This time, there it is. After taking the necessary time, the Orchester de Paris chose its future musical director: Klaus Mäkelä. And this is great news. You don't know the name? No wonder, he is 24 years old! And he's one of the greatest talents that has hatched in a long time. The last to have given us at the same age such an impression, not only of insolent gift, but especially of musical maturity, was Mikko Franck, twenty years ago. Look, another Finn! One day we will have to take a serious look at what has made this country of 5 million inhabitants such a breeding ground for chefs.
Also: Chef Daniel Harding Leaves the Orchester de Paris
This young man with tortoiseshell glasses looks like a studious student. But facing the orchestra, his gestures as clear as expressive, his natural presence are of an accomplished maestro, with a perfectly constructed and integrated musical vision. Without the side that is either academic or unbridled that young chefs can have, it dominates the most demanding works with an intellectual mastery that does not exclude an expressive heat backwards from all Nordic clichés.
Human alchemy
This appointment is the culmination of a process. When, in January 2018, Daniel Harding announced that he was leaving the direction of the Paris Orchestra after a single mandate, its director general Bruno Hamard established close contacts with Jaap van Zweden, stationed at the New York Philharmonic. But when, a few months later, the Orchester de Paris joined the Philharmonie and Laurent Bayle took control, the procedure was suspended and opened to other candidates. It would be a question of testing a few chefs during the 2019-2020 season, a committee of musicians being closely associated with the choice. Unconvinced by the young Karina Canellakis and her clean but smooth work, the informed listener focused above all on those whom public rumor placed in an eligible position.
Read also: Daniel Harding, a magic wand
Pablo Heras-Casado has an interpreter personality that makes him an interesting guest conductor, but his concerts have not revealed the makings of a boss over time. François-Xavier Roth has the bulimic energy that we know, deployed on a dizzying number of stages, but for these concerts with challenges, the musicians did not seem to offer him the best of themselves. We expected a lot from Tugan Sokhiev, who works miracles in Toulouse. But a meeting between a conductor and an orchestra is first and foremost a human alchemy, and we keep the impression of a missed meeting, as if each observed without taking a step towards the other. Deadlock? Not quite.
Read also: Between chefs and musicians, an alchemy to find
There remained the solution of triumphant youth. Bet on the future. Klaus Mäkelä conquered the orchestra in one concert, as he does wherever he goes. Music director in Oslo since this season, he will be in Paris in 2022 after a transition period as "musical advisor". It was the right time to shoe it because the biggest German and American phalanxes already have an eye on him… Good pick!