4.9. AT 20:00 OPENING CONCERT OF THE AUTUMN SEASON Helsinki Music Centre

Hannu Lintu conductor Tuomas Katajala tenor Lotta Emanuelsson announcer

Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita for solo violin in E Major, Prelude Hannu Vasara violin 1

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Fog

Interview with Tuomas Katajala

Benjamin Britten: Nocturne, Op. 60, eight songs for tenor, seven obligato instruments and string 1. On a poet’s lips I slept 2. Below the thunders of the upper deep 3. Encinctured with a twine of leaves 4. Midnight’s bell 5. But that night 6. She sleeps on soft, last breaths 7. Sleep and poetry (What is more gentle than a wind in summer -) 8. When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see Jukka Nykänen and Janne Palkisto will introduce the Pulcinella Suite by Igor Stravinsky.

Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella, suite for orchestra 1. Sinfonia (Ouverture): Allegro moderato 2. Serenadi: Larghetto 3. Scherzino – Allegro – Andantino 4. Tarantella 5. Toccata: Allegro 6. Gavotti ja kaksi variaatiota : Allegretto – Allegro più tosto moderato 7. Vivo 8. Minuetto: Molto moderato – Finale: Allegro assai

2 Discussion between Chief Conductor Hannu Lintu and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.

No interval. The concert will end at about 21:25. Esa-Pekka Salonen: Fog (2019)

Esa-Pekka Salonen (b. 1958) had alrea- many of his works. The harmonies in Fog dy been composing before making a ca- are based on notes derived from these in- reer as a conductor, but he then took up itials: F-A-G-E-H (B). The work neverthe- composing again in the 1990s. The quirks less begins with the prelude from the third and oddities of the earlier 1980s works violin partita by Bach (BWV 1006), be- were now joined by a multidimensional cause this was the first piece the friends orchestral brilliance and idiom that tried heard together while the hall was under to speak to all without compromising over construction. originality. Salonen seems at first to be feeling his Salonen’s long collaboration with the way in the Bach, but a torrent of figures, Orchestra characters and colours soon issues from (1992–2009) produced such orchestral the orchestra. The opening theme of the works as L.A. Variations (1996) and Foreign prelude keeps popping up along the way. Bodies (2001), the latter reflecting life in a From the cadenza-like piano solo onwards, multicultural environment. For the open- the ideas begin to consolidate in a pulsing, ing of the de- dramatic outburst. At the end, the mu- signed by Frank O. Gehry he composed sic seems to fade away into the shadows. Wing on Wing. Fog was premiered at LA’s Colburn 3 Gehry and Salonen collaborated close- School, where Salonen mentored con- ly over the design of the concert hall. ducting students and conducted the Salonen composed Fog in 2019 as a trib- school orchestra. It was first heard in ute to Gehry on his 90th birthday and to Finland in June this year, at the Avanti! their mutual friendship. FOG are the ini- Chamber Orchestra’s Summer Sounds tials (O=Owen) with which Gehry signed festival in Porvoo. Benjamin Britten: Nocturne, Op. 60

The best-known works by Benjamin by a soothing string motif presented at Britten (1913–1976) for voice and instru- the beginning. mental ensemble or orchestra are the The cycle begins with “On a poet’s lips Serenade of 1943, Les Illuminations (1939) I slept” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, as the and the Nocturne, Op. 60 of 1958 based on strings cautiously open the door on the texts by British poets. world of dream. The tenor immerses him- A Nocturne is a work of art dealing with self deeper and deeper in its mysteries night, sleep and dream, and Britten’s ex- and finds Britten’s belief in dream as a plores its various meanings. He reflects source of inspiration and “nurslings of im- the contrast between peaceful rest and mortality”. restless visions in two conflicting keys: C “Below the thunders of the upper deep” and D flat. The solo instruments give each by Alfred Lord Tennyson paints a night- song a character of its own. Though the marish picture. Lurking in the abysmal poems differ, they are linked in the music deep are strange creatures such as the Kraken that was already making its pres- bed I lay” likening the massacres of the ence felt in the bassoon solo in the previ- French Revolution to earthquakes and ous song. The harp, and Samuel Coleridge other destruction. Taylor’s “Encinctured with a twine of “She sleeps on soft, last breaths” by leaves” present an idyllic vision of a lovely Wilfred Owen, a victim of the First World boy plucking fruits by moonlight. Not un- War, is a funeral march over which a cor til the end does he express his worry that anglais pipes its own lament. Gentle, he has nothing to protect him, no loving soothing sleep takes the forefront in mother or friend. “Sleep and Poetry” by John Keats, entwin- Cast as the bell in Thomas Constable’s ing the tenor in a flute- duet. “Midnight’s bell goes ting, ting, ting” is a The closing song is Sonnet 43 by William . The low basses and com- Shakespeare and summarises the whole forting violins emphasise the fantastic cycle in many respects. A solo violin joins nature of the night. A timpani obligato other obligato instruments in a vision in drums up a nightmarish mood in William which poet and composer surrender to Wordsworth’s “But that night when on my sleep and waft the listener into silence. Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella, suite for 4 orchestra Following the scandalous outcry caused in the manner of commedia dell’arte char- by The Rite of Spring, ballet mogul Sergei acters. Diaghilev once again set out to ensna- In 1922, Stravinsky arranged a concert re the services of Igor Stravinsky (1882– suite of music from the ballet without 1971), using as his lure a bunch of early singers, and revised it in 1947. The zippy 18th-century manuscripts in the library of overture spotlights various instruments, Naples Conservatory. Stravinsky was duly warbling woodwinds and folksy fiddles. hooked but decided to adapt history to his An sings of the lonely shepherdess own purposes in the manner of comme- in the mournful Serenata. The third scene dia dell’arte. is in three sections: a Scherzino drawing “Pulcinella was my discovery of the past,” on neat imitation effects, an Allegro fea- he said, “the epiphany through which the turing a headstrong solo violin, and a del- whole of my late work became possible. It icate closing Andantino. was a backward look, of course – the first The Tarantella is a fiery number with of many love affairs in that direction – but jerky rhythms. herald in the it was a look in the mirror, too.” Toccata and manage to persuade the He had, he announced, discovered a other winds and a solo violin to jam with new way of handling instruments, and them. The graceful Gavotte begins in Pulcinella is as much a ballet for instru- pleasant-sounding, pastoral mood. The ments as it is for dancers. The instru- woodwind band in the first variation is led ments’ colours, gestures and phrases in- by an oboe, then a flute and a horn, while teract with one another and come to life a bassoon keeps up a stubborn accompa- nying figure. In the second variation, two Tuomas Katajala comedians march onto the stage, a trom- bone and a stumbling double bass. “A singer can’t go on presenting the same The closing Minuet sets off in cho- young lover throughout his entire career,” rale-like mode with the pro- says Finnish tenor Katajala. “He has to test claiming the invincibility of love. The his limits and try to sense in which direc- orchestra then gets swept along in a tion he is developing.” And Katajala is in- Fellini-like finale with sparky rhythms and deed an exceptionally versatile artist. trumpety accents. After studying at the Sibelius Academy and in masterclasses with Udo Reinemann Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen and others, Tuomas Katajala was the win- translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo ner of the international Musica Sacra com- petition in Rome in 2004. A member of HANNU LINTU the solo ensemble of the Finnish National Opera 2009–2014, he has a repertoire en- Hannu Lintu has been Chief Conductor compassing not only music of the Baroque of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (such as Handel) and the Classical era (the since autumn 2013. He takes over as Chief leading Mozart tenor roles, for example,) Conductor of the Finnish National Opera but also of the Romantics (Rossini, and Ballet in January 2022. Wagner, Tchaikovsky), the 20th-century 5 During the 2020/2021 season, Maestro classics (Stravinsky, Britten) and the pre- Lintu will, pandemic permitting, make his sent day (Saariaho, Reinvere). debut with the New York Philharmonic Katajala’s international career received and Tokyo NHK Symphony Orchestra and a major boost from his critically-acclai- make return appearances with the London med debut at the Glyndebourne Festival Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands in 2015 (Donizetti’s Don Pasquale), and he Radio Philharmonic, and the Symphony has since appeared at such illustrious ve- of Baltimore, Detroit and nues as Covent Garden, the Berlin State Chicago. Recent highlights have included and Comic Opera, the Hamburg State debuts with the Montreal and Chicago Opera, Seattle Opera and many festivals. Symphony Orchestras and the Hungarian National Philharmonic, and concerts with the Boston and St. Louis Symphonies, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony and the NDR Elbphilharmonie. Hannu Lintu first studied the cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, and la- ter orchestral conducting in the class of Jorma Panula. He participated in master- classes with Myung-Whun Chung at the L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in 1994. He has recorded on the Ondine, BIS, Hyperion and other labels. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The FRSO has recorded works (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish by Mahler, Bartók, Sibelius, Hakola, Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, is to produce and promote Finnish musical Kokkonen and others. It has twice won culture and its Chief Conductor as of au- a Gramophone Award: for its disc of tumn 2013 has been Hannu Lintu. Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto in 2006 The Radio Orchestra of ten players and of Bartók Violin Concertos in 2018. founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- Other distinctions have included BBC chestra proportions in the 1960s. Its Chief Music Magazine, Académie Charles Cros Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, and MIDEM Classical awards. Its disc of Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, tone poems and songs by Sibelius won Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka an International Classical Music Award Saraste and Sakari Oramo, and taking (ICMA) in 2018, and it has been the re- over from Hannu Lintu in 2021 will be cipient of a Finnish EMMA award in 2016 Nicholas Collon. and 2019. In addition to the great Classical- The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of 6 Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- the world. During the 2020/2021 season temporary music is a major item in the its schedule will include a tour to Spain un- repertoire of the FRSO, which each year der Hannu Lintu. premieres a number of Yle commissions. The FRSO concerts are broadcast live Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to re- on the Yle Areena and Radio 1 channels cord all Finnish orchestral music for the and are recorded and shown later on Yle Yle archive. Teema and TV 1.