19 DECEMBER WEDNESDAY SERIES 6

Transcription

1 19 DECEMBER WEDNESDAY SERIES 6 Helsinki Music Centre at 7 pm BARTÓK FESTIVAL ANDRÁS SCHIFF Sakari Oramo, conductor András Schiff, piano Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 1 in A Major Sz min I Allegro moderato Allegro Allegro moderato II Andante Allegro III Allegro molto INTERVAL 20 min Béla Bartók: Dance Suite Sz min I Moderato II Allegro molto III Allegro vivace IV Molto tranquillo V Comodo VI Finale (Allegro) Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 in E Major Sz min I Allegretto II Adagio religioso Poco più mosso Tempo 1 III Allegro vivace Interval at about 7.35 pm. The concert ends at about 8.50 pm. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and the Internet at yle.fi/rso. 1

2 BÉLA BARTÓK ( ): PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 For Bartók, then in his forties, the decade that followed the end of the First World War afforded the prospect of an international career, not only as a composer but almost even more as a concert pianist. It also meant a burning need for him to update his repertoire. The only work he had so far written for piano and orchestra was the early Rhapsody, and even that was a transcription of a work originally scored for solo piano. Nor had he composed anything for piano only for six years. But the year 1926 heralded the birth of a whole family of works for the piano: a Sonata, the suites Out of Doors and 9 Little Pieces for Piano, and the first Mikrokosmos pieces. And at last, between August and November 1926, the first Piano Concerto, for his own specific use. Bartók was the soloist in the premiere in Frankfurt on 1 July 1927 with Wilhelm Furtwangler conducting and he soon gave several more performances in a few European capitals and during his first US tour. At least Bartók cannot be accused of trying to woo his audience. The world of the first Piano Concerto is almost frighteningly harsh, with its hacking rhythms and brutal dissonances. Not a suggestion is there of the broad melodies so loved by piano concerto composers of the Romantic era; all in all the melodic element is reduced to simple but heftily harmonised diatonic fragments. The colour scale is deliberately black-and-white; the Baroque-like rhythmic motor is driven along by dense polyphony in both the piano and the orchestra. The first movement nevertheless observes the formal construction of a classical sonata Allegro and, despite all the chromatics, clearly gravitates towards E minor as its tonal centre. The Andante is, in typical Bartók manner, symmetrical in form. The outer sections with their hint of some oriental ritual are devoted exclusively to the piano and percussion; these are joined in the middle section, a ghostly Ländler, by woodwinds. Robust trombone glissandos lead the Andante straight into the finale (Allegro molto), the motifs of which are related to those in the first movement, though not to such an extent as in the second Piano Concerto. A hint of buffa may perhaps be detected in the wind statements of the finale, and the work ends surprisingly, admittedly, and with little fuss on an E major chord. Lotta Emanuelsson (abridged) BÉLA BARTÓK: DANCE SUITE In some of his works, it is impossible to draw a line between Bartók the composer and Bartók the folk music collector and researcher. In his Dance Suite Sz. 77 the folk elements merge with his personal idiom. Folk music was, for Bartók, fundamentally a form of antinationalist culture, and embedded in his Dance 2

3 Suite are some Arabic, Romanian, Hungarian and Wallachian melodies. In Western Europe it cemented his reputation as one of the most promising names on the contemporary music scene. The first dance (Moderato) has a modernist air to it in the bassoons, described by Bartók as quite Arabic. The leisurely, clopping rhythms and grotesque undercurrent banish all thoughts of pretty folk tunes. At the end, the mood becomes delicately idyllic. The second dance (Allegro molto) is, with its irregular rhythms, faster and more flamboyant in its trombone glissandos and minor trumpet thirds. After a blustering opening section reminiscent of the chase in The Miraculous Mandarin the piece blossoms out again in a melodic bridge passage. The third dance (Allegro vivace) with its Romanian and Hungarian bagpipe rhythms comes bustling along in the woodwinds and then in a full, orchestrated version. The fourth dance (Molto tranquillo) is a characteristic Bartók Nocturne: a peaceful but mysteriously sighing landscape entered by woodwinds flitting by, one by one, before existing in the reverse order. The last two pieces are closely connected. They gather strength in an ominous throb from which the finale Allegro shoots off at full speed. Motifs from the earlier quick movements dash pass in a wild cavalcade that catches its breath for only a moment before the final sprint. Antti Häyrynen (abridged) BÉLA BARTÓK: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3 On 21 September 1945, Bartók wrote the Hungarian word vége, meaning end under the last bar line of his third Piano Concerto. The work was not, however, quite finished: the last 17 bars, which his son Péter had already marked out for him, still waited to be filled. Bartók no longer had the strength to fill them and was taken to hospital the following day. And there he died of leukaemia on 26 September, at the age of 64. The last 17 bars were orchestrated by a pupil of his, Tibor Serly, according to his sketches. The third Piano Concerto occupied a very special place in Bartók s output. It was intended as a birthday present and legacy for his wife Ditta Pásztory-Bartók. She would be 42 on the last day of October five weeks too late for her husband. The slow movement of the Concerto bears the tempo marking Adagio religioso; this was the only time in his life that Bartók, who made no secret of his atheistic convictions, ever used it (though Serly did borrow it as the tempo marking for the middle movement of the Viola Concerto he was completing on Bartók s behalf). The marking probably alluded more to the choralelike character of the movement than to any religious thoughts. The expressive monologue in the middle section of the Adagio suddenly gives way to a nocturnal scene with birds singing and insects buzzing Bartók here took his leave of the Nocturne-type of compo- 3

4 sition he had adopted a couple of decades earlier with the Out of Doors suite. The Allegro vivace finale in 3/8 time follows the Adagio without a break. The swinging, folk song-like main theme comes round and round like a Rondo, interspersed with cleverly-crafted counterpoint. At no point in the spirited finale would one ever guess that the composer was virtually drained of his physical and mental resources. The third Piano Concerto was premiered in Philadelphia with Eugene Ormandy conducting on 8 February The soloist was not, however, Ditta Pásztory but Bartók s friend and pupil György Sándor one of the very few mourners to attend his funeral. Ditta Pásztory returned to Budapest that year and remained there until her death in Lotta Emanuelsson (abridged) SAKARI ORAMO Sakari Oramo is Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Chief Conductor Designate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra a post he will take up in autumn He is also conductor of West Coast Kokkola Opera in Finland and Artistic Director Designate of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. He was Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra , and since then has been the orchestra s Honorary Conductor. In spring 2008 he resigned from his 10- year term as Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Mr Oramo has conducted many of the world s leading orchestras, such as the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco Symphonies, the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Dresden. His engagements in the 2012/13 season include appearances with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. He will also tour to the United States with the Stockholm Philharmonic. During Mr Oramo s term as its Chief Conductor, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra released discs of works by Bartók, Hakola, Saariaho, Kaipainen, Kokkonen and others, and the premier recording of Launis s opera Aslak Hetta. Their CD of Magnus Lindberg s Clarinet Concerto won a BBC Music Magazine Award in 2006, and that of the Lindberg and Sibelius Violin Concertos with Lisa Batiashvili as the soloist (Sony BMG) a MIDEM Classical Award in Mr Oramo has also recorded the opera Döbeln by Sebastian Fagerlund with West Coast Kokkola Opera and released many discs with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Stockholm Philharmonic. Sakari Oramo received an Honorary Doctorate in 2004 from the University of Central England in Birmingham. In 2008 he was awarded the prestigious Elgar Medal in recognition of his work to further the reputation of Elgar and his music, and in 2009 he was honou- 4

5 red with a British OBE for his services to British music. In December 2010 the Finnish President awarded him the prestigious Pro Finlandia medal. ANDRÁS SCHIFF András Schiff was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1953 and started piano lessons at the age of five with Elisabeth Vadász. Subsequently he continued his musical studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy with Professor Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados, and in London with George Malcolm. Recitals and special cycles, i.e. the major keyboard works of J.S. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Bartók are an important item in his concert schedule. Since 2004 he has performed complete cycles of the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas in 20 cities. Mr Schiff has worked with major international orchestras and conductors the world over, nowadays often as a conductor. In 1999 he created his own chamber orchestra, the Cappella Andrea Barca, which consists of international soloists, chamber musicians and friends. He regularly collaborates with the London Philharmonia and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Since childhood, Mr Schiff has enjoyed playing chamber music and from 1989 until 1998 was Artistic Director of the internationally-acclaimed Mondsee chamber music festival near Salzburg. In 1995, together with Heinz Holliger, he founded the Ittingen Whitsun Concerts in Switzerland. In 1998 he launched a similar series at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. András Schiff has been awarded numerous international prizes, the most recent being the Golden Mozart Medal by the International Stiftung Mozarteum. This year he was also made a Member of Honour of the Vienna Konzerthaus. He has been made an Honorary Member of the Beethoven House in Bonn in recognition of his interpretations of Beethoven s works, and in 2008 he was awarded the Wigmore Hall Medal in appreciation of 30 years of music-making there. For his recording Geistervariationen with works by Robert Schumann he this year received an International Classical Music Award. In early 2012 Mr Schiff publically opposed the ongoing political trends in Hungary and announced he would not perform again in his native country. 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. Its Chief Conductor as of autumn 2013 will be Hannu Lintu, following a season (2012/2013) as the orchestra s Principal Guest Conductor. 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. Its previous Chief Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. 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 2012/2013 season it will premiere six works commissioned by yle. The FRSO has recorded works by 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 major distinctions, such as the BBC Music Magazine Award and the Académie Charles Cros Award. The disc of the Sibelius and Lindberg Violin Concertos (Sony BMG) with Lisa Batiashvili as the soloist received the MIDEM Classical Award in 2008, in which year the New York Times chose the other Lindberg disc as its Record of the Year. The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of the world. During the 2012/2013 season it will be heading for Eastern Finland and Southern Europe. All the FRSO concerts both in Finland and abroad are broadcast, usually live, on yle Radio 1. They can also be heard and watched with excellent live stream quality on the FRSO website (yle.fi/rso). 6