THURSDAY SERIES 5 Hannu Lintu, Conductor Gerald Finley
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14.12. THURSDAY SERIES 5 Helsinki Music Centre at 19:00 Hannu Lintu, conductor Gerald Finley, baritone Uuno Klami: Suite from the ballet Whirls 23 min Prelude: The Boy of the Day and the Maidens of the Day Ronde IV The Boy of the Moon Ronde V Finale: Farewell Dance of the North Star and the Boy of the Moon Kaija Saariaho: True Fire, fpF 30 min 1. Proposition I 2. River 3. Proposition II 4. Lullaby 5. Proposition III 6. Farewell INTERVAL 20 min 1 Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka, a ballet burlesque 35 min in 4 scenes (1947) Scene 1: At the Shrovetide Fair – The Crowds – The Charlatan’s Booth – Russian Dance Scene 2: Petrushka – Petrushka’s Room Scene 3: The Moor’s Room – Dance of the Ballerina – Waltz: The Ballerina & the Moor Scene 4: The Shrovetide Fair (Evening) – Dance of the Wet Nurses – Dance of the Peasant and the Bear – Dance of the Gypsy Girls – Dance of the Coachmen – The Mummers – The Fight between the Moor and Petrushka – Petrushka’s Death – The Policeman and the Juggler – Petrushka’s Ghost Interval at about 20:05. The concert will end at about 21:10. 2 A QUEST FOR RICHES Maidens of the Day. There is something very archaic, very Kalevalaic, in its modal AND HAPPINESS simplicity. Towards the end of the move- ment a trumpet also plays a bright, lucid There is no denying the iconic role in melody. Finland of the national epic, Kalevala. Ronde IV leaps into action in More than any other work, it has had an Stravinskyan manner. It bears a clear impact on just about every genre of the affinity with The Infernal Dance of King arts and beyond. Uuno Klami, a Finnish Kastchei in Stravinsky’s Firebird, and composer born in 1900 who sought ur- the stepwise accompaniment could be ban inspiration in Paris, also immersed straight out of The Rite of Spring. The himself wholeheartedly in the world of Boy of the Moon is the slow movement the epic. When the Wihuri Foundation in the suite, and fairly short. The melo- held an opera composition competition dies on cellos and violins are once again in 1957, Klami spotted a great opportu- slightly reminiscent of folk songs, and nity and he was awarded the ballet prize the tinkling celesta bathes the music for the piano score of Act I of a work in moonlight. Ronde V – Dances of the entitled Pyorteitä (Whirls). This was un- Night is livelier; trumpets and horns en- fortunately far from complete when he gage in dialogue with little comments died of a heart attack in 1961. from a piccolo. Whirls tells the story of the miracu- Farewell Dance of the North Star and lous Sampo, so the leading character is the Boy of the Moon is the finale to Act Ilmarinen, the smith who forges items 2. It begins slowly, and the melodies from it in his quest for riches and hap- are again assigned to the winds, with a piness. He discards a sword because sizeable solo for the flute. A mellow, se- weapons do not bring happiness. So rene orchestral sound gradually emerg- how about a boat – could the secret lie es until an organ-like C-major chord an- in trade? No. Slaves are not the solution nounces that the end has been reached. either, because industry and manufac- turing are not the answer. Nor is agri- culture. Ilmarinen finally forges a young A COMPOSER AS PART girl, a symbol of love and life; here at OF NATURE last is the real source of happiness and prosperity. The works of Kaija Saariaho nowadays Like so much ballet music, that of receive plenty of performances world- Whirls is expressive even without the wide, one reason being that they are dancing, and sections from it can be commissioned jointly by two or more performed on their own as a stand- orchestras. True Fire for orchestra and alone suite. The items for tonight’s baritone is one such work. It was com- performance were selected by conduc- posed in 2014 as a joint commission tor Hannu Lintu. A French horn begins from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Prelude: The Boy of the Day and the the NDR, BBC Symphony and French 3 National Orchestras. It was first heard in saw the ideas common to all the texts. Los Angeles in May 2015, with Gustavo Though different, they all share the Dudamel conducting. The soloist was theme of our being surrounded by na- baritone Gerald Finley, who sings it to- ture, our perception of this and of being night and to whom it is dedicated. part of it. Choosing a text is not easy, says Kaija Saariaho – a problem encountered by many composers, who may have mu- PUPPET ON A sic in mind before looking for texts. MUSICAL STRING This time, Saariaho solved it by includ- ing six texts: by Seamus Heaney and Petrushka was originally to have been a Mahmoud Dawish, and words from a work for piano and orchestra, but Sergei Traditional Indian folk song embed- Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes ded in three short fragments by Ralph in Paris, persuaded Stravinsky to adapt Waldo Emerson. The title of the work, if as a ballet. Stravinsky looked around True Fire, is taken from the last of these. for a theme before hitting on an old The first Proposition begins in con- Russian folk tale about a puppet called templative mood. Lyricism alternates Petrushka that, he recalled, represents with pillar-like orchestral chords and the the universal tragic clown. baritone almost imperceptibly reach- Petrushka is a puppet who comes es the work’s highest climax. River, to to life at a Shrovetide fair and gets words by Seamus Heaney, begins to caught up in a drama with a Moor. Both flow and meander at a slightly fast- have their eye on the same ballerina. er tempo. Proposition II is, according to In the resulting conflict, the Moor kills Saariaho, the heart of the piece and is Petrushka, who comes back to haunt calm and expressive. Lullaby is based the fair. on a traditional American Indian song The music of Petrushka was not only a and is concerned not so much with get- montage of numerous folk tunes; it was ting the child to sleep as with telling a new, enthralling and exciting. At some good story. And the rocking, mysterious points, Stravinsky superimposes themes atmosphere could very well be straight in what amounts to an early form of the from the thrilling, fairytale world of the dissonance and bitonality that were al- nursery. ready in the air in 1911. Farewell is in sharp contrast to the The ballet is in four scenes, the Lullaby. It is dark and heavy, and the vo- first and last at the fair, the second cal line regularly breaks down into slow in Petrushka’s room and the third the speech. The third Proposition closes this Moor’s. Stravinsky marks off the scenes suite lasting just on half an hour. Short with tom-tom and snare-drum rolls. The and quick, it has hardly got going before story of Petrushka is full of symbolism. fading away into silence. Despite being only a puppet, he has Kaija Saariaho says that it was only very human traits. He is a scapegoat after completing the suite that she who meets only injustice, persecution 4 and injury. Some have seen him as a orchestra honours both its 90th anniver- symbol of the Russian people suffering sary and 100-year-old Finland with pre- under tyranny and serfdom. mieres of newly commissioned works The premiere of Petrushka in June by longtime FRSO collaborator Magnus 1911 was a resounding success. The Lindberg and Lotta Wennäkoski. Other team was the same as that for The forthcoming engagements include per- Rite of Spring two years later: Tamara formances of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle Karsaniva and Vaslav Nijinsky danced and Beethoven’s Fidelio, and a concert the leading roles, the chorographer was tour to Spain and Germany with cellist Michel Fokine and the conductor Pierre Sol Gabetta. Monteux. The music paints a fitting The 2017/18 season sees Lintu return picture of the events, the instrumenta- to the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony tion is crystal-clear, the melodies sparkle Orchestra, Washington’s National and the rhythms fire the imagination Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas even without the dancers. Naturally, Symphony and Detroit Symphony or- Petrushka therefore also works as an chestras, among others. Lintu also orchestral suite. Stravinsky actually ar- makes his debut with the Naples ranged two suites, the second of which Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony (1947) is probably the one more often and Hiroshima Symphony orches- performed. Originally designed for pi- tras. Recent engagements include ano and orchestra, Petrushka thus re- the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester turned to its roots as concert music af- Berlin, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, ter making a detour as one of the most Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Seoul impressive ballet scores of all time. Philharmonic Orchestra, and the St Louis Symphony, Baltimore and Programme notes by Toronto Symphony orchestras, as well Osmo Tapio Räihälä translated as three acclaimed European debuts: (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo Staatsorchester Stuttgart Opera, Radio- Symphonieorchester Wien and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. A regular in the pit, Lintu returns to HANNU LINTU the Savonlinna Opera Festival in July 2018 to conduct Verdi’s Otello – in 2017 The 2017/18 season marks Hannu he conducted Aulis Sallinen’s Kullervo Lintu’s fifth year as Chief Conductor of at Savonlinna as well as Sibelius’s the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.