Tír Na HiFi

Classical music review: Osmo Vanska reunites with Minnesota Orchestra for triumphant performance
By Rob Hubbard
Special to the Pioneer Press


Now that conductor Osmo Vanska has revealed he's in negotiations for a possible return to his old job of Minnesota Orchestra music director, it's a good time to address the issue of why this one particular leader is so important to this one particular orchestra. Arts organizations change leaders all the time. Why would Vanska's departure take on the tone of tragedy for so many?

Words can't answer that question nearly as eloquently as the music performed at Orchestra Hall midday Thursday, when Vanska was reunited with his old orchestra. The program consisted of the two symphonies by Jean Sibelius that were on the recording recently given the Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance. And Vanska and the orchestra showed they have a relationship that's extremely rare in any art form. The musicians so clearly have a deep faith in Vanska's vision for the music, and are not only willing to work as hard as they must to achieve it, but embrace the opportunity passionately.

There were times on Thursday when I felt as if everything I needed to know about the emotions of Vanska and the orchestra over the course of the 16-month management lockout were right there in the stark uncertainty of Sibelius' Fourth Symphony. And all of the joy, optimism, love and wistfulness that they felt at being reunited came pouring forth in the composer's First Symphony. It was a triumphant performance, intense, electrifying and, ultimately, exultant.

Unsurprisingly, Vanska was greeted by a standing ovation, but the Fourth Symphony soon altered the mood. The work's paradoxical combination of aggressiveness and reticence came through clearly, themes repeatedly seeking resolutions that were held at an unattainable distance. In Vanska's interpretation, it was spare and haunting, its troubled spirit surging in the Largo, then exploding into a kind of chaotic confrontation in the finale.

The bleakness of the Fourth was soon set aside in favor of a First Symphony full of resonant, robust romanticism. Here again was the dancing, darting Vanska audiences remember, his whole body imploring the orchestra toward urgency. The second movement was full of lush and lovely longing, the Scherzo a puckish tossing of the simple theme from section to section.

But the finale of the First proved breathtaking, especially when the strings turned up the tone of triumph and sent hearts racing throughout the hall. It was the kind of catharsis I'd been waiting to hear from this orchestra for almost two years. The multiple bows demanded from the enthusiastic audience eventually resulted in an encore, for which the finale was picked up at that climactic point and played to the end again. Knowing Vanska, I imagine that it wasn't only for the audience's benefit: He probably wanted to work that section one more time, always looking for improvement.