Minnesota Orchestra

“This is a thoroughly compelling account of Sibelius’ enigmatic Fourth Symphony. Vänskä is one of the greatest living Sibelius conductors and knows how to bring out the despair at the heart of this spare, icy, almost rebarbative masterpiece. The Minnesotans, recorded in brilliantly clear acoustics, rise to the challenge, with growling basses and plaintive horns.” (Paul Gent, The Telegraph, April 2013)

"So how do Nos 2 and 5 compare with their Lahti equivalents? They are every bit as compelling and intelligently realised...Minnesota’s has the added bonus of superlative sound and much rethought detail… with irresistible forward momentum..." (Gramophone, May 2012)

“The sheer polish of the Minnesotans is a source of pleasure” (Financial Times, February 2012)

"From a technical standpoint, the Minnesota Orchestra is one of the finest in the country. The strings are bright but with plenty of body, and the winds and brass have one of the most pleasing blends of any American orchestra – including an impressive horn section that was particularly outstanding in the opening work and Nielsen’s third movement. With Vänskä on the podium, the Minnesotans are presenting some of the most characterful and thoughtful music-making on the continent." (Classical Source, October 2011)

"Mr. Vanska has the Minnesota Orchestra sounding like one of America’s finest." (The New York Times, October 2011)

"Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra offered an astoundingly forceful, never-to-be-forgotten account of Sibelius’s Kullervo Symphony. Even the memory of it brings tears to my eyes. What secret of musical emotion does Vänskä possess?" (Alex Ross, The New Yorker, December 2010)

“Here he returns to Bruckner with a superb account of the Fourth remarkable, as one has learned to expect from Vänskä, for unusual textural clarity and the sense that he has come to the music from the inside, bringing it alive through unrelenting attention to detail and unsentimentally brisk tempi. If this release signals the beginning of a Bruckner cycle on BIS, we shall all be the better off for it.” (Finnish Music Quarterly, October 2010)

“This is an excellent performance. The horn section is splendid, especially in the fanfares of the Scherzo with its echoes of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. And the violas phrase their long solos beautifully.” (Classic FM, September 2010)

“Such muted and seductively blended sounds as Osmo Vänskä now drew from Samuel Barber’s re-imagining of Shelley – Music for a scene from Shelley – in this the first of their two Proms shows just how far they have travelled since Vänskä became their Music Director in 2003.” (The Independent, August 2010)

“This was the best orchestral performance of the International Festival so far. --- Nothing could have prepared us for his super-refined performance of the Seventh Symphony. --- This was Beethoven revisited in a way that paired away the excesses of posthumous convention, and saw great music in a fresh and honest light.” (The Scotsman, September 2010)

“One of few American orchestras touring Europe this summer, the Minnesotans are among the world’s most cultivated bands. And under Vänskä, who has more to say about Beethoven than most conductors today, their Beethoven Ninth was everything one hopes for but seldom hears in this towering masterpiece.” (Sunday Telegraph, September 2010)

“...the ensemble sounded fantastic...From the sweeping opening melody of the Introduction, the playing was detailed and intensely expressive, carrying the listener along in this epic.” (The New York Times)

"...the Minnesotans...delivered a performance of uncanny, wrenching power, the kind you hear once or twice a decade." (The New Yorker)