19.2. at 20:00 Music Centre

Sakari Oramo conductor Sirja Nironen cello Lotta Emanuelsson presenter

Anton Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10 1

Sauli Zinovjev: Die Welt – ein Tor, Cello Concerto

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 in C, Op. 52 1. Allegro moderato 2. Andantino con moto, quasi allegretto 3. Moderato – Allegro (ma non tanto) Anton Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra Anton Webern (1883–1945) began his ca- said of the Op. 10 Five Pieces for Orchestra reer as a Late Romantic, and he was still of 1913. Compressed to the absolute min- writing flowing, though at times chromat- imum, they together last only from four ically-spiced music in his Passacaglia (Op. to six minutes, depending on the perfor- 1) for orchestra of 1908. He was, however, mance. The shortest, the fourth, is only fast drifting towards atonality, and formal six bars long. structures soon shared the same demise The Five Pieces, made up of brittle ges- as tonality. By 1913–1914, his Opp. 9–11 tures and short snatches of melody, are had become more in the nature of pithy scored for a fairly small ensemble. The aphorisms than epic narratives. dominant nuance is pianissimo. The sparse “Consider what moderation is required texture does, on the other hand, have a to express oneself so briefly. Every glance certain delicacy that gives the pieces a can be extended into a poem, every sigh feel of their own within the tightly com- into a novel,” said his mentor Arnold pressed range of expression. The instruc- Schönberg of Webern’s Op. 9 Bagatelles tions dolce, or dolcissimo and espressivo re- for String Quartet, and the same could be cur again and again in the score. 2 Sauli Zinovjev: Die Welt – ein Tor, Cello Concerto Sauli Zinovjev (b. 1988) has so far com- tion from the third verse of the poem: posed three concertos: Der Leiermann “Die Welt – ein Tor / Zu tausend Wüsten for violin (2017), Die Welt – ein Tor for stumm und kalt!” (The world – a gate / To cello (also 2017) and a concerto for pi- a thousand wastelands silent and cold!”). ano two years earlier. The violin and cel- The stark expression of Zinovjev’s mu- lo concertos are, he says, more meditative sic captures the moods of the poem. The and lack the virtuosic aspect, while the concerto is in a single movement lasting one for piano is more musicianly. Those about a quarter of an hour and marked for violin and cello also share a link with off by four fairly short solo cadenzas. The German Romanticism – with poems by solo part glows with fiery intensity from Wilhelm Müller and Friedrich Nietzsche, the moment the opening cadenza begins. respectively. The orchestra replies with timbral plains Nietzsche’s poem Abschied (Farewell, in deeper hues building up to a mighty 1884) paints a picture of a lonely roman- peak. The concerto fades away after the tic wanderer with only crows for compa- final cadenza, with the instruction moren- ny. The title of the concerto is a quota- do (“dying”). : Symphony No. 3 In autumn 1904, Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) simo passage leads to the development, and his family moved to his new house, and the movement arrives at a steady, Ainola. The physical move coincided with hymn-like conclusion in the coda. a musical turning point away from the The middle movement is slow, mournful Romantic idiom of his early works. The and pastoral. The tranquil main theme ap- third symphony (1907) was one of the pears four times in varied forms with two first works he composed at Ainola. It is contrasting interludes, one meditative on more restrained than the two earlier sym- divided cellos and the other sprightly in phonies; his orchestra is slightly smaller parallel woodwind thirds. than in the second, and he avoids great The last movement is a restless scher- romantic themes and build-ups. There zo of doubtful tonality in places and ends are only three movements and the form as a triumphant hymn. It is “the crystalli- is more succinct. sation of thought from chaos”, as Sibelius The bright opening theme already indi- put it. cates a more classical turn, contrasted by Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen the second theme on the cellos. The form translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo is also more clear-cut. A mysterious pianis- 3 Sakari Oramo One of the most celebrated Finnish Symphony Orchestra before turning more conductors in the world today, Sakari to , though he has sometimes Oramo has been Chief Conductor and still made appearances as a violinist. He Artistic Advisor of the Royal Stockholm studied conducting with at Philharmonic Orchestra since 2008 and the and at the begin- Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony ning of this year began a five-year term Orchestra since 2013. For ten years begin- as the Academy’s Professor of orchestral ning in 1998 he was Music Director of the conducting. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo has guest conduct- and he was made Honorary Conductor of ed many of the world’s top orches- the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra tras – the Vienna, Berlin and New York after serving as its Chief Conductor from Philharmonics, the Chicago, San Francisco 2003 to 2012. He was also Artistic Director and Paris Orchestras, the Amsterdam of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra Concertgebouw Orchestra and many oth- 2013–2019 and for many years conductor ers. He has released a large number of of West Coast Opera. discs and conducted not only items in the Oramo began his career as a violinist staple repertoire but also premieres and and was leader of the Avanti! Chamber works that are seldom heard. In 2015, the Orchestra (of which he was one of Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him the founders) and the Finnish Radio its “Conductor of the Year” title. Sirja Nironen One of ’s foremost young musi- A graduate of the Hochschule für cians, Sirja Nironen has made a name for Musik Hanns Eisler, Sirja Nironen also herself in solo, chamber and orchestral holds a Master’s degree from the Sibelius repertoire, and in music both contempo- Academy, having studied with Arto rary and light. She has premiered many Noras, Frans Helmerson and Martti Rousi works for the cello: chamber music, solo and attended masterclasses with Lynn works and four concertos, one of them Harrell, Natalia Gutman and Jean-Guihen Sauli Zinovjev’s Die Welt – ein Tor. She has Queyras. Her discography includes a CD been the soloist with such orchestras as of music by Scriabin, Shostakovich and the FRSO, the Turku Philharmonic and the Tchaikovsky with pianist Naoko Ichihashi Orchestra OIDA Arezzo, and been heard made in 2019 for the Finnish Broadcasting in chamber repertoire at the Helsinki, Company (Yle). A member of the ÄÄNI Naantali and Korsholm festivals in Finland, collective and Garden ensemble, she has the Musical Chairs festival in Montreal, been co-principal cellist in the Tampere the Santa Fé Chamber Music Festival and Philharmonic Orchestra since autumn the Unerhörte Musik festival in Berlin. 2020.

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