28.4. at 20:00 Helsinki Music Centre Dalia Stasevska conductor Petri Kumela guitar Lotta Emanuelsson presenter Antti Auvinen: Andalusian Panzerwagen Jazz guitar concerto, fp (a Yle commission) 1-2-3-4 1 Felix Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 1. Allegro moderato ma con fuoco 2. Andante 3. Scherzo: Allegro leggierissimo 4. Presto Paula Sundqvist violin, Annika Palas-Peltokallio violin, Pauline Fleming-Unelius violin, Reeta Maalismaa violin, Ezra Woo viola, Albert Papp viola, Jukka Rautasalo cello, Timo Alanen cello Antti Auvinen: Andalusian Panzerwagen Jazz, guitar concerto The works of Finland’s Antti Auvinen a Cracklebox, Postcard Weevil and Board (b. 1974) are like cracked mirrors reflect- Chirper. ing the distortions and pain points in the Andalusian Panzerwagen Jazz is a typi- world. Or could the spiky rhythms in his cal Auvinen title. As he points out, it lends music be signs that the world itself is dis- itself to various interpretations, and he torted? For the listener is forced to ques- therefore urges the listener to give free tion and take a stand. The very titles of rein to the images it arouses. For him, the orchestral Junker Twist (2015), Himmel “Andalusian” calls to mind both certain Punk (2016) and Turbo Aria (2017) evoke aspects of Spain and memories of a fla- unusual associations. Some of his compo- menco course he attended in Andalusia. sitions, such as the experimental, Teosto- “Panzerwagen” suggests a militant, prize winning opera Autuus (Bliss, 2015) in- steamroller attitude, and “Jazz” could al- corporte a video sequence. lude to the leeway he allows the players in Auvinen did not treat the guitar kind- executing some of the details. 2 ly in his Digital Madrigal of 2018. By con- The outermost movements frame two trast, he has greater compassion in the shorter, more mechanistic ones. The first guitar concerto Andalusian Panzerwagen is the longest; Auvinen speaks of its “mil- Jazz (2021) now about to be premiered. itant ranting”, but it also has a softer di- The guitar is Auvinen’s own instrument. mension. The second movement is rep- This, he says, was a help in composing the etitious and craggy, and the third is concerto. Even so, the partnership with dominated by strange timbres. the soloist, Petri Kumela, was of deci- The fourth movement starts with two sive importance. The guitar part is diffi- meditative solo cadenzas for the guitar. cult, but then writing a concerto for the There is later even a hint of Bach behind guitar is difficult for any composer, be- the increasingly dense guitar figures. “It’s cause it is not a loud instrument. The or- a work that to my mind generates hope,” chestra is only moderately-sized, but it says Auvinen. “The end is comforting and uses a variety of extra instruments to add has faith in the future.” further colour. Some of these are electric: Felix Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) was only The third movement is the first to crys- 16 when, in 1825, his octet for strings tallise Mendelssohn’s light, dashing scher- proved he could now be regarded as a ful- zo style. According to his sister, Fanny, ly-fledged composer. It was his first mas- it was inspired by the Walpurgis Night terpiece and would be his lasting favour- scene in Goethe’s Faust and its closing ite. The Octet has a strong orchestral lines: “Wolkenzug und Nebelflor/Erhellen flavour, as he himself pointed out, stress- sich von oben./Luft im Laub und Wind ing that it was “to be played by all the im Rohr,/Und alles ist zerstoben.” (The instruments in a symphonic orchestral gauze-like mist, each fleecy cloud/Melts style. Pianos and fortes must be strictly in the sun’s bright ray./Hark in the grove observed and more strongly emphasised the gale is loud/And all is swept away.) than is usual in pieces of this genre.” The energetic finale returns to a major The sweeping opening movement be- key. The joie de vivre errupts in a frenet- gins with a main theme ignited by ris- ic fugato, and there are flashbacks to the ing motifs and giving prominence to the scherzo in the contrapuntally-enriched first violin, not as a soloist but rather as a texture. Some have likened the movement ‘first among equals’. The music has a per- to the contrapuntal finale of Beethoven’s 3 sistent, Beethoven-like energy apart from last quartet, the Razumnovsky (Op. 59/3), the meditative episode that preceeds the which may have been deliberate on recapitulation. Mendelssohn’ part. The slow movement flows along in swinging 6/8 time, in a mood poised be- tween nostalgia and melancholy. DALIA STASEVSKA PETRI KUMELA Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Petri Kumela is one of Finland’s most ver- Symphony Orchestra since summer satile and sought-after classical guitarists, 2019, Dalia Stasevska first conducted the equally at home in the Baroque of Bach’s orchestra at the Proms in London that day and the Classicism of Fernando Sor as year. In autumn 2021, she begins a three- in flamenco, jazz and innovative perfor- year term as Chief Conductor of the Lahti mance techniques. He also als interested Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director in traditional crossover projects. of its Sibelius Festival. A former student of Juan Antonio A guest with leading Nordic orchest- Muro at the Helsinki Conservatory and ras (in Finland, Oslo, Stockholm and Franz Hálasz at the Hochschule für Musik Gothenburg), she has also conducted Nürnberg-Augsburg in Germany, Petri across Europe, the United States and Kumela has won the first prize at the Australia. In December 2018, she conduc- Scandinavian Guitar Festival and Stafford ted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic at Classical Guitar Recital competitions. the Nobel Prize Ceremony. She feels parti- Outside Europe he has appeared in South cularly at home in 20th-century and cont- America, the United States, Russia, India emporary repertoire, and likes doing cros- and Bhutan. 4 sover projects. Before the new Auvinen concerto, Passionate about opera, Dalia Stasevska Kumela had already premiered nine guitar has conducted The Cunning Little Vixen concertos and numerous other works. His at the Finnish National Opera, Lucia di ten discs range from Carl Philipp Emanuel Lammermoor and Madama Butterfly at the Bach to composers of the present day. Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, Don Classical Guitar Magazine singled out his Giovanni at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, “Solo Sor” disc as one of the best releases La traviata at Malmö Opera, and Sebastian of 2018. His latest album “Small Creatures Fagerlund’s Autumn Sonata in Stockholm – A Musical Bestiary” (2020) of miniature – a production she also conducted on tour pieces, each by a different living compo- in Hong Kong. She made her debut at the ser, has also won great acclaim. Opéra de Toulon in 2019. Kumela teaches at the Sibelius Academy and the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. He is Artistic Director of the Sound of Sipoo guitar festival and curates the Hietsu is Happening! event ta- king in various arts. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The FRSO has recorded works (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish by Mahler, Bartók, Sibelius, Hakola, Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, is to produce and promote Finnish musical Kokkonen and others. It has twice won culture and its Chief Conductor as of au- a Gramophone Award: for its disc of tumn 2013 has been Hannu Lintu. Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto in 2006 The Radio Orchestra of ten players and of Bartók Violin Concertos in 2018. founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- Other distinctions have included BBC chestra proportions in the 1960s. Its Chief Music Magazine, Académie Charles Cros Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, and MIDEM Classical awards. Its disc of Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, tone poems and songs by Sibelius won Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka an International Classical Music Award Saraste and Sakari Oramo, and taking (ICMA) in 2018, and it has been the re- over from Hannu Lintu in 2021 will be cipient of a Finnish EMMA award in 2016 Nicholas Collon. and 2019. In addition to the great Classical- The FRSO concerts are broadcast live Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- on the Yle Areena and Radio 1 channels 5 temporary music is a major item in the and are recorded and shown later on Yle repertoire of the FRSO, which each year Teema and TV 1. premieres a number of Yle commissions. Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to re- cord all Finnish orchestral music for the Yle archive. .