the course of the evening Gietzen provided the sound of the orchestra with idealistic and consistent „breath“.
Rheinzeitung – Wolfgang Eschmann
A very pleasant surprise was the personality and authority of highly musical gesture from the German conductor Herbert Gietzen.
Corriere della Sera - Duilio Courir
A musical performance full of vitality, owing above all to a vigilant and competent maestro like Herbert Gietzen, who knows how to impose an individual sound on the orchestra.
La Nazione - Leonardo Pinzauti
Applauditissimo il direttore Gietzen
Il Giorno
Herbert Gietzen conducts a taut, superbly balanced interpretation.
Washington Post - Joseph McLellan
On short notice, Herbert Gietzen stepped in for the indisposed Music Director, setting off so much sparkling Italianità that not only the audience but also the orchestra – showing slight inaccuracy only in the beginning – and the excellent chorus finished by applauding more than heartily.
Orpheus – Michael Arndt
Under the baton of Herbert Gietzen, a eminently talented conductor, Tchaikovsky’s music was interpreted with the passion it required. No vapid mixture was served, but room was given to the soli for great indiviual development.
Frankfurter Rundschau – Horst Köpke
Worth hearing was the accomplishment by Herbert Gietzen, how he skilfully kept the weltschmerz scenario from plunging into sentimentality.
Opernwelt – Heinz Ludwig
This German conductor, endowed with technique and sensitivity, enriched the colorful programme with many astounding aspects. Striking was, indeed, the refined and homogenous sonority of the pianos characterizing Schubert’s „Unfinished Symphony“ from the very beginning. Gietzen drew much melliflous tone from the strings and effected an outstanding and dynamic flexibility with the whole of the orchestra. The conductor’s particular sensitivity for „mezzo tints“ expecially enriched the „delicatezza“ of Fauré’s „Requiem“.
Il Piccolo – Gianni Gori
However, Gietzen’s particular concern was the „Requiem“ by Gabriel Fauré. For this jewel fo the French sacred music, he created a setting of delicate filigree which – for a German conductor – is not easy to obtain.
Messagero Veneto – Danilo Soli
The orchestral accompaniment was fortunate, but more than that: an encore and support, due to the leadership executed by Herbert Gietzen. The instrumental colours had nerve, the harmonic couragiousness had bite, and the motor elements of the score were clearly elaborated. The orchestra played with a wider dynamic scale. With great art did Gietzen coordinate the scored maniacal urgencies with esthetic structured intricacy.
Opernwelt – Bernd Loebe
...surprising a wide range dynamic selection in a quality hardly ever to be heard. Equally as brilliant as Gietzen’s response to stage necessities was his exact placing of dramatically exiting –though never placard-style- accents, all pointing to his strongly developed sens for the stage.
Orpheus – Michael Arndt
