Helsinki Philharmonic

“Mäkelä and HKO maintained the tension (in Mahler Symphony No.1). The bridles remained in the hand. This was characteristic of the whole interpretation: the mastery of the large phrases, the lightning-fast changes in the characters within them, natural as if breathing … the fourth movement was magical. The energy intensified, and there was nothing more to wish for.”

Helsingin Sanomat, Sonja Saarikoski, 23 December 2021


“It was a visionary powerful and unusually talented young conductor’s passionate view of the young Mahler’s skyrocketing visions and it can not be helped that the great Mahler conductor Leonard Bernstein – unequivocally the young version – unwittingly came to mind. The magical evocative natural moods of the introduction, the earthy loins of the second movement and the popular music pastiches of the third movement flowed past like stimulating fantasy images, and when nature and man converged in the passionate finale, the pieces of the puzzle fell spectacularly into place.”

Hufvudstadsbladet,  Mats Liljeroos, 23 December 2021


Programme:
Pierre Boulez: Initiale
Sauli Zinovjev: Wiegenlied
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1, Titan