WEDNESDAY SERIES 7 Hannu Lintu, Conductor Golda Schultz
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
16.1. WEDNESDAY SERIES 7 Helsinki Music Centre at 19:00 Hannu Lintu, conductor Golda Schultz, soprano Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano Helsinki Music Centre Choir, singers from Sibelius-Academy Choir, coach Nils Schweckendiek Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor 80 min “Resurrection” I Allegro maestoso II Andante moderato III In ruhig fließender Bewegung – IV Urlicht’. Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht V I m Tempo des Scherzos. Wild herausfahrend – Langsam – Allegro energico – Langsam – Più mosso No interval. The concert will end at about 20:30. Broadcast live on Yle radio 1 and Yle Areena. 1 GUSTAV MAHLER: Wunderhorn poem Urlicht (Primal Light). For the finale, he spent ages looking for SYMPHONY NO. a suitable text, and eventually found 2 IN C MINOR one on hearing Friedrich Klopstock’s “RESURRECTION” hymn Auferstehung (Resurrection) at von Bülow’s funeral. He then wasted no time composing the big finale for two While composing his first symphony, soloists, choir and large orchestra in Gustav Mahler became inspired by the 1894, and the symphony was premiered poem Totenfeier by Adam Mickiewicz. the following year. Translated into German by his friend Mahler provided more comments on Siegfried Lipiner, it describes pagan fu- his second symphony than on any of neral rites in the Baltic folk tradition his other works, often to correct mis- and led to a symphonic poem titled conceptions. In the end, he stopped do- Totenfeier in 1888. He later said it laid ing this, preferring to let the music and the hero of his first symphony to rest texts speak for themselves. amid a shower of questions: “Why did The second symphony paints an am- you live? Why did you suffer? Is it all just bivalent picture of the resurrection as a a big, terrible joke? We will have to find doubt-ridden search for truth, redemp- an answer to these questions if we want tion and freedom. The music, astound- to go on living – and even though we ing in its descriptive force, succeeds in will die.” giving substance and feeling to visions Mahler showed his Totenfeier to Hans of things such as none can imagine and von Bülow the conductor and others in before which words are hopelessly fet- 1891, but a couple of years would pass tered to the world beyond. before the idea grew to a whole sym- In his second symphony, Mahler in- phony. After the personal perspective of vites his listeners to witness a grand the first symphony, he wanted to adopt spectacle. The first movements reflect a universal angle, as if to ritually destroy on the meaning of life and death in the the musical hero that had been encum- light of a single close and idealised ex- bering him since his first symphony. The ample. In the finale, hero, narrator and fate of the individual thus morphed into listener find themselves – to their sur- the fate of all mankind, a mere cog in prise – as figures in a vast fresco visual- the wheel of life and death. ising the Day of Judgement. Next, he wrote the third movement, The weighty opening movement in a Scherzo. This time he was inspired C minor is, like the first movement of by the story of St. Anthony of Padua’s Beethoven’s ninth symphony, a sonata Sermon to the Fish in the Des Knaben built of mighty Cyclopean Wall boul- Wunderhorn cycle he was working on at ders, in which the main theme, resolute- the time. He then composed the slow ly marching to its fate, affords few op- second movement and a setting for portunities for second themes. mezzo-soprano and orchestra of the 2 The middle movements reflect life The impression of a new aspect in- as it has been lived via visual images. tensifies in the final build-up, achieving The first of the two successive Ländlers a sense of communion and communi- caused Mahler a considerable headache ty at a climax that seems to embrace and, still not satisfied, he ordered that a all humankind. It requires a powerful or- pause of at least five minutes be printed chestra: ten French horns, eight trum- in the score between the first and sec- pets, a legion of percussions and an ond movements. organ. What matters most, however, is In the Scherzo, the images of St. Mahler’s message, not confined to any Anthony preaching in vain to the fish particular religious creed or doctrine. are overshadowed by caricatured so- Mahler’s Resurrection omits the tradi- los and a restless ostinato. Mahler felt tional notions of redemption. There is a personal affinity with the calm inter- no judgement, no forgiveness – no sin, lude providing a necessary contrast with and nothing to forgive. In revealing his the disturbing build-up to the final cav- personal angst, suffering and fear – the alcade. symphony inevitably has aspects of a Urlicht is best described in Mahler’s in- self-portrait – Mahler sought to prom- struction to the singer to “sound like a ise redemption in this world already. child that believes it’s in heaven”. Mahler He stressed this by quoting Klopstock’s would return to this idea in his fourth hymn: “O glaube, Du warst nicht um- symphony. The primal light is cool and sonst geboren! Hast nicht umsonst gel- distant, a pale flicker of hope. ebt, Gelitten.” (Oh believe: you were not The vast finale abandons the tradi- born in vain! You have not lived, suf- tional symphonic precepts, homogene- fered to no avail!”) The second sympho- ity of style, thematic concentration and ny is dedicated to life, not to those des- architectural balance to make way for a tined to die. gigantic dialogue. Ceremonial questions and angry outbursts receive answers Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen dressed as ecstatic visions. Allusions to translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo earlier movements or other works (such as the Dies irae, Wagner’s Parsifal, the kiss theme in Verdi’s Otello) loosely tie in with the themes of life and death, but HANNU LINTU above all they speak of the end of his- torical time. Like the first movement, the finale is Hannu Lintu has been Chief Conductor braced with military march themes re- of the Finnish Radio Symphony flecting the path to resurrection. The in- Orchestra since August 2013. During fluence of opera, and the wealth of de- the 2018/2019 season, his sched- tail found in Renaissance paintings are ule will include appearances with the visible in the dramatic structure. The Baltimore, St Louis and Cincinnati offstage players bear out a change of Symphony Orchestras, the New Japan both time and space. 3 Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony, The daughter of a music-loving fa- the NDR Symphony Hamburg and oth- ther and theatre-loving mother, Golda er orchestras. Further highlights of the Schultz first studied journalism but season will include his debut with the switched to music after hearing albums Boston Symphony and the Russian by Kiri Te Kanawa and Maria Callas. National Orchestra. In particular, he She studied voice at the University of has worked in recent times with the Cape Town and the Juilliard School, New Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, the York, with Johan Botha, Kiri Te Kanawa, Washington National Symphony and Michelle Breedt and others. the Symphony Orchestras of Dallas and A member of the Bavarian State Detroit. Opera’s Opera Studio 2011–2013, Maestro Lintu also conducts regularly Golda Schultz then spent one season at the Finnish National Opera and the in Klagenfurt and as a soloist at the Savonlinna Opera Festival. He conduct- Bavarian State Opera. In Munich, her ed Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello in Savonlinna assignments included the Countess in in July 2018 and his schedule for spring The Marriage of Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così 2019 includes a production of Alban fan tutte, Liù in Turandot, Musetta in La Berg’s Wozzeck in Helsinki. bohème, Micaëla in Carmen and Pamina Hannu Lintu studied the piano and in The Magic Flute. Her debuts include cello at the Sibelius Academy before critically-acclaimed performances at the joining the conducting class of Jorma Salzburg Festival in 2014 (as Sophie in Panula. He attended masterclasses with Der Rosenkavalier), followed by a return Myung Whun Chung at L’Accademia in 2017 to sing Vitellia in La Clemenza Musicale Chigiana, Siena and won di Tito. Other debuts have been the first prize in the Nordic Conducting Glyndebourne Festival (the Countess) Competition in Bergen in 1994. He has and La Scala, Milan (Susanna) in The recorded on the Ondine, BIS, Hyperion Marriage of Figaro in 2016, the New and other labels. York Metropolitan (Pamina) in 2017 and the Vienna State Opera (the Countess) in 2018. This spring she returns to the Met to sing Nannetta in Falstaff. GOLDA SCHULTZ Representing her contemporary reper- toire is Sibilla in Beat Furrer’s La bianca South African soprano Golda Schultz has notte, a part she sang at the opera’s pre- risen to the top of the operatic world at miere in Hamburg in May 2015. breath-taking speed. Over the past few Golda Schultz can also be frequent- years, she has sung items from the core ly heard in concert across Europe and lyric soprano repertoire at many of the the United States. Tonight she is the most prestigious opera houses and con- soloist in Mahler’s second symphony, cert halls. She made her debut as a so- and last autumn she sang in his fourth loist with the Finnish Radio Symphony during an extensive tour of Europe with Orchestra in March 2017. Gustavo Dudamel. She also gives Lieder 4 recitals, and in June this year will be Schubert, Brahms, Britten and Mahler.