Listening with Intention and Openness

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It’s a Friday afternoon on my end, but for Leslie Suganandarajah, it’s already winding into evening in Austria. The Sri Lankan-born, German-raised Music Director of the Salzburg Landestheater has wrapped up another packed day of rehearsals and meetings, yet he still makes time for our conversation. In just a few weeks, he’ll be at the WSO, stepping onto the podium as guest conductor for Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony.

Interestingly, Music Director Daniel Raiskin first met him nearly 15 years ago in Koblenz, Germany, when Suganandarajah was Raiskin’s assistant conductor at the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie. He chuckles at the memory. “I was very inexperienced back then,” he admits. “Looking back, I sometimes think, ‘How could you have done this? Why did you do this?’ But mistakes are supposed to happen. That’s how you grow.” Now, years later, Raiskin has collaborated with him on a program that feels like a perfect fit.

Take Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony. It doesn’t have the instant name recognition of the Third Symphony (Eroica) or the dramatic punch of the Fifth, but that’s exactly what Suganandarajah loves about it. “I often wish I could hear this piece again for the first time. It starts so softly, like the orchestra is still tuning, and then—bam!—a sudden shift. Beethoven plays with expectations.”

That sense of unpredictability is what he hopes to bring to the performance. “At the time, this music was avant-garde. It shocked people. We have to play it like it’s never been heard before, so the audience feels those surprises, too.” Even after years of studying Beethoven, he still finds new details hidden in the score. “That’s why his music is so precious, it keeps revealing something new.”

But Beethoven is just one of the unique composers highlighted at this upcoming concert. Also on the program is Walter Kaufmann’s Six Indian Miniatures, a piece that invites listeners into an entirely different sound world.

Kaufmann holds a unique place in the WSO’s history as its first music director, leading the ensemble from 1948 to 1957 and shaping its early artistic identity. An Austrian composer of Jewish heritage, Kaufmann fled Nazi-occupied Europe in 1934 and found refuge in Bombay (now Mumbai), where he spent over a decade deeply engaged with Indian music. He studied Hindustani classical traditions, composed extensively for All India Radio, and became one of the earliest Western composers to weave Indian ragas and rhythmic structures into orchestral music.

His Six Indian Miniatures feels like musical postcards—Western classical structure intertwined with Indian melodies and colors. Though compact in length, each movement is rich with character, evoking the fluidity and ornamentation of Indian music while maintaining a distinctly Western orchestral texture. For decades, Kaufmann’s work remained underappreciated, but recent performances have reignited interest in his contributions.

For Suganandarajah, who has a South Asian background, Kaufmann’s fusion of traditions is especially interesting. “A friend of mine once said, ‘In Indian music, you play to forget, but in Western music, you play to remember.’ They approach music so differently. Indian classical musicians improvise, never playing something the same way twice, while Western classical musicians refine and repeat.” Kaufmann’s piece lives in that in-between space, bridging two worlds.

So how should listeners approach this piece? “Just take it all in,” Suganandarajah suggests. “Don’t overanalyze. Let your imagination run. Enjoy the colors.” It’s advice that could apply to the entire concert experience—listening with both intention and openness, allowing the music to surprise and transport you.

For the WSO, playing Kaufmann’s work is a nod to its own history; a tribute to the composer who helped shape the orchestra’s early years. And with Suganandarajah at the podium, that history meets the present in a performance that promises to be as thoughtful as it is exhilarating.

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Avi Bhatt (he/him) is the Communications Specialist for the WSO.