14.9. FRIDAY SERIES 1 Helsinki Music Centre at 19:00

Hannu Lintu, conductor James Sherlock, assistant conductor Anu Komsi, soprano (Marie) Jeni Packalen, alto (Wesener’s Mother) Hilary Summers, contralto (Stolzius’s Mother) Juha Uusitalo, bass (Wesener) Peter Tantsits, tenor (Desportes) Ville Rusanen, baritone (Stolzius)

Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Die Soldaten – Vocal Symphony, fpF 30 min Preludio Introduzione. Act 1, Scene 3 (Ricercari 1) Act 1, Scene 5 (Notturno 1) Act 2 Intermezzo and Scene 2 (Capriccio, corale e ciacona 2)

INTERVAL 20 min

Einojuhani Rautavaara: Symphony No. 6 “Vincentiana” 42 min I Starry Night II The Crows III Saint-Rémy IV Apotheosis

Interval at about 19:45. The concert will end at about 21:00. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and Yle Areena. The concert will be shown in two parts in the Yle Teema programme “RSO Musiikkitalossa” (The FRSO at the Helsinki Music Centre) on 23.9. and 30.9. with repeats on Yle TV 1 on 29.9. and 6.10.

1 BERND ALOIS jazz allusions and references to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1729). In its overall ZIMMERMANN: DIE sound, the Vocal Symphony represents SOLDATEN – VOCAL post-war modernism at its most typical, SYMPHONY except that it makes versatile use of the human voice. It is noisy and cacophonic, thus underlining its anti-war nature. Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918–1970) According to Zimmermann, the opera wrote his Vocal Symphony under very is about “the fateful constellation of so- unusual circumstances. In 1957, Cologne cial classes, conditions, and characters”, Opera had commissioned him to write and in this respect it is reminiscent of the opera Die Soldaten (The Soldiers), the operas of Berg. Zimmermann also but five years passed and it was still not bows to Berg in calling the main char- finished. The premiere had to be post- acter in his opera Marie, as in Berg’s poned as the score was said to be im- Wozzeck. In both, Marie is a middle-class possible to perform. In order to convince girl who, in going her own way, inevita- the client and the contemporary mu- bly drifts away from her community and sic community that this was not true, becomes a prostitute. Zimmermann put together a “teaser”, Zimmermann was unlike the oth- as it would nowadays be termed, and er composers of his day in that he had called it a Vocal Symphony. This was faith in opera. In this respect he dif- premiered by the WDR Cologne in 1963. fered from, say, Pierre Boulez (1925– The Vocal Symphony is based on Die 2016), who provocatively wanted to Soldaten (1776), a play by Sturm und “blow up opera houses”, which he con- Drang writer Jakob Michael Reinhold sidered to be obsolete and bourgeois. Lenz (1751–1792), to a libretto by Zimmermann wrote essays both ex- Zimmermann and stage director-dram- plaining his opera The Soldiers and theo- aturge Erich Bormann. Interestingly, retically examining the potential of op- the same play by Lenz also inspired the era in the latter half of the 20th century. opera Wozzeck (1925) by Alban Berg Performing The Soldiers requires a (1885–1935), and the play Woyzeck by vast machinery and is challenging for Georg Büchner (1813–1837) premiered the theatre, requiring several scenes in 1913. to be staged simultaneously. The Vocal The half-hour Vocal Symphony is Symphony presents this major landmark scored for six voices and orchestra. It in 20th-century German opera in a nut- consists of a Prelude and two Acts di- shell. vided into five Scenes. The music relies on the 12-note system of Berg, and like Liisamaija Hautsalo the opera The Soldiers uses tradition- al musical forms ranging from a noc- turne to a chorale. Counterbalancing the atonal textures are, for example,

2 EINOJUHANI Saint-Rémy mental asylum and suicide. Rautavaara views the fate of van Gogh RAUTAVAARA against his art, the vibrant colours in his (1928–2016): paintings that transcend the abject re- SYMPHONY NO. 6 ality. “VINCENTIANA” Rautavaara’s sixth symphony, Vincentiana, grew out of material from the opera in 1992. The first and second Einojuhani Rautavaara was not perhaps movements are based on the preludes disinclined to write symphonies, but the to Acts I and II of Vincent and are musi- symphonic tradition did challenge him cal images of two famous paintings by to question and refute it. His eight sym- van Gogh: Starry Night and Wheat Field phonies are, as a result, all very different, with Crows. The third movement, Saint- and a gap of over 20 years separates the Rémy, varies motifs from the second fourth (1962) and fifth (1985). Act, while Apotheosis looks to the final Rautavaara disliked the idea of press- scene in he opera. ing musical material into fixed struc- The sixth symphony is not a rehash tures: “I’ve never really understood the of the opera. It is an independent work talk of music as rational architecture, of that, by extended orchestral means, en- the composer as an architect or build- ters into van Gogh’s paintings and met- er. Ages ago I wrote that ‘music is the aphorically traces his life. It operates on way sound materials grow’. It’s all about various planes of reality, the mundane growth, not the placing of elements and and ideal world. Separating them is a modules, bricks and timber.” synthesiser, here assigned an independ- Recorded in Rautavaara’s autobiog- ent role. raphy Omakuva (Self-Portrait) in 1989, The first movement, Starry Night, is these sentiments reflect the turn in the longest. Rautavaara immerses him- his art that took place in the 1980s. He self in the painting’s colours – the deep, wrote the one-movement fifth sympho- dark blues, the twinkling yellows and the ny in 1985 as the last part of the “Angel swirling brushstrokes. Maybe the music Trilogy” commissioned by the FRSO. also reflects the painting’s composition, His marriage in 1984 marked the the fantastic starlit night and the town, beginning of a happier, more harmo- the human world huddled beneath it. nious stage in the life of Einojuhani The first dramatic climax prepares the Rautavaara. Lurking behind the hap- way for the synthesiser’s entrance. The piness and stability in the music are second climax comes at the end of the the internal and external demons that movement, after a long build-up. occupied the leading role in his opera The painting behind the second Vincent. The story of the life of Vincent movement is Wheat Field with Crows. van Gogh, the famous Dutch painter, The synthesiser is now present from the tells the classic ordeal of a misunder- very beginning, enhancing the gloomy stood genius who ended his days in images with rumbling percussions and

3 jeering brass. After the aggressive be- ule will include appearances with the ginning, the music calms down in mel- Baltimore, St Louis and Cincinnati ancholy hymn-like tones. Symphony Orchestras, the New Japan The third movement, Saint-Rémy, is Philharmonic, the Singapore Symphony, based on the dance scene in Act 2 of the NDR Symphony Hamburg and oth- the opera and the prelude to Act 3. A er orchestras. Further highlights of the scherzo beginning as the waltz of the season will include his debut with the innocents, it works up to a demonic Boston Symphony and the Russian whirl at the end of which all sense of National Orchestra. In particular, he reality is dispelled and the synthesiser has worked in recent times with the gains full command. Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, the Reflecting on the last of his paintings, Washington National Symphony and Rautavaara became convinced that van the Symphony Orchestras of Dallas Gogh’s story was not a tragedy. Van and Detroit. Gogh was not, he said, a mentally dis- Maestro Lintu also conducts reg- turbed neurotic disappointed with life ularly at the Finnish National Opera and seeking death; he was a strong but and the Savonlinna Opera Festival. He sensitive human being who saw light, conducted Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello in joy and beauty all around. Rautavaara Savonlinna in July 2018 and his sched- therefore wanted to end with an apoth- ule for spring 2019 includes a pro- eosis. duction of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in This conclusion is even more impres- Helsinki. sive in the symphony’s closing move- Hannu Lintu studied the piano and ment. Apotheosis exudes a sense of cello at the Sibelius Academy be- appeasement. The demons have been fore joining the conducting class of crushed and the synthesiser blends with Jorma Panula. He attended master- the chirruping winds. At the end of the classes with Myung Whun Chung at opera, Rautavaara quotes from a letter L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena in which van Gogh tells his brother that and won first prize in the Nordic whoever should die that day would nev- Conducting Competition in Bergen in er vanish but would join those who once 1994. He has recorded on the Ondine, dared to live. BIS, Hyperion and other labels.

Antti Häyrynen ANU KOMSI HANNU LINTU Finnish coloratura Anu Komsi has won renown at opera houses and leading Hannu Lintu has been Chief Conductor concert venues the world over for her of the Finnish Radio Symphony dynamic voice and her broad reper- Orchestra since August 2013. During toire, and especially her performances the 2018/2019 season, his sched- of contemporary music. She has ap-

4 peared with many top orchestras, such sung in such premieres as Into the Little as the Berlin, New York and Los Angeles Hill by George Benjamin at the Bastille, Philharmonics, the BBC Symphony and Carter’s What Next at the Berlin State the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Her Opera, Gerald Barry’s The Importance of operatic repertoire takes in more than Being Earnest in London and New York, 60 roles, and she has sung in the pre- and Alice’s Adventures Under Ground in mieres of, among others, Into the Little Los Angeles and London. Hill by George Benjamin, Sebastian Fagerlund’s Döbeln and Heinz-Juhani JUHA UUSITALO Hofmann’s Ahti Karjalainen. Bass-baritone Juha Uusitalo first sang JENI PACKALEN at the Finnish National Opera in 1997 and was a member of its solo ensem- Winner of the second prize in the 2008 ble from 2000 to 2008. His La Scala de- Lappeenranta Singing Competition, but followed in 2004, in the title role of mezzo-soprano Jeni Packalen was a The Flying Dutchman, and in the years member of the Finnish National Opera that followed at Covent Garden, the chorus 2007–2015 and made her solo Vienna State Opera and the New York debut there in 2009. Her roles have Metropolitan. He is best known for his included Maddalena in Rigoletto in big Wagner roles, such as Wotan/the Graz, Erda in a concert performance Wanderer, the Dutchman, and Amfortas. of Siegfried at Bayreuth and Marjatta He has, however, been assigned many in Ilkka Kuusisto’s Daughters of the other leads as well, and not only serious Fatherland in Vaasa. She also sang in ones, for he has won high acclaim in the Tuomas Kantelinen’s opera Mannerheim title role in Falstaff. in Ilmajoki. In the season just beginning she will sing in the Finnish National PETER TANTSITS Opera’s productions of Thaïs and Jaakko Kuusisto’s Ice (Irina Gyllen). “A fearless high tenor” is how Opernwelt described Peter Tantsits, the US sing- HILARY SUMMERS er best known for his numerous per- formances of works by the great mas- Welsh alto Hilary Summers is known ters and contemporary composers. He for her many performances of contem- has, however, also sung more tradition- porary and Baroque music. She has al repertoire (Rameau, Mozart, Rossini, sung both with early music ensembles etc.) and featured in the productions of and on prestigious opera stages. This Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten in Munich November, she makes her debut at La in 2014 and Cologne in spring 2018. Scala, Milan in the premiere of Kurtág’s Other great venues at which he has sung Fin de Partie. Many contemporary com- include La Scala, Milan and the Bavarian posers have made use of her vocal range, State Opera. In concert, he has per- spanning three octaves, and she has formed with the New York, Los Angeles,

5 Berlin and Munich Philharmonics and Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, many other top orchestras. Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and VILLE RUSANEN Sakari Oramo. In addition to the great Classical- Winner of the first prize for men Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- in the 2004 Lappeenranta Singing temporary music is a major item in the Competition, Ville Rusanen has been a repertoire of the FRSO, which each frequent guest at the Finnish National year premieres a number of Yle com- Opera and was a member of its solo en- missions. Another of the orchestra’s semble 2014–2016. His roles there have tasks is to record all Finnish orches- included Papageno, Guglielmo, Rossini’s tral music for the Yle archive. During Figaro, Pelléas, and the Phantom in the 2018/2019 season, the FRSO will Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the premiere four Finnish works commis- Opera. He debuted at La Scala, Milan sioned by Yle. in 2013, in Alexander Raskatov’s A The FRSO has recorded works Dog’s Heart, and has appeared at the by Mahler, Ligeti, Eötvös, Sibelius, Opéra de Lyon, the Netherlands Opera Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, in Amsterdam, the London Proms and Kokkonen and others, and the de- elsewhere. He was in the premiere cast but disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by of Linkola’s Robin Hood at the Finnish Armas Launis. Its disc of the Bartók vi- National Opera, Micha Hamelin’s op- olin concertos with Christian Tetzlaff era Snow White at the Dutch National and conductor Hannu Lintu won a Opera and Raskatov’s GerMANIA in Gramophone Award in 2018, and that Lyon. of tone poems and songs by Sibelius an International Classical Music Award. It was also Gramophone magazine’s THE FINNISH Editor’s Choice in November 2017 and BBC Music Magazine’s Record of the RADIO SYMPHONY Month in January 2018. Its forthcoming ORCHESTRA albums are of music by Lutosławski, Fagerlund and Beethoven. The Finnish Radio Symphony The FRSO regularly tours to all parts Orchestra (FRSO) is the orchestra of of the world. During the 2018/2019 the Finnish Broadcasting Company season its schedule will include a tour (Yle). Its mission is to produce and pro- of Finland under Hannu Lintu, to mote Finnish musical culture and its Pietarsaari, Kauhajoki, Forssa and Lahti. Chief Conductor as of autumn 2013 FRSO concerts are broadcast live on hThe Radio Orchestra of ten players the Yle Areena channel and Yle Radio formed in 1927 later grew to sympho- 1 and recorded on Yle Teema and Yle ny orchestra size in the 1960s. Over the TV 1. years, its Chief Conductors have been

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