Obituary: Paavo Berglund - Finnish conductor who brought a sense of urgency and thrill to all concerts during his time with SNO

Published on Monday 30 January 2012 00:00

Born: 14 April, 1929, in Helsinki. Died: 25 January, 2012, in Helsinki, aged 82.

PAAVO Berglund was particularly associated with the music of fellow Finn Jean Sibelius, whose symphonies he regularly conducted in the concert hall and often recorded. But he had an international reputation for his interpretation of composers such as Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Tippett and Vaughan Williams.

Berglund was principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in 1972-1979, but became a popular figure in Scotland when he was the principal guest conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra in 1981-1985. He worked in close harmony with the SNO conductor Sir Alexander Gibson and brought a sense of urgency and thrill to all his concerts with the orchestra.

Berglund was respected for his clean, well-balanced and dynamic readings of a score and the conductor Sir Simon Rattle was a great admirer of Berglund’s musicianship. Sir Simon recently said in an interview: “He is one of the great conductors still among us.”

Paavo Allan Englebert Berglund studied the violin from the age of 11 and joined the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1949. The orchestra’s on-stage seating arrangements had to be altered to accommodate his playing the violin with his left hand. Three years later, Berglund was a co-founder and conductor of the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, which was primarily set up to promote Finnish composers and musicians.

By the late Fifties, Berglund was fast gaining a name for his precise conducting and was appointed assistant conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1962. A decade later he was made its principal conductor.

Berglund was strict and fastidious in rehearsal and raised the standard of the orchestra’s playing considerably. Indeed, its reputation became widely recognised after Berglund led the orchestra on celebrated tours of the Soviet Union, Germany and Britain. He made his debut with the BSO in 1965 in a prestigious series of concerts celebrating Sibelius’ centenary. During the series Berglund gave the first performances outside Finland of the composer’s Kullervo Symphony: a work he would later record with the orchestra. He went on to serve as principal conductor of the BSO (1972-79), principal conductor of both the Helsinki Philharmonic (1975-79) and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic (1987-91) .

When Sir Alexander asked Berglund to become principal guest conductor of the SNO in 1981 it was a shrewd choice. Sir Alexander had already built an international reputation for the orchestra’s interpretations of Scandinavian music – notably Sibelius and Carl Nielsen. Berglund’s presence and deep knowledge of their music much enhanced that reputation in his five years with the SNO.

But he is fondly remembered for his inspiring conducting of works by such composers as Grieg, Brahms and Rachmaninov. He brought to a concert an excitement and passion that made his concerts with the SNO particularly memorable. Those who were present, for example, at a heroic concert in Dundee’s Caird Hall that included a blistering account of Shostakovich’s Seventh symphony in the early Eighties will well recall it.

Berglund conducted six Proms (mostly with the BSO) and was also seen on the podium with many of the leading UK orchestras. These included the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham and the BBC Symphony orchestras as well as conducting in America and with the Berlin Philharmonic.

But it was the intensity that Berglund brought to Sibelius that made his interpretations special. He always conducted the Sixth and Seventh symphonies without a break, thus maximising the sense of drama.

Berglund made three highly praised recordings of the Sibelius symphonies – those with the BSO are particularly favoured by critics. His gripping reading of the little known Kullervo Symphony captured its wildness and savage nature.

His life-long study of Sibelius made Berglund a leading authority on his music – and he was known, on occasions, to alter some of the markings. In 1998 before a concert in Edinburgh he was asked why the tempi of the recordings of his Sibelius symphonies were at times different. Berglund quickly answered: “I have not given it a thought, or even listened to those recordings. I conduct from the heart.”

He received a Grammy nomination for his recording of the Kullervo Symphony and was awarded the Diapason d’Or for his Nielsen cycle.

Berglund could be an exacting colleague and demanded high standards from his musicians. It was nothing that he did not demand of himself and orchestras respected his comprehensive knowledge and total grasp of the technicalities of the music. Audiences responded to his musical integrity and his elegant control while conducting.

His support of Finnish music was wholehearted and he undoubtedly did much to bring the music of Sibelius and Nielsen to a wider public.

Berglund is survived by his wife, Kirsti, whom he married in 1958, and three children. ALASDAIR STEVEN