Performer’s notes

Osmo Vänskä

Tell us about your approach to Mahler…

We want to play well, and we want to lead with all the emotions which are written there. I think my way of working, and how I understand the music, is very much to go for the detail, and I think Mahler is the best example of a composer who has written a lot of details. When this is the goal, I need a producer who is helping to take care that all the details are there, and a recording engineer who is making sure we are able to hear them. For me, Rob Suff [BIS’S artistic director] is the best producer in the world, and the orchestra has 100 per cent trust in him. I think that this whole project has been some sort of adventure, and I have learned many things about Mahler and the orchestra have learned many things about how to play Mahler.

What do you love most about the Ninth Symphony?

It’s one story, starting from the beginning of the first movement and it continues through to those eternally long notes at the end. With this we’re coming to the end of a life, or a picture of the end of a life.

What do you feel as you look back on your Minnesota tenure?

Nineteen years… It has been a very good time in my life, for my life and for my job. I learned a lot and I believe that the orchestra moved in a better direction all the time. This is not only my feeling, it’s something other people have said. So it’s good to leave the orchestra when it’s going well. They took a picture of all the new players I hired and I think the number was 42! So it’s a big part of the orchestra who started work during my time.