30 January THURSDAY SERIES 6 Helsinki Music Centre at 19.00 Olli Mustonen, piano Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Op. 29 17 min (From Old Notebooks) I Allegro molto sostenuto II Andante assai III Allegro con brio, ma non leggiero Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14 18 min I Allegro ma non troppo II Scherzo (Allegro marcato) III Andante IV Vivace INTERVAL 20 min Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 9 in C major, Op. 103 I Allegretto II Allegro strepitoso III Andante tranquillo IV Allegro con brio, ma non troppo presto Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82 I Allegro moderato II Allegretto III Tempo di valzer lentissimo IV Vivace 24 min 28 min Interval at about 19.50. The concert ends at about 21.10. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and the Internet (yle.fi/klassinen). 1
The Thursday concert series in the FRSO s spring 2014 season begins in an unusual manner with a solo piano recital by Olli Mustonen. The Orchestra has just returned from a tour of Central Europe and has not therefore had time to rehearse and give another concert this week. Over the next few years, the FRSO under Hannu Lintu will be performing and recording all five Piano Concertos by Sergei Prokofiev; tonight s recital therefore paves the way for this major project. I wish you all a rewarding evening and hope it adds fresh variety to our symphony concert series. Tuula Sarotie, General Manager SERGEI PROKOFIEV (1891 1953): PIANO SONATAS 2, 4, 6 & 9 The nine Piano Sonatas by Sergei Prokofiev have been performed more than any other set of their kind in 20th century music. They represent the lasting core of his output and Prokofiev the composer at his most personal and purest. For they allowed him to express himself more freely than in his more public works: his symphonies, concertos and operas. The Piano Sonatas could be conceived of as a musical autobiography, had there not been a break of over 15 years between the fifth and sixth. The rift is, however, a question of time rather than style. The Sonatas provide a full portrait of the various aspects of Prokofiev s music, which he himself crystallised as falling into five lines or categories: classical, modern, toccata, lyrical and grotesque. PIANO SONATA NO. 2 IN D MINOR, OP. 14 Prokofiev wrote his first two Piano Sonatas during the ten-year period (1904 1914) he spent studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and chafing at what he felt to be the outdated tuition. Despite being separated from the first by only three years, the second shows that a profound shift in musical worldview has taken place. No. 1 (1907 1909) still has much of the Romanticism of the early Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, whereas by No. 2 (1912), the young composer, still only 21 years old, has already arrived at his very own world of artistic invention. The first movement of the second Sonata has contrasts both within the first theme and between the opening and the more melancholy second themes. The second movement is a whirling Scherzo, a reworking of an exercise he had written as a student exercise. The slow movement is one of the most intense of Prokofiev s early years. To begin with it is full of folk-song-like simplicity, but it then becomes gradually more chromatic and more agonised. The finale speeds along to a 6/8 Tarantella beat that gives way in 2
the second theme to a steady tread. A flashback to the lyrical second theme of the opening movement heralds in the development that gives the movement a capricious, burlesque touch. PIANO SONATA NO. 4 IN C MINOR, OP. 29 The third and fourth Piano Sonatas were composed in quick succession in 1917 and share the same subheading From Old Notebooks. This refers to the student exercises of 1907 1908 of which they are reworkings. In texture, the fourth tends to inhabit the piano s low registers more than the other Sonatas, especially in the first two movements, and this creates a fuller, softer and even more romanticsounding but at the same time more reserved impression. The softer sound of the fourth Sonata is already marked in the opening movement. For a first movement, it is more restrained than usual, and the contrast between its themes is not so marked as in the other Sonatas. The slow middle movement is the emotional heart of the Sonata. It rises from the depths of the low register but the flowing semiquavers give it a more pianistic and at the same time more poetically romantic air. The nimble, lively finale is a clear contrast to the deeper, richer tones of the first two movements. Yet it also has a lyrical element of its own. PIANO SONATA NO. 6 IN A MAJOR, OP. 82 Sixteen years were to pass after the fifth Sonata before Prokofiev began planning another one, but the result was then three (Nos. 6, 7 & 8) between 1939 and 1944. These three are usually known as the War Sonatas. The opening of No. 6 (1940) casts the listener headlong into a frenzied drama without any warning. The opening signal is sharpened by the majorminor tension and the tritone or diabolus in musica ( the devil in music ) in the bass. The intermezzo-like scherzo that follows the flaming intensity of the first movement brings a little relief with its combination of naïve humour, lively piano textures and romantic expansiveness. The flight from the heat of the first movement continues in the third in a wave of nostalgia, a slow, sentimental waltz evocative of the ballet Romeo and Juliet. Reality returns in all its fury in the finale, after the two peaceful middle movements. There is a momentary glimpse of a folk-song-like theme in the eddies of the opening theme, towards the end providing a brief, almost unreal breather before the final buildup. PIANO SONATA NO. 9 IN C MAJOR, OP. 103 Sonata No. 9 of 1947 may be regarded as a calm epilogue to the turbulent 3
War Sonatas. Prokofiev was not in good health when he wrote it, and his frailty may be sensed in the Sonata s mostly veiled expression. Unlike most of Prokofiev s opening movements, that of Piano Sonata No. 9 is marked not Allegro but a slightly more moderate Allegretto. The second movement is a quirky, spiky scherzo, as in his other four-movement Piano Sonatas. The slow movement is painted in romantic hues, and twice interrupted by an Allegro in the manner of a Toccata. The finale is customarily quick and lively. It is enriched by a beautiful Andantino section, and all in all it is more tranquil than the finales of Prokofiev s Sonatas in general. The ninth Sonata was not meant to be Prokofiev s last word as a composer of Piano Sonatas. He was already formulating the next two in his mind and reserved the opus numbers 137 and 138 for them. But the mood of the ninth is already one of resignation and acceptance, so a more beautiful end to the set is difficult to imagine. Kimmo Korhonen (abridged) OLLI MUSTONEN Olli Mustonen is a rare combination of pianist, conductor and composer. He began his musical studies in piano, harpsichord and composition at the age of five. Initially learning with Ralf Gothóni, he subsequently studied piano with Eero Heinonen and composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara. His work has taken him to concert halls the world over, to appear both in solo recitals and with the finest orchestras under many of the most celebrated conductors. Engagements in recent seasons have included performances with the London Symphony and the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Over three seasons, he undertook a complete cycle of the Beethoven Piano Concertos as soloist/conductor with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, in a series of concerts which also featured his own orchestral works. As a result, he has been re-invited to Melbourne this season. He was artist-in-residence of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2012/2013 season, appearing at the Helsinki Music Centre in the role of pianist, conductor, composer and artistic advisor. Olli Mustonen s recording catalogue is broad-ranging and distinctive. His release of Preludes by Shostakovich and Alkan received the Edison and Gramophone Awards. His most recent releases include the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Tapiola Sinfonietta, Respighi s Concerto in modo Misolidio with Sakari Oramo and the FRSO, and solo discs of works by Bach, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and others. Olli Mustonen has been the recipient of many prestigious distinctions at home in Finland. 4
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 is Hannu Lintu. 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 FRSO has two Honorary Conductors: 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 2013/2014 season it will premiere six Finnish 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 2013/2014 season it will be visiting Central Europe under the baton of Hannu Lintu. 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 stream quality on yle.fi/klassinen. 5