18.1. WEDNESDAY SERIES 8 Music Centre at 19.00

Hannu Lintu, conductor Frank Peter Zimmermann, violin

Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, suite Op. 20a 31 min I Scène II Valse III Danse des cygnes IV Scène V Czardas: Danse hongroise VI Scène Finale

Magnus Lindberg: Violin Concerto No. 2, fpF 25 min I II III

INTERVAL 20 min

Igor Stravinsky: Le baiser de la fée (The Fairy’s Kiss) 44 min Prologue: The Lullaby in the Storm A Village Fête By the Mill – Pas de deux – Scene Epilogue: Berceuse of the Eternal Dwellings

Interval at about 20.00 The concert ends at about 21.25. Broadcast live on Yle Teema, Yle Radio 1 and online at yle.fi/rso. PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893): SWAN LAKE, SUITE

The first full-length ballet composed by floats by, watched over by a cello. Pyotr Tchaikovsky was not a great suc- The Hungarian Czardas is from Act cess when it was first performed, at the III, the ball at which the various brid- Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, in 1877. The al candidates are presented to Prince main reason was the poor choreogra- Siegfried. The spirited dance, evocative phy, though Tchaikovsky also blamed of the Hungarian steppes, gets gradu- himself. Yet only two years after his ally wilder and wilder. death, Swan Lake really began to take The closing Scène from Act IV re- off on the wings of the classic choreog- turns after a melodramatic twist to the raphy by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. theme heard at the beginning of the Tchaikovsky had himself planned to put suite. The swans now sing their hearts together a suite of music from the bal- out before settling in the final bars. let, but the task remained for others to do. The suite does not follow the plot of the ballet, but this is no obstacle to un- derstanding the music. The six-movement suite, Op. 20a, (B. 1958) VIOLIN begins with the Scène from Act II, the swans on their enchanted lake. The wist- CONCERTO NO. 2 ful oboe melody against a background of tremolo strings hints at its ominous The first Violin Concerto by Magnus secret when transferred to the French Lindberg (2006), dedicated to Lisa horns and its passion to the strings. The Batiashvili, was scored for a chamber great waltz medley from Act I has all the orchestra. The second (2016) is ded- glitter of a fairytale palace and the re- icated to Frank Peter Zimmermann finement of royal revels. and was commissioned jointly by The famous Danse des cygnes from the London, Berlin and New York Act II is a true test of coordination for Philharmonic Orchestras and the the corps de ballet. With its bassoon ac- Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. companiment, it possibly bears a re- In both Concertos, Lindberg operates minder of their captive fate. with a traditional battery of wind in- The Scène from Act II strikes to the struments, but in the second he draws very heart of the matter: nothing can extra harmonic force from four French prevent Siegfried and Odette from fall- horns, three trombones and a wider se- ing in love. Tchaikovsky endows his two lection of percussions. The second is soloists with individuality and delicate also bigger than the first in its gestures grace: the harp creates an amorous and drama. It consists of three un- magic circle as the violin prima donna named movements performed without

2 a break during which the music grows The closing section is most blatant- and spirals up and up. Time and again ly virtuosic; the solo line and the bub- it opens out into vast harmonic pan- bling, sizzling orchestra are bound oramas, only to press on to more and tightly together in their unceasing on- more new planes. ward drive. Lindberg recaps his motifs Soloist and orchestra share the the- almost in the conventional manner, matic work in a way that ensures the culminating in the magnificent closing violin’s voice will be heard. In this re- bars, their dark undercurrent carrying a spect, the Concerto has points in com- hint of Baroque solemnity and enigma. mon with Luciano Berio’s Points on the curve to find…(1971), in which the or- chestra takes its material from the so- loist. This principle is established right IGOR STRAVINSKY at the beginning; the soloist presents (1882–1971): THE a motif rising in flaming double stops that immediately transfers to the or- FAIRY’S KISS chestra and acquires different colour as it passes from one instrument to The Fairy’s Kiss (Le baiser da la fée) is another. The first section concentrates the softest and most fairytale-like of on a rising gesture. While unleashing the Stravinsky ballets, but one full of a blaze of spectral colour high in the humorous touches. Its premiere, by Ida solo violin and orchestra, it also under- Rubinstein’s ballet company, with its lines their thematic integration, their touristy Swiss stage designs was not active collaboration. a success, which maybe explains why The second section is more inti- it did not catch on. Stravinsky later mate in mood, though not much slow- (1934, 1949) arranged a four-movement er. Amid bass-drum beats and cho- Divertimento of the music for concert rale-like figures on the brass, the violin use. adopts a new, more individual and vir- The beginning was, for a Russian tuosic role. composer who had lost his homeland Shortly before the section begins, in the Revolution, allegorical: mother the soloist presents a flourishing mo- and child are separated by a fairy’s kiss, tif, a variation that bursts into flower spiriting him away to a realm beyond half way through the section with al- time and place. Familiarity with the plot most movie-like passion. It is an exam- is here neither necessary nor even very ple of Lindberg’s unbridled feel for life, useful. In the Prologue, mother and the heat of which also extends to the child are caught up in a storm, a fairy solo cadenza at the end of the sec- finds the boy, kisses him, and leaves tion. This cadenza represents the very him to be raised by the inhabitants of a essence of the personal contribution country village. of Frank Peter Zimmermann, joined in By the second scene, the boy has places by the orchestra and its leader. grown up and is celebrating his engage-

3 ment, dancing with the villagers and his fiancée. The brawny brass, breezy rhythms and babbling solo woodwinds Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio present a rustic scene in heartier tones Symphony Orchestra since August than Tchaikovsky’s. In the latter half of 2013, Hannu Lintu previously held the the scene, the fairy, disguised as a gyp- positions of Artistic Director and Chief sy fortune-teller, foretells a wondrous Conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic future for the boy in tones shrouded in Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor mystery. with the RTÉ National Symphony By the Mill is an idyllic tableau set- Orchestra and Artistic Director of the ting the scene for the ballet’s main Pas Helsingborg Symphony and de deux, in which the young lad thinks Philharmonic orchestras. he is dancing with his beloved but his Highlights of Lintu’s 2016/17 sea- partner is in fact the fairy. In the varia- son include appearances with the tions, soloists from the orchestra take Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, part in the amorous billing-and-coo- Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Radio- ing, and the coda jokingly parodies Symphonieorchester Wien, Luzerner Tchaikovsky’s showy exits. Sinfonieorchester and Orquesta The establishment and confusion of Sinfónica de Galicia, and in North identities is the chief item for inspec- America with the St Louis Symphony tion in The Fairy’s Kiss, and it is no co- and the Toronto Symphony, Baltimore incidence that Stravinsky gave this Pas Symphony and Detroit Symphony de deux his most graceful music. orchestras. Recent engagements In the Epilogue, Stravinsky borrows have included the The Cleveland and from Tchaikovsky’s song None but the Gulbenkian orchestras, the Orchestre Lonely Heart (clarinet, Goethe: Nur wer de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestra die Sehnsucht). As the fairy kisses the Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, and young man again and locks him for ever the BBC Scottish Symphony, Iceland in its fairytale world, Stravinsky gently Symphony and Seoul Philharmonic and sadly says goodbye to Tchaikovsky. orchestras. In 2015 he conducted The ideal world created by the music a complete cycle of Sibelius’ sym- may be a beautiful illusion, but the bor- phonies in Tokyo with the Finnish der between it and reality is gossamer Radio Symphony Orchestra and the thin. New Japan Philharmonic, and toured Austria in January 2016 with violinist Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen Leila Josefowicz and the Finnish Radio translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo Symphony Orchestra. Lintu returns to Savonlinna Opera Festival in July 2017 to conduct Aulis Sallinen’s , and in May 2017 he conducts Sibelius’ Kullervo in a special project with Finnish National Opera and

4 Ballet with director and choreographer FRANK PETER Tero Saarinen. Previous productions with Finnish National Opera have in- ZIMMERMANN cluded Parsifal, Carmen, Sallinen’s King Lear, and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in Frank Peter Zimmermann premiered spring 2016. Lintu has also worked with the second Violin Concerto by Magnus Tampere Opera and Estonian National Lindberg in December 2015, with the Opera. London Philharmonic Orchestra un- Hannu Lintu has made several der Jaap van Zweden, and has since re-cordings for , Naxos, Avie and performed it again with orchestras Hyperion. His recording of Prokofiev including the Berlin and New York Piano Concertos with and Philharmonics and the Swedish Radio the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Symphony. He has also premiered the was released in September 2016, while Violin Concertos by Matthias Pintscher, other recent releases include recordings and Augusta Read Thomas. of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, a selec- Born in Duisburg, , Frank tion of works by Magnus Lindberg, and Peter Zimmermann made his first solo Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony with appearance with an orchestra when Angela Hewitt and Valerie Hartmann- he was only ten and went on to be- Claverie. Lintu has received several acco- come a soloist with leading orchestras lades for his recordings, including a 2011 and a highly-acclaimed chamber mu- Grammy nomination for Best Opera sician. He has been the recipient of CD plus Gramophone Award nomi- many prizes and distinctions, among nations for his recordings of Enescu’s them the Bundesverdienstkreuz of the Symphony No.2 with the Tampere German Federal Republic and the Paul Philharmonic Orchestra and the Violin Hindemith Prize of the City of Hanau. Concertos of Sibelius and Thomas Adès Frank Peter Zimmermann is the leader with Augustin Hadelich and the Royal of the Trio Zimmermann, with Antoine Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Tamestit (viola) and Christian Poltéra Hannu Lintu studied cello and piano (cello). The Trio has released award-win- at the , where he later ning discs of String Trios by Beethoven, studied conducting with . Mozart and Schubert. In December the He participated in masterclasses with Trio made a tour of Europe taking in Myung-Whun Chung at the Accademia Zurich, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Milan and Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took other cities. During the present season first prize at the Nordic Conducting Zimmermann will also be the soloist Competition in Bergen in 1994. with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin and New York Philharmonics, the Vienna Symphony and the French National Orchestra. Zimmermann has recorded almost all the Violin Concertos in the standard

5 violin repertoire, from Bach to Ligeti. In Raitio and Uuno Klami. The programme 2015 and 2016, hänssler CLASSIC re- will also include orchestral works by leased discs of the five Mozart Violin Stravinsky, symphonies by Mahler and Concertos and Sinfonia concertante. Bruckner, Haydn’s The Seasons oratorio He has recorded Dvořák’s Concerto for and concertos by contemporary compos- Decca and Hindemith’s for BIS. ers. Among its guest artists will be so- prano and mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, conductors Esa-Pekka THE FINNISH Salonen, Teodor Currentzis and Gustavo Gimeno, and pianist Daniil Trifonov. RADIO SYMPHONY The FRSO has recorded works by ORCHESTRA Mahler, Ligeti, Sibelius, Hakola, Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and others, and the debut disc of the op- (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish era Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. Its discs Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mis- have reaped some prestigious distinc- sion is to produce and promote Finnish tions, such as the BBC Music Magazine musical culture and its Chief Conductor Award, the Académie Charles Cros Award as of autumn 2013 has been Hannu and a MIDEM Classical Award. The disc Lintu. The FRSO has two Honorary of Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen and Pohjola’s Conductors: Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Daughter was Gramophone magazine’s . Critic’s Choice in December 2015 and The Radio Orchestra of ten players brought the FRSO and Hannu Lintu a founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- Finnish Emma award in the Classical chestra strength in the 1960s. Hannu Album category. Music by Sibelius, Lintu was preceded as Chief Conductor Prokofiev and Fagerlund will be among by Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, the repertoire recorded during the , , Leif 2016/2017 season. Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of Sakari Oramo. the world. During the 2016/2017 season In addition to the great Classical- its schedule will include a tour in , Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- taking in concerts conducted by Hannu temporary music is a major item in the Lintu in Suomussalmi, Kajaani, Mikkeli repertoire of the FRSO, which each year and Kuopio. premieres a number of Yle commis- The home channel of the FRSO is Yle sions. Another of the orchestra’s tasks is Radio 1, which broadcasts all its concerts, to record all Finnish orchestral music for usually live, both in Finland and abroad. the Yle archive. Its concerts can also be heard and uring the 2016/2017 season the FRSO watched with excellent live stream qual- will premiere five Finnish works com- ity on the FRSO website (www.yle.fi/rso), missioned by Yle and feature such pi- and the majority of them are televised oneers of Finnish Modernism as Väinö live on the Yle Teema channel.

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