Susanna Mälkki... channeled her Saariaho expertise through the Met players.
“Susanna Mälkki, who conducted the premiere of “Innocence” at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France, channeled her Saariaho expertise through the Met players, unafraid of an initial quiet that, with fresh narrative twists, gave way to the unsettling alarm of downwardly sliding strings and shocking eruptions from the full ensemble.”
“Under Susanna Mälkki, closely associated with the score since its first performances, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra maintained a finely calibrated balance, allowing the score’s intricate layering to register clearly while preserving its essential ambiguity.”
“Conductor Susanna Mälkki, one of Saariaho’s most authoritative interpreters, also connects this run to the original performances. The effect of the story and music is quietly roiling, at times disturbing yet ultimately transforming.
[…]
Heard for the first time, the prologue seemed hesitant at first, the orchestra seeming to not want to play with too much force, but they quickly grew assured under Mälkki’s always-clear leadership.”
“The entire ensemble worked together seamlessly to create an experience that I won’t soon forget.
The same goes for the Met Opera Orchestra under Susanna Mälkki, who managed a delicate balance between stage and pit. I was particularly locked into the tonal shifts and balances across the ensemble with every piece feeling part of the larger fabric and yet disconnected from it in different moments.”
“Last Saturday morning’s performance was followed by a standing ovation lasting several minutes for the performers and for Susanna Mälkki, who conducts the orchestra with determination.”
“And the composer’s friend and champion Susanna Mälkki conducts a superb cast and nimble orchestra, making all the complexity crystalline.”
“From the first notes of music, tautly led by Maestro Mälkki, rumbling and difficult to absorb, we were filled with portents of what was ahead. It soared from there, with urgency and the inability of those involved to understand what was happening.”
“Susanna Mälkki was the sensitive conductor.”