Conductor and composer Leif Segerstam, one of classical music’s most colourful yet supremely talented personalities, has died at the age of 80.
For those with a love of statistics, the flamboyantly bearded Finn will be forever celebrated as the composer of a world-record number of symphonies: an astonishing 371 in total. Though many have yet to be performed, a number of them – particularly the earlier ones and a clutch in the late 200s – have been recorded for the BIS label, not least his hypnotic and eerily unsettling No. 16 ‘Thoughts at the Border’ in 1990. On top of these, he also found time to compose shorter orchestral works, concertos and chamber music.
To concentrate solely on Segerstam’s record-breaking symphonic writing, however, would come at the expense of a proper appreciation of his achievements as a conductor. Initially trained as a violinist and pianist, he went on to study at both the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Juilliard School in New York, making his debut in 1963. Early positions included that of conductor of Stockholm’s Royal Opera before, in 1995, Leif Segerstam was appointed chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, a post in which he enjoyed great success for 12 years, subsequently being named as chief conductor emeritus.
Acclaimed Sibelius… and more
It was with the Helsinki Philharmonic that Segerstam made some of his most distinguished recordings. These included the complete symphonies of Sibelius plus, in 2006, the same composer’s Luonnotar and Orchestral Songs which, featuring the soprano Soile Isokoski, went on to win the following year’s BBC Music Magazine Disc of the Year.
Brahms and Rautavaara were among the other composers whom Segerstam recorded with distinction, while 1997’s Earquake, comprised of works specifically selected for pushing an orchestra’s volume button to the max, neatly encapsulated his no-holds-barred character on the podium.
Segerstam also held prestigious posts at Savonlinna Opera and the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, was in great demand as a guest conductor and, as a professor at the Sibelius Academy, counted fellow Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki among his many distinguished students.