3 SEPTEMBER WEDNESDAY SERIES 1 Helsinki Music Centre at 19

3 SEPTEMBER WEDNESDAY SERIES 1 Helsinki Music Centre at 19 Hannu Lintu, conductor Nina Stemme, soprano Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in E flat, Op. 82 31 min 1. Tempo molto moderato – Allegro moderato 2. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto 3. Allegro molto – Un pochettino largamente INTERVAL 20 min Matthew Whittall: The Architecture of Happiness, 20 min fp (Yle commission) Richard Strauss: Es ist kein Laut zu vernehmen, 20 min final scene from the opera Salome Interval at about 19.35. The concert ends at about 20.55. 1 JEAN SIBELIUS The finale begins with a robust trem- olo motif: joining with the rustle of (1865–1957): spring are timpani rolls and woodwind SYMPHONY NO. 5 staccatos, and soon also the sway- ing horn theme. At the end the music The nature associations in the music seems to rise into the air, measuring in of Jean Sibelius are architectural rath- giant leaps the distance from earthly er than scenic. The departure from and misery and catapulting into space on expansion of the traditional composi- six forte chords. tion formats begun in the third symphony (1907) found a well-balanced, Antti Häyrynen (abridged) monumental and optimistic outlet in the fifth symphony of 1915. In the earliest version of Symphony No. 5, the first movement was still in MATTHEW WHITTALL two sections, whereas the final ver- (1975–): THE sion combines the sonata-form opening and the scherzo in a single cumula- ARCHITECTURE OF tive build-up. Sibelius uses little motifs HAPPINESS FOR to mould great growth processes set in ORCHESTRA motion by an opening gesture on the timpani and French horns and wood- The Architecture of Happiness borrows wind motifs inspired by this gesture. its title from a book by the Swiss- The real growth begins with the British writer Alain de Botton, which strings, and the recurring climax erupts I found around the time Hannu Lintu in a rocking movement that later acts asked me for a new work to open the as the point of gravity for the fina- Finnish Radio Symphony’s 2014-15 sea- le. The opening movement subsides son. Somewhat perversely, I’d suggest- and grows denser in a mysterious ed a virtually static piece with little in Largamente episode that culminates the way of climax. Flashing his trade- in a solo bassoon lament. The sec- mark smirk, Hannu replied, “Write me ond movement is simple by compari- something…” and held his hands wide son with the movements framing it, a apart to suggest a monumental state- theme and variations. In its exposition, ment of some sort. “Of course, if you the idyllic theme is supported only by want, a big adagio somewhere would the low strings and French horns sway- be appropriate.” ing in the background. In the fifth Normally drawn to the outside variation, string pizzicatos lead unex- world in composing, de Botton’s writ- pectedly to a fit of rage on the brass, ings turned my thoughts to the ways making the oboe variation which fol- in which we build our domestic envi- lows sound placatory and the closing ronments, and what our living spaces scene romantically nostalgic. express about us. I began to think for- 2 mally in terms of construction versus mony and rhythm at their most ba- “natural”-sounding evolution, materi- sic – I drew the blueprint for the rest. als and forms crafted and connected Much of the tension of the piece de- rather than simply found or stumbled rives from the contrast between mo- upon. (Though I often compare my way tion and stasis, and the fluidity with of writing music to the processes of which the usual markers of these two nature, just as often I look upon a new states are made to take on character- piece as a house I’m forced to inhabit istics of the other. Fast pulses become for a set period. The ways in which I a static field, joyous motion takes on make that time pleasant are just as ar- larger arch-shapes that make the pro- tificial and planned, in a way, as a walk cess sound slower, and a landscape of in the woods.) still, quiet chords covers more ground While de Botton’s book is ostensibly a in a few bars than much longer spans historical primer on aesthetic values in of rhythmic activity. My intent was to architecture, his central theme is beau- create a flow of music that, while fre- ty: how we perceive it, how we create it, quently quite busy, manages to remain what it means for a thing to be beauti- quite still. (This perhaps also illustrates ful, and for us to find it so. As he says a certain stubborn need to ultimately in one of his lectures, “To become sen- get my way, while still happily fulfilling sitive to beauty is also to lay yourself dictates from patrons.) open to a lot of disappointment and Though I strove to focus purely on pain.” One emerges with a deep sense the beauty of abstract forms, I should of the contextuality of beauty, how the acknowledge one personal note. The meaning of the word fluctuates with “big adagio” idea suggested by Hannu, time, and yet whose essential nature a near-ambient, tuneless mass of slow- is somehow immutable. Other threads ly morphing harmonies beginning half- include the reconciling of tradition and way through the piece, took on elegiac innovation, as well as the broad con- tones following the death of my first sensus on aesthetic values necessary teacher of composition – of music – for a piece of public art – an orchestral whose influence was central to my for- piece, for instance – to resonate. mation. As one of the principal archi- That said, the book was merely a tects of my current happiness, I hope starting point, and any further re- this piece serves as a monument to his semblance is very much in the ear of life. the beholder. The music begins with The Architecture of Happiness a hushed chorale of diatonic string was commissioned by the Finnish chords, material from a recent, rather Broadcasting Company (Yle). It is ded- fractured ensemble piece that I had icated to Hannu Lintu, and to Robert wanted to take in a more architectonic Frederick Jones (1947-2012), in memo- direction. Out of this wash of sound a riam. simple, repeated-note pulse arises, and from these two building blocks – har- Matthew Whittall 3 RICHARD STRAUSS of Herodes and Herodias, the former horrified and the latter approving. (1864–1949): ES Salome’s last words soar from an omi- IST KEIN LAUT ZU nous silence to utter ecstasy until she VERNEHMEN is pierced by the final chords on the orchestra. Richard Strauss saw the production of Oscar Wilde’s play Salome direct- Antti Häyrynen (abridged) ed by Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1902. Three years later, he put the finishing touches to a one-act opera to a libret- to abridged from the German transla- HANNU LINTU tion of the play by Hedwig Lachmann. Many, from Ernest Newman onwards, Hannu Lintu took over as Chief suspect he began composing with the Conductor of the Finnish Radio final scene, which is taken to be a bru- Symphony Orchestra in August 2013. tal version of the Liebestod or ‘Love Formerly Artistic Director of the Death’ in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and The final scene begins when the Chief Conductor of the Helsingborg huge black arm of the executioner rises Symphony Orchestra, he has also out of the cistern, supporting the head been Principal Guest Conductor of the of John the Baptist on a silver platter. RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in There is a note of triumph in Salome’s Dublin. He works regularly with the first words: “You did not want to kiss Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and was me, Jokanaan.” The Salome of the fi- Artistic Director of its Summer Sounds nale is frighteningly familiar from the festival in 2005. images of today’s youngsters brought In addition to conducting the lead- up in the artificial reality of social me- ing Finnish orchestras, Maestro Lintu dia, thoroughly spoilt and demanding has made guest appearances with to have everything at once. the Radio Orchestras in Berlin, Paris, Musically, the final scene represents Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Amsterdam and Strauss at his most characteristic, his Madrid, with a number of orchestras broad melodic lines seasoned by dis- in North and South America (such sonances and intervals indicating the as the Toronto, Houston, Baltimore, pathological nature of the situation. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St. Louis The part of Salome is scored for dra- Symphony Orchestras, and the Los matic soprano, but one who is expect- Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood ed to combine a girlish lightness with Bowl), in Asia (Seoul, Tokyo, Kuala bone-chilling notes deep in the alto Lumpur and Hong Kong) and Australia register – “The secret of love is greater (the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony than the secret of death”. This mono- Orchestras and others). During the logue is interrupted by the comments 2012/2013 season he made his debut 4 with such orchestras as the London The Marriage of Figaro, Marguerite in Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra Faust, Elsa in Lohengrin, Sieglinde in and the BBC Scottish Symphony, Die Walküre, and the title role in Aida. and this season he takes up re-invi- She has sung at such illustrious opera tations to conduct the Stockholm houses as the Vienna State Opera and and Gothenburg Symphonies, the the New York Metropolitan, in Geneva, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (DSO), the Toronto Symphony and oth- and San Francisco Opera, and has been er orchestras.

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