Press clips – David Björkman:
”The evening was concluded with W A Mozart´s delightful Symphony no. 40 in g minor KV 550. Here, beautiful dynamic contrasts were produced without playing for the gallery – The Swedish Chamber Orchestra expressed a pamphlet of Mozartian moods: there were both charm and intimacy. The music was lifted in a way of playing, so light, exquisite and yet so full of detail. There were a gracious aura around the timbre of both the strings and the winds; an aura revealed when what seems incompatible is made facing each other. It is in that effort Björkman´s distinctive and atmospheric art of shaping came to be so effective. With this Mozart interpretation Björkman proved that he is not going to settle with the Stockholm Folkoper ’Lustige Witwe’, but is keen to peek into the Olympus of the classical titans of music, and this Thursday evening he showed that he is well equipped to interpret even their masterpieces. The audience became a spiritual experience richer.”
Tibor Fülep, Nerikes Allehanda, 2008
On Moto Osada’s opera Four Nights of Dream:
”A dreamlike direct hit. David Björkman is leading an eleven man strong chamber orchestra. Not once can I hear a hesitation before the task – the music seems to be owned by the musicians in a natural way, which is rare at a world premiere.”
Kulturnytt, Sveriges Radio P1, 2008
”There is every reason to go to Vadstena Castle to experience the chamber opera ’Four Nights of Dream’ of the Vadstena Academy, based on the Japanese poet Soseki Natsume´s novel Ten Nights of Dream. (…) As the eye-catcher of the background is the orchestra, all dressed in white, a group of young musicians that really catches the slightest rythmic accent and shimmering variation under the distinct guidance of David Björkman.”
Svenska Dagbladet, 2008
”Under the musical leadership of David Björkman, they soon prove that the music-making is as well thought-out as everything else in the Japan-American Moto Osada’s Four nights of dream.”
Expressen, 2008
”The music is so well composed – and furthermore strikingly well performed by the orchestra under conductor David Björkman.”
GöteborgsPosten, 2008
On a concert with Hélène Grimaud and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in April 2006:
”David Björkman, who won the Swedish Conducting Award 2004, got to prolong his engagement as short notice preparing conductor to finally take over the weekends concerts instead of indisposed conductor Mikko Franck. Björkman, it showed, was a solid replacer without being caught in a situation of cautiousness. He contributed with a polished accompaniment in Beethoven´s fourth Piano Concerto [with Hélène Grimaud as soloist]… There were also powerful playing after the interval when the orchestra show its muscles in Shostakovich´s 12th Symphony. … A grandiose achievement from Björkman, rewarded with exultation from the audience and a flourish from the orchestra.”
Thomas Anderberg, Dagens Nyheter, April 24 2006
”Shostakovich with clarity …The conductor David Björkman – brave and confident substitute for indisposed Mikko Franck. David Björkman proved to be a commander both in Beethoven and Shostakovitch, with obvious intellectual clarity that wins in the long run in the latter´s filmic/epic inspired 12th Symphony.”
Svenska Dagbladet, April 24 2006