Sakari Oramo, Conductor Jane Irwin, Mezzo-Soprano Philomela, Coach Marjukka Riihimäki Cantores Minores, Coach Hannu Norjanen
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Sakari Oramo, conductor Jane Irwin, mezzo-soprano Philomela, coach Marjukka Riihimäki Cantores Minores, coach Hannu Norjanen Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D Minor for alto, 100 min female choir, boys’ choir and orchestra I Kräftig, entschieden II Tempo di Minuetto (Sehr mässig) III Comodo (Scherzando, Ohne Hast) IV Sehr langsam – Misterioso (O Mensch! Gib acht!) (alto, orchestra) V Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck (Es sungen drei Engel) (choir, alto, orchestra) VI Langsam – Ruhevoll – Empfunden Th e concert ends at about 8.45 pm. Broadcast live on YLE Radio 1 and the Internet (www.yle.fi /rso). 1 Gustav Mahler (1860–1911): Symphony No. 3 in D Minor (1893–1896) “A symphony must embrace everything!” ex- phers in Mahler’s day, and one of the most bla- claimed Mahler in reply to a comment from Si- tantly misunderstood. Th e Midnight song in belius saying he particularly admired the clear Mahler’s Th ird is a sombre counterbalance to inner logic of the symphony as a genre. To the sunny ingenuousness of the surrounding Mahler’s ears this must have sounded outdat- movements. ed and Brahmsian, but at the time Sibelius was Mahler wrote his Symphony No. 3 in 1893-96 turning away from the megalomaniac tenden- but it was not premiered until 1902, when he cies of the late German Romantics, of which conducted it in Krefeld. Its character changed Mahler was the very soul. For Mahler’s vision of as he composed it. When he began, he planned a symphony embracing “everything” was high- to write an optimistic, cheerful work as a con- ly pluralistic, taking in irreconcilable elements trast to the serious Second Symphony; it was and the acceptance of confl ict over and be- even to be full of humour, borne along by feel- yond despair. Clear logic had virtually no place ings aroused by Nature. As is often the case here. In this sense Mahler was modern: in de- with artists, Nature put him in a pantheistic fying the hegemony of a single truth, his way of frame of mind, causing him to see God wher- thinking had much in common with 20th cen- ever he looked and to gaze in wonder, a bea- tury science and philosophy. tifi c smile playing about his lips, at everything All the Mahler symphonies, and especially from a midge to the sun. As work proceeded, the second, third and eighth, are in the eff usive the symphony nevertheless began to acquire a fi n de siècle spirit. Th ey require an army of mu- diff erent, less jubilant character. It ended up sicians to perform them and exceed even the being in two parts with six movements in all: a sublime dimensions of Schubert’s great C ma- huge opening movement and fi ve others. jor symphony. All these megaliths incorporate Th e fi rst movement was originally meant to words and hence a human voice. In other words, be light and cheerful and to be headed Summer they are successors of Beethoven’s Ninth and comes marching in – procession of Bacchus, but observe the Wagnerian principle that only mu- this failed to materialise. Mahler put it aside, sic conceived of poetry can be truly fertile. intending to compose it last, but by the time Unlike Wagner, Mahler did not write his own he fi nally got round to it, the whole scheme texts. In keeping with his pluralistic philosophy, had changed. As Mahler himself put it, the he drew them from very diff erent sources but movement became the wildest thing he had ev- above all German folk poetry. He was deeply er written. He worked away feverishly until he inspired by the collection Des Knaben Wunder- was utterly exhausted, yet revelling in the ef- horn (Th e boy’s magic horn) and set many of its fort and exertion. First to spring to mind was poems as solo songs that then hovered in the an image of Pan, the Greek god of pastoral po- background of the fi rst four symphonies. For etry, fertility and the woods, but a god that al- the third he made a setting of the well-known so has a grotesque and macabre side. Th e title folk chorale Es sungen drei Engel (Th ree angels thus acquired the form Pan awakes. Th e opening were singing) – a chorale on which Hindemith declamatory fanfare on eight French horns that built much of his opera and symphony Mathis initially seems to have little to catch on to act- der Maler. ed in Mahler’s mind as an “awakening”. When Th e second textual source was the Midnight new motifs and themes appear, they usually do song from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Also sprach so in great chunks. Th ere is a general mood of Zarathustra (Th us spake Zarathustra). Ni- expectation: everything sounds as if something etzsche was the most infl uential of philoso- important is about to begin, any moment now, 2 but not just yet… to Beethoven’s Fidelio and its original overture. Mahler ordered a fi ve-minute pause between Th e fourth movement is an alto solo, What the two parts of his symphony. Th is was not the night tells me, based on Nietzsche’s Midnight just to give the performers and listeners a rest song that, at this point in the symphony, ac- but to emphasise the contrast between the two quires added signifi cance. Th e probing, philo- parts. Th e second part, What the fl owers in the sophical text amid these nature scenes, with meadow tell me, stands in stark contrast to the its compact music and build-ups that under- fi rst. Th e heavy-footed yet charming Ländler line the sense of joy is easy to understand as melody bears echoes of an era past, and the the ideological focus of the symphony. In the sprightlier dance-like passage interrupting it fi fth movement, What the morning bells tell me, from time to time enhances the rustic impres- Mahler contrasts two things: a song refl ecting sion. In the third movement Mahler alludes to child-like faith and a simple sense of wellbe- an early Wunderhorn song of his, Ablösung im ing as against its orchestral “high-culture” ac- Sommer (Relief in summer) in which a night- companiment and special eff ects. Th e boys’ and ingale is obliged to stand in for a cuckoo. Th e women’s voices make the texture lighter, and movement is titled What the animals of the for- the naïve-sounding imitation of the bells has a est tell me, but there is also a human element – a charm all of its own. post-horn solo with a built-in spatial eff ect akin Jouni Kaipainen (abridged) Sakari Oramo Sakari Oramo has been Chief Conductor of the bouw Orchestra, the NHK Symphony and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra since Au- Frankfurt RSO. Th e next few years will include gust 2003. An accomplished violinist, he began visits to the Boston and Gothenburg Symphony his career as co-leader of the orchestra in 1991 Orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the and went on to obtain a conducting diploma in Orchestre de Paris. In April 2010 he will tour the class of Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Acad- Europe with the European Chamber Orchestra. emy. In January 1993 he replaced an ailing con- With the FRSO Mr Oramo has toured to Vi- ductor at very short notice; the resulting con- enna, Prague, Germany and Switzerland and cert was an unprecedented success, leading to appeared at the BBC Proms, the Canary Is- his appointment as Associate Chief Conductor lands, Edinburgh and Bergen Festivals. In Oc- as of autumn 1994. tober 2005 he took the orchestra on tour to Ja- In spring 2008 Oramo resigned from his pan and was immediately invited back for Feb- 10-year term as Music Director of the City of ruary 2007. Birmingham Symphony Orchestra but contin- Th e FRSO and Sakari Oramo have recorded ues as the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conduc- music (for Ondine) by such Finnish compos- tor. In autumn 2008 he took over as Chief Con- ers as Hakola, Klami, Mielck, Pingoud and Kai- ductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic painen, and the debut release of Launis’s opera Orchestra. He is also Principal Guest Conduc- Aslak Hetta. His disc of works by Magnus Lind- tor of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra berg, and the Bartók disc by Warner Classics and of Kokkola Opera in Finland. have received great international acclaim. His Mr Oramo has conducted many of the disc (Ondine) of Symphonies 3 and 5 by Nor- world’s leading orchestras, such as the Berlin, dgren won the French Académie Charles Cros New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oslo Phil- award, while the recording by Mr Oramo, the harmonics, the Orchestre de Paris, the Cleve- FRSO and Lisa Batiashvili of the Violin Con- land and Minnesota Orchestras, the Concertge- certos by Magnus Lindberg and Jean Sibelius 3 was honoured with a MIDEM Classical Award of Central England in Birmingham. In sum- in 2008. Th e most recent distinction came from mer 2008 he was awarded the prestigious El- the New York Times, which chose the FRSO’s gar Medal in recognition of his work to further disc of works for orchestra by Magnus Lindberg the reputation of Elgar and his music, and in as Record of the Year 2008. 2009 he was honoured with a British OBE for Sakari Oramo received an Honorary Doc- his services to music. torate in summer 2004 from the University Jane Irwin British mezzo-soprano Jane Irwin studied at ly Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder with the Hebri- Lancaster University and the Royal Northern des Ensemble and the title role in Dido and Ae- College of Music in Manchester.