When Osmo Vänskä took over the music director post at the Minnesota Orchestra
in September 2003, he was still very much a new face in the United States. And
five months later, as he makes his Carnegie Hall debut with the orchestra just
before an 11-city European tour, he remains a new face for many.
You might say that he's more known about than heard. Vänskä has made some 60 discs with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra for the Bis label, but many of them were of contemporary Finnish music — and, with the exception of his highly-acclaimed Sibelius cycle, they weren't easy to find in the U.S. During his 1996–2002 tenure at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow, he acquired a reputation for being one of the few conductors whose name could automatically sell out a concert in London. But that association yielded only a handful of significant Bruckner and Nielsen recordings, and that only in the last few years. Though he has been extremely well received in guest-conducting engagements with most of the top American orchestras, Vänskä chose to cultivate a permanent relationship outside The Big Five — in Minneapolis. Talking to him, the reason becomes obvious: He wants a place where he can make his own mark, not just maintain previous greatness.
Vänskä began his professional career as a clarinetist in Finland, first with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76) and later with the Helsinki Philharmonic (1977–82), where he observed a variety of conductors in action, and he studied under Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy. His conducting career was launched upon his departure from the Helsinki Philharmonic, beginning with a principal guest appointment at the provincial Lahti orchestra in 1985. Three years later, he was made music director. Now, he has nearly two decades of orchestra building in Lahti behind him in addition to three grown children. Though he's a new face to many of us, he's not an unseasoned one.
David Patrick Stearns: Let's start with the frequently asked "Finnish question." So many strong-minded musicians are coming out of your country. The composer Kaija Saariaho believes that it's compensation for an innate shyness. Have you any theories?
Osmo Vänskä: We're just crazy enough.
DPS: In that spirit, may I ask why you sometimes dip down so low on the podium that the orchestra can't see what you're doing?
OV: It's connected to the pianissimo. The method is that if you don't see me, you won't play. Pianissimo is the most difficult thing in orchestra playing. I believe that the forte sounds louder not when you try to play louder and louder, but if the pianissimo is softer.
DPS: That's taking a chance, though, when you're guest-conducting a tough bunch like the New York Philharmonic, as you've done recently [in October 2003]. But you got a lot out of that orchestra — it worked hard for you.
OV: My way of working is very demanding. I can't help it. There are conductors who leave everything to inspiration; I cannot do it. It's a personal equation. The great music comes after we've put everything in the right places.
I allow players to give their comments. They know where the limit is, and they know who is the boss — finally. But I don't need to use my position to put anybody down. For example, think about your editor ...
DPS: I'd rather not.
OV: If he thanks you and says that's very well done, he's still the boss and you know that, but if he's always telling you that you're nothing, what can you do?
DPS: Sounds like you've learned these lessons the hard way.
OV: When I was a
young conductor in Lahti, starting as principal guest conductor in 1985, I had
ideas and reasons and was sometimes very angry when things didn't go in the
right directions, or if it took a long time to get better quality. But there was
a point where I took it too personally. When people couldn't play the right
notes and rhythms and it went a little too hard, I took it as a personal attack
against me. I know this sounds so silly.
One of the members of the first violin section came to me and said, "Do you really believe that? Music is so difficult. We need time. We like your ideas. If you're angry, we're crushed. Nobody wants to play wrong notes." It was some kind of turning point for me. I started to understand something about psychology, how to handle people, how to get them motivated. I would even say that if the orchestra is happy, it plays better than when it's not happy. And I'm happy to say this violin player is now the general manager of the orchestra in Lahti. We're very good friends.
DPS: What's your future in Lahti?
OV: I'll do something like six weeks a year, maybe more. But I don't have as many responsibilities with the orchestra. I just take care of my own concerts. There are some recording plans I need to complete — we'll do all the Nielsen concertos and several more Sibelius CDs. We have invitations to tour Japan.
DPS: You gave up the BBC Scottish Symphony after six years. Why?
OV: It was a very important time. The orchestra played better and better and better, and every time we played, microphones were there and it went over BBC Radio 3. We played at the London Proms every summer.
But I wasn't responsible for any guest conductors or soloists; the BBC required them to do this and that. I had a feeling that it's no one's orchestra. Even though people said the orchestra was totally changed in terms of the sound, I couldn't really put what I wanted into the orchestra. I think leaving was the right decision — I did what I could do and then it was time to leave.
DPS: Did the Minnesota Orchestra play a role in that decision?
OV: The Minnesota invitation came later. Much later.
DPS: What you said about the BBC Scottish Symphony being nobody's orchestra could also be what you'd encounter from one of the big American orchestras with such a strong, unchangeable institutional personality, like the Philadelphia Orchestra.
OV: Anyone going to Philadelphia must be very, very strong. The timing is very good for me in Minnesota. There are a lot of things that are working for me. I'd like the build up an atmosphere of teamwork.
DPS: And you're recording a Beethoven cycle.
OV: Don't laugh! Bis asked me and I thought about it for maybe one month. Who needs another cycle if we already have more than 100? But there are many people who believe we could give some fresh ideas. It would also use a new technology — DVD plus something or other, don't ask what letters. It's a great challenge.
DPS: Personally, I've found your Nielsen symphony cycle to be a revelation. The Sixth is so enigmatic. Even Leopold Stokowski said he didn't understand the piece, though he went ahead and conducted it. Your recording suggests to me that you've figured it out.
OV: No! No! No! In
parts of the Sixth Symphony, I'm still thinking, "What is this? What is the
meaning?"
My idea is to do exactly what the composer wrote. There could be a point where I feel that I know what's going on, but I don't need to know. I just follow his ideas.
I give a lot of freedom to the snare drum player [who plays a key role in the first movement]. He's telling the other instruments, "I don't want to play with you. It's better for you to follow me." And he won't give up — it's so great. The writing is so simple; it's not complicated for the orchestra to play, but it sounds complicated.
DPS: There are some historic recordings of Nielsen by conductors who knew the composer. What have you learned from them?
OV: That the music was difficult for them to play.
DPS: What do you have against opera? You haven't conducted it very much.
OV: I conducted Die Zauberflöte at the Slavonia Opera Festival in '86, '87 and '88, and did some guest conducting in Stockholm. I've done La traviata. I'd very much enjoy a new production of a contemporary work that interests me ... but with old productions, I felt like people don't even meet each other before the performance. What can you do? You can't change anything.
I don't have any dates for opera. Either no one has invited me or I haven't had time. I'm doing concerts and I'm very happy about that.
DPS: You played under a good many great conductors when you were clarinetist with the Helsinki Philharmonic — Charles Dutoit, Mariss Jansons, James DePreist. From whom did you learn the most?
OV: Just for working very hard and not compromising, I'd say Paavo Berglund. He's a very good example of a conductor who knows what to do and how to get this quality out of the orchestra.
DPS: He's known for solidity, not glamour.
OV: He doesn't want to be a star. He wants to do his work and that's it.
DPS: What's your attitude on that front?
OV: I have to live more to answer this question.
