11.1. FRIDAY SERIES 8 Helsinki Music Centre at 19:00 John Storgårds, conductor Darren Acosta, trombone Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 96 in D “Miracle” 20 min I Adagio – Allegro II Andante III Menuetto (Allegretto) IV Finale (Vivace assai) Jukka Tiensuu: Suuna, Trombone Concerto, 25 min fp (Yle commission) Ready Steady Go INTERVAL 20 min Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra 38 min I Introduzione. Andante non troppo – Allegro vivace II Giuoco delle coppie. Allegretto scherzando III Elegia. Andante non troppo IV Intermezzo interrotto. Allegretto V Finale. Pesante – Presto 1 The LATE-NIGHT CHAMBER MUSIC will begin in the main Concert Hall after an interval of about 10 minutes. Those attending are asked to take (unnumbered) seats in the stalls. Laura Vikman, violin Jukka Pohjola, violin Jakob Dingstad, viola Mikko Ivars, cello Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 3 15 min Prima parte – Seconda parte – Ricapitulazione della prima parte – Coda Interval at about 20:00. The concert will end at about 21:10 and the late-night chamber music at about 21:40. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and streamed at yle.fi/areena. A recording of the concert will be shown in the programme “RSO Musiikkitalossa” (The FRSO at the Helsinki Music Centre) on Yle Teema on 27.1. and 3.2. and on Yle TV 1 on 2.2. and 9.2. 2 JOSEPH HAYDN: The slow movement is a cunning set of variations offering almost as many SYMPHONY NO. 96 IN a surprise as Symphony No. 94 of that D “MIRACLE” name. The air of caution underlines the contrasts of texture, dynamics and tim- Joseph Haydn wrote his “London” sym- bre, to say nothing of the dramatic mi- phonies (Nos. 93–104) in conjunction nor-key twist or the solo duets at the with his two visits to England, in 1791– end. Haydn juggles to perfection with 1792 and 1794–1795. No. 96 was actual- epic symphonic breadth and an intima- ly the first to be composed. It was pre- cy associated more with chamber mu- miered at a series of concerts at Hanover sic. Square in London put on by the impre- The Minuet is sturdy and solid, though sario Johann Peter Salomon (1745–1815) not without a little light relief. The mid- at which the audience pressed so near dle section, led by an oboe, dances with the platform that one of the huge chan- a rustic, Ländler-like tread. deliers came crashing down. Luckily no The finale – a combination of sonata one was hurt. Or so the story goes. In and rondo form – sneaks in with a grin reality, the accident happened during a but gradually grows more dramatic. It much later performance, but the sym- has a catchy main theme and a happy phony became known as “The Miracle”. ending, but Haydn nevertheless hints at The symphonies were like a gift from a latent symphonic and emotional ten- heaven for Salomon, whose concerts sion. The symphony became so popular were no longer pulling in audiences in that it soon spread far and wide, also in the way they once did, and he exploited arrangements suitable for performance the publicity they brought to the full. He in the home. was born in Bonn, in the same house as Beethoven 25 years later, and in addition to curating his concert series, he later JUKKA TIENSUU led the Philharmonic Society Orchestra. (b. 1948): SUUNA, The London Symphonies sparked off a real Haydn boom in London, as indicat- TROMBONE ed by the number of arrangements for CONCERTO chamber ensemble that soon began to appear. The music of Jukka Tiensuu defies clas- The first movement of the Miracle be- sification, but one thing is certain: he is gins with a seemingly groping, slow in- one of the most exciting and versatile troduction that anchors itself on what Finnish composers of his generation, will prove to be its key motif. The main and one of the greatest international re- section is cheerful and contrapuntal- nown. He was awarded the State Prize ly inclined, and the development is the for Music in 2012. work of a sovereign master, weaving all Tiensuu is both a conductor and a the strands seamlessly together. harpsichordist. His music may be a 3 blend of Baroque and contemporary, movement, but it is also a motif famil- and it often reflects an interest in the iar from Hungarian folk music. The flute past. History is, however, only one of and a little later the trumpets present his many sources of inspiration; others a melodic theme that finds passionate include different cultures, traditions, expression in the strings and sets in arts and science. The trombone con- motion a main section with Bulgarian certo Suuna was composed in 2017 as rhythms. a commission from the Finnish Radio Both the main themes in the quick Symphony Orchestra and its three section (a leaping violin motif and a movements (Ready. Steady. Go) indicate trombone reply) and the static second a clear dramatic structure. theme are subjected to constant vari- Tiensuu does not explain his works ation, as in folk music. But they read- and does not want others to do so ei- ily lend themselves to a rugged fugue ther. Suffice it to say that they abound in the development. The recapitulation in references and allusions and the lis- shakes up all the elements again and tener is advised simply to sit back and the trombone reply, now as a sort of let the music flow. motto, brings the movement to an end on the full brass section. The second movement is a “Game of BÉLA BARTÓK Pairs” (Giuoco delle coppie). The cou- (1881–1945): ples are announced by a snare drum: bassoons in minor seconds, oboes in mi- CONCERTO FOR nor thirds, clarinets in sevenths, flutes in ORCHESTRA fifths and trumpets in seconds, and the game is to vary a jolly Balkan tune. After The Concerto for Orchestra (1943) is a solemn brass chorale, the wind pairs Béla Bartók’s ultimate symbiosis of cheerfully resume their chatter. his modernistic and folkloristic ideas. The Elegy begins with a reference to His orchestral texture is also a com- the introduction to the first movement. pendium of the ongoing modernist The chirruping woodwinds and lament- European trends, the expressionism of ing oboe create a typical Bartókesque Alban Berg and the counterpoint of nightscape with tragedy ready to strike Paul Hindemith. His death cut short a in the strings. The music then reverts to line of development that would remain the opening mood. for composers such as Lutosławski and The Interrupted Intermezzo Ligeti to continue. (Intermezzo interrotto) gets under way The first movement, in sonata form, with some dancing folk tunes and a no- cultivates what might appear to be vir- ble, singing theme on the violas. The tually incompatible elements. Some Hungarian mood-fest is nevertheless may detect an echo of Schubert’s interrupted by a lurching clarinet that Unfinished Symphony in the opening tries to sell the orchestra the march motif of the introduction to the first theme from Shostakovich’s Leningrad 4 Symphony but is sent packing by the have included Chief Guest Conductor derisive brass. of the BBC Philharmonic, and Principal When told that the said march theme Guest Conductor of Canada’s National was originally from “You’ll find me at Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa. He has Maxim’s” in The Merry Widow and in- appeared as both conductor and solo- tended as a parody of the Nazi advance, ist in his role as Artistic Partner of the Bartók claimed he was not familiar with Munich Chamber Orchestra. Lehár’s operetta. Whatever – both com- Highlights of recent seasons have in- posers were happy to jeer at the Nazis. cluded a highly-acclaimed debut with Bartók did, however, admit to being fa- the New York Philharmonic, the Leipzig miliar with the operetta The Bride of Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Chicago Hamburg (1928) by Zsigmond Vincze and Minnesota Symphonies, the London from which he borrowed the viola tune Philharmonia and the Staatskapelle in the Intermezzo. Dresden, concerts with the St. Louis and A mighty brass fanfare, a positive Toronto Symphony Orchestras, with the counterpart to the trombone mot- Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and at to of the opening movement, ushers the London Proms, where he regular- in the virtuosic finale. With its snatch- ly appears with the BBC Philharmonic es of dance in 2/4 time and canon, it is Orchestra. bursting with life, humour and techni- In opera, John Storgårds most recently cal brilliance. After a shady hiatus, the conducted the Finnish National Opera life-affirming forces join together as a production of Fagerlund’s Autumn self-assured brass chorus and round off Sonata in 2017, and at the Savonlinna the concerto with a coda. Opera Festival Don Giovanni in 2016. The present season sees his return to Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen the Boston Symphony Orchestra, his de- translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo but with the Munich Philharmonic and the Dallas Symphony, and an appear- ance as the soloist with the Tonkünstler JOHN STORGÅRDS Orchestra in the Violin Concerto by Kurt Weill at the Vienna Musikverein. He can John Storgårds (b. 1963) began his mu- often also be heard in chamber reper- sical career as a violinist and the leader toire. of several orchestras. He was appoint- Major items in his discography include ed Artistic Director of the Chamber the Violin Concertos by Schumann, Orchestra of Lapland in 1996, a post Melartin, Nordgren, Saariaho and Vasks. he still holds, and has served as Chief His sizeable catalogue of orchestral Conductor or Principal Guest Conductor discs takes in numerous critically-ac- of a number of Finnish orchestras: the claimed and award-winning releases, Oulu Symphony, Tapiola Sinfonietta, among them the complete Sibelius Tampere Philharmonic and Helsinki and Nielsen symphonies with the BBC Philharmonic.