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On the podium, Salonen projects an aura of crisp, businesslike authority. There is none of Mehta's grandstanding glamour; instead, the conductor he most resembles is his hero Pierre Boulez, guiding his players through the most intricate rhythms with unflappable aplomb. In 1985 Salonen signed an exclusive contract with CBS, now Sony Classical, and since then has issued a steady stream of albums (the best so far: Messiaen's formidable Turangalila-Symphonie and Grieg's Peer Gynt music). Already he is one of the few living maestros who can sell the standard repertoire on the strength of his name alone.
He is a reluctant celebrity, however, more at home in musico-philosophical discussion than in talking about his personal life. Married to the Welsh violinist Jane Price since August 1991, he has a nine-month-old daughter, Ella Aneira, and lives in the elegant west Los Angeles district of Brentwood, as well as in London and Stockholm. His personal style runs toward Scandinavian informality; after a concert, he can't wait to shower, change into a sweater and jeans and kick back with a cold beer. He speaks five languages fluently. These days he uses mostly English and Swedish; it is his Finnish that is growing rusty. "In a way I have lost my national identity," he told a Swedish magazine, "but I knew that would happen."
Such is the price of a fast-paced international career. Salonen already knows the dangers firsthand: while conducting a concert of new music a few years ago with his other orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony, he temporarily blacked out, exhausted, and had to start over. He hopes to avoid being a "jet-lag conductor" by settling professionally in Los Angeles. Next season will be his last in Stockholm. "Being music director of one orchestra is enough," he says. But an added attraction in California is the enterprising Music Center Opera company; he's talking about leading a Boris Godunov there in 1995.
* So, in the best movie tradition, a self-effacing young man from a small, socialized country is being hailed up and down Santa Monica Boulevard by banners welcoming him to his new West Coast home. Call it Mr. Salonen Goes to Hollywood. Or maybe Esa-Pekka Does Disneyland. In four years the orchestra will move from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the Music Center to the $114 million, Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall under construction nearby. Salonen's high-concept dream: "To conduct Bruckner in Walt Disney Hall -- a meeting of Bruckner and Donald Duck. Both were part of my tradition. Both are immortal." And both speak a universal language, even if it isn't Finnish.