#salonen

Departing Philharmonia Orchestra Principal Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen carved out an unique, organic chapter in the cultural continuum.

I first came across Salonen, whose 13-year tenure as Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia ends this year, while studying at the Royal Academy of Music. As a recepient of the Philharmonia String Scheme award, a small group of us played in a few Philharmonia rehearsals, one of which was Salonen conducting the 4th symphony by my beloved Mahler. What struck me most about Salonen then was the absolute clarity of his gestures, particularly the horizontal and vertical lines.

This plasticity developed continously, to the point where today Salonen is one the most watchable conductors alive. Yet the key to his impact on the cultural scene lies not his external aesthetics, but in the above mentioned continued development in a more significant area.

When Salonen took over from Dohnanyi in 2008, the classical music scene was more compartmentalised, a direct result of Postmodern fragmentation; the early music movement, modern orchestras known for playing music of certain periods but not others, etc. The Philharmonia could well be said to be London's 'European' orchestra, with an identity rooted in a deep, velvet tone, a famous pianissimo (a feature more about its unscripted, player-led spontaneous appearance at least once in every concert than its breathtakingly low volume), and the ability to self-balance -acting as a natural counterpart to London's 'American' orchestra, the LSO, a more flamboyant, gung-ho outfit fond of shiny brass, its own sense of branding and vertical attacks.

The Philharmonia suited me to a tee. It could switch in an instant to 20th Century angularity when required, but its core lay in a profound undertstanding, and love, of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schuman, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Strauss and Bruckner. My musical education (Detroit rock and Montevideo tango aside) went as far as the (for their time) progressives Lizst and Wagner, after which all music -and art- was, I grew up learning, worthless.

When Salonen started turning up with known and unkown 20th and 21st Century music, it proved a personal challenge. Something about the aesthetic grated. However, I've always been one to try to break down barriers, including my own. Embracing this music, going along with Salonen's musical adventure has been a career highlight. Over time, in my mind, the grinding sounds of 20th century rupture receded to be gradually replaced by an understanding of how all this music -present, past and further past- all fits together in a continous storyline. There was no such rupture, it turns out. We all knew before that everything's connected. Salonen's contribution has been to show everyone involved in the industry-composers, players, agents, broadcasters, audiences, more clearly how.

Salonen has not just given a bunch of interesting concerts over a long period of time. Like all great artists before him, he is keenly aware of his place within the historico-cultural continuum, and acts within it. In consistently making relevant musical statements over this 13-year period with the Philharmonia, he has actively developed, more than changed, the very artistic landscape we inhabit, from -but well beyond- the Philharmonia's sphere of activity. A new, more organic, inclusive understanding of the historical flow has emerged.

It is telling, and typical, that his last concert with the Philharmonia stresses this continuity: Bach by Webern. Bach, but not Bach, by his predecessor, Philharmonia-sound-forger Klemperer. Salonen's own work, tied to Bach, with echoes of his beloved Stravinsky & Messiaen, and to the architect Frank Gehry, another creative partner from his LA development days. Everything, past, present and to the sides, is organically connected.

Post-COVID-19, the Philharmonia greet Santtu-Matias Rouvali as EP's successor. A very talented, confident, young explorer may be just what this next stage of still unfamiliar new terrain needs right now.