Paavo Berglund

Paavo Allan Engelbert Berglund (April 14, 1929) is a Finnish conductor.

Born in Helsinki, Berglund studied the violin as a child, and played an instrument made by his grandfather. By age 15, he had decided on music as his career, and by 18 was playing in restaurants. He joined the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Finnish RSO) in 1949, unique among the instrumentalists in being accommodated for seating to account for the fact that he is left-handed.

Berglund's conducting career began in 1949, when he founded his own chamber orchestra. In 1952, Berglund co-founded the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra (partly inspired by the Boyd Neel Orchestra). In 1956, he was appointed Associate Conductor of the Finnish RSO, and served as chief conductor of the Finnish RSO from 1962 to 1972. Berglund became music director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 1975 and held the post for 4 seasons. Berglund attained notoriety as a conducting "dictator" due to his ruthless rehearsals and dedication to musical perfection. In the UK, Berglund led Sibelius centenary concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1965, and became their principal conductor in 1972, concluding his tenure in Bournemouth in 1979. Berglund is also a member of the Russian National Orchestra's conductor collegium.

Berglund is particularly associated with the music of Sibelius, and has recorded the complete Sibelius symphonies three times. During the mid 1950s, Sibelius heard Berglund conduct some of the symphonies and the Suite Rakastava, and told Berglund how much he had enjoyed the performances. Berglund made the first recording of the Kullervo Symphony. Berglund's source-critical research on the Sibelius Seventh Symphony began in 1957, when he conducted the Seventh with the Helsinki Philharmonic, and noticed that they played from parts that Sibelius had corrected. He saw that the printed parts had numerous errors. His subsequent research led to the publication of a new edition of the symphony by Hansen in 1980. He has now recorded the work four times.

In an interview in 1998 with the London Sunday Times, Berglund spoke of his interpretative ideas on the music of Sibelius:

"'Sibelius's music is often ruined because it's too strictly accurate. I think maybe musicians like to play like this' he makes a series of downward vertical gestures 'but it's good to do it like this' his hands, one above the other, oscillate gently in and out of vertical alignment. 'Accuracy against atmosphere: it's not that simple. The early Sibelius conductor Georg Schneevoigt once complained that he couldn't get the details out of Sibelius's scores. Sibelius said that he should simply swim in the gravy.'"

Other conductors highly regard Berglund as an authority on Sibelius, such as Sir Simon Rattle.

Berglund has also recorded works of Aulis Sallinen. He has also collaborated with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in recordings of the complete symphonies of Jean Sibelius and Johannes Brahms.

Berglund's made his New York debut in 1978 with the American Symphony Orchestra at the Carnegie Hall, in a concert of Shostakovich and Sibelius. Since the 1990s he has become a regular guest conductor in the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra.

Awards:
Berglund was nominated for a Grammy and has won a Diapason d'Or.

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