Antonín Dvořak: Carnival Overture, Op min. Bohuslav Martinů: Piano Concerto No min

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1 Ludovic Morlot, conductor Olli Mustonen, piano Antonín Dvořak: Carnival Overture, Op min Bohuslav Martinů: Piano Concerto No min I Allegro II Andante poco moderato III Moderato Allegro INTERVAL 20 min Antonín Dvořak: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 From the New World 40 min I Adagio Allegro molto II Largo III Scherzo (Molto vivace) IV Allegro con fuoco Interval at about 7.55 pm. The concert ends at about 9 pm. Broadcast live on YLE Radio 1 and the Internet ( 1

2 Antonín Dvořak ( ): Carnival Overture, Op. 92 (1892) Dvořak s career as a composer was slow to take off, for he made a living from playing the viola until he was over 30. By the age of 40 he was already familiar to musical audiences, and by the early 1890s, when he was then in his fifties, he had become famous the world over. Music by him was played all over Europe and America, and his honorary doctorates from Cambridge, Prague and other universities obliged him to note their degree ceremonies and other festive occasions by both attending them and composing music for them. In 1891 Dvořak composed several festive overtures. His original idea was, in keeping with his down-to-earth nature, almost naïve: to express in music the basic issues in human life. The semi-programmatic set of three overtures bore the arrestingly simple title Nature, Life and Love. The first, echoing evening and nocturnal moods, he called In Nature s Realm, and this he dedicated to the University of Cambridge. The second, describing life, he called the Carnival Overture and the address on this was the University of Prague. The third is about love and the less fortunate variety. The title, Othello, more or less says it all. This overture had no dedicatee. The Carnival Overture was to be the most popular of the three, and it has been performed more on its own than with the others. Though understandable, this is a pity, because it means some of the original idea is lost. Dvořak tied the overtures together with a theme that calls to mind the Morning Mood in Grieg s Peer Gynt but that also evokes associations with the pentatonic folk music of Dvořak s native Bohemia. The Carnival begins with a flourish. The lusty, headlong rhythms of the Czech furiant dance dominate the beginning and end, but in between the piece touches on the pantheistic mood that was the theme of the In Nature s Realm overture. The last pages of the score are an inventive contribution to the stock of triumphant, symphonic build-ups, though not without a hint of mockery: Dvořak seems to cock a snook at the stiff formality of the university ceremonies and to suggest a party instead! Bohuslav Martinů ( ): Piano Concerto No. 3 (1948) Martinů s instrument was the violin, but he also composed virtuosic concertos for the piano. Born in the little town of Polička in East Bohemia, he got by as a string player as a young man while busily composing but felt a constant yen to cast his net further afield. In time this drove him to Paris, where he was to spend 17 years. The war then forced him to flee the Nazis. With virtually no money, he wandered round Southern France, Spain and Portugal before being able to board a ship bound for America. For a good ten years he lived in New York, establishing connections with, among others, the Boston Symphony. In the end he returned to Europe and finally settled in Switzerland. Martinů drew ideas from many sources. His early music was described as impressionistic in tone. This in time made way for a new way of thinking looking further back into the past, but a greater clean sweep was to come: his head was filled with echoes of the jazz winging its way from America across to Paris. In the 1930s he developed an interest in pre-classical music. His move to the United States did not lead to a rediscovery of jazz; instead, he composed music serious in mood catalysed by the war. His biggest single influence was Czech folk music. The Piano Concerto No. 3 was premiered in Dallas and the soloist was a fellow Bohemian, Rudolf Firkušný. The first two of the three 2

3 movements open in weighty, dramatic vein. The mood switches between passionate and melancholy. The solo writing is cleverly fashioned; it has a strong romantic streak in the manner of Liszt or Rachmaninov, but it also affords glimpses of a classical approach in the spirit of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Ravel and jazzy strains reminiscent of Gershwin. The presence of Gershwin is felt more strongly in the last movement, which, after a leisurely introduction, takes off fresh and relaxed The Bohemian element begins to dominate, weaving romantic, virtuosic patterns in the final bars. Antonín Dvořak: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 From the New World (1893) From the New World has long been a top favourite with audiences. And it is indeed a captivating symphony of beautiful melodies. In 1892 Dvořak had only been teaching composition at the Prague Conservatory for a year when he received an invitation to accept the post of director of the New York National Conservatory of Music. The ultimate aim was to get music in the United States organised along European lines an idea typical of American cultural policy at the time. The nation was becoming more affluent and could afford to allocate resources to raising the standard of culture. It lacked the people competent to do this and looked to Europe for recruits. Dvořak was persuaded to accept the invitation, though he was aware that the expectations were unrealistic even before his ship docked in New York. The time he spent in America was, however, a success. The facilities were good and he enjoyed being in the New World. But his roots lay deep in the Czech soil, and in three years homesickness got the better of him and he returned to Bohemia. Dvořak wrote many of his greatest works in America. One of them was the symphony From the New World. It was premiered in New York in December 1893 and got excellent reviews. Since he himself had titled it From the New World, people felt authorised to say it used native American materials. Dvořak s intention was, however, merely to indicate where the symphony had been composed. In his enthusiasm for folk music he was unusual in that he understood folklore as being basically an international phenomenon, and he preferably picked out features common to various cultures. The American themes could just as well be Bohemian. Dvořak had long been fascinated by indigenous American culture: he had read Longfellow s The Song of Hiawatha and decided to set it to music. Maybe the E minor symphony is an attempt to do just this? He is known to have thought Hiawatha to be a description of an Indian burial when he was composing the main theme of the slow movement. From the New World is such a cavalcade of evergreen hits that it is not always recognised as a fine fruit of the European symphonic tradition. Listeners should therefore note not only the themes but also the way Dvořak develops them. The drama is flamboyant and sustained. Jouni Kaipainen (abridged) 3

4 Ludovic Morlot French musician Ludovic Morlot is fast establishing a reputation as one of the leading conductors of his generation. Trained as a violinist, he studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London. He is Music Director Designate of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and will assume the full role of Music Director from September 2011, for an initial period of six years. Also in demand elsewhere in North America, he last season conducted the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras and made his debut with the Cincinnati and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras. Last season he also made his debut with the Oslo Philharmonic, the Danish National Radio Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic and toured Germany with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Anne-Sophie Mutter. He also conducted the Ensemble intercontemporain, with which he has a regular relationship. Major recent engagements have included appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Tonhalle and the Stockholm and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestras. Ludovic Morlot has also collaborated with many distinguished soloists. Olli Mustonen In the course of an international career spanning two decades or so, Olli Mustonen has appeared with many of the world s great orchestras and most celebrated conductors. He has also given solo recitals in the major music metropolises London, Vienna, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin but also in little towns in his native Finland, where he has further performed solo repertoire with Finnish orchestras. His name features regularly as the conductor of the main Finnish orchestras and increasingly abroad. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Helsinki Festival Orchestra and was conductor of the Tapiola Sinfonietta Also a composer, Mustonen has, in recent years, had works premiered in various parts of Europe at the rate of a couple a year, and he has a contract with the illustrious German publisher Schott. His discography is both extensive and outstanding and records by him have won many international awards. Olli Mustonen has a longterm recording contract with Ondine both as a pianist and a conductor, and Ondine has released discs of many of his compositions. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO), the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), celebrated its 80th anniversary in autumn Its Chief Conductor is Sakari Oramo, who assumed the post in 2003 after nine years as its conductor. The Radio Orchestra of ten players founded in 1927 grew to a full-size symphony orchestra in the 1960s. Its chief conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Contemporary music is a major item in the repertoire of the FRSO, which each year premieres a number of YLE commissions. All in all the FRSO has so far premiered more than 500 works. Its programme for the 2010/11 season features six world and many Finnish premieres. The FRSO recordings now number over 100, on the Ondine and other labels. One historic gem is the Andante festivo conducted by the composer, Jean Sibelius, at the Helsinki Conservatory (now the Sibelius Academy) Hall. This recording is the only known document of Sibelius in the role of conductor. 4

5 With Sakari Oramo the FRSO has recorded music by Bartók, Hakola, Lindberg, Kaipainen, Kokkonen and others, and the debut disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. Its discs have won many prestigious distinctions, such as Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine awards. Its most recent honour, a MIDEM Classical Award, was for the recording of the Lindberg and Sibelius Violin Concertos with Lisa Batiashvili as the soloist in Another recording of Lindberg s orchestral pieces was selected as the record of the year 2008 by the New York Times. The FRSO has been on major tours all over the world and given more than 300 concerts abroad. It has visited Japan four times. During the 2010/11 season it will be visiting Edinburg, Frankfurt, Zurich and Dortmund. All the FRSO concerts, both in Finland and abroad, can be heard on the FRSO s home channel, YLE Radio 1. They are usually broadcasted live and can also be heard worldwide via the Internet (yle.fi/rso). 5

2 MAY FRIDAY SERIES 13

2 MAY FRIDAY SERIES 13 Helsinki Music Centre at 19 Jakub Hrůša, conductor Sol Gabetta, cello Miloslav Kabeláč: Mystery of Time 27 min Bohuslav Martinů: Cello Concerto No. 1 27 min I Allegro moderato II