Sakari Oramo, Conductor Pekka Kuusisto, Violin Ottorino
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Sakari Oramo, conductor Pekka Kuusisto, violin Ottorino Respighi: Fontane di Roma (The Fountains of Rome) 18 min I La fontana di Valle Giulia all’alba (The Fountain of the Valle Giulia at Dawn) (Andante mosso) II La fontana del Tritone al mattino (The Triton Fountain in Early Morning) (Vivo) III La fontana di Trevi al meriggio (The Trevi Fountain at Midday) (Allegro moderato - Allegro vivace - Largamente) IV La fontana di Villa Medici al tramonto (The Fountain of the Villa Medici at Sunset) (Andante) Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14 22 min I Allegro II Andante III Presto in moto perpetuo INTERVAL 20 min Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 103 in E flat major, “Drum roll” 29 min I Adagio - Allegro con spirito - Adagio - Tempo 1 II Andante più tosto allegretto III Menuetto (Minuet) - Trio IV Finale (Allegro con spirito) Interval at about 7.45 pm. Th e concert ends at about 8.45 pm. Broadcast live on YLE Radio 1 and the Internet (www.yle.fi /rso). 1 Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936): Fontane di Roma (The Fountains of Rome, 1916) Respighi studied the viola and composition in sations and visions suggested to him by four of St. Petersburg, in the class of Rimsky-Korsakov Rome’s fountains contemplated at the hour in and others. His music was later infl uenced by which their character is most in harmony with French Impressionism, from which he selected the surrounding landscape, or in which their colours for his masterly handling of the orches- beauty appears most suggestive to the observ- tra. He is best remembered for his Roman Tril- er.” Th e day dawns at the fountain of the Valle ogy for orchestra. Born in Bologna, he paid trib- Giulia; the brass send spray soaring into the air ute to the “eternal city” via its prominent land- at the Triton fountain by the sculptor Bernini, marks. Taking the leading role in his works are and the sun’s zenith is celebrated at the Trevi visual impressions, and if anyone feels that his fountain immortalised by Marcello Mastroian- music arouses mental associations with Italian ni and Anita Ekberg in Fellini’s La dolce vita. Fi- neorealist cinema, then they might be interest- nally the evening bells ring out over the foun- ed to hear that Nino Rota, a composer much fa- tain of the Villa Medici. voured by Fellini, was a pupil of Respighi. Th e Respighi’s Fountains record images not so fi rst part of the trilogy to be completed was Th e much of national monuments or tourist attrac- Fountains of Rome (Fontane di Roma, 1916), tions as of the Italian way of life and cultural the second Th e Pines of Rome (Pini di Roma, history. Th e music epitomises the centuries-old 1926) and the third Roman Festivals (Feste Ro- marriage of culture, art and worldly pleasure, mane, 1928). the Italians’ uninhibited appreciation of beauty. Of the 280 fountains in Rome, Respighi chose four “sounds of the city”. In doing so his Antti Häyrynen (abridged) aim was, he said, “to give expression to the sen- Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Violin Concerto, Op. 14 (1939-1940) Barber’s talent for composing was spotted when soms. Th e clarinet presents a wayward second he was only seven years old, and at the age of 14 theme, but the soloist persists with more varia- he was admitted to the Curtis Institute in Phila- tions. Little recitatives in the nature of improv- delphia to study the piano, singing and compo- isation take the place of a cadenza. Not until sition. One of his fellow students was 12-year- the end of the movement does the oboe man- old Iso Briselli, a budding violinist and a Rus- age to persuade the soloist to take up the sec- sian Jew. Th ey both graduated in 1934. ond theme. Th e movement ends on a quiet, ex- Briselli asked Barber to compose a violin con- pectant note. certo for him and his wealthy father by adop- A solo oboe begins the second, Andante tion promised to pay for it. Barber agreed, trav- movement, gently gliding along to a swinging elled to the village of Sils-Maria in Switzerland double waltz. Drawing on harmonies of the late and set to work on it (his fi rst concerto) in sum- Romantic era, Barber paints the shifting play of mer 1939. It was there that he wrote the fi rst light and shade, tragic hues included. Briselli two movements. was surprised at how lyrical the fi rst two move- Th e soloist begins the fi rst movement with ments were and at the few displays of virtuos- the main theme, which runs like a thread right ity. Barber promised him the third would have through the movement. Th e melody bursts out everything he desired. at every turn, in a profusion of sprawling blos- 2 In the closing movement the solo violin the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eu- shoots off on a path of its own, dashing like a gene Ormandy on February 7, 1941. Seven fi refl y round the orchestra’s rhythms. By join- years later Barber improved the fi nale. Th e re- ing in unison the strings try to catch up with cording made by Isaac Stern in 1965 with the the soloist but do not succeed until the fi nal New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bern- straight. Briselli asked Barber to alter the fi nale stein made the concerto popular and it has to take in some of the material of the fi rst two since become one of the Barber works most fre- movements and create a more coherent over- quently performed. all entity. Barber refused and Briselli resigned from the project and renounced his premiere Hannele Segerstam (abridged) rights. Th e soloist in the fi rst performance of the concerto was therefore Albert Spalding, with Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Symphony no. 103 in E flat major, “Drum roll” (1795) Having spent decades composing for a small, Th e slow movement (Andante più tosto alleg- private band of aristocrats, Haydn was faced retto) is a set of variations on two East-Europe- in England with a large orchestra and audience. an folk tunes. Th e seductive themes, the steady Composing symphonies for the bourgeoisie tread of the variations and the almost naïve challenged him to transform his symphonic id- ornamentation call to mind the correspond- iom into a popular art crossing cultural borders ing movement in the Surprise symphony. Th e and to make a generalising synthesis of classi- pompous bluster of the Minuet (Allegretto) con- cal style. trasts with the familiar intimacy of the Trio. Th e E fl at symphony of 1795 is Haydn’s long- Th e fi nale (Allegro con brio) has just one est and brings back the threatening gestures ab- theme, Haydn’s aim here being thematic cohe- sent from the good-humoured ones that pre- sion. Th e horn fanfare that sets the Allegro in cede it. Beginning it with a drum roll – which motion or the chords accompanying the theme had assumed the role of a bad omen in 19th proper serve in the fi nale as active signposts century opera – was unthinkable in 1795, but and ushers of the theme. In concentrating his Haydn’s opening move signifi ed more than this. message, Haydn is driven not by economy but Th e gloomy, chromatically wavering intro- by motivation – the idea of music in which eve- duction (Adagio) gives way to a blustering main rything has a purpose. section (Allegro con spirito) but the strange twists of the development and the repeat of the Antti Häyrynen (abridged) slow section at the end indicate that all is not as it should be. Sakari Oramo Sakari Oramo has been Chief Conductor of the and went on to obtain a conducting diploma in Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra since Au- the class of Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Acade- gust 2003. An accomplished violinist, he began my. In January 1993 he replaced an ailing con- his career as co-leader of the orchestra in 1991 ductor at very short notice; the resulting con- 3 cert was an unprecedented success, leading to Edinburgh Festivals. In October 2005 he took his appointment as Associate Chief Conductor the orchestra on tour to Japan and was imme- as of autumn 1994. Four years later he began as diately invited back for February 2007. Principal Conductor of the City of Birmingham Th e FRSO and Sakari Oramo have recorded Symphony Orchestra, an appointment that was music (for Ondine) by such Finnish compos- renamed Music Director in autumn 1999. He ers as Hakola, Lindberg, Kaipainen and Kok- resigned from his ten-year term in Birmingham konen, and the debut release of Launis’s opera in spring 2008 but continues as the orchestra’s Aslak Hetta. His disc of works by Magnus Lind- Principal Guest Conductor. As of the 2008/09 berg, and the Bartók disc by Warner Classics season he will be Chief Conductor and Artistic have received great international acclaim. His Advisor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic disc (Ondine) of Symphonies 3 and 5 by Nor- Orchestra. He is also Principal Guest Conduc- dgren won the French Académie Charles Cros tor of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra award, and that of Lindberg the prize of the and of Kokkola Opera. BBC Music Magazine and the Classic FM Gram- Mr Oramo has conducted many of the ophone Award in 2006. Th e recording by Mr world’s leading orchestras, such as the Berlin, Oramo, the FRSO and Lisa Batiashvili of the New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oslo Phil- Violin Concertos by Magnus Lindberg and Jean harmonics, the Paris, Cleveland and Minnesota Sibelius was honoured with a MIDEM Classical Orchestras, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Award in 2008.