Nobuyuki Tsujii with Strasbourg Phil -- a smash success

 
February 9-16, winter in Europe. Nobuyuki Tsujii went on tour with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and conductor Marco Letonja, on a program titled "Romantiques" (BERLIOZ Overture le Corsiare, GRIEG concerto, SCHUMANN Symphony No. 3). Nobu was the soloist for Grieg's Piano Concerto. Two of the performances took place in Strasbourg, France, follwed by 4 more performances, including a Valentine's Day concert in Basel, Switzerland.

Last year about the same time, Nobu went on a grueling tour in Germany with the Dresden Phil, performing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 in 5 consecutive days.  In spite of flying to Germany only a day after completing an Ultimate Concertos" Japan tour with violinist Miura Fumiaki and Yomuira Nippon Orchestra, Nobu somehow earned audience and critical acclaim.  The tour was a triumph.

I really did not expect Nobu to do it again this year.  But I should have known better.  This winter's Europe orchestra tour proved another smash success, arguably even more so.  Suffice it to say that I have been kept busy following the news about this tour, a collection of which can be found here => Part 1&  Part 2

How good was it?
There was an astonishing number of critic's reviews, and uniformly glowing!  Here is a list: 

And it's not just the quantity, but the reviews got better and better as the tour went on. Nobu was "an asset to the tour" in the only review from Strasbourg, where the tour kicked off on Feb 9 & 10. In reviews from Friedrichshafen (Feb 12 performance) Nobu is "brilliant" and "Soloist, conductor, orchestra are one". From Dusseldorf (Feb 15) came these memorable words: " his playing is absolutely perfect, technical, but also musical. He does not play like an automaton, but as a great artist." By the time the tour ends in Mannheim on Feb 16, Nobu is the "world class pianist" who outshone the orchestra and "the audience ... thanked the soloist for eight minutes with bravos and loud applause" (Online Merker).
Moreover, Nobu was a hit with the orchestra as well, judging from postings by the orchestra and Nobu's own concert report.

In a comment on Facebookposted on Feb 15,  Antony Ernst, artistic planning manager of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, wrote:
In Nobu's concert report from Mannheim:


On the day after the tour ended, the orchestra posted this group selfie:
To which Japanese Nobu fan Yura made this astute comment: "まるで団員の1人になってます" (It is as if he is one of the group members).

Indeed Nobu looks happy in this and other photos taken on the tour.  Then, too, perhaps there was something else for him to be happy about.  Mr. Nick Asano (Nobu's manager) wrote in the first days of the tour: "Nobu and I got through major Alsacian food and drink. I can sense it clearly as extra weight around waist."

How sweet the tour must have been.  I am so happy for  Nobu's smash success in Europe.  It couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.