16.12. at 20:00 Musiikkitalo Hannu Lintu Carolin Widmann Lotta
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16.12. at 20:00 Musiikkitalo Hannu Lintu conductor Carolin Widmann violin Lotta Emanuelsson presenter Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Concerto funebre 1. Introduktion. Largo 1 2. Adagio 3. Allegro di molto 4. Choral. Langsamer Marsch Veli-Matti Puumala: Tear Einojuhani Rautavaara: Symphony No. 2 1. Quasi grave 2. Vivace 3. Largo 4. Presto Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Concerto funebre for violin and strings The dominant strains of 20th century mu- God”, a hymn sung by supporters of Jan sic crossbred in the slight output of Karl Hus, a leading 15th-century figure in the Amadeus Hartmann (1905–1963). In the rise against Catholicism, also symbolised 1920s, he heeded the call of futurism, Hartmann’s own position in the Third Dadaism and jazz, but later confessed to Reich. being a successor to the second Viennese The funeral march in the closing move- School and Anton Webern. His moder- ment is the same Russian revolutionary nism counterbalanced his humanistic at- song as that used by Shostakovich in the titude to life. slow movement of his Symphony No. 11 From 1933 until the end of the Second (1957). World War, Hartmann disassociated him- The four movements of the concer- self from the events of Nazi Germany. He to follow one another without a break. In completed his Concerto funebre in the ear- the 15-bar introduction, the solo violin pre- ly stages of the war, calling it Musik der sents the chorale theme with an orches- Trauer (Music of Mourning), but in 1959 tral accompaniment. The second move- revised it and renamed it Concerto fune- ment steeps itself in the tragedy as the 2 bre (‘Funeral Concerto’). It is a work that orchestra bears the heartrending soloist combines a strong ethos with clarity of along with the measured tread of a funer- thought and direct expression. al march. In the fast movement, the solo According to Hartmann, “The chorales voice is harangued by strident outbursts. at the beginning and end are intended The fight ends with a solo cadenza, later to offer a sign of hope against the des- joined by a now calm orchestra. perate situation of thinking people.” The The orchestra ushers the finale in with Hussite chorale at the beginning has been a funeral march, over which the solo vio- associated with the Munich Agreement lin weaves a lament. The short movement of 1938 and the subsequent German an- marches away to silence, its progress cut nexation of Czechoslovakia. “Warriors of short by a final chord. Veli-Matti Puumala: Tear Professor of composition at the Sibelius Tear was composed for the virtuos- Academy, Veli-Matti Puumala (b. 1965) ic Tapiola Sinfonietta and its character- emerged in the 1990s as a composer of ful musicians. It is, says Puumala, music modernist works for orchestra combining in which individual players are singled out streamlined action with a wealth of detail. amid often quiet islands of sound. The ti- Since the turn of the century, his expres- tle suggests tearing strands woven into sion has become increasingly rich and thin, rough, rustling textures. broad. His works are marked by his imp- The piece is almost like chamber mu- ressive ability to incorporate very dissimi- sic and often reflects both inner and out- lar elements in his idiom. er tensions. The orchestral writing gives it drama and contrasts. Einojuhani Rautavaara: Symphony No. 2 (1957/1984) The second symphony by Einojuhani August Strindberg to Ingmar Bergman. Rautavaara (1928–2016) is mournful The emphasis in the four movements is and intimate. It was in fact originally tit- on the long slow ones. The overall tone of led Sinfonia intima for two reasons, as he the first is menacing, its leisurely mean- explained in 1957: first, the instrumentati- dering mirrored in the gloomy winds and on is akin to that of a chamber orchestra, enhanced by percussions. The quick sec- and second, the music is by nature subje- ond movement may be taken as fiendish- ctive and expressive; it could be described ly playful. The hushed ending prepares the as ‘expressive formalism’. way for the slow movement infused with Rautavaara returned to the symphony the mysticism so common in Rautavaara. in 1984, adding more instruments and ex- The rhythmic energy of the finale goads panding the overall sound. It is boldly dis- the music to the brink of dodecapho- sonant and has jagged rhythms. The cer- ny. Maybe the closing Sacrificial Dance tain aggressiveness and dissonance were of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring served as a not, he said, at odds with the epithet ‘in- model. timate’; on the contrary. ‘Intimate’ seems Programme notes by Auli Särkiö-Pitkänen here to mean the sometimes arduous psy- translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo 3 chological analysis of fellow Nordics from HANNU LINTU CAROLIN WIDMANN Hannu Lintu has been Chief Conductor German violinist Carolin Widmann is a of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra wonderfully versatile musician. Since since autumn 2013. He takes over as Chief 2006, she has been Professor of Violin at Conductor of the Finnish National Opera Leipzig’s University of Music and Theatre and Ballet in January 2022. “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy”, and she During the 2020/2021 season, Maestro was awarded the Bavarian State Prize Lintu will, pandemic permitting, make his for Music in 2017. Travelling the wor- debut with the New York Philharmonic ld as a soloist, she has recently appea- and Tokyo NHK Symphony Orchestra and red with orchestras including the Berlin make return appearances with the London and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Scottish and New York Orpheus Chamber Radio Philharmonic, and the Symphony Orchestras. Orchestras of Baltimore, Detroit and Carlin Widmann has premiered many Chicago. Recent highlights have includ- new works, among them ones composed ed debuts with the Montreal and Chicago for her by Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Symphony Orchestras and the Hungarian Wolfgang Rihm, Salvatore Sciarrino, National Philharmonic, and concerts with Rebecca Saunders and her brother, Jörg 4 the Boston and St. Louis Symphonies, the Widmann. Waiting in the pipeline is the New Japan Philharmonic, the Singapore premiere of a violin concerto by Veli-Matti Symphony and the NDR Elbphilharmonie. Puumala. Hannu Lintu first studied the cello and On her debut disc of 2006, winner of the piano at the Sibelius Academy, and lat- “Critics’ Choice of the Year” by the German er orchestral conducting in the class of Record Critics’ Award Association, Carolin Jorma Panula. He participated in master- Widmann played music by Boulez, Ysaÿe, classes with Myung-Whun Chung at the Sciarrino and Jörg Widmann. Her release L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, of the Mendelssohn and Schumann con- Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic certos with the Chamber Orchestra of Conducting Competition in Bergen in Europe won the Classical Music Award 1994. He has recorded on the Ondine, BIS, in 2016. She has also recorded reper- Hyperion and other labels. toire by Schubert, Morton Feldmann, Zimmermann, Schönberg, Xenakis and Tüür. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The FRSO has recorded works by (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Mahler, Bartók, Sibelius, Hakola, Lindberg, Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen is to produce and promote Finnish musical and others. It has twice won a Gramophone culture and its Chief Conductor as of au- Award: for its disc of Lindberg’s Clarinet tumn 2013 has been Hannu Lintu. Concerto in 2006 and of Bartók Violin The Radio Orchestra of ten players Concertos in 2018. Other distinctions have founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- included BBC Music Magazine, Académie chestra proportions in the 1960s. Its Chief Charles Cros, MIDEM Classical awards Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, and Grammy nominations in 2020 and Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, 2021. Its disc of tone poems and songs Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka by Sibelius won an International Classical Saraste and Sakari Oramo, and taking Music Award (ICMA) in 2018, and it has over from Hannu Lintu in 2021 will be been the recipient of a Finnish EMMA Nicholas Collon. award in 2016 and 2019. In addition to the great Classical- The FRSO concerts are broadcast live Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- on the Yle Areena and Radio 1 channels 5 temporary music is a major item in the and are recorded and shown later on Yle repertoire of the FRSO, which each year Teema and TV 1. premieres a number of Yle commissions. Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to re- cord all Finnish orchestral music for the Yle archive. .