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If conductors were rare earths, Finland would control the global economy.
My only encounter with him, till now, was hisimpressive New York Philharmonic debut.
But I sense a generational shift, along with a distinct sensibility.
Salonen launched his career in the 1980s, when classical musicians were assiduously rerecording the entire canon for CD.
In live performances, they worked hard to reproduce the digital clarity and technical perfection of the studio product.
The concert became a simulacrum of the recording instead of the other way around.
These days, recordings are rarer and often live, and Makela sounds unburdened by his elders example.
InRite, the bass-drum thumps landed like boulders falling from a mountaintop.
The lurching rhythms had the vividness of feet thudding on dirt.
Dissonant brass chords sundered the halls warm air like lightning.
It was clear that Makela was listening.
He prioritized silence over the count.
But he didnt make himself the point; he exerted control without fetishizing it.
Makela, though, managed to capture some of the works wildness.
The audience reacted with obvious excitement, but I was more struck by a different response.
In any other business, seeing the rank and file applaud the boss would smack of corporate fawning.
