25 MAY FRIDAY SERIES 15 Helsinki Music Centre at 7 pm Sakari Oramo, conductor Janine Jansen, violin Seppo Pohjola: Symphony No. 3, fp 45 min I movement II movement III movement IV movement INTERVAL 20 min Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op.63 27 min I Allegro moderato II Andante assai III Allegro, ben marcato Claude Debussy: La Mer 23 min I De l’aube a midi sur la mer (From dawn to noon on the sea) II Jeux de vagues (Play of the waves) III Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of the wind and the sea) The title of Honorary Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra will be conferred on Sakari Oramo at the end of the concert. Interval at about 7.55 pm. The concert ends at about 9.15 pm. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and the Internet (yle.fi/rso). The concert will be televised by YLE in collaboration with Mezzo Channel. Televised live on Mezzo on 25 May and recorded in the Yle Teema Kausikortti (Season Ticket) programme on 26 May with a repeat on Sunday 27 May. 1 SEPPO POHJOLA wait and hear the performance before I did anything with “No. 4”. (1965–): The Symphony No. 3 on today’s pro- SYMPHONY NO. 3 gramme does not incorporate any “choral ideas”. It is, however, bristling Composing a symphony seems, for with canons. Either as such or transpo- me, to be something like the Olympic sed; in long note values or playful and Games are for an athlete: once eve- nimble; as an unbroken 30-layer raft; ry four years I give it everything I’ve several different canon processes one got in a big and time-consuming way. on top of the other. The work makes This time with the addition that the great demands on the performers be- symphony had not been commissio- cause of its virtuosity and its soft, sen- ned. Writing a large-scale orchestral sitive tones. There are lots of notes, as work lasting 45 minutes without kno- in my earlier symphonies. The work is wing whether it will ever be performed in four movements. The first launches no doubt says something about the all- the symphony in powerful vein. The se- consuming passion I have had for the cond is like friendly Boulez. The third project. To me, as a composer, it is im- has whizzing virtuosity and changing portant to feel I am part of a histori- metres, and distant folk-music allu- cal continuum. The weight of tradition sions. The fourth ends the symphony embodied in the word ‘symphony’ is on a subdued note. daunting. I approach it trembling with All my symphonies are somehow in- respect and hat in hand, but someti- terim reckonings of my life up to that mes I feel I just need to take the bull point and composing them has been by the horns. a road to self-knowledge. The things I had two ideas at the outset. One that emerge without being planned are was a desire to apply canon technique particularly interesting. Why does the to a big orchestra – a technique I had symphony’s macroform progress from used on a large scale in my fourth string loud to soft, unlike in the previous two quartet (2006). The other was a desire symphonies? Do I no longer believe in to try out certain notions I have used a happy end? in works for choir. During the compo- I warmly thank the Finnish Cultural sition process the symphony project Foundation and the Arts Council of nevertheless began to split in two. I fi- Finland for their grants in support of nished my third symphony in summer my artistic work. 2012. Another work, which in my mind I called my fourth symphony, was comp- Espoo, 5 May 2012 leted in January 2012. A couple of days Seppo Pohjola later I noticed that my third symphony had popped into the FRSO programme instead of Bruckner Five. I decided to 2 SERGEI PROKOFIEV section. Before the end of the move- ment the soloist draws the trump card (1891–1953): VIOLIN from her sleeve (and the mute from CONCERTO NO. 2 her violin); in heroic, triumphant oc- tave leaps, she modulates back to E Prokofiev was 44 when he wrote his se- flat major and then withdraws to the cond violin concerto. A cosmopolitan background to accompany with pizzi- with a masterly command of his idiom, catos the theme played on the cellos he had by that time travelled from the and French horn. Russia of Tsar Nicholas II to the USA The third movement, Allegro, ben for concerts, lived in Paris in the 1920s marcato, could be from a different and debated returning to his homeland world. While the first two movements despite the Soviet regime. are bathed in lyricism, there is no pla- Some 20 years earlier, Prokofiev had ce for this in the Rondo-like finale in been initiated in the secrets of the vio- which Prokofiev shows his peppery self, lin by Paul Kochanski, who assisted him seasoning his music with pungent dis- with the composition of his first violin sonances. The dancing main theme is concerto. The second is more traditio- greeted with castanets each time it re- nal than the first, composed in a burst turns, like a tribute to the land where of youthful zest. Two outer, more mo- the concerto was to be premiered. The bile movements, frame a middle sere- metres shift and the movement builds nade-like one. up to a splendid coda. The solo violin begins the first, Allegro moderato, movement alone by Hannele Segerstam (abridged) presenting the ponderous main the- me. This is taken up by the low strings, and it continues to flow along in the CLAUDE DEBUSSY background, either as such or in some (1862–1918): LA MER different guise. A faster rhythmic brid- ge passage and a show of virtuosity by The three movements of La Mer the soloist then lead to a divine, open- may be thought of as counterparts hearted second theme in a related key of a symphonic opening movement, with elegant modulations. The absence Scherzo and finale. The result is a clo- of a cadenza passes almost unnoticed se-knit entity quite unlike Debussy’s amid the strong characterisations and other orchestral suites, Nocturnes and brilliant variations on the themes. Images, in which pieces addressing dif- The Andante assai proceeds in E flat ferent subjects are grouped under a major, the violin singing its heart out. single heading. For La Mer examines The simple-time solo line over a triple- different dimensions of a single sub- time pizzicato accompaniment in the ject. The thematic links between the orchestra places it in a league all of its outer movements give the suite furt- own. Adding stardust to the mood are her coherence. the muted solo filigrees in the middle 3 The first movement, De l’aube a midi SAKARI ORAMO sur la mer (From dawn to noon on the sea), emerges out of mysterious near- Sakari Oramo’s term as Chief Conductor silence. During the introduction, a cor of the Finnish Radio Symphony anglais and a muted trumpet present Orchestra (FRSO) began in August one of the main themes; this will reap- 2003. An accomplished violinist, he be- pear in the closing movement. The gan his career as co-leader of the or- opening movement comes to life as chestra in 1991 and went on to obtain the music bursts into a sunny D flat a conducting diploma in the class of major. A dancing, rocking cello the- Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy. me heralds in the movement’s second In addition to the FRSO, Sakari main section. Debussy’s eccentric com- Oramo is Chief Conductor of the Royal poser colleague Erik Satie commented Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and ironically on the precise times given in conductor of Kokkola Opera in Finland. the score by saying that he liked the In addition he has been appointed as whole movement but especially the Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony part at 11.15. Orchestra as of 2013. He regularly also Jeux de vagues (Play of the waves) conducts the Ostrobothnian Chamber sparkles like the sunlight playing on the Orchestra and has been appointed its waves, airy and luminous. The thema- Artistic Director as of autumn 2013. In tic motifs and textures are constantly spring 2008 he resigned from his 10- on the move, and timbre occupies an year term as Music Director of the City even more dominant role in the overall of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra scheme. but continues as the orchestra’s Dialogue du vent et de la mer Principal Guest Conductor. (Dialogue of the wind and the sea) is Mr Oramo has conducted many of the most dramatic of the three move- the world’s leading orchestras, such ments. It has two main motifs, the first as the Vienna, Berlin, New York, Los of which is borrowed from the intro- Angeles and Chicago Philharmonics, duction to the first movement. The se- the Concertgebouw, Paris, Cleveland cond theme, stated on the woodwinds, and Minnesota Orchestras and the grows into one of the most sustained Staatskapelle Dresden. His engage- in all Debussy. In the middle of the mo- ments in the 2011/12 season include ap- vement is a magically shimmering mo- pearances with the German Symphony ment of calm from which the music Orchestra Berlin, the Vienna Symphony works up to a magnificent conclusion. and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.