1 APRIL WEDNESDAY SERIES 13 Helsinki Music Centre at 19
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1 APRIL WEDNESDAY SERIES 13 Helsinki Music Centre at 19 François-Xavier Roth, conductor Tabea Zimmermann, viola 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 Budapest. 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 Piano 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 violas, 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 Berlin 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 Paris 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.