16 NOVEMBER FRIDAY SERIES 6 Helsinki Music Centre at 7 Pm
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16 NOVEMBER FRIDAY SERIES 6 Helsinki Music Centre at 7 pm Andrew Manze, conductor Sunwook Kim, piano Witold Lutoslawski: Musique funèbre (Funeral Music) 14 min I Prologue II Metamorphoses III Apogée IV Epilogue Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 30 min I Allegro moderato II Andante con moto III Rondo (Vivace) INTERVAL 20 min Béla Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Sz. 106 26 min I Andante tranquillo II Allegro III Adagio IV Allegro molto Interval at about 8 pm. The concert ends at about 9 pm. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and the Internet (yle.fi/rso) 1 WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI up marked off as Apogée. Structurally, the piece has all the steely strength (1913–1994): MUSIQUE that one would expect of a work com- FUNÈBRE posed in memory of Béla Bartók. In the first movement Lutoslawski app- Lutoslawski obtained his diploma in lies strict canon and builds up magni- composition in 1937, but during the war ficent harmonic planes and pillars. The he made his living by playing the piano Metamorphoses are not really reminis- four hands in taverns with composer cent of variations in the traditional Andrzej Panufkin. Ever pragmatic, he sense of the word; instead, they explore tried to implement his new ideas wit- the structural depths, while the strong hin the narrow confines permitted by current carries the music towards the the Stalinist regime, later claiming in mighty harmonic climax in the Apogée. his usual calm way that since he could The Epilogue traces the Prologue’s arch not compose as he wished, he would in reverse, so that the work ends in the have to compose as he could. He had mood in which it began. already composed a considerable vo- lume of music, the crowning glory of which was the Concerto for Orchestra LUDWIG VAN – undoubtedly the most lasting of his BEETHOVEN works of the Stalinist era. In 1954 Jan Krenz the conductor as- (1770–1827): PIANO ked Lutosławski to compose a piece in CONCERTO NO. 4 memory of Béla Bartók for the tenth anniversary of that composer’s death Beethoven composed his fourth pia- the following year. Lasting less than a no concerto in 1806, at the height of quarter of an hour in performance, the his most prolific period. It was this pe- piece – Musique funèbre – nevertheless riod that earned him his reputation took several years to compose. The rea- as a titan fighting against the odds. son for this was Lutoslawski’s new ap- Yet all of a sudden, here he is compo- proach to composition. The more libe- sing his fourth piano concerto and his ral atmosphere had not yet had time Pastoral Symphony (1808), the “softest” to affect the idiom or structures of the and most poetic of all his great master- Concerto for Orchestra, but the Funeral pieces. The fourth concerto also stands Music tries to adapt to the new free- in complete contrast to the strident dom while still maintaining order. third and the heroic fifth exploring the Performed without a break, the landscape of the Eroica symphony. Funeral Music is in four sections: the In addition to this lyrical quality, the opening Prologue and closing Epilogue fourth piano concerto has the same frame a section, Metamorphoses, that noble bearing as almost all the other undergoes dramatic development, with music he was composing at around a short but all the more effective build- that time. ‘Noble’ in this context means 2 a rare combination of a highly idealistic ment of symphonic form seem alien to view of earthly phenomena and a per- him, or did he simply feel he did not sonal, down-to-earth fight for survival. need anything of that calibre and on The slow movement and finale toget- that scale to express what he had to her reflect sentiments similar to those say? My guess is that he was too sen- expressed in the Fate Symphony (No. 5). sitive, introspective and vulnerable to Writers about Beethoven have been bare his soul in such a “public” genre quick to point out the rhythmic simi- as a symphony. Chamber music, that larity between the opening bars of the most intimate of genres, was where he concerto and the “fate knocking on the felt most at home. door” motif of the fifth symphony, but If anywhere, he came closest to a the effect is quite the opposite. The symphony in the Music for Strings, piano’s opening statement must sure- Percussion and Celesta – a monstrous ly be the most beautiful in all concer- title that nevertheless masks one of to literature, and the string’s reply is the most undisputed masterpieces of not only steeped in benign softness; the 20th century. And listening to it, it also has a philosophical dimension, one is easily persuaded that Bartók’s setting off, as it does, in an alien key. innermost conflict was between the The Allegro that then goes into acti- public and the private. Another thing it on is in the same spirit as the opening. reveals is his “organic”, “biological” ap- Romantically-minded writers hit on the proach to forms. He is neither an archi- idea of describing the piano–orchest- tect nor an engineer; he is a gardener ra dialogue in the slow movement as cultivating structures of all sizes, from Orpheus taming the wild beasts, but small to large. even without this artificial plot, it is a “Music for” has, understandably, been spiritual dual that demands a solution a popular title for composers of “absolu- (i.e. “liberation”) in the finale that fol- te music”, for it lets the music speak lows immediately after. The music does for itself, in its own “language”. Bartók’s nevertheless have a Hellenic element. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta Schumann, on the other hand, spoke of has four movements, the first and third the concerto as a “lyrical beauty” – an fast and the second and fourth slow. opinion easy to second. The overall scheme could not be more symphonic, but the finely-crafted mes- sage of the slow movements, in parti- BÉLA BARTÓK cular, defies all definition. (1881–1945): MUSIC FOR The Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta was the third of the works com- STRINGS, PERCUSSION missioned from Bartók by Paul Sacher, AND CELESTA the famous impresario and conduc- tor of the Basel Chamber Orchestra. Why, one wonders, did Bartók never It seems strange that although the compose a symphony? Did some ele- instrumentation works to perfection, 3 creating magical, nocturnal impres- Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC sions, virtually no one since Bartók has Scottish Symphony Orchestra, was thought to use it. Maybe this reflects Artistic Director of The English Concert its profound originality – others have 2003–2007 and Principal Guest Con- been reluctant to plough such a perso- ductor of the Norwegian Radio Symp- nal furrow. hony Orchestra 2008–2011. Andrew Manze is a fellow of the Jouni Kaipainen (abridged) Royal Academy of Music and a Visiting Professor at the Oslo Academy. In November 2011 he received the presti- ANDREW MANZE gious ‘Rolf Schock Prize’ in Stockholm. Previous winners include György Ligeti, Andrew Manze has rapidly emerged Kaija Saariaho, Jorma Panula and Gidon as one of the most stimulating and Kremer. inspirational conductors of his gene- ration, his repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the present day. He also SUNWOOK KIM studied the violin and is a leading spe- cialist on historical performance prac- Sunwook Kim came to international re- tice. cognition on winning the prestigious As a guest conductor Manze has re- Leeds International Piano Competition gular relationships with a number of in 2006, at the age of just 18. Since leading international orchestras, in- then, this virtuoso from South Korea cluding the Deutsches Symphonie- has toured the world’s leading concert Orchester Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, halls, from London to Tokyo. Stockholm, Amsterdam and Oslo Born in Seoul in 1988, Sunwook Kim Philharmonic, City of Birmingham began the piano at the age of three. He and Gothenburg Symphony, and the gave his debut recital aged just 10, and Mahler, Scottish and Swedish Chamber this was followed by his concerto de- Orchestra. In spring 2012 he made but two years later. He graduated from his debut with the BBC Symphony the Korean National University of Arts Orchestra and Danish Radio Symphony in February 2008, where he was a stu- and appeared at the Mostly Mozart dent of Daejin Kim. Besides Leeds, in- Festival in New York. ternational awards include the first pri- Maestro Manze has been Principal ze at the 2004 Ettlingen Competition Conductor and Artistic Director of (Germany) and the 2005 Clara Haskil the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Competition (Switzerland). Sunwook Sweden, since September 2006. He Kim was also the first Daewon Artist has made a number of recordings with of the Year prize winner in 2005, them including Beethoven’s Eroica and Kumho (Korea) awarded him its (Harmonia Mundi) and Stenhammer Musician of the Year prize in 2007. Piano Concertos (Hyperion). He is also A soloist with the Amsterdam 4 Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London, The Radio Orchestra of ten players Tokyo and BBC Philharmonic, the Berlin founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- and French Radio Symphony Orchestra, chestra strength in the 1960s. Its pre- the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, vious Chief Conductors have been the Philharmonia and many other ma- Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, jor orchestras, Sunwook Kim has wor- Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif ked with such celebrated conductors Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gianandrea Sakari Oramo. Noseda and Vladimir Sinaisky.