1 APRIL WEDNESDAY SERIES 13 Helsinki Music Centre at 19

François-Xavier Roth, conductor Tabea Zimmermann,

Béla Bartók: Dance Suite Sz. 77 17 min I Moderato II Allegro molto III Allegro vivace IV Molto tranquillo V Comodo VI Allegro

György Kurtág: Movement for Viola and Orchestra 12 min

Béla Bartók: Viola Concerto, Op. posth. Sz. 120 21 min I Moderato II Adagio religioso – Allegretto III Allegro vivace

INTERVAL 20 min

Béla Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion 26 min and Celesta Sz. 106 I Andante tranquillo II Allegro III Adagio IV Allegro molto

Interval at about 20.00. The concert ends at about 21.00. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and online at yle.fi/rso.

1 BÉLA BARTÓK ments flash past in a riotous cavalcade that momentarily calms down to catch (1881–1945): DANCE its breath before the final sprint. SUITE GYÖRGY KURTÁG In some of his works, it is difficult to (B. 1926): MOVEMENT distinguish between Bartók the com- poser and Bartók the folk music re- FOR VIOLA AND searcher. In the Sz. 77 Dance Suite for ORCHESTRA orchestra, the folk music elements, both authentic and fake, blend imper- György Kurtág originally had plans for ceptibly with his very own idiom. The studying composition with Béla Bartók, themes and the instruments begin to but Bartók died in 1945 and he became resemble flora and fauna heeding their a pupil of Sándor Veress, Ferenc Farkas allotted place in the natural order. and Leo Weiner instead, at the Liszt There is a modernistic air to the first Academy in . dance (Moderato) in the bassoons, It was nevertheless from Bartók that which was described by Bartók as hav- Kurtág learnt his “musical vernacular”, ing a definite Arabic inflexion. The and it was Bartók’s Viola Concerto that clanking rhythms and grotesque under- inspired him to compose his Movement current dispel any impression of “artis- for Viola and Orchestra in 1953– tic” folklorism and the mood at the end 1954. He dedicated it to Imre Pataky, is delicately idyllic. The second dance who premiered it with the Railway is quicker, with irregular rhythms, and Symphony Orchestra of Debrecen in also racier with its trombone glissan- 1955, but from then onwards the con- dos and its trumpets in minor thirds. certo fell into oblivion. After a swaggering beginning, the The Movement is an unusual work in dance bursts into melodic flower. The the light of Kurtág’s later compositions third dance, combining Romanian and and an opportunity to hear him work- Hungarian bagpipe rhythms, dashes ing with larger formats. Kurtág wrote it past first in the woodwinds and then in as the opening movement of a concer- the full orchestra. The fourth dance is to that was never continued. It was also a characteristically Bartók nocturne: a intended as a demonstration of what peaceful but mysteriously sighing land- he had learnt at the Liszt Academy, scape across which the woodwinds flit which is why, according to Kurtág, it re- one at a time like rare night birds be- flects the influence of not only Bartók fore fluttering off in the reverse order. but Haydn and Brahms as well. The last two dances are closely con- The Movement begins with an or- nected. Comodo has an ominous throb, chestral introduction with gloomy tim- gradually gathering strength for the pani and brass. The viola joins in with final Allegro that gallops off at top a singing theme and soon bursts into speed. Motifs from the earlier move- virtuosic flames. Soloist and orchestra

2 engage in dialogue in the dramatic de- many directions, beginning with a viola velopment section, but arrive at an am- solo and orchestral pizzicatos. icable conclusion. The viola’s monologues in the first movement are summarised in a brief BÉLA BARTÓK: VIOLA cadenza before the return of the main CONCERTO theme, but the viola continues its med- itations in a solo before the end of the In 1940, Béla Bartók fled to the United movement. This is taken up by the bas- States to escape the war and stayed soon, which forms a bridge to the sec- on there, without any work. His friends ond movement in the same way as, therefore set about finding him some according to Sérly, in the third commissions. Unfortunately, Bartók Concerto. The mood of the slow move- was by then suffering from leukaemia; ment is fragile and intimate, full of time ran out, and he never finished the cooing nocturnal sounds and echoes concerto commissioned by him from of the calls of the steppes in the string the viola virtuoso William Primrose. quartets. The passages in the high viola A week before his death, Bartók re- register acquire despairing tones. ceived a visit from Tibór Sérly (1901– The closing movement also follows 1978), who saw that Bartók was busi- without a break and is dominated by ly working on both a piano and a viola dance rhythms in the Romanian style. concerto. The latter was, said Bartók, Hungarian folklore blossoms in the nearly finished; he just had to do the slower episode in C-sharp minor, but orchestration and add a few details. despite the life-affirming virtuosity, Sérly was the obvious person to fin- there is an inevitable sense of sadness. ish the concerto, and it was duly pub- The closing bars nevertheless bring the lished in 1949. In 1995, Bartók’s son concerto to an end in a brisk, decisive Peter published a critical edition of the manner. manuscript he had edited with Nelson Dellamaggiore. Tabea Zimmermann BÉLA BARTÓK: plays her own reading of the Bartok MUSIC FOR STRINGS, Viola Concerto, based on Serly's or- chestration. Having studied the auto- PERCUSSION AND graph she comes to different conclu- CELESTA sions about. dynamics and phrasings and she has taken out the added notes The Music for Strings, Percussion and and bars that Serly had 'completed' or Celesta is very much about timbre: the simply changed. strings and harp form one group of The Viola Concerto is in the same their own, the pitched percussions an- clear, classical idiom as Bartók’s third other, and the job of the non-pitched Piano Concerto. The opening move- percussions is to add effects. ment is longer than the other two to- The four-movement format is unusu- gether. Its sonata form branches out in al for Bartók. The first movement is a

3 symmetrically-constructed fugue pro- FRANÇOIS-XAVIER ceeding in canon on the strings, alter- nately a fifth up and down. The theme ROTH is presented by the , and the in- struction tranquillo and the muffled French conductor François-Xavier strings add to rather than detract from Roth has been appointed General the ominous effect. Music Director of the City of Cologne The movement builds up to a climax as of September 2015. He has been underlined by the percussions before Principal Conductor of the SWR subsiding again, so that the theme ap- Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und pears in a mirror image. The chromatic Freiburg since 2011 and with the or- celesta undulations add a supernatural chestra is at present recording the touch to the crumbling theme. complete cycle of symphonic poems The second movement is in sonata by Richard Strauss. form and has a theme borrowed from His extensive repertoire ranges from the opening movement, but the fo- music of the 17th century to contem- cus is now on Bulgarian-type rhythms. porary. In 2003, he founded the in- Bartók leads his motifs further and fur- novative orchestra Les Siècles, which ther away from their starting points, performs contrasting and colourful and the playful scherzo with its shift- programmes on modern and period in- ing metres erupts with alternately di- struments as appropriate, often within abolical and barbaric energy. The slow the same concert. To mark the cente- movement is an example of Bartók’s nary of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in “nocturnal” music. The silence is broken 2013, they performed the work on pe- by a xylophone, and timpani glissandos riod instruments on tour, including per- leave the violas to grope their way in formances at the BBC Proms and the the darkness. Alte Oper, Frankfurt. With the SWR Taking the leading role in the fina- Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und le are folk-like themes sped along by Freiburg Roth has premiered works temperamental virtuosity. The symme- by, among others, Philippe Manoury, try that has dominated the preceding Georg-Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang movements often wavers in the torrent Rihm, Jörg Widmann and Helmut of motifs and interjections, until the Lachenmann. main theme of the first movement ap- Future engagements include major pears as a solemn hymn. In the devel- projects with the London Symphony opment, the hymn motif breaks up and and BBC Symphony Orchestras and lapses into placid solos. A childish, dia- appearances with the Boston, Vienna tonic version of the fugue theme and and NHK Symphony Orchestras, the final, apotheosis-like dash catapult the Philharmonic, the Royal the music into the sunshine. Concertgebouw and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Roth has Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen conducted opera in and Berlin, (abridged) translated by Susan Sinisalo

4 including Delibes’ Lakmé and Morton list Jean-Guihen Queyras) and togeth- Feldman’s Neither. This year he also er they have performed at such pres- conducts Wagner’s Flying Dutchman tigious venues as Carnegie Hall, New with Les Siècles. York, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, Outreach projects are an impor- the Berliner Philharmonie and the tant aspect of François-Xavier Roth’s Vienna Konzerthaus. They have also re- work. He is the conductor of the corded works by Bartók, Brahms, Ravel, ground-breaking LSO Panufnik Young Dutilleux, Debussy and Schubert. Composers Scheme and, with the This season, Tabea Zimmermann is Festival Berlioz and Les Siècles, found- holding a “viola day” at the Wigmore ed the Jeune Orchestre Européen Hall in London, at which she will be Hector Berlioz, an orchestra academy playing works for the viola from the with its own collection of period in- Baroque to the present day with col- struments. Roth and Les Siècles also leagues Garth Knox, Antoine Tamestit devised Presto!, their own television and Rosalind Ventris. series for France 2 attracting weekly Tabea Zimmermann has inspired audiences of over three million. many composers to write works for the viola. Among those she has premiered are a solo sonata by György Ligeti, TABEA ZIMMERMANN ’s Recicanto, ’s Viola Concerto and the double Tabea Zimmermann is one of the very concerto by Bruno Montavani. finest players of her instrument, the vi- During the Paul Hindemith jubilee in ola, and a regular soloist with such or- 2013, Tabea Zimmermann released a chestras as the , the highly-acclaimed disc of his complete London Symphony and the Orchestre works for viola. She has also recorded de Paris. She is also Artist in Residence works by Reger, Bach, Brahms and oth- of the and has ap- ers that have won many awards. peared with them in Vienna, Hamburg and Cologne. A former student of Ulrich Koch in Freiburg and Sándor Veg in , Tabea Zimmermann won the interna- tional viola competitions in and Budapest in 1982 and 1984, re- spectively. She has been Professor of the viola at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin since 2002. For , Tabea Zimmermann is a member of the Arcanto Quartet (with violinists and Daniel Sepec and cel-

5 THE FINNISH The FRSO has recorded works by Ligeti, Eötvös, Nielsen, Hakola, Lindberg, RADIO SYMPHONY Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen ORCHESTRA and others, and the debut disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Its discs have reaped some prestigious (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish distinctions, such as the BBC Music Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mis- Magazine Award and the Académie sion is to produce and promote Finnish Charles Cros Award. The disc of the musical culture and its Chief Conductor Sibelius and Lindberg concertos as of autumn 2013 is Hannu Lintu. The was Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s FRSO has two Honorary Conductors: Choice in February 2014. Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. The FRSO regularly tours to all parts The Radio Orchestra of ten players of the world. One of the many highlights founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- of the 2013/2014 season was a critically- chestra strength in the 1960s. Hannu acclaimed concert conducted by Hannu Lintu was preceded as Chief Conductor Lintu at the Vienna Musikverein dur- by Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, ing a tour of Central Europe. During the Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif 2014/2015 season the orchestra, under Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the baton of Hannu Lintu, will appear in most recently Sakari Oramo. Stockholm and tour Finland. It will also In addition to the great Classical- visit the EBU Festival in Bucharest with Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- Joshua Weilerstein as its conductor. temporary music is a major item in the The home channel of the FRSO is Yle repertoire of the FRSO, which each Radio 1, which broadcasts all its con- year premieres a number of Yle com- certs, usually live, both in Finland and missions. Another of the orchestra’s abroad. Its concerts can also be heard tasks is to record all Finnish orches- and watched with excellent live stream tral music for the Yle archive. During quality on the FRSO website (yle.fi/rso), the 2014/2015 season it will premiere and the majority of them are televised four Finnish works commissioned by live on the Yle Teema channel. Yle. The programme will also include colourful orchestral poems by Richard Strauss, symphonies by Shostakovich and Haydn’s great The Creation. The orchestra’s distinguished guests will in- clude conductors Leonard Slatkin, Kent Nagano, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa- Pekka Salonen, soprano Karita Mattila, violist Tabea Zimmermann and pianist Olli Mustonen.

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