FRIDAY SERIES 4

Transcription

1 FRIDAY SERIES 4 Helsinki Music Centre at 19:00 Thomas Adès, conductor Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano Mark Stone, baritone György Kurtág: Ligatura Message-Hommage 3 min à Frances-Marie Uitti (The Answered Unanswered Question), Op. 31b Jean Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela, Op. 22/3 Sanna Niemikunnas, cor anglais 8 min Jean Sibelius: Tapiola, Op min INTERVAL 20 min Thomas Adès: Totentanz 35 min 1

2 The LATE-NIGHT CHAMBER MUSIC will begin in the main Concert Hall after an interval of about 10 minutes. Those attending are asked to take (unnumbered) seats in the stalls. Kyeong Ham, oboe József Hárs, French horn Jouko Laivuori, harpsichord Thomas Adès: Sonata da caccia Op Gravement 2. Gayëment 3. Naïvement 4. Galament 14 min Interval at about The concert will end at about 20.45, the late-night chamber music at about 21:15. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and Yle Areena. A recording of the concert will be shown in the programme RSO Musiikkitalossa (The FRSO at the Helsinki Music Centre) on Yle Teema on and with a repeat on Yle TV 1 on and

3 GYÖRGY KURTÁG (b. 1926): LIGATURA MESSAGE-HOMMAGE À FRANCES-MARIE UITTI (THE ANSWERED UNANSWERED QUESTION), OP. 31B György Kurtág is a Hungarian composer now living in France. He wrote Ligatura Message-Hommage à Frances- Marie Uitti (The Answered Unanswered Question) in 1989 for Frances-Marie Uitti. This American cellist, 70 this year, has done much to develop new performance techniques, one of the bestknown being playing with two bows, one on top of and the other beneath the strings; this means the cellist can play on all four strings simultaneously. It was this idea that prompted György Kurtág to write his piece. The cello part can be played either on one cello with two bows, or on two cellos. The term ligatura refers to a sign or slur used in early musical notation to link consecutive notes, and there are many such slurs in Kurtág s piece. The words ligatura, message and hommage are familiar from many of his works. The Answered Unanswered Question alludes to the short orchestral The Unanswered Question of 1908 by Charles Ives. Whereas in the piece by Ives, the questions are asked many times by a trumpet and answered by flutes, in Kurtág s, slow, simple cello (or two-cello) chords are answered by two violins. The contrast between questions and answers is, however, less marked in Kurtág. In the latter, the violins and cellos play at the same time, but so that their bar lines do not coincide. In the final bars, a celesta joins in, rounding off this enigmatic, introverted and at times almost stagnant miniature lasting only a few minutes. JEAN SIBELIUS ( ): THE SWAN OF TUONELA According to the ancient Finnish tradition and worldview, Tuonela is the abode of the dead. It is known in other languages by names such as Hades or The Underworld, and is mentioned in the Finnish national epic, The Kalevala. In order to reach it, the deceased have to cross the black Tuonela river along which glides a mythical swan. The swan was a sacred bird in the ancient beliefs of the whole Baltic region, and taboo. Anyone who killed it was doomed to die. The orchestral suite Lemminkäinen, Four Legends from the Kalevala by Jean Sibelius was fairly well received when first performed in April 1896, but torn to shreds by the influential critic Karl Flodin when a revised version was heard the following year. Disheartened by the crushing review, Sibelius forbade the performance of two of the movements for years to come. The only movements he spared were The Swan of Tuonela and the closing Lemminkäinen s Return, and the former soon found its way into the repertoire of celebrated conductors. The Swan of Tuonela draws on music that was originally intended by Sibelius 3

4 as the overture for an opera that never really materialised. It was his first great masterpiece and a prime musical example of Finnish symbolism. Sibelius denied being influenced by Wagner, but the exquisite string timbres are inevitably evocative of Lohengrin and its swan motif, and the beautiful cor anglais solo may well call to mind the cor anglais monologue in Act III of Tristan and Isolde. JEAN SIBELIUS ( ): TAPIOLA, OP. 112 The American conductor Walter Damrosch commissioned Jean Sibelius to write Tapiola in early 1926, and it was premiered in New York in December of that year. In Finnish mythology, Tapiola is the realm of the forest god Tapio. At the publisher s request, Sibelius attached to the score a four-line verse as a guide for non-finnish listeners. Although this is not programme music in the way that, for example, the Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss is, the listener has no difficulty entering into the mysterious moods of the age-old Finnish forests. The nucleus running right through Tapiola is a two-bar motif heard right at the beginning. This generates countless subtle variations as the work proceeds, but the emphasis is mainly on moods and timbres. Tapiola represents a new kind of musical drama that, with its slowly transforming textures looks ahead to the modern webs of sound. The impression is spatial rather than temporal, and some pages in the score seem to look ahead to the music of Ligeti in the 1960s. The key to Tapiola is organic metamorphosis. The strings are divided in the most varied of ways, and the webs of sound and the textures seem to grow as if from within, as new voices gradually appear in the harmonies. Tempos are superimposed, and the sense of tonality becomes blurred, creating a magical atmosphere. THOMAS ADÈS (b. 1971): TOTENTANZ War, famine and plague made Death a familiar figure in late-medieval Europe. The Black Death that raged in the 14th century was particularly lethal and sent millions upon millions of people possibly half the population of Europe to their grave in a mere few years. The emotions experienced at that time were captured in the dance-ofdeath paintings popular in the 15th century, images of a skeleton-like Death enticing folk to join in a procession-like dance. The invitation was taken up by Pope and King just as much as by the humblest members of society. All were equal in the face of Death. One of the most famous dance-ofdeath works is the one painted by the German Bernt Notke in the 1460s for the Gothic St. Mary s Church in Lübeck. This nearly 30-metre canvas was replaced in the early 18th century by a copy that was destroyed during an air raid in spring A smaller reproduction made by Notke s studio in the 15th 4

5 century has, however, been preserved and is in St Nicholas Church in Tallinn. Beneath Notke s Dance of Death was an anonymous text which Thomas Adès took as the starting point for his impressive Totentanz (2013). He dedicated his work to the memory of Witold Lutosławski the composer and conducted its premiere at the Proms in London in summer Its reception has been unanimously favourable and it is already regarded as one of its composer s greatest works. From Notke s Dance of Death, Adès chose fifteen characters and composed texts describing them in dialogues between Death (baritone) and others (mezzo-soprano). In keeping with the dance-of- death painting tradition, Adès s Totentanz begins with the highest ranks of society and works downwards. Its vocal approach gives it a cantata-like character, but the handling of the characters has operatic features. Totentanz varies considerably in its styles and modes of expression. It has both Late-Romantic extravagance and a Modernist edginess. In their varying intensity, Adès s melodies may call to mind Berg, and the dazzlingly rich orchestral texture enhances the mood with its at times surrealistically distorted colours. The percussion section is unusually large and compels the characters to join in the dance. Totentanz begins with a fanfare-like gesture. This is followed, in accordance with tradition, by a brief sermon by a preacher before Death makes his appearance. The highest ranks in society Pope, Emperor, Cardinal and King constitute a group of their own and they have no choice but to heed Death s call. The mezzo-soprano s replies range in mood from lyrical to virtually hysterical as the nobles grapple with their fate. The music acquires a new tone and the tempo drops to half when Death addresses the Monk. During their duet, it builds up to a whirling waltz. Next is the turn of the Knight and, in quick succession, various bourgeois figures (Mayor, Doctor, Usurer and Merchant), culminating in a wild orchestral interlude, one of the most frenzied moments in the whole work. In the final section, the Parish Clerk ushers in the lower estates. Death is now easier to accept, and the Peasant is even relieved at the thought of resting in sweet repose after a life of labour and toil. Death also begins to relent a little, and he even expresses a note of melancholy sympathy for the Maiden. The last to join in the dance is a Child, a tender babe who cannot yet walk but nevertheless must dance. The duet for Death and the Child is a sort of Mahlerish Kindertotenlied, and Death seems to be really sorry for what he is about to do. But do it he must, and to the beat of a funeral march the music plods heavily along into the darkness of the night. Programme notes by Kimmo Korhonen translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo THOMAS ADÈS Writing and performing and conducting is fine in artistic terms, says Thomas Adès. I seem to be able to manage all three. But physically it is hard. (The Guardian ) 5

6 Thomas Adès is one of the relatively few in the musical world today who have succeeded in leading three parallel careers: those of composer, pianist and conductor. He is undoubtedly best known as one of the greatest contemporary composers, but performance also means a lot to him. Born in London as the son of a linguist-translator father and an art historian and authority on surrealism mother, Adès studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London and King s College, Cambridge. He also spent several periods studying chamber music with György Kurtág in Hungary and by his early twenties was already making a name for himself. His early breakthrough works included the opera Powder Her Face (1995) and the orchestral Asyla (1997) that won him the coveted Grawemeyer Award. Adès has widely performed works of his own in the role of conductor and pianist, but also a lot of other repertoire. He masterminds insightful programmes creating interesting links and affording new levels of meaning and he has, among others, conducted the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London and Boston Symphonies, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Mariinsky Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern. He has conducted Stravinsky s The Rake s Progress in Zurich and at Covent Garden in London. Thomas Adès has been Britten Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Music Director of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group ( ) and Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival founded by Britten in 1948 ( ). He is the first Artistic Partner to be appointed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, for the period He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2018 Queen s Birthday Honours. CHRISTIANNE STOTIJN Dutch lyric mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn has sung at many of the world s most prestigious venues the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Musikverein, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Mozarteum Salzburg, Carnegie Hall, and the Berlin Philharmonie, to mention just a few, in productions conducted by many celebrated conductors, such as Claudio Abbado, Ivan Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel. The conductor Bernard Haitink has had a profound influence on her career: under his direction she has performed with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw and the Boston, Chicago and London Symphonies. Christianne Stotijn s concert repertoire includes works by Beethoven, Berlioz, Mahler, Henze, Wagner, Berg and others. She has also performed many new works. Spaces of Blank by Michel van der Aa is dedicated to her (and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw), and since its premiere in 2013 she has performed Thomas Adès s Totentanz with the composer conducting numerous times in Europe and the USA. Lied is another prominent genre in Christianne Stotijn s repertoire, often 6

7 with Joseph Breinl or Julius Drake as her accompanist. She has recorded songs by Schubert, Berg, Wolf, Mahler, Strauss and others, and the Tchaikovsky disc she made with Drake won a BBC Music Magazine award. Her disc If the Owl Calls Again of music by various composers was a Gramophone Editor s Choice in Christianne Stotijn has performed opera at Covent Garden, the Aixen-Provence Festival, La Monnaie in Brussels, Stuttgart Opera and elsewhere, singing such roles as Pauline in The Queen of Spades, Isabella in L Italiana in Algeri, Ottavia in L incoronazione di Poppea, Cornelia in Julius Caesar, the title role in Tamerlano, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, and Marfa in Khovanshchina. MARK STONE English baritone Mark Stone is a familiar face on both concert and opera stage. He made his operatic debut in 1998, singing Escamillo in an Opera North production of Carmen, and in the same year was the recipient of the Decca Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. Mark Stone s main operatic venues have been English National Opera (ENO), Opera North and Welsh National Opera in the UK, and Philadelphia Opera in the USA. He has also sung at many of the leading opera houses in Europe (such as Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Montpellier, Geneva and Madrid) and in New Zealand. Best known for his Mozart roles, he has sung the title role in Don Giovanni at, for example, ENO, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in Hamburg and Philadelphia, the Count in The Marriage of Figaro at Welsh National Opera, in Cologne, Tampere, Hamburg and elsewhere. His core operatic repertoire also includes many works by Britten, Donizetti, Handel, Puccini, Richard Strauss and Verdi. His solo engagements with prestigious orchestras have taken Mark Stone to many parts of Europe, the USA and Brazil. He has sung Thomas Adès s Totentanz with the composer conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and in many concert performances of opera. A keen recitalist, he has sung in New York at Carnegie s Weill Hall, at the Wigmore Hall and St John s Smith Square in London, and at the Oxford Lieder Festival. Stone has widely recorded his repertoire and sung in the complete recordings of many operas (such as The Trojans, Billy Budd, La Straniera and Sweeney Todd). In 2008, he established Stone Records to produce his own song discs and has since widened the company s repertoire to include instrumental, choral and orchestral music. 7

8 THE FINNISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission is to produce and promote Finnish musical culture and its Chief Conductor as of autumn 2013 hthe Radio Orchestra of ten players formed in 1927 later grew to symphony orchestra size in the 1960s. Over the years, its Chief Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka- Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. In addition to the great Classical- Romantic masterpieces, the latest contemporary music is a major item in the repertoire of the FRSO, which each year premieres a number of Yle commissions. Another of the orchestra s tasks is to record all Finnish orchestral music for the Yle archive. During the 2018/2019 season, the FRSO will premiere four Finnish works commissioned by Yle. The FRSO has recorded works by Mahler, Ligeti, Eötvös, Sibelius, Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen and others, and the debut disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. Its disc of the Bartók violin concertos with Christian Tetzlaff and conductor Hannu Lintu won a Gramophone Award in 2018, and that of tone poems and songs by Sibelius an International Classical Music Award. It was also Gramophone magazine s Editor s Choice in November 2017 and BBC Music Magazine s Record of the Month in January Its forthcoming albums are of music by Lutosławski, Fagerlund and Beethoven. The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of the world. During the 2018/2019 season its schedule will include a tour of Finland under Hannu Lintu, to Pietarsaari, Kauhajoki, Forssa and Lahti. FRSO concerts are broadcast live on the Yle Areena channel and Yle Radio 1 and recorded on Yle Teema and Yle TV 1. 8