23.11. FRIDAY SERIES 6 Helsinki Music Centre at 19:00

Hannu Lintu, conductor Augustin Hadelich, violin Pelageya Kurennaya, sopranoe

Henri Dutilleux: L’arbre des songes 25 min 1. Librement, Interlude 2. Vif, Interlude 2 3. Lent, Interlude 3 4. Large et animé.

INTERVAL 20 min

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major 58 min I. Bedächtig, nicht eilen II. In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast III. Ruhevoll, poco adagio IV. Sehr behaglich

Also playing in this concert will be five students from the , University of the Arts Helsinki, chosen for the Helsinki Music Centre’s Orchestra Academy: Andrew Ng, violin I, Elizabeth Stewart, violin 2, Anna-Maria Viksten, viola, Basile Ausländer, cello, and Kaapo Kangas, double bass. The Helsinki Music Centre Orchestra Academy is a joint venture by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the FRSO and the Sibelius Academy aiming at training that is of an increasingly high standard and with a more practical and international orientation. Players, conductors and composers take part in the project under professional guidance. The Orchestra Academy started up in autumn 2015..

Interval at about 19:40. The concert will end at about 21:15. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and streamed at yle.fi/areena.Dutilleux’s L’arbre des songes will be shown in the programme “RSO Musiikkitalossa” (The FRSO at the Helsinki Music Centre) on Yle Teema on 10.2. with a repeat on Yle TV 1 on 16.2.

1 HENRI DUTILLEUX The concerto falls into four main sec- tions joined by three interludes looking (1916–2013): VIOLIN back to the one just ended and ahead CONCERTO L'ARBRE to the one to follow. These interludes DES SONGES are, however, far more than just ‘musi- cal fillers’. Henri Dutilleux’s greatest forebear was The idea of growth – of proliferation Maurice Ravel, but French music of the and renewal – is already manifest in the first half of the 20th century in general, opening movement, as the violin’s me- and such composers as Stravinsky and lodic line branches out into ever more Bartók provided the subsoil from which varied, richer forms. The first interlude, his expression grew. He also drew on ide- heralded by a solo clarinet, leads to the as borrowed from many later compos- quick, resolute second movement (Vif), ers in creating an idiom that does not and the second interlude finally dispers- belong to any specific school. Though es, as it were, into thin air. infinitely polished, his music is anything The dominant feature of the myste- but austere, being full of radiant colour rious, meditative slow movement is a and often rhythmic energy. tense violin and oboe d’amore dialogue. In Dutilleux’s opinion, the traditional Deciding what to do after this caused division of a large-scale work into sev- Dutilleux quite a headache; he felt he eral movements threatens to break the had “hit a brick wall”, he said, and in a spell of the listening experience. In the way this is reflected in the concerto’s violin concerto L’arbre des songes he dramatic structure. For the third inter- composed for Isaac Stern in 1983–1985, lude is something of a search and reap- he linked the movements together with praisal, but as such it serves as a good interludes. The result is a work of both pointer to the compact, animated fina- formal and thematic homogeneity. “All le. in all the piece grows somewhat like a tree,” he said, “for the constant multipli- cation and renewal of its branches is the GUSTAV MAHLER lyrical essence of the tree. This symbolic (1860–1911): image, as well as the notion of a season- al cycle, inspired my choice of L'arbre SYMPHONY NO. 4 IN G des songes as the title of the piece.” MAJOR The idea of writing a concerto de- signed primarily to demonstrate the so- It is not unusual for a composer to be- loist’s technical virtuosity was alien to gin by writing the last movement of a Dutilleux. His solo violin part is therefore large-scale work. It is, however, unusu- closely integrated with that of the or- al to start with a movement written chestra and, he explained, even depends long before the composer even had any on the orchestral ambiance. Adding spe- plans for that work. cial spice are a piano, harp, glockenspiel, When Gustav Mahler began sketching vibraphone, cimbalom and crotales. his fourth symphony in summer 1899,

2 he started with the song Das himmlische chestra of his two previous ones: there Leben (The Heavenly Life) he had written is no choir, only triple woodwinds (apart in 1892. He originally intended this to from the flutes), and no trombones – be an independent work, then as part the only time he excluded them from of his giant third symphony, before he any of his symphonies. re-orchestrated it for his fourth sym- In form, the fourth is the clearest and phony (1900). As was his custom, he re- simplest of all ten Mahler symphonies, vised it several times thereafter. and relatively short (roughly 50 min- The text of The Heavenly Life is from utes). It is in four movements using the the collection of folk poetry Des Knaben traditional scheme: an opening move- Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Miraculous Horn) ment in sonata form, a scherzo with two that had fired Mahler’s imagination trios, a slow one based on the variation ever since the 1880s. Elements of these of two themes, and finally a rondo. The found their way into his second, third slow one comes third, which is unusual, and fourth symphonies, which is why as is the fact that the fourth has a solo they are together often known as The soprano. Wunderhorn Symphonies. Including vocal The symphony begins with a mo- parts in his symphonies served both his tif evocative of sleigh bells that will re- purely musical ambitions and his desire turn in the fourth movement. This leads to give his symphonies programmatic straight into an elegant, idyllic main content. theme on the violins and a tender, sing- The song Das himmlische Leben for ing second theme on the cellos. Mahler solo soprano is a vision of heavenly life likened the themes of the first move- seen through the eyes of a child. The ment to “a dewdrop on a flower that, same idea pervades the whole of the suddenly illuminated by the sun, bursts fourth symphony, his sunniest and most into a thousand lights and colours.” The relaxed. In this respect, it differs from classical clarity prompted Mahler expert the monumental, philosophical second Deryck Cooke to speak of a “neo-roco- and third. co” style. The fact that the last movement was Mahler gave the second movement ready before he even started compos- the working title “Freund Hain spielt ing his fourth symphony meant Mahler auf”. In German folk poetry, Freund Hain could use motifs from it to create links (Friend Henry) is a fiddler who, like the between the movements. This, he felt, Pied Piper of Hamlin, entices people to was extremely important. The work as a the other world. According to Mahler’s whole could be described as a spiritual widow Alma, the movement could have journey from the conflicting emotions been inspired by the self-portrait by of the first two movements towards the Arnold Böcklin (Selbstporträt mit fiedel- naïve, childlike vision of an ideal world ndem Tod) of a fiddle-playing skele- such as Mahler himself was not able to ton standing right behind the painter. experience. Mahler’s Hain came closer to a folk tale As if to reflect the lighter tone of the than a horror story, and the mood is far symphony, Mahler reduced the giant or- from tense. The solo violin is tuned a

3 tone higher than normal in this move- has worked in recent times with the ment to make it sound more piercing. Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, the The slow movement is utterly serene Washington National Symphony and and spiritual and consists of variations the Symphony Orchestras of Dallas and on two themes, the first on the cellos Detroit. and the second on an oboe. It is not, Maestro Lintu also conducts regularly however, pure heavenly bliss, for it also at the Finnish National Opera and the affords glimpses into the deepest re- Savonlinna Opera Festival. He conduct- cesses of the soul, and for a moment ed Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello in Savonlinna it almost gets swept up in a dance-like in July 2018 and his schedule for spring whirl. Just before the end, Mahler works 2019 includes a production of Alban up to a mighty climax with a hint of the Berg’s Wozzeck in Helsinki. song to follow in the closing movement. Hannu Lintu studied the piano and The text of the grand finale paints a cello at the Sibelius Academy before picture of a childlike faith in heavenly joining the conducting class of Jorma bliss, but Mahler’s is not without some Panula. He attended masterclasses with sharper twists announced by the sleigh Myung Whun Chung at L’Accademia bells of the first movement, as if to in- Musicale Chigiana, Siena and won dicate a more painful adult awareness first prize in the Nordic Conducting of reality. The symphony nevertheless Competition in Bergen in 1994. He has ends in heavenly peace as the soprano recorded on the , BIS, Hyperion sings of angelic voices. and other labels.

Programme notes by Kimmo Korhonen translated AUGUSTIN HADELICH (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo At the age of 34, Augustin Hadelich has firmly established himself as one of the HANNU LINTU great violinists of today, consistently cit- ed for his phenomenal technique, soul- Hannu Lintu has been Chief Conductor ful approach, and beauty of tone. His of the Finnish Radio Symphony career took off when he won the Gold Orchestra since August 2013. During Medal at the 2006 International Violin the 2018/2019 season, his sched- Competition of Indianapolis, since when ule will include appearances with the he has appeared with many leading or- Baltimore, St Louis and Cincinnati chestras across Europe, the USA and Symphony Orchestras, the New Japan Asia. Musical America conferred on him Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony, the title of “2018 Instrumentalist of the the NDR Symphony Hamburg and oth- Year”. er orchestras. Further highlights of the Born in Italy, the son of German par- season will include his debut with the ents, Augustin Hadelich is now an Boston Symphony and the Russian American citizen. He studied at the National Orchestra. In particular, he Istituto Mascagni in Livorno, in master-

4 classes and, from 2004 to 2007 at the From 2009 onwards, Pelageya Juilliard School of Music in New York. Kurennaya has been taking prizes in Known for his wide-ranging and ad- singing competitions in Russia and venturous repertoire, Augustin Hadelich Italy. She sang the part of Prilepa in plays works of the 20th and 21st centu- the concert performance and recording ries in addition to the cornerstones of of The Queen of Spades conducted by concerto literature (such as Beethoven, Mariss Jansons in Munich in 2014, and Brahms, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky). two years later in the production by the These have included the concer- Dutch National Opera in Luxembourg. tos by Dutilleux, Ligeti and Thomas At the Mariinsky Theatre in Moscow, Adès, and in chamber repertoire works Pelageya Kurennaya made her debut by Brett Dean, David Lang, György as Masha in The Queen of Spades in Kurtág, Toru Takemitsu and Bernd Alois 2015, following this in the same year Zimmermann. with the leading role of Zamarashka in Augustin Hadelich has recorded the premiere performance of Rodion much of his core repertoire. His discs Shchedrin’s A Christmas Tale. Since of the Sibelius and Adès concertos un- then, she has also sung the Flea in der Hannu Lintu was nominated for a Shchedrin’s The Lefthander and Princess Grammy, and in 2016 he was awarded a Urusova in his Boyarina Morozova. Grammy for his recording of Dutilleux’s Other roles in her repertoire include L’arbre des songes. He has also released Flora in The Turn of the Screw, Frasquita discs of the Haydn, Mendelssohn, in Carmen, Barbarina in The Marriage Bartók and Tchaikovsky concertos and of Figaro, Lauretta in The Betrothal in – in his recital repertoire – works by a Monastery, Prilepa and Masha in The Bartók, Paganini, Ysaÿe, Zimmermann, Queen of Spades, Dunyasha in War Debussy, Poulenc, Stravinsky, de Falla, and Peace, Mademoiselle Jouvenot Piazzolla, Sarasate, Schumann, Kurtág, in Adriana Lecouvreur and Katya in Telemann and others. Raskatov’s Eclipse. Mr. Hadelich plays the 1723 “Ex- Pelageya Kurennaya can also be heard Kiesewetter” Stradivari violin, on loan on the concert stage. She has sung from Clement and Karen Shchedrin’s Tanya–Katya in Moscow, Arrison through the Stradivari Society Munich, at the Mikkeli Music Festival in of Chicago. and elsewhere, and in April 2018 she made her US debut in St. Louis, as the solo soprano in a performance of PELAGEYA Rachmaninoff’s choral symphony The KURENNAYA Bells conducted by Hannu Lintu. Lyric soprano Pelageya Kurennaya is a rising star on the Russian opera firma- ment. She studied at the Ippolitov-Ivanov Music College in Moscow and in 2016 graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in St. Petersburg. 5 THE FINNISH ing albums are of music by Lutosławski, Fagerlund and Beethoven. RADIO SYMPHONY The FRSO regularly tours to all parts ORCHESTRA of the world. During the 2018/2019

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mis- sion is to produce and promote Finnish musical culture and its Chief Conductor as of autumn 2013 hThe Radio Orchestra of ten players formed in 1927 later grew to symphony orchestra size in the 1960s. Over the years, its Chief Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, , Leif Segerstam, Jukka- Pekka Saraste and . In addition to the great Classical- Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- temporary music is a major item in the repertoire of the FRSO, which each year premieres a number of Yle commis- sions. Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to record all Finnish orchestral music for the Yle archive. During the 2018/2019 season, the FRSO will premiere four Finnish works commissioned by Yle. The FRSO has recorded works by Mahler, Ligeti, Eötvös, Sibelius, Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen and others, and the debut disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. Its disc of the Bartók violin concertos with Christian Tetzlaff and conductor Hannu Lintu won a Gramophone Award in 2018, and that of tone poems and songs by Sibelius an International Classical Music Award. It was also Gramophone maga- zine’s Editor’s Choice in November 2017 and BBC Music Magazine’s Record of the Month in January 2018. Its forthcom-

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