Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Coming on the scene in the 1980s, Jukka-Pekka Saraste was at the forefront of the wave of Scandinavian conductors that has washed across the entire classical music world. He has a broad repertory and range of interests that extend from Mozart to contemporary music of his native Finland.
Saraste was born on April 22, 1956, in Heinola, an industrial town in southern Finland. He took classes in piano and violin at the nearby Lahti Conservatory, and even when he was a preteen, his teachers urged him to consider taking up conducting. He landed a job as a violinist in the Helsinki Philharmonic but took their advice, pursuing conducting studies on the side. When he was 23, the Philharmonic invited him to mount the podium as conductor, and the orchestra's tours of the U.S. in 1982 and China in 1985 brought him new opportunities to conduct. In 1987, Saraste was named the principal conductor of both the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He conducted the former on a U.S. tour that included performances at Carnegie Hall; with the Finnish Radio Symphony, he also broadened his international reputation with tours of Britain, continental Europe, and East Asia. Saraste was named the music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and was credited both with raising the group's international reputation and bringing new audiences to Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall. Saraste left both the Toronto Symphony and Finnish Radio Symphony positions in 2001 and served for several years as a guest conductor of the BBC Symphony. In 2006, he became the music director of the Oslo Philharmonic, remaining there until 2013, and he was named the music director of the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln in Germany in 2010. He stepped down from that post in 2019, and the 2019-2020 season saw him make a foray into opera, conducting Korngold's Die tote Stadt at the Finnish National Opera. Saraste is also the founder of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, which specializes in contemporary music.
Saraste has a large catalog of recordings consisting of nearly 100 items as of 2020. They date back to recordings of 18th century concertos he made with the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra for the BIS label in the mid-1980s. He is especially noted for his recordings of Sibelius with the Toronto Symphony on the Finlandia label; the orchestra had been without a recording contract when he arrived. Saraste has made recordings with all of the orchestras he has headed, appearing on the Simax, Virgin, and Profil labels, among others; for Profil, he recorded a complete cycle of Beethoven's symphonies with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln. In 2020, he backed Alban Gerhardt with the same ensemble in a new recording of the Shostakovich cello concertos on Hyperion.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 - Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Oct 2011
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Profil on 1 Jun 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
LINDBERG, M.: Feria / Corrente II / Arena (Finnish Radio Symphony, Saraste)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Friedrich Cerha: Orchestral Works
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Emilio Pomarico, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by KAIROS on 1 Feb 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lindberg: Kinetics - Marea - Joy
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Avanti Chamber Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Feb 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
DEBUSSY, C.: Premiere rapsodie / TIENSUU, J.: Puro / KAIPAINEN, J.: Carpe diem! (Kriikku)
Kari Kriikku, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Avanti Chamber Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Society of Finnish Composers 50th Anniversary 1995, Vol. 3
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leif Segerstam
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
HAMEENNIEMI, E.: Violin Concerto / Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 (Segerstam, H., Saraste)
Hannele Segerstam, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Violin Concerto in E/Beethoven: Violin Concerto (transcribed for keyboard)
Olli Mustonen, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Symphony in C & Apollon Musagète
Classical - Released by Parlophone UK on 1 Aug 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart - Symphonies
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Parlophone UK on 31 Dec 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
PROKOFIEV, S.: Peter and the Wolf / POULENC, F.: The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant (Pyosti, Finnish Radio Symphony, Saraste)
Lasse Pyosti, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La Mer, Images, Jeux & Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Alban Gerhardt, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 28 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky : Pictures at an Exhibition
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Warner Classics International on 16 Sep 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Danses Concertantes / Pulcinella
Avanti Chamber Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vanhal: Concerto for 2 Bassoons in F Major / 2 Sinfonias
Annika Wallin, Arne Nilsson, Umea Sinfonietta, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Essential Highlights of Karita Mattila
Karita Mattila, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ilmo Ranta, Peter Lerche, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Jean Sibelius
Opera - Released by Ondine on 1 Apr 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky : Pictures at an Exhibition
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Fazer Records - Finlandia on 16 Sep 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky : Pictures at an Exhibition
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Fazer Records - Finlandia on 16 Sep 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Russian Collection
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Fazer Records - Finlandia on 1 Oct 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo