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27 SEPTEMBER FRIDAY SERIES 2 Helsinki Music Centre at 19.00 Tugan Sokhiev, conductor Sergey Khachatryan, violin Elena Firsova: Beyond the Seven Seals (fp in Finland) 12 min Jean Sibelius: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Minor, Op. 47 32 min I Allegro moderato II Adagio di molto III Allegro ma non tanto INTERVAL 20 min Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B Flat Major, Op. 100 43 min I Andante II Allegro marcato III Adagio IV Allegro giocoso Interval at about 20.00. The concert proper ends at about 21.15. THE LATE-NIGHT CHAMBER MUSIC, the Piano Trio No. 1 by Anton Arensky, will begin in the main Concert Hall after an interval of about 10 minutes. Those attending are asked to take (unnumbered) seats in the stalls. 1 LATE-NIGHT CHAMBER MUSIC Reeta Maalismaa, violin Tuomas Lehto, cello Jouko Laivuori, piano Anton Arensky: Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 32 28 min I Allegro moderato II Scherzo (Allegro molto) III Elegy (Adagio) IV Finale (Allegro non troppo) Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 (orchestral concert) and on the Internet (yle.fi/klassinen). 2 ELENA FIRSOVA JEAN SIBELIUS (b. 1950): BEYOND (1865–1957): THE SEVEN SEALS CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA IN ‘Where did we come from? D MINOR, OP. 47 Where are we going? What meaning does our life have? We cannot comprehend it ...’ Sibelius composed his Violin Concerto between his 2nd and 3rd Symphonies, These lines by Omar Khayyam, a at a time when his idiom was taking Persian poet who lived more than a a stylistic turn towards a leaner mode thousand years ago, are printed as an of expression. This is borne out by the epigraph in the score of Beyond the revisions he kept making to the final Seven Seals by Elina Firsova. The title version, stripping the Violin Concerto of the work alludes to the mysteries of any Germanic influence not yet ab- of the Biblical Book of Revelation, but sorbed into his personal idiom. in Russian it has another more gener- In the first movement the soloist al meaning, of anything that goes be- takes the lead by introducing the main yond human comprehension. In other theme after only a few bars. The sec- words, questions such as those posed ond movement, tracing mighty arches, by Omar Khayyam. is one of the most perfect in all vio- The composition begins with these lin literature. At the highest point the three questions, represented by the soloist engulfs the orchestra in its ec- harp. The answers are hidden beyond stasy. seven seals; hence, the number seven The most characteristic feature of recurs again and again in motto-like the finale is its playful use of rhythm, a chimes. The most delicate of delicate balancing act of duple and triple metre. filigree webs gradually builds up to vio- A “polonaise for polar bears” is how it lent outbursts, forming a backcloth in was once described. The soloist’s dizzy sound for a host of percussion instru- leaps of three-and-a-half octaves in the ments. The composition ends with sev- finale would make even a ski-jumper en chords on the full orchestra. green with envy. Beyond the Seven Seals was commis- The final version of the concerto was sioned by the Orchestre National du premiered in Berlin on 19 October 1905, Capitole de Toulouse and premiered with Richard Strauss conducting. The in September 2010. It is dedicated to soloist was the orchestra’s leader, Karel Tugan Sokhiev Halir. The premiere was well received, but some time was to pass before the Lotta Emanuelsson (abridged) violin concerto recorded more than any other in the world found a place for it- self in the staple repertoire. 3 In 1910, Sibelius heard the 17-year-old as it may, the irony often associated Hungarian virtuoso Ferenc von Vecsey with Prokofiev is conspicuous by its ab- give such a fine performance of his sence; the symphony has, if anything, a concerto in Berlin that he decided to closer affinity with the great Romantic dedicate the work to him. symphonic tradition in the spirit of Brahms and Tchaikovsky. As an ideal- Hannele Segerstam (abridged) istic archetype of the Soviet symphony it could be compared to the fifth sym- phony of a younger colleague, Dmitri Shostakovich. It is an ingenuous, tooth- SERGEI PROKOFIEV: less work, intent on victory, a work of (1891–1953) SYMPHONY firm construction and simultaneously both classical and modern. NO. 5 IN B FLAT MAJOR, The broad main theme of the first OP. 100 movement lacks sarcastic chromatic gestures, unfolding in a calm Andante On 13 January 1945, the great hall of tempo and proceeding at a leisure- Moscow Conservatory was all set to ly pace towards an inevitable climax. hear the first performance of a new The Scherzo, which rattles along like symphony by Sergei Prokofiev. The au- a Toccata, is a loose set of variations dience fell silent and Prokofiev raised on a snappy theme presented by the his baton. At precisely that moment, clarinet with a more relaxed Trio sec- the silence was shattered by a round of tion woven into it. Prokofiev took the artillery fire. It was, however, launched material for this movement from his not by the enemy but by the Red Army, sketches for Romeo and Juliet. The pain- as a sign that its troops had crossed fully nostalgic Adagio is one of the fin- the Vistula. Victory was now certain: est of all Prokofiev’s slow movements. the war was nearly over. The introduction to the finale quotes The fifth symphony marked a turn- the main theme of the first movement; ing point in the life of Prokofiev the the fact that the “pure and noble spir- composer. Its reception was carried it of free Man” now pops up again in along by a wave of patriotic fervour, a jolly finale Allegro may, of course, be and the following year it won Prokofiev taken as an ironic comment. the Stalin Prize and in due course inter- national acclaim. Lotta Emanuelsson (abridged) According to Prokofiev’s famous words, the fifth symphony is “a hymn to free and happy Man, to his mighty powers, his pure and noble spirit”. If one wished to be nasty, one could of course point out that this statement was pure socialist-realist jingo. Be that 4 ANTON ARENSKY TUGAN SOKHIEV (1861–1906): PIANO TRIO NO. 1 IN Ossetian Tugan Sokhiev has rapidly be- D MINOR, OP. 32 come a member of the world’s conduc- tor elite. Music Director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Russian composer, pianist and con- the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester ductor Anton Arensky studied com- Berlin, he enjoys a close association position with Rimsky-Korsakov at the with the Mariinsky Theatre and is in de- St. Petersburg Conservatory and in mand from leading opera houses and 1882 was appointed a professor at the orchestras worldwide. His conducting Moscow Conservatory. He there met engagements have included appear- Tchaikovsky and they became good ances with the Royal Concertgebouw, friends and colleagues. Arensky was the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the greatly influenced by Tchaikovsky’s Orchestre National de France, and the music and they both suffered from de- Oslo and Munich Philharmonics. He pression now and then. has also made his mark as an opera Arensky composed his first piano conductor, making guest appearanc- trio in memory of his cellist friend Karl es at the New York Metropolitan, the Davidov. It was premiered in Moscow in Vienna State Opera, Houston Opera 1894 and got an enthusiastic reception. and elsewhere. Later awarded the Glinka Prize, it is still Sokhiev’s plans for the present season one of his best-known works. After an include his debut with the Philadelphia intensive first movement and a danc- Orchestra and a return visit to the ing Scherzo, it arrives at the heart of Berlin Philharmonic, Philharmonia and the work, an Elegy expressing in music NHK Symphony. Other highlights of the sorrow and emptiness left by the the season are tours with the Orchestre death of a friend. At the end of the ac- National du Capitole de Toulouse and tion-packed finale Arensky gathers to- the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester gether the slow themes of the first and Berlin. His discography takes in nu- third movements before building up to merous highly-acclaimed recordings a climax in the coda. for Naïve Classique with the Toulouse Orchestra of repertoire by Tchaikovsky Reeta Maalismaa (abridged) (Symphonies 4 & 5), Stravinsky (Rite of Spring) and Prokofiev (Peter and the Wolf). 5 SERGEY KHACHATRYAN THE FINNISH RADIO SYMPHONY Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Sergey ORCHESTRA Khachatryan won first prize at the VIII International Jean Sibelius Competition in Helsinki in 2000, becoming the The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra youngest ever winner in the history of (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish the competition. In 2005 he claimed Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its missi- first prize at the Queen Elisabeth on is to produce and promote Finnish Competition in Brussels. He has been musical culture and its Chief Conductor the soloist with such orchestras as as of autumn 2013 is Hannu Lintu. the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal The Radio Orchestra of ten players Concertgebouw, the Orchestre National founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- de France, the London Symphony chestra strength in the 1960s. Its pre- and the London Philharmonic. In vious Chief Conductors have been the United States, he has starred Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, with many orchestras, among them Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif the Seattle Symphony and the New Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and York Philharmonic.

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