What makes a conductor great? The difference between a 7 and a 9 can beexplained; talent, experience, score knowledge, vision. But you never quiteunderstand the jump from a 9.5 to a 10. It lies in the invisible but audiblevibrations between the musicians and the person in front of them. Wanting toget the best out of yourself for someone, breathing together, being able toplay freely.
The young Fin Klaus Mäkelä (26), who will be the new chief conductor of theConcertgebouw Orchestra from 2027, learned from his former teacher JormaPanula that you create the best starting qualification by also being amusician as a conductor. The examples of his being right are countless. Withthe Concertgebouw Orchestra alone, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons and Jaapvan Zweden were violinists, Van Beinum played violin and piano – and so on.Once active as a conductor, the instrument often disappeared into the box.
But the new generation of conductors takes a different approach. At theRotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, chief Lahav Shani is regularly behind thegrand piano. Klaus Mäkelä could also be heard as a cellist in the Muziekgebouwin Amsterdam on Saturday – surrounded by colleagues from the ConcertgebouwOrchestra.
The set-up of the ‘Café Brahms’ program was simple: chamber music by Brahms ina homely setting. Viola player Michael Gieler (organizer of the concertseries) first allowed the busy Mäkelä to “chill out as at home” on the sofa,while his colleagues played a quartet by the Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen.But home for Mäkelä is no longer just Finland, he said diplomatically, it isalso Oslo, Amsterdam and Paris – where his orchestras are located. A sense ofhome also brings him his new cello by Carlo Tononi from 1720, which he “isstill completely in love with” and who “travels with him on an extra bookedseat”.
Conductor Klaus Mäkelä plays the cello during Café Brahms in the Muziekgebouwaan ‘t IJ. Photo Emelie Schaefer
You then got to know Mäkelä and the Tononi better in Brahms’ _String sextet_in Bes. The cello was not an ideal match for Brahms; a little too subtle andvolatile, but beautifully merging with viola leader Santa Vizine and inelegant dialogues with violinist Tjeerd Top. Nowhere did Mäkelä take the leadin a dominant manner: he was one of the six among the musicians and wasparticularly notable for the melodiousness and eloquence of his solo passages.
Festive Requiem
As conductor, Mäkelä led the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Mozarts this week_Requiem_ and Sibelius’ inscrutable, fascinating Fourth Symphony. Fromdarkness to death: this is how he immediately gave his business card as alover of unorthodox programs.
The Fourth turned out to be a revelation. Even before the first notesounded, you saw – typical of what followed – how Mäkelä mobilized the cellogroup with eye contact for an opening lament at its most plaintive. In anycase: how beautifully the strings hum and bronze under his gracefulleadership. Waltz fragments also benefited from that body language, whileBrucknerian tremors and ominous woodwinds gave the feeling that something wasabout to erupt and at other times the suffering motif from Wagner’s _Parsifal_echoed. In the transitions between passages there was sometimes a burr on theweld, some sighs could be even deeper. But that did not detract from the powerof the journey: a symphonic pilgrimage to the depths of the human soul, whereyou saw how much the orchestra flourishes under Mäkelä.
Mozarts Requiem was then an alienating experience – as if something of lighthad to follow after the darkness of Sibelius. The Nederlands Kamerkoor,prepared by Peter Dijkstra, shone 32 strong in all voice groups; to drool overas a choir lover so well (Lacrimosa, Hostias). In the solo line-up, sopranoSabine Devieilhe and tenor Julian Prégardien, both unearthly good singers,opened the gates to Paradise. But the tempi that Mäkelä chose were soextremely high in almost all parts that there was no question of purificationor introspection. Athletic virtuosity and discipline prevailed here: as ifevery note had to be filled with its own energy. Infernal tongues of firesounded like feasting cherubs. Thus arose one Requiem full of energy andvitality, but (still) without guilt, penance or sorrow.