Paavo Berglund
Paavo Allan Engelbert Berglund OBE (14 April 1929 – 25 January 2012) was a Finnish conductor and violinist.
[1] Born in Helsinki, Berglund studied the violin as a child, and played an instrument made by his grandfather.
His professional career as a violinist began in 1946, playing the whole summer at the officers' mess (Upseerikasino) in Helsinki.
In a radio interview made of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE in 2002, Berglund explains how he heard the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on their tour in Helsinki with Wilhelm Furtwängler and was very impressed.
Berglund became music director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 1975 and held the post for four seasons.
He was conductor of the mixed voice choir of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki, The Academic Choral Society (Akateeminen Laulu) from 1959–61.
Berglund attained notoriety as a strict orchestral disciplinarian due to his ruthless rehearsals and dedication to musical perfection.
As a conductor Berglund often went beyond the printed score in the music of Jean Sibelius and others to improve on what he believed were weaknesses, especially in orchestration, colour and balance.
He believed in details: "I think we have already had our fill of mushy recordings", Berglund noted in an interview by Finnish Music Quarterly (FMQ) in 1999.
In 1996, he was quoted as saying, "The rise in the standard of Finnish orchestras has been quite incredible...young musicians play so much better than their predecessors did.
[5] He made his New York debut in 1978 with the American Symphony Orchestra at the Carnegie Hall, in a concert of Shostakovich and Sibelius.
Paavo Berglund told in a radio interview for the conductor Atso Almila, made on occasion for the 75th anniversary in 2002 of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, that he had the closest relation and friendship of contemporary Finnish composers to Joonas Kokkonen (1921–1996).
Berglund was also the first conductor in the early years, alongside Jukka-Pekka Saraste, for the Finnish Chamber Orchestra founded in 1990.
The orchestra does not serve as a primary job for anyone, but rather as an instrument to gather top musicians to work together in an exquisite ensemble where art and quality come before routine.
"[11] He collaborated with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in recordings of the complete symphonies of Jean Sibelius[12] and Johannes Brahms.
While other conductors often go for the big effects in Sibelius, Berglund started to love the clarity that could be achieved with an orchestra of about 50 players.
The program included the Brahms Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff as a soloist and Sibelius' Symphony No.
He was survived by his wife, Kirsti; son, Juha; daughters, Liisa Kylmänen and Eeva Berglund; and five grandchildren.
The Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat interviewed the conductor Kurt Masur by telephone from Leipzig on occasion of the passing of Berglund.
The world has lost one of its greatest conductors, and my thoughts are with his wife Kirsti and his family", said Mr Masur.
[citation needed] In 2005, the Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation bought a violin from Mr Berglund, which was built in 1732 by Carlo Bergonzi (1683–1747).
At the same time the performing artist's rights to Berglund's recordings as well as his valuable collection of orchestral sheet music were donated to the foundation.
