On shaping the Minnesota Orchestra’s identity:
“I would like to concentrate on the music—music that we can play with the highest possible level of quality, but also with heart … We can go beyond the notes and give people of the audience a real experience, a touch for things which are bigger than life.”
On the Orchestra as a partnership:
“I think the result is better and better if we work very closely. But it is also a challenge, because if our relationship is very, very close, then it is also very delicate and we need to find the right words, right methods to work so that we still have respect for each other. We need to rehearse very carefully, and at the same time take care that the music is always there, that we go beyond playing notes correctly.”
On the Orchestra family:
“Since I see an orchestra as a team, it must be a team where everybody is working [together], not only the players, but the people behind the orchestra. They have to work toward the same target, they need to have the same goal.”
On preparing for rehearsals:
“The Minnesota Orchestra is a very quick orchestra. They read notes very well and everything is there quite soon. I have gotten the same kind of results with other orchestras but have always needed more time. With Minnesota, things are there already and that is one kind of challenge for a conductor, because I should know exactly what I need before the first rehearsal. Everything must be ready ahead of time.”
On a strong work ethic:
“I don’t think I’m very much of a perfectionist, but when we come to the music, if I feel there is a chance that it might sound even more beautiful, even more dancing with the rhythm, then we have to work for that. I think when a composer has written something and has had a good idea of the music, then as a performer it is my duty, my responsibility, to try and give this idea to the audience as beautifully as possible.”
On programming:
“It is sometimes difficult to say, but I think we need to play something new in every concert, something old, and present a good soloist. It’s a blend of new and old. The most important thing though is that it must be interesting music.”
On contemporary music:
“I don’t believe in music-making that is only copying all things which have been done before. We must take care of commissioning [new music]—we cannot live in a museum. This must be living art. If it is challenging for the players, it might be a challenge for the audience too, but that risk we must take if we are to do well.”
Q: If you were banished to some remote place and were told that you could take the music of only one composer, what score would you take?
A: Mozart clarinet concerto.
The above was excerpted from an interview between Music Director Osmo Vänskä
and Minnesota Orchestra Historian Mary Ann Feldman.
