FRIDAY SERIES 3

Transcription

1 FRIDAY SERIES 3 Helsinki Music Centre at Markus Stenz, conductor Marko Ylönen, cello Dmitri Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2 in G, Op. 126 I Largo II Allegretto III Allegretto 33 min INTERVAL 20 min Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 in B Flat 1. Introduction (Adagio) Allegro 2. Adagio. Sehr langsam 3. Scherzo. Molto vivace 4. Adagio Allegro moderato 81 min Five students at the Sibelius Academy will be playing with the orchestra tonight under the training scheme between the Sibelius Academy and the FRSO. They are: Kaia Voitka, I violin, Olivia Holladay, II violin, Valerie Albrecht, viola, Anna Westerlund, cello, and Pauli Pappinen, double bass. 1

2 The LATE-NIGHT CHAMBER-MUSIC will follow in the Concert Hall after an interval of about 10 minutes. Those attending are asked to take (unnumbered) seats in the stalls. Late-night chamber music: Laura Vikman, violin Jukka Pohjola, violin Riitta-Liisa Ristiluoma, viola Marko Ylönen, cello Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 9 in E Flat, Op. 117 I Moderato con moto II Adagio III Allegretto IV Adagio V Allegro 27 min Interval at about The concert ends at about 21.40, the late-night chamber music at about B roadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and online at yle.fi/rso. 2

3 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH ( ): CELLO CONCERTO NO. 2 Dmitri Shostakovich composed his second cello concerto towards the end of his life, by which time his earthly tyrants had been joined by another, even mightier one: Death. Since his first cello concerto (1959) and his revolution-themed 12th symphony (1961), he had struck out in a new direction with his Babi Yar symphony of 1962 addressing such themes as the fates of Jews and women in Russia, viewing them through the poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko. The symphony invoked the wrath of Nikita Khrushchev and put an end to the interim lull in hostilities between the composer and the Soviet regime. The solo cello begins the first movement with a chromatic, introverted meditation over which the orchestra then casts even deeper shadows. This sets in motion a polyphonic weave that gets tenser as it stretches upwards. Its thoughts continue to roam despondently until a tinkle on the xylophone and suggestions of Klezmer engage in ironic, ghostly dialogue with the cello. The anxious mood culminates in a solo cadenza accompanied by hammering blows on the bass drum, until all that remains is abject reconciliation. The cello also begins the second movement, which the woodwinds build up into a grotesque Jewish dance. The theme is that of an Odessa street song, Bubliki, kupitye, bubliki (Buy My Bread Rolls) for Shostakovich a reminder of the still optimistic 1920s but also a symbol of the centuries of persecution. Comments from the bassoons, French horns and percussions nudge the panicky cello along. The chase leads without a break to a seemingly unreal fanfare proclaimed by horns and side drum. The cello repeats the fanfare motif in its cadenza, which finally dissolves into an elegiac ambience reminiscent of the first movement. Competing with the slow, sentimental theme is a grim dance of death intensified by the winds and percussions. By the time it reaches the end of the finale, it has built up to a furious, desperate reminder of the Jewish theme, now on the full orchestra. The cello then continues it solitary trot to the accompaniment of tapping percussions. The solution remains open some say like a question tossed into the air. Maybe death, cutting short life s ever more tenuous thread? ANTON BRUCKNER ( ): SYMPHONY NO. 5 His fifth symphony was Bruckner s longest to date, and maybe the most challenging of all. The contrasts not just the loud and the soft, but also the sacred and profane, the ceremonial and the intimate, religious and romantic, drama and lyricism, march and funeral march, the Ländler and the chorale (Constantin Floros) are broader and more extreme than ever, and it is 3

4 through them that Bruckner examines the limits of his cosmos. The tension inherent in these contrasts is already evident in the first movement, which begins with a pizzicato introduction. The plucked strings of the second and last movements also give the music a pulse and outline the architecture. The ghostly string motif incorporates the symphony s contrapuntal initiative, which nevertheless crashes into a wall of brass blaring out at full force. Like the first, the slow movement is in sonata form. The pizzicatos generate a restless atmosphere, over which an oboe pipes the lyrical opening theme. Bruckner develops the strings rich, exalted second theme more exhaustively and at the climax raises it to almost brutal brilliance. From then onwards the music sinks back to the initial enigmatic mood. In the main section of the third movement, Bruckner combines a militant scherzo theme with a lusty Ländler waltz ominous tension with a cheerful village dance. The Trio section trips along in archaic pastoral vein. The themes of the first three movements interlock, but the vital piece in the jigsaw is still missing. Bruckner begins the finale as Beethoven did his ninth symphony, by recapitulating the themes of the preceding movements. But whereas his predecessor offered a new tune in their place, Bruckner sets out to solder his together with counterpoint to form a single truth. As in the opening movement, the sudden cuts from majestic peals to an amiable string cantabile or happy dance rhythms may set the listener s head spinning. The first fugue is light and cheerful and makes room for idyllic episodes. The brass announce a solemn chorale theme that, after undergoing development, lays the foundations for the second fugue, beginning in the violas. When the first fugue theme joins in as well, the counterpoint grows into a giant double fugue. The music acquires an even more mammoth dimension in the coda, which thunders out both fugue themes simultaneously along with the main theme of the first movement, thus uniting and epitomising the whole of existence: past, present and future. Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo MARKUS STENZ Markus Stenz is Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and has been appointed Conductor in Residence at the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. His previous positions have included Artistic Director of the Montepulciano Festival and Chief Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Since studying in Cologne and the United States, at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa, Markus Stenz has conducted great orchestras across the world, such as the Berlin and Los Angeles Philharmonics, 4

5 the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras, and the Chicago Symphony. Highlights of this season include appearances with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Hallé, and the Salzburg Mozart Orchestra. Maestro Stenz made his operatic debut at La Fenice in Venice and has since made guest appearances at such prestigious opera houses as La Scala, Milan, English National Opera, Stuttgart Opera, and the Glyndebourne and Salzburg Festivals. He has conducted many Wagner productions in Cologne, among them the Ring tetralogy, Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger and Parsifal. Markus Stenz has recorded all the Mahler symphonies and many works by Schönberg with the Gürzenich Orchestra from Cologne. His disc of Schönberg s Gurrelieder has just received a Gramophone Award. Among the works he has recorded with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra are James MacMillan s St. Luke Passion and Karl Amadeus Hartmann s Simplicius, Simplicissimus. MARKO YLÖNEN Winner of the first prize in the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the second prize in the Nordic Cello Competition, a finalist in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition and the Turku Cello Competition, Marko Ylönen is one of the best-known Finnish cellists and chamber musicians. Soloist with such orchestras as the Camerata Salzburg, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Marko Ylönen has also given solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, New York and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. He has been principal cellist of the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the Korsholm Music Festival in 2003, 2008 and , and of Luosto Classic In addition to other Finnish artists, he has performed chamber music with cellists Natalia Gutman and Gary Hoffman, violinist Gerhard Schulz and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and been a member of the New Helsinki Quartet. He is Professor of the cello at the Sibelius Academy and has held masterclasses in Australia, Egypt, the United States and many European countries. In addition to the staple repertoire, Marko Ylönen also performs contemporary music and has premiered works by many Finnish composers. His discography encompasses both new cello concertos and traditional repertoire, on the Ondine, BIS and Finlandia labels. Among his most recent releases are a disc containing two short cello pieces by Sibelius with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo, a CD of the cello concerto by Pēteris Vasks with the Tampere Philharmonic and John Storgårds, and the cello concerto by Joonas Kokkonen with the FRSO and Sakari Oramo. 5

6 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 has been Hannu Lintu. The FRSO has two Honorary Conductors: Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. The Radio Orchestra of ten players founded in 1927 grew to symphony orchestra strength in the 1960s. Hannu Lintu was preceded as Chief Conductor by 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. uring the 2016/2017 season the FRSO will premiere five Finnish works commissioned by Yle and feature such pioneers of Finnish Modernism as Väinö Raitio and Uuno Klami. The programme will also include orchestral works by Stravinsky, symphonies by Mahler and Bruckner, Haydn s The Seasons oratorio and concertos by contemporary composers. Among its guest artists will be soprano Karita Mattila and mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Teodor Currentzis and Gustavo Gimeno, and pianist Daniil Trifonov. The FRSO has recorded works by Mahler, Ligeti, Sibelius, Hakola, Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen and others, and the debut disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. Its discs have reaped some prestigious distinctions, such as the BBC Music Magazine Award, the Académie Charles Cros Award and a MIDEM Classical Award. The disc of Sibelius s Lemminkäinen and Pohjola s Daughter was Gramophone magazine s Critic s Choice in December 2015 and brought the FRSO and Hannu Lintu a Finnish Emma award in the Classical Album category. Music by Sibelius, Prokofiev and Fagerlund will be among the repertoire recorded during the 2016/2017 season. The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of the world. During the 2016/2017 season its schedule will include a tour in Finland, taking in concerts conducted by Hannu Lintu in Suomussalmi, Kajaani, Mikkeli and Kuopio. The home channel of the FRSO is Yle Radio 1, which broadcasts all its concerts, usually live, both in Finland and abroad. Its concerts can also be heard and watched with excellent live stream quality on the FRSO website ( fi/rso), and the majority of them are televised live on the Yle Teema channel. 6