When the Minnesota Orchestra appointed Osmo Vänskä as its new music director, there were approving nods from orchestras around the world, and many murmurs to the effect that the famously stoic and hard-working Finn might just nudge the Minneapolis-based ensemble closer to the top of the American orchestral heap. But no one in Minnesota seems to be interested in nudging. In fact, in only Vänskä’s first season, the orchestra is recording a complete Beethoven cycle, paying a visit to New York’s famously skeptical critics, and embarking on an ambitious 20-day tour of European musical capitals. Andrew Clark sees a distinct strategy in play: “a concerted push for promotion to the orchestral super league.”