Finnish Chamber Orchestra is sponsored by: ABB, Fortum, Kone Corporation, Sonera, Varma-Sampo

Jukka-Pekka
Saraste

Finnish conductor JUKKA-PEKKA SARASTE is emerging as one of the most gifted conductors of his generation. His performances have been praised for their musical depth and integrity, as well as their energy and vitality. Since his professional conducting debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic at the age of 23, Mr. Saraste has also established himself as an orchestra-builder, and has brought the music of Scandinavian composers to greater prominence in the active concert repertoire. He is currently the artistic adviser of the Finnish Chamber Orchestra, principal conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.   Critical Acclaim: Helsingin Sanomat (Helsinki): with Finnish Chamber Orchestra: "[In Mozart's Symphony No.39] the heroic landscape of the opening movement, the bright magic of the second, the enchantment of the minuet, and the fantastic concertino effects of the finale proved that the Finnish Chamber Orchestra has reached an unprecedented quality in ensemble playing." Berlingske tidende (Copenhagen) : "The Finnish Chamber Orchestra is an excellent ensemble. It is a perfectly tuned instrument: 40 musicians each of whom is capable of a solo career... The orchestra commands an immense range of sound." The Financial Times (London): "with Finnish RSO: "Saraste drew bold, colorful playing from his large orchestra, and confirmed that [Merikanto's] Juha...is a work of universal strength and appeal." The Daily Telegraph (London): with Finnish RSO: "Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony (the Pathétique) brought out the best in the Finns." The Evening Standard (London): with Finnish RSO: "There is nothing cautious about Saraste's stylish straight- backed and stiff-wristed conducting. It is clear, disciplined, and communicative. He addresses individual sections as if he were picking up stitches and pulling thematic threads through the musical fabric." Münchener Kultur (Munich): with Finnish RSO: "Conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste has been an international star for quite a while now. Once again, he demonstrated his confidence in controlling an immense symphony." Created in 1990, the Finnish Chamber Orchestra is comprised of principal and leading players from Helsinki's major performing ensembles, two-thirds of whom are from the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. They perform regularly in Helsinki and throughout Finland, and have also given concerts in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, as well as at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany and the Naantali Festival in Finland. As artistic adviser, Mr. Saraste will lead the orchestra's first tour of the United States, in October 1996, which will include concerts in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, and Washington, DC.   El Pais (Madrid): with Finnish RSO: "The high level of Finnish musical training and the skill and talent of the conductor were convincingly demonstrated in the Sibelius performances." The New York Times): with Toronto SO: "Mr. Saraste's approach offered an interesting alternative to the increasingly faceless international standard... [Sibelius'] Seventh [Symphony] benefited from this flexibility of tempo in Mr. Saraste's reading." Toronto Globe & Mail: with Toronto SO: "Saraste's beat seemed to radiate nervous energy, and to prompt a vitality of sound not always available to a big orchestra at the end of a long season." Jukka-Pekka Saraste has also been principal conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 1987, and during his tenure, has created an ensemble highly admired both in Finland and abroad. In addition to their regular series of concerts in Helsinki, Mr. Saraste has led the orchestra on tours of Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, and the United Kingdom, as well as in concerts in Munich, Vienna,and Madrid.   The Toronto Star: with Toronto SO: "The sheer buoyancy and crispness of their execution of the minuet movement [Mozart's Symphony No. 39] prompted the obvious conclusion: this truly was Mozart playing of festival standard." The New York Times: RECORDINGS with FRSO: (Sibelius: Symphonies No. 1 - 7) "Not to be overlooked is the freshand vital work of Jukka-Pekka Saraste with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra... Mr. Saraste's direction is alert and spontaneous. His tempos grab and hold the listener, and the orchestra plays with a sure sense of style." In North America, Mr. Saraste begins his third season as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a partnership that has garnered extensive critical attention and artistic success, and drawn larger and more diverse audiences to the orchestra's concerts. He regularly spends about 14 weeks of each season with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.   The Independent: Toronto SO: "It is not often that a great work [Sibelius: Symphony No. 4] receives the performance it deserves, but this was one of those occasions. Saraste's judgement of the extraordinary timescales was perfect." Daily News (Los Angeles): with LA Philharmonic: "Saraste proved adept at gauging those considerable high points [Mahler's Symphony No. 6], particularly in a first movement that refused to exhaust the emotional possibilities, with Saraste and orchestra keeping plenty in reserve for the dark finale...the new director of the Toronto Symphony clearly is a maestro to monitor." Jukka-Pekka Saraste recently signed an exclusive recording contract with Finlandia Records, a Warner Music Group Company, to make six disks with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra over a three-year period. This is the first multi-disk agreement for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as Finlandia's first with a North American orchestra. Their premier recording together, an all-Mussorgsky disk, is scheduled for release in September 1996. In addition, Mr. Saraste has made more than sixty recordings with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra on the RCA Victor Red Seal, Virgin Classics, and Finlandia labels, including the symphonies and tone poems of Sibelius, Mahler's Symphony No. 5, a Stravinsky album featuring the Symphony in C, the Symphony in Three Movements and Le Chant du Rossignol, and Mozart symphonies. He has also recorded with the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, German Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, and Helsinki Chamber Orchestra.   Press Telegram (Long Beach, CA): with LA Philharmonic: "...no one could have asked for a more powerful performance [of Mahler's Symphony No. 6] than Saraste and the Philharmonic delivered." The Detroit News: with Detroit SO: "Few conductors who take on this taxing work [Stravinsky's Petrushka] can contend with the slashing rhythms, blinding tone colors, and jagged irony and still manage to keep the work a cohesive whole...But Saraste coaxed the orchestra to play with seaming abandon... what made the performance particularly vital was the jaunty clip of the tempo and the bitingly sardonic mood." The Independent: with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra: "Jukka-Pekka Saraste, with his genius for the inspired detail, was the right man to take the orchestra through the new piece [Takemitsu's How Slow the Wind]. He also conducted Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin with a delicate flourish, and injected some spice into a too-understood performance by Akira Wakabayashi of the same composer's Piano Concerto in G." Financial Times, London: with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra: "The conductor, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, should also be praised for the fighting-fit precision of the SCO ensemble." Gramophone: RECORDINGS with FRSO: (Works for Cello and Orchestra - Saint-Saens, Sibelius, Bartok, and Tchaikovsky) "In all these works the orchestra under Saraste is sensitively supportive, and the recording has clarity and a pleasing warmth." As a guest conductor, Mr. Saraste has appeared in the United States with the symphony orchestras of Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, and Minnesota, and in Europe with the Vienna, NDR Hamburg, Frankfurt Radio, Rotterdam, and Saint Cecilia orchestras, as well as the Beijing Central Opera Orchestra and Symphonic Orchestra of Chengdu in China. He also led the Helsinki Philharmonic in several concerts during its 1982 North American tour.   BBC Music Magazine: RECORDINGS with FRSO: (Sibelius: Symphonies No. 1 - 7) "This new cycle by Jukka-Pekka Saraste with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra...is a significant contribution to the recorded literature... there are times when the level of engagement and command of the idiom are such that you could imagine that the players hardly need to look at the music... Saraste's treatment of the more thoughtful later symphonies is perhaps where his greatest strength lies...The cycle as a whole is impressive for its integrity of vision." Hi-Fi News & Record Review: RECORDINGS with FRSO: (Sibelius: Symphony No. 6, Scenes Historiques 1 & 2) "No-one leads us more unerringly to the articulate high-spots of the first movement...If the rest of Saraste's Sibelius continues in this vein, it could be the most masterly cycle of them all." Born in 1956 in Heinola, Finland, Jukka-Pekka Saraste studied piano and violin at the Lahti Conservatory, before being encouraged by his teachers to pursue conducting at the age of 12. In 1978, he joined the Finnish Radio Symphony as a violinist, while continuing his conducting studies, and in 1981, won first prize in the Scandinavian Conducting Competition.   Gramophone: RECORDINGS with FRSO: (Sibelius: Symphony nr.7 & Legends) "I must say that I like his approach: Saraste is very much the servant of the composer... his performances...hold the listener throughout." Classic CD: RECORDINGS with FRSO: (Sibelius - various works - with Joseph Swensen,violin) "These [Humoresques] are real discoveries and a welcome supplement to the outstanding performance of the Concerto. The forceful sound is well-captured: a disc for those who enjoy hearing the uncompromising power of Sibelius alongside his great lyrical gifts." Mr. Saraste held the post of principal conductor with the Edinburgh-based Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 1987 to 1991, and as a co-founder of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, with fellow conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, helped to establish one of Finland's most important exponents of contemporary music. Mr. Saraste currently resides in Toronto with his family.   American Record Guide: RECORDINGS with FRSO: (Mahler: Symphony No. 5) "He grasps and conveys the symphony's emotional content...the optimistic little march in movement 2 leads to an extended tragic, neurotic passage that is as gripping under Saraste's baton as any I have ever heard, comparable even to those pages in Walter's great recording...Movement 5...is about as joyful and uplifting a reading as I remember ever hearing, and supports my opinion of this recording as one of the best." The Toronto Star: With the Scottish Chamber Orchestra: (CD: Mozart: Symphonies No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543 and No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, "Jupiter") "The architecture is splendidly balanced, with the repeats duly observed, the tempi are consistently well-chosen, and the fundamental good humor of the music is everywhere apparent." Classic CD: With the Scottish Chamber Orchestra: [CD: Mozart's Symphonies No. 39 & 41 are] "played with great spirit and persuasive elegance by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Jukka-Pekka Saraste...as fine as any other record of these works at any price.Saraste's tempi seem ideally chosen, the Jupiter has all the weight of utterance one could wish for, yet throughout textures are fresh and transparent and rhythms invigoratingly sharp." [Back to FCO Home] [FCO Recordings] [Mail to FCO]