THE JAPAN TIMES (Robert Ryker, 1998)
the Vienna-born Hauser led the KCM musicians in an unprecedented performance that had almost everything going for it. Conducting without a score, he fused the young musicians into a beautifully working chamber ensemble, the most important test of good music making(...) The sprawling composition had cohesion and coherence. Not content with indicating entrances, Hauser telegraphed cues for the orchestra clearly to shape the style and expressive character of the music and the cantilena of the lines. Amazingly, the musicians just as clearly were used to listening - a capacity with which not all orchestras are conversant(...)Even with a genius like Hauser conducting, it was hard to believe that a university orchestra got so many things right(...) one of the most musical performances of Mahler's Tragic symphony I have had the pleasure of hearing.
the Vienna-born Hauser led the KCM musicians in an unprecedented performance that had almost everything going for it. Conducting without a score, he fused the young musicians into a beautifully working chamber ensemble, the most important test of good music making(...) The sprawling composition had cohesion and coherence. Not content with indicating entrances, Hauser telegraphed cues for the orchestra clearly to shape the style and expressive character of the music and the cantilena of the lines. Amazingly, the musicians just as clearly were used to listening - a capacity with which not all orchestras are conversant(...)Even with a genius like Hauser conducting, it was hard to believe that a university orchestra got so many things right(...) one of the most musical performances of Mahler's Tragic symphony I have had the pleasure of hearing.