20 DECEMBER THURSDAY SERIES 4 Music Centre at 17

Hannu Lintu, conductor Karita Mattila, soprano Anssi Karttunen, cello , clarinet

Claude Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune 10 min Yuki Koyama, flute

Magnus Lindberg: Cello Concerto No. 2, Finnish premiere 25 min I–II–III

Jean Sibelius: Luonnotar, Op. 70 9 min

INTERVAL 20 min

Jouni Kaipainen: Nyo ze honmak kukyo to, Op. 59b 6 min

Kaija Saariaho: Mirage 12 min

Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, suite no. 2 16 min I Lever du jour II Pantomime III Danse générale

Five students at the will be playing with the orchestra tonight under the training scheme between the Sibelius Academy and the FRSO. They are: Johannes Hakulinen, 1st violin, Khoa-Nam Nguyen, 2nd violin, Aino Räsänen, viola, Sara Viluksela, cello and Joel Raiskio, double bass.

Interval at about 18.00. The concert ends at about 19.25.

1 CLAUDE DEBUSSY Afternoon of a Faun”. But the very fact that it is, by nature, a prelude makes it (1862–1918): PRÉLUDE Impressionistic. À L’APRÈS-MIDI D’UN Debussy’s faun basks in a languor- FAUNE ous, melancholy yet contented haze. In the composer’s own words: “The mu- The label “Impressionism” in music tends sic of this prelude is a very free illustra- to be automatically – and maybe errone- tion of Mallarmé’s beautiful poem. By ously – associated with Claude Debussy. no means does it claim to be a synthe- For was he in fact an Impressionist? And sis of it. Rather there is a succession of what exactly is Impressionism in music? scenes through which pass the desires The safest thing would no doubt be and dreams of the faun in the heat of to apply the term to features that ap- the afternoon. Then, tired of pursuing pear here and there in the music of the timorous flight of nymphs and nai- various composers, and not to use it ads, he succumbs to intoxicating sleep, to cover all the music of one particular in which he can finally realise his dreams composer. Maurice Ravel, Paul Dukas, of possession in universal Nature.” Karol Szymanowski, Frederick Delius, Ottorino Respighi and Väinö Raitio are, Jouni Kaipainen for example, all composers whose mu- sic was in a way Impressionistic, some more, some less. Let us therefore heed Debussy’s (1958–): CELLO own wishes: let us not call him an Impressionist and instead assign him a CONCERTO NO. 2 title he himself was proud to carry: “un musicien français” – a French musician. Magnus Lindberg completed his second Having prepared the ground, I can now cello concerto as a commission from safely say that L’après-midi d’un faune the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra was the work that sparked off debate in 2013. The commission had come at on Impressionism in music. Debussy unusually short notice when it became originally intended to use the poem by apparent that the concerto ordered Stéphane Mallarmé as the basis for an from Oliver Knussen would not be ready orchestral suite in three movements. in time. Thus pressed for time, Lindberg The “Faun” would then have been a decided to base his concerto on his “Prélude, Interlude et Paraphrase Finale earlier Santa Fe Project (Konzertstück), pour L’après-midi d’un faune”, but on a duo for cello and piano of 2006. No completing the Prélude in 1894, he de- way can the concerto be regarded sim- cided that nothing more was necessary. ply as an expanded, updated version, It was a masterpiece in itself. Nowadays however. The soloist at the premiere we usually forget it was meant to in Los Angeles in October 2013 was be a prelude and just speak of “The Anssi Karttunen, with whom Lindberg

2 had a close working relationship, and JEAN SIBELIUS the conductor was another friend and colleague, Esa-Pekka Salonen, the or- (1865–1957): chestra’s Music Director for many years. LUONNOTAR In writing his new concerto, Lindberg made sure his soloist would not be Tracing the way a work came to be com- drowned by using a moderately-sized, posed is often difficult. Sibelius actual- almost classical orchestra. The brass ly got the notes of Luonnotar down on section is small and the score lacks the paper in a short period in July–August percussions and piano usually found in 1913, after completing his fourth sym- Lindberg’s tool kit; nor is there a harp. phony, but the seeds had been sown way The cello is an active, multidimension- back in his youth. He wrote Luonnotar al partner to the orchestra, its range of for the soprano diva Aino Ackté as com- expression varying from delicate medi- pensation, so to speak, for failing to pro- tation to lively embellishment and fleet- duce the orchestral song The Raven he ing outbursts of glowing, romantic mel- had promised her. She first sang it at ody. Despite being rather few in number, the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, these snatches of song have an impor- England in September 1913. tant function as punctuation marks in The description of the Creation in the the musical narrative. Finnish national epic, The Kalevala, in- The concerto is in three movements spired Sibelius to write one of his most performed without a break. Despite original and most distinctive works. having lots in common with the Santa Combining elements of a solo song and Fe Project, it is cast on a much bigger a symphonic poem, it represents a rare scale. The lyrically-inclined beginning, genre in his output. The music sounds for example, in which the cello out- austere and archaic, yet it also has vi- lines the basic material, is new. The first sionary, modernist traits such as bito- movement of the Santa Fe Project has a nality and cluster-like chords. cadenza-like solo that is now accompa- The opening bars paint a picture of nied by instruments from the orchestra, the primeval void before the world was and the big cadenza in the middle created. From the cosmic humming of movement of the concerto is missing the strings, the soprano plucks the initial from the duo. This cadenza is sort of germ for her melody. The main theme is the heart of the concerto, the turning more narrative, while the second, follow- point from which the music gradual- ing a great gust of wind (harp glissan- ly proceeds to the rhythmically more dos), is more static and profound, like sharply-articulated finale before ending an incantation or lament. Following a in limpid, tranquil mood. dense development section and a cli- max that erupts in radiant splendour, Kimmo Korhonen Luonnotar ends with one of the most magical moments in all Sibelius, as the stars come out in the sky.

Kimmo Korhonen 3 JOUNI KAIPAINEN he emerged in a new light as a compos- er with a greater awareness of tradition. (1956–2015): NYO ZE He went on to write four symphonies in HONMAK KUKYO TO all, the last of which was the mighty or- atorio-like Commedia (2012) inspired by Jouni Kaipainen’s illustrious career as a Dante’s Divine Comedy. composer was cut short on 23 November As the years went by, he began to by a disease from which he had suffered speak of his admiration for the classics for a long time. Among his works in pro- more and more often. Favouring the tra- gress was the fifth symphony, a commis- ditional large-scale forms, he bravely – sion from the Finnish Radio Symphony and successfully – placed himself open Orchestra. to comparison with an age-old tradition. Kaipainen was one of Finland’s most In addition to the symphonies, his core eminent composers. His broad and var- output consisted of numerous concer- ied output covered many genres: or- tos and seven string quartets, all sover- chestral, chamber and vocal. The trom- eign genres ever since the Classical era. bone concerto premiered in summer He once reported how, as a young man, 2015 bore the opus number 100, an in- he finally woke up to the world of clas- dication that he did indeed work hard. sical music and composing thanks to He was also a respected teacher of com- Beethoven’s Eroica symphony. And how, position at the Music Academy a little later, he nourished himself by lis- and one of Finland’s finest writers about tening to a Béla Bartók string quartet music. Readers of his FRSO programme each morning. notes will have noted and appreciated Faith in the lasting values of music his exceptionally profound knowledge of and a brand of classicism across generic his subject. borders can also be heard in the works Emerging on the musical scene in of Jouni Kaipainen; it finds expression the late 1970s and early 1980s, Jouni in their logical formal thinking and of- Kaipainen was a member of the Korvat ten in the clarity and appropriateness of auki/Ears Open group that shook his textures. They seem to be driven by Finnish music both verbally and aural- some inner force, even when the music ly. In his early works he associated him- is complex and operates at many levels. self with the modernism that dominat- His music also has an expressive edgi- ed the spirit of the times, but his music ness and emotional force, and often also gradually then acquired features hinting a richness of timbres and tones akin to at the more traditional ideals that would that of French music. later manifest themselves. One sign of Nyo ze honmak kukyo to is a version for an incipient change of course was the clarinet, string orchestra and Japanese first symphony (1985), still sharply mod- dabachi temple bell of the third move- ern, though its very genre was alien to ment of Kaipainen’s clarinet quintet many strict modernists. From his second (1999). He dedicated it to his wife, the symphony onwards (1994) at the latest violinist and conductor Jaana Haanterä.

4 Nyo ze honmak kukyo to is a mysterious, healer Maria Sabina in a ritual involving unusual title for a work. Kaipainen took the consumption of a trance-inducing the ancient Chinese words from the mushroom. They express her visions of Buddhist Lotus Sutra, which is the last states of existence that transcend the of the writings ascribed to Siddharta borders of reality and that may be inter- Gautama. “The title is impossible to preted as an ecstatic search for identity: translate into any language,” he said. “It “I am a woman who flies, I am the lady is the last of the ten Buddhist Dhammas who swims, I am the Lord eagle wom- and refers in content to the one great an, I am the shooting star woman, I am community.” the lady doll, I am the sacred clown.” The words “I am” are often repeated as Kimmo Korhonen such and give the piece a meaning that more widely affirms the existence of : the speaker – and maybe the composer. (1952–): MIRAGE Kimmo Korhonen

Close collaboration with a few trust- ed musicians is characteristic of Kaija MAURICE RAVEL Saariaho the composer. In the case of (1875–1937) DAPHNIS Mirage (2007), there were two: Karita Mattila and Anssi Karttunen. For the ET CHLOÉ, SUITE NO. 2 former’s intensive, fiery artist persona she has also composed the Quatre in- A new page was turned in the histo- stants song cycle (2002) and the mon- ry of ballet in 1909 when the legend- ologue opera Émilie (2009). Her collab- ary Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev oration with Anssi Mattila dates right brought his Ballets Russes – a troupe back to her early works of the 1980s. of the very best dancers in all Moscow The biggest she has written for him is and St. Petersburg – on their first visit the cello concerto Notes on Light (2006). to Paris. They were an unprecedented Soprano and cello join together in success and marked the beginning of Mirage in an unusual but effective way. a golden era for the Ballets that would Saariaho says she wanted to provide last for twenty years, right up to the “two interpretations setting out from death of Diaghilev in 1929. the same point of departure”. Hence The brightest star on the Diaghilev the soprano and cello are twin, mutu- firmament was Igor Stravinsky, whose ally supportive participants rather than modern ballets made the performanc- competitors – another musical variation es even more sensational. Diaghilev on the many fruitful manifestations of did, however, actively seek to engage dualism to be found in her works. in partnership with other top contem- The words of Mirage are from chants porary composers, too. During his very performed by the Mazatec shaman and first visit to Paris in 1909 he commis-

5 sioned a new ballet from Maurice Ravel, HANNU LINTU who nevertheless took three years to deliver the goods in the form of Daphnis Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio et Chloé. The ballet was premiered at Symphony Orchestra since August the Châtelet in Paris in June 1912. 2013, Hannu Lintu previously held The story is set in the world of an- the positions of Artistic Director and cient mythology. Fokine, the choreog- Chief Conductor of the Tampere rapher, kept close to the pastoral novel Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal by the ancient Greek poet Longus. Cast Guest Conductor with the RTÉ National in the leading roles are two young lov- Symphony Orchestra and Artistic ers: Daphnis, a goatherd, and Chloé a Director of the Helsingborg Symphony shepherdess. Dorcon the cowherd tries and Turku Philharmonic orchestras. to win Chloé’s favour but is obliged to Highlights of Lintu’s 2015/16 sea- cede to Daphnis in a decisive dancing son include appearances with the competition. Chloé then gets carried off Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Orchestre by brigands before being rescued by the de Chambre de Lausanne, Orchestre god Pan. national de Lille, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Daphnis et Chloé is a one-act ballet but and the Iceland Symphony, Baltimore falls into three main sections. It is usually Symphony, Moscow State Symphony performed either in its entirety or in the and Seoul Philharmonic orches- two suites made by Ravel. No. 2, com- tras. He conducts the Finnish Radio prising the whole of the third section, is Symphony Orchestra on tour in Japan more popular. The original ballet score in autumn 2015 – as part of his com- also includes a chorus, but this is often plete cycle of Sibelius’ symphonies excluded in concert. Suite no. 2 begins with the New Japan Philharmonic – with the best-known sequence (Sunrise) and on tour in Vienna, Salzburg and as the sun rises in fabulous, shimmering Innsbruck in January 2016 with violinist shades to its full, intoxicating height. In Leila Josefowicz. Recent engagements the middle is a Pantomime coloured by have included the Philharmonia, BBC a lyrical flute solo. The suite ends with Scottish Symphony, Royal Stockholm a Danse générale that works itself up Philharmonic, Cleveland and St Louis into a wild bacchanalia in ecstatic 5/4 Symphony orchestras; the Houston rhythms. Symphony, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig and the Orchestre nation- Kimmo Korhonen al de Lyon; and debuts with the WDR Abridged programme notes translated Sinfonieorchester Köln, the Hallé, and by Susan Sinisalo the Detroit Symphony and Minnesota orchestras. In May 2016 Lintu returns to Finnish National Opera to conduct Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, having previously conducted them in Parsifal - direct-

6 ed by Harry Kupfer, Carmen, and Aulis KARITA MATTILA Sallinen’s King Lear. Other recent oper- atic projects include Sallinen’s Kullervo The lyrical, dramatic voice of Karita at the 2014 Savonlinna Opera Festival Mattila, one of the most celebrated and Tannhäuser with Tampere Opera opera singers in the world today, is fa- in 2012. Lintu has also worked with mous for its beauty and versatility, Estonian National Opera, recording and her stage charisma is second to Tauno Pylkkänen’s Mare and her son. none. A regular at all the world’s lead- Hannu Lintu has made several re- ing opera houses, she has also worked cordings for Ondine, Naxos, Avie and at the most prestigious festivals with Hyperion. In summer 2015 he recorded such composers as James Levine, Esa- Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Pekka Salonen, Claudio Abbado, Sir Concertos with Fumiaki Miura and the Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin Bernard Haitink, Antonio Pappano and for Avex, while other recent recordings Sir Simon Rattle. feature works by Ligeti, including the Among the greatest roles in Karita Violin Concerto with Benjamin Schmid, Mattila’s repertoire are Puccini’s Tosca, and Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony Janáček’s Jenůfa, Elsa in Wagner’s with Angela Hewitt and Valerie Lohengrin, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Hartmann-Claverie – both for Ondine Giovanni, Rosalinde in Johann Strauss’s with the Finnish Radio Symphony Die Fledermaus and Richard Strauss’s Orchestra. Lintu has received sever- Salome. Notable stage directors have al accolades for his recordings, in- been charmed by her phenomenal cluding a 2011 Grammy nomination sense of drama, resulting in many un- for Best Opera CD plus Gramophone forgettable productions, such as that Award nominations for his recordings of Don Carlos directed by Luc Bondy in of Enescu’s Symphony No.2 with the Paris, in London and at the Edinburgh Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and Festival. She sang in Lev Dodine’s di- the Violin Concertos of Sibelius and rection of Elektra in Salzburg and with Thomas Adès with Augustin Hadelich Peter Stein did Simon Boccanegra in and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Salzburg and Don Giovanni in Chicago. Orchestra. At the New York Metropolitan she has Hannu Lintu studied cello and piano sung in Fidelio in the direction of Jürgen at the Sibelius Academy, where he later Flimm, and her many premieres of ma- studied conducting with Jorma Panula. jor contemporary works have included He participated in masterclasses with the title role in Kaija Saariaho’s Émilie in Myung-Whun Chung at the Accademia Lyon in 2010. Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took Karita Mattila has recently made many first prize at the Nordic Conducting highly-acclaimed role debuts, such as Competition in Bergen in 1994. Wagner’s Sieglinde at Houston Grand Opera, Strauss’s Ariadne and Marie in Wozzeck at Covent Garden. Other re-

7 cent highlights have included Fidelio Anssi Karttunen has premiered over in Houston, Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová in 140 works and had 29 cello concertos Chicago, Schönberg’s Erwartung in St. composed for him, among them Esa- Louis and Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Pekka Salonen’s Mania, Kaija Saariaho’s Lieder at Carnegie Hall. This season she Notes on Light and the cello concerto is down to sing Janáček’s Jenůfa with by Martin Matalon. He has also been the Czech Philharmonic conducted by booked to premiere works by Oliver Jiří Bělohlávek. Knussen, Pascal Dusapin, Denis Cohen Karita Mattila has released many and others. great discs on the Phillips, EMI, Sony, His solo engagements have includ- DG and Ondine labels. She has record- ed appearances with the Philadelphia ed Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, the NHK under Claudio Abbado, Schönberg’s Symphony, the Los Angeles and Munich Gurrelieder and Shostakovich’s 14th Philharmonic. He is a regular guest at Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle. the Edinburgh, Salzburg, Berlin, Venice The complete recording of Wagner’s and other festivals. This season he Meistersinger with Sir Georg Solti and tours China with the Mahler Chamber Janáček’s Jenůfa with Bernard Haitink Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, gives both won a Grammy. a recital at the Wigmore Hall in London After winning the Lappeenranta and is the soloist with the New World Singing Competition at home in Finland Symphony Orchestra. in 1981, Karita Mattila went on to win Mr Karttunen has recorded a vari- the BBC Singer of the World competi- ety of repertoire, from the complete tion in 1983. Musical America named Beethoven works for cello and piano her Musician of the Year in 2005 – one on period instruments to music for of the most prestigious US classical mu- solo cello by 20th century composers. sic awards. She was also awarded the He has recorded the cello concertos of highest cultural distinction in another Lindberg, Saariaho and Salonen, and a country, France, in 2003: the Chevalier work by Tan Dun for cello, video and or- des Arts et des Lettres. chestra. His CDs of chamber music by Magnus Lindberg and Tout un monde lontain by Henri Dutilleux were both ANSSI KARTTUNEN nominated for a Gramophone Award. Anssi Karttunen frequently teaches A cellist who has distinguished himself masterclasses, for example, with Kaija both as a soloist and as a chamber mu- Saariaho at Carnegie Hall and the Cello sician, Anssi Karttunen has a repertoire Biennial Amsterdam in 2012. He start- that embraces not only the basic cello ed teaching at the École Normale de literature but also a host of forgotten Musique in Paris last year and this au- masterpieces, plus arrangements of his tumn has also taught at the University own. In addition to the modern cello he of Berkeley in the USA. plays the Baroque cello and the violon- cello piccolo.

8 KARI KRIIKKU THE FINNISH RADIO SYMPHONY The Clarinet Concerto by Unsuk Chin ORCHESTRA is the latest addition to the reper- toire of Kari Kriikku, a musician known The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for his commitment to contempo- (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish rary music. He premiered it with the Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission Gothenburg Orchestra under the baton is to produce and promote Finnish musi- of Kent Nagano in spring 2014 and has cal culture and its Chief Conductor as of since performed it with such orches- autumn 2013 has been Hannu Lintu. The tras as the New York Philharmonic, the FRSO has two Honorary Conductors: WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. the Philharmonia and the Amsterdam The Radio Orchestra of ten players Concertgebouw Orchestra. founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- Among the works previously pre- chestra strength in the 1960s. Hannu miered and recorded by Kari Kriikku Lintu was preceded as Chief Conductor are Kaija Saariaho’s D’OM LE VRAI, the by Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Clarinet Concertos by Kimmo Hakala Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif and Magnus Lindberg, and Jukka Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Tiensuu’s Missa. The Saariaho disc with Sakari Oramo. the FRSO won the Jury’s Award at the In addition to the great Classical- BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2013. Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- Kriikku’s next premiere is of Hysterisis temporary music is a major item in the by Michel van der Aa with the Lapland repertoire of the FRSO, which each year Chamber Orchestra and John Storgårds, premieres a number of Yle commissions. and he will later be recording it with the Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to re- Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Other engage- cord all Finnish orchestral music for the ments this season include a tour with Yle archive. During the 2015/2016 sea- the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra son it will premiere six Finnish works and Miguel Harth-Bedoya and perfor- commissioned by Yle. The programme mances in New Zealand with the Seoul, will also include Piano Concertos by Stavanger and Indianapolis Symphonies. Beethoven and Prokofiev, Symphonies As well as being a soloist, Kari Kriikku is by Schumann and Brahms, and Artistic Director of the Avanti! Chamber Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah. Among Orchestra. In 2009 he was awarded the its guest artists will be pianists Murray prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize Perahia, Nelson Freire and András in recognition of his versatile career. Schiff, conductors David Zinman, Tugan Sokhiev and Manfred Honeck, soprano Karita Mattila and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter.

9 The FRSO has recorded works by Ligeti, Eötvös, Nielsen, Hakola, Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen and others, and the debut disc of the op- era Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. Its discs have reaped some prestigious distinc- tions, such as the BBC Music Magazine Award, the Académie Charles Cros Award and a MIDEM Classical Award. The disc of the Sibelius and Lindberg Violin Concertos was Gramophone mag- azine’s Editor’s Choice in February 2014. The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of the world. One of the many high- lights of the 2015/2016 season will be tours to Japan and Austria with conduc- tor Hannu Lintu. The home channel of the FRSO is Yle Radio 1, which broadcasts all its con- certs, usually live, both in Finland and abroad. Its concerts can also be heard and watched with excellent live stream quality on the FRSO website (www.yle.fi/ rso), and the majority of them are tele- vised live on the Yle Teema channel.

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