28.3. THURSDAY SERIES 9 Music Centre at 19:00

Sakari Oramo, conductor

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911): Symphony No. 7 Langsam (Adagio) – Allegro risoluto, ma non troppo – Allegro con fuoco Nachtmusik I: Allegro moderato Scherzo: Fließend, aber nicht schnell (Schattenhaft) Nachtmusik II: Andante amoroso Rondo-Finale: Allegro ordinario – Allegro moderato ma energico

No interval. The concert will end at about 20:30.

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR MOBILE PHONE IS SWITCHED OFF! Photographing, video and sound recording are prohibited during the concert.

1 GUSTAV MAHLER amorphosis that seems to crystallise as a structural factor, especially in the (1860–1911): first movement. This is Mahler at his SYMPHONY NO. 7 most impressionistic, as the creator of sensuous impressions – or as a fore- Gustav Mahler took a long time to com- runner of the timbre melodies of the pose his seventh symphony. He kept Viennese modernists. The symphony making changes, yet despite the care may be conceived of as an epic odys- he lavished on it, it is possibly the sym- sey in which the march-like character phony by him least often performed. of the first two movements changes He set to work on it during a summer into a dancing scherzo and, after tak- holiday spent on the Wörthersee in ing a breather in the slow movement, Kärnten (Carinthia) in 1904. The first to into a noisy procession in the finale. be completed were the two Nachtmusik The slow movement begins with a movements (2 & 4), but then he had fertile rhythmic motif and immediate- difficulty deciding how to continue. ly sets up a dialogue between the sol- The following summer he wrote the itary tenor horn and the orchestra. A remaining three movements. The last march theme on the brass sends the to be finished was number one. The in- Allegro on its way. The detail is endless. spiration for the opening bars he drew Bittersweet Viennese ‘sentimento’ joins from the movement of the oars as he hands with a romantic second theme rowed across the lake. “Here nature and recurring snatches of the march. roars,” is how he described the ten- The march theme returns in the coda, or-horn solo rising out of the watery even more brilliantly orchestrated but landscape. not without a note of despair. Not until 1908 did Mahler conduct The second movement seems to take the premiere of his seventh sympho- up the tread of the first, but with less ny, in Prague. It took 24 rehearsals, self-assurance. The horn call has the and after each one, he honed the in- childish optimism of the Wunderhorn strumentation and details back in his songs. The theme is in fact a variation hotel room. The concert, honoured by on Revelge from the Wunderhorn col- the presence of the aging Austrian lection. Accompanying the travellers in Emperor Franz Joseph, was only a nom- the moonlit landscape are comic wind inal success. vignettes, sometimes with cheerful tin- The seventh symphony is scored kling cowbells. At the end, the theme for a large orchestra with many spe- fades into the dusky night. cial effects. Mahler seldom uses the The third movement is as noctur- whole orchestra all at once; rather, he nal as the movements either side tends to keep regrouping his instru- of it. Gone is the naïve trust of the ments in a rich torrent of tone colours first Nachtmusik; nothing is certain. and timbres, as an instrumental met- Shadowy dance motifs emerge, punc-

2 tured by ironic comments. The slight- together aspects of reality not usually ly macabre waltz theme is offset by deemed fitting in a serious work of art. a dolce theme on the oboes and a Ländler tune on the strings, but they, Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen too, acquire a touch of malice. The re- translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo cap resembles a dance of death, but the black humour wards off any ro- mantic horror images. Again, the mu- sic fades into nothing. Nachtmusik II is like a serenade slum- bering in a timeless world. The winds Sakari Oramo (b. 1965) is one of the make playful comments while the most celebrated Finnish conductors on strings – especially the solo violin – the international circuit. He has been conjure up an amorous mood. A man- Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor dolin and guitar add a breath of the of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic sunny south. The passions building up Orchestra since 2008, and Chief at the end fail to shatter the unsus- Conductor of the BBC Symphony and pecting mood, and the nocturnal love the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra scene dissolves on a sweet clarinet trill. since 2013. He is Honorary Conductor of The finale sets off with a flourish, with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra drums, horns and trumpets. Mahler de- and has been appointed Professor of velops or varies eight scenes incorpo- Orchestral Training and Orchestral rating some intricate counterpoint. Conducting at the for The technical dexterity is nevertheless the five-year term 2020–2024. In addi- drowned by rowdy, grotesque and down- tion to his regular posts, he has guest to-earth motifs. Some claim to detect conducted numerous other orchestras, here references to the Germanic traits among them the Vienna, Berlin, New of, for example, Wagner’s Mastersingers York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and Lehár’s Merry Widow. the Amsterdam Concertgebouw The happy ending to the seventh Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the symphony is regarded by some as a Dresden Staatskapelle and the NDR manifestation of a “Mahler without Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Angst”. The final procession is scored After studying conducting with for a battery of percussions, including Jorma Panula, Sakari Oramo began the cowbells from the second move- his musical career as a violinist, and ment, and in this respect it looks ahead for a time was leader of the Avanti! to the music of today. But is Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the FRSO. making fun of us and himself? What He was the FRSO’s Conductor 1994– about the myth of the suffering com- 2003 and its Chief Conductor 2003– poser? Humour is a difficult genre, but 2012. From 2014 to 2018 he was also Mahler here seems to have gathered Principal Conductor of ’s West

3 Coast Kokkola Opera. phony orchestra size in the 1960s. For ten years beginning in 1998, Over the years, its Chief Conductors Sakari Oramo was successor to Simon have been Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Rattle as Music Director of the City Fougstedt, , Okko Kamu, of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and His terms in Birmingham and with the Sakari Oramo. BBC Symphony broadened his reper- In addition to the great Classical- toire of English music and he has been Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- the recipient of many prestigious hon- temporary music is a major item in the ours, among them the coveted Elgar repertoire of the FRSO, which each year Medal (2008), the OBE (2009), and the premieres a number of Yle commissions. Conductor of the Year title of the Royal Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to re- Philharmonic Society (2015). cord all Finnish orchestral music for the In addition to the staple Classical- Yle archive. During the 2018/2019 sea- Romantic repertoire and 20th-century son, the FRSO will premiere four Finnish classics, Sakari Oramo has conducted a works commissioned by Yle. wealth of contemporary music and nu- The FRSO has recorded works by merous premieres. His versatile reper- Mahler, Ligeti, Eötvös, Sibelius, Lindberg, toire is further reflected in his extensive Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen discography, ranging from Beethoven and others, and the debut disc of the and the Romantics to 20th-century opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. Its classics and the very latest music. He disc of the Bartók violin concertos with has also widely recorded Finnish music Christian Tetzlaff and conductor Hannu of different eras. Lintu won a Gramophone Award in 2018, and that of tone poems and songs by Sibelius an International Classical Music Award. It was also Gramophone maga- zine’s Editor’s Choice in November 2017 THE FINNISH and BBC Music Magazine’s Record of RADIO SYMPHONY the Month in January 2018. Its forthcom- ORCHESTRA ing albums are of music by Lutosławski, Fagerlund and Beethoven. The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra the world. During the 2018/2019 season (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish its schedule will include a tour of Finland Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mis- under , to Pietarsaari, sion is to produce and promote Finnish Kauhajoki, Forssa and Lahti. musical culture and its Chief Conductor FRSO concerts are broadcast live on as of autumn 2013 has been Hannu the Yle Areena channel and Yle Radio 1 Lintu. The Radio Orchestra of ten play- and recorded on Yle Teema and Yle TV 1. ers formed in 1927 later grew to sym-

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