WEDNESDAY SERIES 7 Osmo Vänskä, Conductor Lilli
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14.12. WEDNESDAY SERIES 7 Helsinki Music Centre at 19.00 Osmo Vänskä, conductor Lilli Paasikivi, mezzo-soprano Jussi Nikkilä, narrator Eero Hämeenniemi: Winter calm and Summer storms 20 min for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (fp, Yle commission) INTERVAL 20 min Jean Sibelius: The Tempest, selections by Osmo Vänskä 60 min Introduction Ariel flies in Ariel’s First Song Ariel’s Second Song Interlude The Oak Tree Ariel’s Third Song Interlude Interlude Humoresque Dance of the Shapes Melodrama The Shapes Dance Out Intermezzo Ariel flies in Ariel’s Fourth Song The Rainbow Melodrama Minuet Polka The Dogs Ariel brings the foes to Prospero Ariel’s Fifth Song Cortège Epilogue Interval at about 19:40. The concert ends at about 21:15. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and online at yle.fi/rso. 2 EERO HÄMEENNIEMI Eero Hämeenniemi emerged as the cially the Carnatic music of Southern voice of his classical-music generation India – not so much as a treasure in the late 1970s, as chairman of the trove of musical material or exotic ide- Korvat auki (Ears Open) association. as but as the generator of a new type He studied with Paavo Heininen at the of musicianship, attitude and commu- Sibelius Academy, graduating in com- nity. Another of his great interests is position in 1978 and thereafter contin- improvisation; this he has cultivated in uing his studies with Boguslaw Schäfer, his Nada ensemble, for example, and Franco Donatoni, Joseph Schwantner he has variously incorporated it in his and others. As a lecturer and later pro- compositions. fessor of composition at the Sibelius In the 2000s, Eero Hämeenniemi Academy, he has left his mark on con- has developed an even more pro- temporary Finnish music, since most of found relationship with Indian music, the young generation of Finnish com- as reflected in his many orchestral and posers have been his pupils. concertante works. He has also trans- As a composer, Eero Hämeenniemi lated into Finnish and published an- has, however, been anything but an cient Tamil sangam poetry dating back apprentice’s taskmaster. His works a couple of thousand years. The dis- have been characterised by an expres- tance from Stratford-upon-Avon is not sive charge and a curiosity about mu- as long as one might assume. sical phenomena in a broad cultural context. One source of inspiration has Antti Häyrynen been the art music of India, and espe- EERO HÄMEENNIEMI (B. 1951): WINTER CALM AND SUMMER STORMS FOR MEZZO-SOPRANO AND ORCHESTRA No. 97 by William Shakespeare is one of father’d fruit’ (the child born after its fa- the most beautiful sonnets of all – and ther’s death). “The very birds are mute, one of the saddest. Absent is the be- or, if they sing, ‘tis with so dull a cheer.” loved, and although it is summer, dark, I am not as a rule inclined to seek freezing winter prevails in the mourn- facile similarities between a compos- ful poet’s mind. Even summer and its er’s life and music. The sad musician pleasures look bleak in old December. does not necessarily write mournful The poet compares the teeming au- music, and nor do his joy and happi- tumn with the ‘widow’d womb’, the ‘un- ness find expression in jubilant music. 3 But this time I cannot swear that there JEAN SIBELIUS might be some connection between the piece and the time it was written. (1865–1957): I began planning Winter calm in an THE TEMPEST India battered by monsoons. The idea of a December premiere in Helsinki set In 1925, the Danish publisher Wilhelm my imagination in motion. The con- Hansen suggested to Jean Sibelius trast between my environment at the that he might compose some inci- time and the premiere venue was fas- dental music for the play The Tempest cinating. by William Shakespeare (1564–1616). Contrasts are in fact central to my Sibelius in time arranged just under new composition: slow/quick; soft/ two thirds of his original 34 move- loud; mournful/jubilant. First, the mez- ments for concert performance, as zo-soprano sings Shakespeare’s sonnet. an overture and two orchestral suites I have given it a very plain and to my (1927). mind very melancholy guise. The cul- Briefly, The Tempest tells the sto- tivated voice of Lilli Paasikivi inspired ry of Prospero, the rightful Duke of me to write music in which the singer Milan whose power has been seized very clearly plays the leading role, and by his brother Antonio with the help in which the orchestra merely provides of Alonso, King of Naples. Abandoned very light support. on a remote island, Prospero tries to When the singer falls silent, the or- bring up his daughter Miranda and chestra comes to life and the music be- a monster called Caliban. To help gins a lengthy growth process towards him, he calls upon Ariel, an airy spir- a powerful, even raucous outburst. But it who causes Antonio and his party all the time, the melodic vocal material to be shipwrecked on the very same lies hidden in the orchestra’s rises and island. With them are Gonzalo, who falls. The ability of Maestro Vänskä and has helped Prospero, and Ferdinand, the FRSO to construct the gentlest pi- who is the son of Alonso and in love anissimos and the wildest outbursts with Miranda. On the island, Prospero are needed in this composition. proves the potency of his magic pow- At the end, the singer returns. She ers, but in the end he is prepared to now just alludes to the sonnet, and forgive his adversaries. the music is even plainer than at The Tempest is a mixture of moral fa- the beginning. Have I here mirrored ble, comedy and romance, incorporat- Shakespeare’s thought? Is this a mem- ing many cultural themes of the era. ory of winter in the midst of summer? The idea of magic may tie in with the Who knows? The composer at least illusion created by theatre and equat- cannot answer that. ed Shakespeare with Prospero. As the well-meaning supporter and bene- Eero Hämeenniemi ficiary of Nature’s secrets, Prospero stands in contrast to the destructive 4 magic of Caliban’s mother, Sycorax, Song (“Full fathom five thy father lies”) mentioned in the play. affords a glimpse of the treasures that The musical tension in Sibelius’s lie deep on the seabed beneath exotic Tempest is between Prospero and Ariel. brass chords and harp glissandos. Around these two, Sibelius composed The Interlude between Acts I and II, the suite’s most enchanting music. The a portrait of wise Prospero, is rich in other elements of the drama are ex- Baroque solemnity and memories of old pressed in a variety of genres: elegant displeasures. lyricism, pastiches in pastel shades, Prospero has rescued Ariel from an stylised comedy or biting realism. oak and frequently reminds him to be In the chromatic orchestral storm grateful for this. In one direction, Ariel raised by Sibelius in the Overture, was depicted as a flute-playing oak. the brass instruments howl and the His lonely flute rests on string ostina- woodwinds wail. Heavy string waves tos like leaves swaying in the wind, and build up to a massive, turbulent cli- the characters grow drowsy (“What a max that strikes straight to the heart strange drowsiness possesses them!”). of Shakespeare’s text: “Hell is empty Ariel’s Third Song (“While you here do and all the devils are here.” Both na- snoring lie”) rouses them from their ture and the human mind are at their slumber. most chaotic, and Sibelius at his most Out stumbles Caliban, a comic, un- modernist. As if at the wave of a ma- couth savage. This blustering figure, ac- gician’s wand, all subsides on cryptic companied by pounding percussions, tritone harmonies. has elements familiar to anyone who The play begins as in a dream. has seen the effects of drink on certain Prospero is reassuring his daughter people of Ugrian descent. Miranda; the shipwreck is but a mem- The delicate portrait of Miranda is a ory. From somewhere on the border simple string miniature expressing the of dream and reality, the leading char- innocent fears and hopes of a young acters have landed on an island to ad- maiden. The comic villains return in the dress both their personal and others’ march-like Humoresque: Stefano the problems. butler, Trinculo the jester and Caliban To help him, Prospero has called the savage led by a clarinet-playing Ariel. upon the spirit Ariel, his entries and ex- Prospero’s description of his its marked by a brief signal issued by treacherous brother Antonio has a a harp placed above the stage. Ariel’s Machiavellian incisiveness and cyni- songs reflect the magic nature of The cism: “Conscience? Where lies that? I feel Tempest. In his feelings and his longing not this deity in my bosom: twenty con- for freedom, Ariel is also very human. sciences, that stand ‘twixt me and Milan, The dancing melody of the First candied be they, and melt eer they mo- Song (“Come unto these yellow sands”) lest,” says Shakespeare. contrasts with sea sounds on harp and Ariel proves his power in turning brass. The gloomily undulating Second himself into a winged harpy whose 5 twinge-provoking wind chords and ant company off the stage to the beat orchestral blows frighten the conspir- of an increasingly brisk Polonaise. ators. The Dance of the Shapes ends in light, frolicking mood, but there is Antti Häyrynen (abridged) still a suggestion of constraint in the organ points and pizzicatos.