“Vänskä created a sense of vast orchestral quiet out of which the long crescendo back to the opening subject in the first movement was a thing of awesome beauty. The second movement was almost painfully deliberate, but deliciously so, with the flutes in their little universe, and Vänskä’s ability to ratchet up in gradual increments the excitement of the last movement was wonderfully addictive.”

“there’s nothing quite like experiencing Vänskä and the orchestra in concert. The conductor is a bouncing bundle of energy on the podium when the music reaches its energetic apex, his forceful cues seeming to set off explosions within the orchestra, his interpretations imaginative and inspiring.”

“The synergetic success of the Minnesota Orchestra and conductor Osmo Vänskä makes their ongoing Mahler cycle a landmark event (…) From the opening bars of the first movement it is clear that Vänskä and the Minnesota players are on a mission. (…)The Minnesota Orchestra’s playing here is gorgeous and refined throughout.”

“But rare rewards awaited after intermission, for the Mahler Fourth was given the most exquisite interpretation of the several I’ve heard in concert. Vanska coaxed a paradoxical combination of force and gentleness from the opening movement, encouraging a light and frolicsome tone before seemingly crafting a dark, bitter concoction from the same ingredients. With delicious dynamic contrast — I’ve never heard the pianissimos so soft in this symphony — it was a performance both technically precise and full of emotion. I can’t recall the last time I was as deeply moved at a Minnesota Orchestra concert as I was by the third movement of the Mahler Fourth. What began in blissful beauty soon found the composer staring unblinking into sorrowful darkness, a place that Vanska and the orchestra made intensely troubling before emerging into a blast of bright major-key sunshine.”

“This was Osmo Vanska at his finest, seizing the reins of his orchestra with a complex and confident interpretation, and shaping the sound with high-energy body language and a level of attention to detail hard to achieve with such an expansive ensemble. And he was as engaging to watch as I’ve ever seen him, a virtual dervish on the podium.”

“This was a performance of great intensity — not just because of some impetuous tempo changes and smart emotional pacing, but also through the lustrous ensemble sound the conductor had obviously cultivated. (…) The conductor had the trust of the orchestra, and charisma bloomed.”

“Leaping about as if treading hot coals, Vänskä sculpted one of the sharpest, most belligerent readings of Sibelius’s Symphony No 1 that these ears have heard” *****

“From the plunging energy of the opening of the Third Symphony to the bleak, raw ending of the Seventh, this is a gripping listen” *****

“This is one the world has been waiting for. The Minnesota Orchestra’s partnership with the Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä is a treasure of our times, especially when they play music of the frozen north. Minnesota is sufficiently remote from the rest of musical America to maintain its own sound and Vänskä, ever the iconoclast, has his own particular way of refreshing familiar scores. The start of their Sibelius cycle hit the decks with a whoosh five years ago.”