15 April FRIDAY SERIES 12

Transcription

1 15 April FRIDAY SERIES 12 Helsinki Music Centre at Hannu Lintu, conductor Li-Wei Qin, cello Qigang Chen: Reflet d un temps disparu 25 min INTERVAL 20 min Gustav Mahler: Symphony No min I Langsam II Nachtmusik III Scherzo IV Nachtmusik V Rondo finale Interval at about The concert ends at about Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and online at yle.fi/rso. 1

2 QIGANG CHEN (b. 1951): REFLET D'UN TEMPS DISPARU Born in Shanghai in 1951, Qigang Chen was prompted to move to the West as a result of not only persecution and curiosity but also of the immense attraction he felt for Western classical music. The son of educated parents, he was subjected to three years of ideological re-education the euphemistic name for a labour camp during the Cultural Revolution. This did not, however, dampen his interest in the Western music he had begun studying as a child, and on his release from the camps he continued his studies despite the great social pressures not to. The death of Chairman Mao in 1976 brought a slight political thaw for China, and along with many reforms, higher education in music once again became available. Chen was one of the few to be admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing the following year. In 1983, he was the first nominee at the national postgraduate contest and thus got the opportunity to go abroad and work for a Master s degree. And that was how he discovered France. In Paris, Chen was assigned to Olivier Messiaen as his teacher in composition. He did have other teachers, too, but for Messiaen, who gave up teaching in 1988, Chen was an exceptional case in that he was ultimately Messiaen s only and last composition student. By that time Chen could manage on his own, however, and was composing for premier-league orchestras and artists. No way is Qigang Cheng simply a disciple of Messiaen, as his main work, Reflet d un temps disparu (Reflection of a Vanished Time, 1996), admirably illustrates. In this cello concerto he combines the ancient Chinese art-music tradition with the shimmering, transparent orchestration he learnt in France and particularly from Messiaen. Cast in a single movement, Reflet d un temps disparu begins with the solo cello, and a melody ornamented with little glissandos. Both the melody and the harmony are governed by a song composed by the fourth-century Chinese musician Huan Yi, though this is not actually stated until nearly nine minutes after the beginning. Preceding it is scurrying, hectic music seasoned with many herbs borrowed straight from French cuisine. Around the middle of the concerto, the cello has a sort of cadenza featuring left-hand pizzicatos in amongst quick, ticking music in the right. Yi s song is repeated before swelling to nothing short of ecstatic heights at the orchestral climax, first on the strings and then the trumpet. In the slow and somewhat sizeable closing section the soloist arrives at a Zen-like peace of mind, and the impression is indeed of something ancient that was thought to have vanished for ever but that returns to reflect that time lost long ago. 2

3 GUSTAV MAHLER ( ): SYMPHONY NO. 7 The fifth, sixth and seventh symphonies of Gustav Mahler are known as the Rückert Symphonies, for they are all carry the aroma of the Kindertotenlieder settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert and the five Rückert Songs. Composed between 1901 and 1905, these symphonies are, however, purely instrumental and a fine demonstration of Mahler s masterly handling of orchestral polyphony. The five-movement seventh symphony is vast not only in length, but also in its unusually large orchestra, requiring such things as 2 piccolos, four flutes in C, one clarinet in E flat and one in A, a bass clarinet, a tenor horn, a mandolin, a guitar, two harps and what was at the time an exceptional battery of percussion instruments. The seventh symphony is in itself a readily accessible work, but in true Mahlerian style, it has enough material for several works and is brimming with references to earlier works by him (which only goes to confuse the sharpeared listener). The opening Langsam allegro starts with a theme presented on the tenor horn, an unusual march that hovers between darkness and light. The first movement, beginning in E minor, may in places evoke strong associations with Wagner. Gloomy cello and brass solos give way to brighter moods as the movement draws to a close. The first Nachtmusik begins with a dialogue between brass and woodwinds, out of which arises a mysterious march motif the theme of which is from Mahler s orchestral song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn. It paints in bright colours from time to time, and is given a deliciously rustic feel by the sound of cowbells. The Scherzo is the most bizarre movement. It begins with some comments from the timpani to which the French horns and woodwinds reply. The muted violins then come in with a macabre waltz motif. The intensity grows as the Scherzo proceeds, enhanced by furious string pizzicatos. Nachtmusik II returns to the twilight zone. Giving it a nocturnal feel all of its own is a mandolin, which does nevertheless now and then also become more impassioned. The rondo-form finale is like a series of fireworks in which Mahler, in eight rondo sections, makes stylistic borrowings from such works as Wagner s Meistersingers and Léhar s The Merry Widow, a tremendous success at its premiere in The finale also refers back to earlier motifs from the symphony; the allegro theme of the first movement returns. With fanfares led by the strings, brass and percussion, the symphony finally builds up to a majestic, jubilant conclusion. Indeed, this symphony really does seem to embrace the whole universe as it was at that time. Programme notes by Osmo Tapio Räihälä translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo 3

4 HANNU LINTU Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra since August 2013, Hannu Lintu previously held the positions of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Helsingborg Symphony and Turku Philharmonic orchestras. Highlights of Lintu s 2015/16 season include appearances with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre national de Lille, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and the Iceland Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Moscow State Symphony and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras. He conducts the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra on tour in Japan in autumn 2015 as part of his complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies with the New Japan Philharmonic and on tour in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck in January 2016 with violinist Leila Josefowicz. Recent engagements have included the Philharmonia, BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Cleveland and St Louis Symphony orchestras; the Houston Symphony, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig and the Orchestre national de Lyon; and debuts with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, the Hallé, and the Detroit Symphony and Minnesota orchestras. In May 2016 Lintu returns to Finnish National Opera to conduct Wagner s Tristan und Isolde, having previously conducted them in Parsifal - directed by Harry Kupfer, Carmen, and Aulis Sallinen s King Lear. Other recent operatic projects include Sallinen s Kullervo at the 2014 Savonlinna Opera Festival and Tannhäuser with Tampere Opera in Lintu has also worked with Estonian National Opera, recording Tauno Pylkkänen s Mare and her son. Hannu Lintu has made several recordings for Ondine, Naxos, Avie and Hyperion. In summer 2015 he recorded Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky s Violin Concertos with Fumiaki Miura and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin for Avex, while other recent recordings feature works by Ligeti, including the Violin Concerto with Benjamin Schmid, and Messiaen s Turangalîla Symphony with Angela Hewitt and Valerie Hartmann-Claverie both for Ondine with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Lintu has received several accolades for his recordings, including a 2011 Grammy nomination for Best Opera CD plus Gramophone Award nominations for his recordings of Enescu s Symphony No.2 with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and the Violin Concertos of Sibelius and Thomas Adès with Augustin Hadelich and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Hannu Lintu studied cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, where he later studied conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in masterclasses with Myung-Whun Chung at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in

5 LI-WEI QUIN Born in Shanghai, Li-Wei moved to Australia at the age of 13, and was there awarded the Young Australian of the Year title in His musical studies later brought him to Europe, to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK, and from there as a pupil of David Takeno to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Second prize in the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition opened up the path to international acclaim, and was soon followed by first prize in the Naumburg Competition in New York in Li-Wei has since appeared with such great orchestras as the Los Angeles and London Philharmonics, the Berlin and Hamburg Radio Symphonies, the BBC and the Sydney Symphony. Other major invitations have included appearances at both the Beijing and the London Olympics. In recital and chamber repertoire, Li- Wei is a regular guest at the Wigmore Hall in London and of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, New York. He has appeared at the BBC Proms, the Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg Festivals and collaborated with musicians such as Vladimir Mendelssohn (viola), Misha Maisky (cello) and David Finckel (cello). Li-Wei has recorded the complete Beethoven cello sonatas and works by Rachmaninoff with pianist Albert Tiu, and the Elgar and Walton cello concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His live 2013 concert with the Shanghai Symphony and Maestro Yu Long has been released by Sony Classical. Li-Wei teaches at the YST Conservatory and is a guest professor at the Shanghai and the Central Conservatory of Music in China. Prior to teaching at the YST Conservatory, he was a Professor of the cello at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He plays a 1780 Joseph Guadagnini cello generously loaned to him by Dr and Mrs Wilson Goh. 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. During the 2015/2016 season it will premiere six Finnish works commissioned by Yle. The programme will also include Piano Concertos by Beethoven and Prokofiev, Symphonies by Schumann and Brahms, and Mendelssohn s oratorio Elijah. Among its guest artists will be pianists Murray Perahia, Nelson Freire and András Schiff, conductors David Zinman, Tugan Sokhiev and Manfred Honeck, soprano Karita Mattila and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. The FRSO has recorded works by Ligeti, Eötvös, Nielsen, 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 the Sibelius and Lindberg Violin Concertos was Gramophone magazine s Editor s Choice in February The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of the world. One of the many highlights of the 2015/2016 season will be tours to Japan and Austria with conductor Hannu Lintu. 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 ( rso), and the majority of them are televised live on the Yle Teema channel. 6