In Saturday’s (5/7) Cincinnati Enquirer, Janelle Gelfand writes, “ ‘They tell me that I brought the orchestra to a different level,’ said Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Paavo Järvi, after a farewell luncheon with musicians at Music Hall on Wednesday. ‘Well, they brought me to a different level. I learned more from them than they probably learned from me.’ Järvi was reflecting on his decade as music director of the nation’s fifth-oldest orchestra. That his era will end next weekend is ‘not a reality yet.’ He is leaving to take on new challenges with the Orchestre de Paris. ‘I feel very sad in one way. It’s like leaving your family,’ said the 48-year-old Estonian-American conductor. … Järvi arrived in 2001 to take his first major American post at age 38. … He and the musicians had ‘chemistry’ from the first note. He’s not sure why. ‘If I could explain it, I could manufacture it somewhere else,’ he said. ‘But you always know when it exists and when it doesn’t exist. The personalities match. Something feels natural or makes sense.’ … Of his 17 albums with the CSO, the Grammy-winning conductor especially likes the pairing of Sibelius and Tubin symphonies—the first time a Tubin symphony was recorded by major American orchestra.”

Posted May 10, 2011