22 MAY FRIDAY SERIES 14 Helsinki Music Centre at 19

AULIS SALLINEN 80 YEARS

Hannu Lintu, conductor Johanna Rusanen-Kartano, Ville Rusanen, Helsinki Music Centre Choir, coach Tapani Länsiö

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 26 min

I Adagio molto – Allegro con brio II Andante cantabile con moto III Minuet (Allegro molto e vivace) – Trio IV Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace

INTERVAL 20 min

Aulis Sallinen: Songs of Life and Death, Op. 69 50 min

1. Kuin tulvavesi elämäni päivät (Like floodwaters the days of my life) 2. Me vaellamme täällä (We wander here) 3. Minä, syntymätön (I, unborn) 4. Tuba mirum 5. Voin ajatella sinun lähteneen (I can think you departed) 6. Dies irae 7. Kun vielä olet tällä rannalla (While you are still on this shore) 8. Elää täyttä elämää (Live a full life)

1 The LATE-NIGHT CHAMBER-MUSIC will follow in the Concert Hall after an interval of about 10 minutes. Those attending are asked to take (unnumbered) seats in the stalls.

Jouko Laivuori, piano Jorma Valjakka, oboe Christoffer Sundqvist, clarinet Otto Virtanen, bassoon József Hárs, French horn

W. A. Mozart: Quintet for piano and winds KV 452 25 min

I Largo – Allegro moderato II Larghetto III Rondo (Allegretto)

Interval at about 19.35. The concert ends at about 21.00. The late-night chamber music ends at about 21.45. Broadcast live on Yle Teema, Yle Radio 1 and online at yle.fi/rso.

2 LUDWIG VAN minor-key passages and mysterious pia- nissimos with raps from the timpani. BEETHOVEN Little remains in the Minuet of the (1770–1827): graceful court dance of that name, for SYMPHONY NO. 1 this Minuet is a galloping scherzo in- dulging in sharp rhythms and black- Symphony No. 1 by Ludwig van and-white forte/piano effects in the Beethoven was first heard in 1800, at outer sections and balmy nature visions the same concert in Vienna as his first in the middle Trio. piano concerto, and it represented a new The finale again begins with a slow in- lease of life for the Classical tradition. troduction. After a chord that seems to Beethoven had been making sketches spring from nowhere, the strings try to for it in 1795 already, and it is interesting pick out a melody and latch onto it at to note that material he initially planned last as the zippy main section gets un- for the opening movement finally end- der way. ed up in the last. Outwardly, it has bor- rowed from Haydn and Mozart, but it also sets a course of its own in many AULIS SALLINEN ways. The slow movement, for example, (1935–): SONGS OF LIFE is more dynamic than in earlier times, and the Minuet looks ahead to the ener- AND DEATH getic character piece of the future. The introduction to the first move- Aulis Sallinen began his musical career ment begins in the misleading key of with lessons on the violin, but soon F major, with string pizzicatos that lead changed to the piano. His parents were the orchestra to a massive chord that living in Uusikaupunki, having been launches a sweet, singing melody. A dra- forced to leave their home in Karelia matic bridge passage leads to the main during the Second World War. By the section in the home key of C major, the time he embarked on his formal com- very first bars of which leave the listen- position studies with Aarre Merikanto in er in no doubt that it is the work of a 1955, he had already made his first at- fully-fledged symphonist. The energy tempt at composition six years earlier. flows unbridled, and the music abounds He then went on to study with Joonas in contrasts in the development sec- Kokkonen and gained his diploma in tion, the main theme being hammered composition in 1960. home all the more forcibly in the final The Songs of Life and Death were con- recapitulation. ceived on Sallinen’s island off the south- The slow movement is not just a tradi- ern coast of Finland and born at the sea- tional respite. Beethoven really gets his side village of Les Lecques in Provence. main theme moving, cheerfully wend- The texts are all by Lassi Nummi (1928– ing his way through neat variations. The 2012), some adaptations of the poems mighty build-ups are offset by shifting from the Requiem (1988) by Leonid

3 Bashmakov and others taken from else- While you are still on this shore is a where. Nummi’s text gives the cycle a leave-taking that does nothing to re- strongly humanist slant. The soloist at lieve the pain of parting. The vocal solo- the premiere and on the disc (Ondine) ist and chorus proclaim “The greatest of was Jorma Hynninen, but for today’s these is love”, the chorus finally putting performance by the FRSO Sallinen has the seal on this in liturgical strains. Grief divided the solo parts between a sopra- is still present in the closing song (Live a no and a baritone. full life), but “from surmise grows knowl- The death in Sallinen’s songs is a per- edge”, as crystallised in the final C-sharp sonal one, but the ceremonial tradition major chord. of the Requiem carries reminders of its collective aspect. The celesta and per- Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen cussions in the early songs bear echoes translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo of the sacred tones in Sallinen’s The Horseman. Rising from the valley of the shadow of death is the plea “Dona nobis pacem” (Grant us peace), and the HANNU LINTU message of peace is indeed a frail yet persistent motif running right through Hannu Lintu took over as Chief the cycle. Conductor of the Finnish Radio Two of the songs are named accord- Symphony Orchestra in August 2013. ing to the Latin Requiem. The brass in- Formerly Artistic Director of the struments heralding the last judgment Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and (Tuba mirum) are a reminder of our sins Chief Conductor of the Helsingborg and our humility as we confess them. Symphony Orchestra, he has also been The Dies irae, dashing along in the man- Principal Guest Conductor of the RTÉ ner of a scherzo, presents man as the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin. servant of death, the instigator of wars He works regularly with the Avanti! and environmental disasters. Chamber Orchestra and was Artistic To this timeless and regrettably uni- Director of its Summer Sounds festival versal aspect of death Sallinen adds a in 2005. personal, individual dimension. The In addition to conducting the leading beauty of the music helps us to under- Finnish orchestras, Maestro Lintu has stand that which is difficult to accept. made guest appearances with the Radio Examples of this are the innocence of Orchestras in Berlin, Paris, Frankfurt, the unborn floating in the cosmic sea Stuttgart, Amsterdam and Madrid, with (song 3) and the departure of a dear- a number of orchestras in North and one mirrored against rebirth in spring South America (such as the Cleveland, (song 5). These poetic visions are re- Toronto, Houston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, flected in the intimacy of the music Pittsburgh and St. Louis Symphony and the differentiation between the vo- Orchestras, and the Los Angeles cal and instrumental solos. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl),

4 in Asia (Seoul, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and studied privately in Berlin with Herbert Hong Kong) and Australia (the Sydney Brauer and Karan Armstrong, and in and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras Vienna with Irina Gavrilovici. Winner and others). During the 2012/2013 sea- of the Timo Mustakallio Competition son he made his debut with such or- in 1995, she went on to take the first chestras as the London Philharmonic, prize in the Lappeenranta Singing the Minnesota Orchestra and the Competition the following year, was BBC Scottish Symphony, and this sea- awarded the Martti Talvela Prize in 1997 son he takes up re-invitations to con- and the Karita Mattila Prize in 2001. duct the Stockholm and Gothenburg Since making her operatic debut Symphonies, the Deutsches Symphonie- in Kuopio in 1994, Johanna Rusanen- Orchester Berlin (DSO), the Toronto Kartano has sung at, for example, the Symphony and other orchestras. Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Finnish Hannu Lintu studied the piano and National Opera and the Deutsche Oper cello first at the Turku Conservatory Berlin, in such roles as Marie in Wozzeck, in his native Finland and later the Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Marguerite Sibelius Academy, where he also at- in Faust, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, tended the conducting class taught Ortlinde in Die Walküre, Mimi in La by Jorma Panula, Atso Almila, Eri Klas bohème, Amelia in A Masked Ball, Anna and Ilja Musin. He has further been tu- in The Horseman and Donna Elvira in tored by, among others, Myung Whun Don Giovanni. In spring 2012 she made Chung at the Music Academy Siena. In her Tampere Opera debut as Venus in 1994 he was the winner of the Nordic Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Conducting Competition. Johanna Rusanen-Kartano has also Discs by Hannu Lintu have been re- had numerous engagements in concert leased on the Ondine, Alba, Naxos, and oratorio repertoire, and has held Ricordi, Claves, Hyperion and Danacord Lieder recitals at such prestigious ven- labels. Many of the discs featuring him ues as the Wigmore Hall in London, in as the conductor have won awards both many European countries and in Japan, at home and abroad, and his premiere Chile, the USA and North Korea. recording of the opera The Mine by Sibelius’s Symphony has Einojuhani Rautavaara was nominated been in Johanna Rusanen-Kartano’s rep- for a Grammy. ertoire since 1996, when she recorded it for Naxos with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Jorma Panula. She has sung Kullervo the world over – in Paris, JOHANNA Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest, Madrid, RUSANEN-KARTANO Liège, Tokyo, and most recently at the Chicago Grant Park Music Festival in Johanna Rusanen-Kartano entered the July 2011. Sibelius Academy in 1991 to study with Matti Tuloisela and Anita Välkki. She also

5 VILLE RUSANEN THE HELSINKI MUSIC Ville Rusanen, brother to Johanna CENTRE CHOIR Rusanen-Kartano, also studied at the Founded in autumn 2011, the Helsinki Sibelius Academy, with Pertti Rusanen, Music Centre Choir of about 80 singers Jorma Hynninen and Päivi Nisula. He can, as required, regroup as a male, fe- took the first prize for men in the 2004 male or chamber choir. It works in close Lappeenranta Singing Competition partnership with the main Helsinki and with pianist Ilmari Räikkönen the Music Centre occupants: the Finnish prize for Lied duo in the Erkki Melartin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Chamber Music Competition in 2002. Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sibelius In recent years Ville Rusanen has Academy. Its Artistic Director has from sung at La Scala, the Opéra de Lyon the very beginning been composer in France, the Dutch National Opera in Tapani Länsiö. Amsterdam, Scottish Opera, and the The HMCC repertoire, planned jointly Nationale Reisoper in the Netherlands. by the main Helsinki Music Centre oc- In spring 2013 he made his debut as the cupants, consists mainly of symphonic soloist with the Sydney Philharmonia choral and orchestral works and unac- under Vladimir Ashkenazy. Other ma- companied music for large choir, not jor engagements have included solo forgetting contemporary music. Each appearances at the BBC Proms in year the Choir gives a concert of unac- London, the Grant Park Music Festival companied hymns on the evening of All in Chicago, with the Orchestre National Saints Day. Bordeaux in France, the Orchestre The Choir appears in concert from Philharmonique de Liège in Belgium eight to ten times a year, mainly at the and the RTÉ National Symphony Helsinki Music Centre but also at oth- Orchestra in Ireland. er venues, such as the Organ Night and Ville Rusanen has been a frequent Aria festival in Espoo. The members of guest at the Finnish National Opera, the choir are amateurs with a passion where his roles have included Pelléas for singing. in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Figaro in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Jussi in Madetoja’s The Ostrobothnians, the young Aleksis in Rautavaara’s Aleksis Kivi and the title role in Linkola’s Robin Hood. In summer 2014 he sang Kimmo in the Savonlinna Opera Festival produc- tion of Aulis Sallinen’s Kullervo and was the Festival’s Artist of the Year. He has a solo contract with the Finnish National Opera for the period 2014–2016.

6 THE FINNISH The FRSO has recorded works by Ligeti, Eötvös, Nielsen, Hakola, Lindberg, RADIO SYMPHONY Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen ORCHESTRA and others, and the debut disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Its discs have reaped some prestigious (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish distinctions, such as the BBC Music Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mis- Magazine Award and the Académie sion is to produce and promote Finnish Charles Cros Award. The disc of the musical culture and its Chief Conductor Sibelius and Lindberg violin concertos as of autumn 2013 is Hannu Lintu. The was Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s FRSO has two Honorary Conductors: Choice in February 2014. Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. The FRSO regularly tours to all parts The Radio Orchestra of ten players of the world. One of the many highlights founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- of the 2013/2014 season was a critically- chestra strength in the 1960s. Hannu acclaimed concert conducted by Hannu Lintu was preceded as Chief Conductor Lintu at the Vienna Musikverein dur- by Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, ing a tour of Central Europe. During the Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif 2014/2015 season the orchestra, under Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the baton of Hannu Lintu, will appear in most recently Sakari Oramo. Stockholm and tour Finland. It will also In addition to the great Classical- visit the EBU Festival in Bucharest with Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- Joshua Weilerstein as its conductor. temporary music is a major item in the The home channel of the FRSO is Yle repertoire of the FRSO, which each Radio 1, which broadcasts all its con- year premieres a number of Yle com- certs, usually live, both in Finland and missions. Another of the orchestra’s abroad. Its concerts can also be heard tasks is to record all Finnish orches- and watched with excellent live stream tral music for the Yle archive. During quality on the FRSO website (yle.fi/rso), the 2014/2015 season it will premiere and the majority of them are televised four Finnish works commissioned by live on the Yle Teema channel. Yle. The programme will also include colourful orchestral poems by Richard Strauss, symphonies by Shostakovich and Haydn’s great The Creation. The orchestra’s distinguished guests will in- clude conductors Leonard Slatkin, Kent Nagano, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa- Pekka Salonen, soprano Karita Mattila, violist Tabea Zimmermann and pianist Olli Mustonen.

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