Star of the North: Conductor Klaus Mäkelä, the guild's greatest hope

Created: 06/16/2022Updated: 06/16/2022 15:42

By: Markus Thiel

Klaus Mäkelä (26) at the podium of the Munich Philharmonic in the Isar Philharmonic.

© co Merz

He conducts as if he were 60. So confident, so technically sure.

Klaus Mäkelä is only 26. With the Munich Philharmonic, the Finn succeeds in performing an almost ideal interpretation of Mahler.

Age could be a blatant lie.

Maybe Klaus Mäkelä has just held up well - thanks to the clear air of his native Finland, the regular consumption of fish and the coolness of the natives.

Because: The man conducts as if he were 60. With a sovereign view of the big picture.

With a perfectly logical idea of ​​the piece.

With a sense for detail without getting bogged down.

With a great feeling for sound balance.

Above all, however, he is an impressive technician who teases all of this out of the orchestra – sometimes just with a wave of his left hand, which he likes to bend.

You can still tell that Mäkelä is “only” 26.

Reaction speed and agility, sometimes also the body swing, always a bit out of the hip, as if a band leader was standing in front of his troupe.

The orchestras of the world eat out of the hand of him, who was born in Helsinki.

Because they appreciate his collegiality and the way in which Mäkelä accepts offers from the musicians, incorporates them and forms them into a complex unity with a strong will.

As is well known, the Amsterdamers jumped at the chance and named Mäkelä the eighth chief conductor of the Concertgebouworkest from 2027.

It's still taking so long because the star of the north has to give up at least one of its other two chief posts: that of the Orchester de Paris and/or that of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Other conductors talk about themselves, Mäkelä talks about the piece

It goes without saying that one would have wished for this miracle man in Munich as well.

Mäkelä has already played with the city's Philharmonic Orchestra.

And what he is currently doing with Mahler's first symphony in the Isarphilharmonie almost fulfills the criteria of ideal interpretation.

In 75 percent of Mahler performances, the conductors talk about themselves and their feelings, Mäkelä tells of the emotion of the piece with the Philharmoniker, who follow soft as wax and enthusiastically.

The first movement, taken rather cautiously, is pure chamber music apart from the big breakthrough.

The trio of the second unfolds quite naturally and still allows all the subtleties to shimmer.

In the third, magic moments succeed with the change of atmosphere.

And the finale is never empty unleashing, but a gigantic, cleverly argued sound speech.

How does the man do it?

Mäkelä probably couldn't do anything other than music.

Father cellist, mother pianist, grandfather violinist and violist.

At twelve, little Klaus sang in the choir of the Finnish National Opera, then came cello studies.

Jorma Panula, one of the most legendary conducting teachers, took Mäkelä under his wing.

Where other colleagues were still slowly making their way into their careers, Mäkelä already had impressive practice to show.

And as calm and early as he now (not only) stands in front of the Philharmoniker, one thinks to oneself: Mäkelä must have somehow missed the puppy phase or that of the young wild one.

Collegiality also towards Lisa Batiashvili.

In Shostakovich's first violin concerto, which this soloist performs as if from a single, powerful breathing arc, full of energy, as a play of pale colors and with immense virtuosity, there is a happy symbiosis - in which the Philharmonic is only too happy to participate.

Batiashvili never makes music pleasingly, sometimes hard on the noisy, but always with great sound quality.

And as a greeting from home, Mäkelä begins by conducting his compatriot Sauli Zinovjev’s “Batteria”, which premiered in 2017, as a controlled sequence of threatening gestures.

In the footsteps of Mariss Jansons

It is not yet clear which Olympic post Mäkelä will land on.

Just one thing: This twenty-something is no longer just a ministrative, but papable.

Provided the Finn doesn't let himself be sucked dry and exploited by the leaders of the classic market.

There, where quick fame and quick money are more important than continuous, reflected artist developments.

Examples abound.

For example Lionel Bringuier, born in Nice in 1986, who suffered a kind of Icarus fate after a brief stint as head of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra.

Or Daniel Harding, born in Oxford in 1975, who has remained in the upper midfield for a long time after a steep climb promoted by Claudio Abbado.

"You have to be careful not to burn the candle too early," Mäkelä recently said in an interview with NDR.

So he knows about the dangers.

And it also determines which career he is currently tracing with his chief post: The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra was once led by Mariss Jansons into the international top group - before the maestro, who died in 2019, secured the throne in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw after a trip to the USA.