Finland 100th Birthday Gala Helsinki Suomen itsenäisyyden satavuotisjuhla

Suomen itsenäisyyden satavuotisjuhla - 100 years of Finnish Independence, celebrated in a grand gala with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (Helsingen kaupunginorkestri) conducted by Susanna Mälkki.The actual Independence Day is Wednesday, 6th December, but presumably all Finland will be partying then, with many events! So the big concert was Friday, now available for all online HERE. Wonderful programme - 100 years of Finnish music and literature. 

Sibelius, of course : Finlandia will no doubt be heard everywhere !  But here, his op 96B Autrefois for orchestra, |(1919) elegant and lyrical, evoking an idealized past. Since I don't speak Finnish, I didn't know what the speaker reciting passages from Finnish literature was saying, but he sounded passionate.  Then, three key figures in early Finnish modernism.  Ernest Pingoud (died 1942)  Profeeta, a dramatic tone poem which shares some Sibelian cragginess but is not easy to place, stylistically.  Rather better known, Väinö Raitio Fantasia estatica op 21 (1921) even more of a theatrical showpiece. Raitio (1890-1945) was even more of a modernist, clearly aware of Stravinsky and Scriabin - listen out for the plaintive bassoon and violin before the diaphanous ending, lit by harp and celeste.  Aare Merikanto's Intrada is a rousing piece, not as interesting in itself as Raitio's Fantasia, but worth hearing, given Merikanto's significance in modern Finnish repertoire. His father, Oskar Merikanto was a major figure too. After Kuningas Lear overture, Uuno Klami's colourful op 33 (1945)  came Aare Merikanto's Olympiafanfaari (Olympic Fanfare) (1939) a grand piece for a grand occasion. 
 In the second half of the concert, post-war Finnish masters, like Aukis Sallinen  Variations for Orchestra op, 8, (1963) an early work which already shows some characteristics of Sallinen's style.  Monumental forms, brightened by well defined detail, bubbling rhythms, angular shapes, a very"organic" feel.  Two readings from poets  Arto Melleri and Paavo Haavikko followed , so intriguing that it was maddening not to understand the language.  Then, Joonas Kokkonen Il paesaggio (1987)  brooding and mysterious.  In contrast, Jouni Kaipainen's Millennium Fanfare, big on brass and percussion, vivid shapes. strong forward thrust and energy.  The high point, Esa-Pekka Salonen's Helix (2005) : woodwinds, and contrabassoon rising above grumbling timpani, then brass and strings. A steady pulse, throbbing purposefully.  Double themes, wrapping around each other on different levels with many variations.   A lot is happening here, but with increasing liveliness.  the structure is disciplined. The pace speeds up and figures seem to reach outwards and upwards. Eventually the shapes shatter into multiple lines of inventiveness, faster and faster : the glory of life ! 

Susanna Mälkki : Mahler 6, Francesconi Duende

Mahler Symphony no 6 with Luca Francesconi's Duende, with Susanna Mälkki conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, last week, available HERE direct from the orchestra's website. Two innovative pieces, written a hundred years apart yet enhancing each other.  Mahler said "music lies not only in the notes", meaning that music stems from much deeper sources than the the means through which it is expressed. 

Francesconi's Duende : The Dark Notes  (2013) was commissioned for Leila Josefowicz, who worked so closely with the composer as the piece took shape that it's  practically a co-operative effort.  When Josefowicz fell pregnant, the premiere was postponed for a year.   Mälkki is also closely connected to the piece since she introduced Josefwicz to Francesconi, and conducted the world premiere in Stockholm in February 2014.  This Helsinki performance distils experience into maturity: a very rewarding reading.  Josefowicz is superb, better even than when she played it in London in 2015 with Mälkki and the BBC SO. (read more here)  The title refers to the semi-hypnotic state flamenco dancers can get into when they get carried away with this spirit of their music.  "When the ego dies, the soul awakes", a message which applies to all things in life, specially relevant in a world where too many proudly reject anything beyond themselves.

Duende grows from refined beginnings : sprightly chords answered by hushed percussion   As the tempo builds up the violin seems to take on a life of its own, gloriously inventive, ranging free, as if the instrument were exploring a world of wonder and endless possibilities.  Sudden, exotic diminuendos enhanced by low winds.  Spiky pizzicato and long lines of dizzying bowing.  Extreme alertness : orchestra and soloist paying close attention to each other. Josefowicz rests while the brass lead the orchestra on an adventure. The fourth movement, Ritual, is like the stillness in the eye of a storm.  Then the bassoons call, and Josefowicz leads the orchestra in splendid swathes of colourful resonance. Then Josefowicz is on her own,  "zoned out" yet totally in control playing long lines of exquisite beauty and variety. A single marimba, then another, creating mysterious ripples of magical sound.  Josefowicz's lines become rarified,  as if the violin is taking off into an ethereal new dimension.

In this context,  Mahler's Symphony no 6 felt immensely rewarding.  The first movement was brisk,  bringing out the march-like undercurrents, underlining the vigorous life force that runs throughout so much of Mahler.  When the quieter, shriller themes came they added a chill of presentiment. Yet the march continued, firmly delineated, emerging in defiant swagger.  The Andante was tenderly phrased, warm yet tinged with nostalgia, since the images being recalled are firmly in the past.  What I liked about this performance was the way Mälkki brought out the duality which flows through the symphony, past and future merging in subtle balance.  One of the better M6 andantes I've heard in a while. The Helsinki players are strong on refined texture, and  Mälkki  uses that to advantage.  The line hovers, yet rises ever upward,: like the vistas in Mahler's Third.  Lovely as things are, life is forever a state of flux, nothing can stay the same.  The andante drew to a close with almost elegaic repose, so greater the shock when the strident brass and strings in the scherzo burst forth. A strong sense of menace, the chords cutting with angular force.  Yet despite this, tiny, dancing lines rip along, undaunted by pounding timpani.  The natural pulse of this symphony beats clear and pure. Even when the brass throws mocking raspberries, the basic line picks itself up and keeps dancing.  

Thus the resolution, when it came in the Finale, was firm.  The "tragic" figures marched, the strings shivered , the cymbals exploded.  Mälkki's tempi were resolute, no holding back.  Nonetheless, there is a stillness in the heart of this movement, a final looking back. before the dull thud of the first hammerblow.  The orchestra flew into forceful life, the "march" well-defined.  When we heard the cowbells again, they were muted.   The pace slowed as if reluctant to progress.  Yet the oboe returned,  sweet and defiant, and the orchestra once more flared into life, gradually receding. After the final crash, the sounds are still. But as we know, the music does not end.  Often, I think Mahler 6 should be called "The Inextinguishable" and not "The Tragic".    

Prom 13 Shotgun marriage? No, Holst the Planets in context

Good old Holst The Planets with Boulez and Luca Francesconi? Superficially, this might seem a shotgun marriage. But Susanna Mälkki  brought out the connections, which run far deeper than the populist media might expect.  It's easy to forget how innovative the piece is, and how edgy it must have seemed at first. Holst knew Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces, which Sir Henry Wood premiered at the 1912 Proms. Echoes of Debussy La Mer surface, significantly, in "Neptune". The Planets was considered "difficult" when new, because it is difficult, but the idea that new music should be rejected on kneejerk principle is relatively recent. 
 
Mälkki drew from the BBC SO a performance that sounded audaciously fresh and vibrant. Holst  urged Sir Adrian Boult to make "Mars, the Bringer of War"  sound "more unpleasant and more terrifying".  Mälkki led the attack with spirit, the percussion rattling nervously,as if impatient to break out in a fight, as Holst intended.  Hearing the serene "Venus" with this Mars ringing in the memory was unsettling, but purposefully so, Peace can't be taken for granted. "Mercury, the Winged Messenger" shook things up. The first section rushed capriciously,  but the repetitions in the middle suggest turbulence, rushing winds that propel the music forward. The playful "star music" was wittily defined, setting the tone for "Jupiter" with its suggestions of a portly planet trying to dance. Well-defined rhythms, swaying from side to side, accentuated with bells and low brass. The theme would appear in Hubert Parry's Jerusalem, (1916) , the words "green and pleasant land" later taking on connotations which neither Parry nor Holst might have expected. 

Saturn began with well-paced steadiness : the ticking of a clock, the tolling of bells, or the footsteps of someone old and bent.  Mälkki could show how Saturn relates to Venus, the serenity of youth enriched with depth. As the ostinato grew louder, the strings and brasses soared with confidence. This "Uranus" sparkled with manic energy, though the fanfares and powerful climax suggested that magic can be dangerous.  And thus Neptune was liberating, its strange chromatics like a whole new musical language. Holst called this "Neptune the Mystic", signifying the planet's arcane meaning in astrology, while Debussy in La Mer referred to Neptune, the god of the sea. The Elysian Singers  sang wonderfully abstract harmonies,  Oddly enough the cries of the child in the audience added to the surreal effect.  To borrow a phrase, this was like "music from another planet".

Mälkki used to conduct the elite Ensemble Intercontemporain, which Boulez founded. She's one of the most important new music specialists around, and, having worked closely with the composer himself, is an extremely authoritative interpreter. No need for snide remarks about her gender: Mälkki is good because she is good. This performance of the orchestrated Notations I-IV and VII   captured the spirit of free-wheeling inventiveness that transforemd Boulez's original hailku for piano into a lively romp for large orchestra. Deftly conducted.

Boulez's Notations I-IV and VII   are now so familiar  that there was much anticipation for the UK premiere of Luca Francesconi's Duende (the dark notes) commissioned for Leila Josefowicz. It received its premiere at the beginning of 2014, and was planned for last year's Proms, but Josefowicz had her third child.  Francesconi  (b 1956) is a well established and respected composer, best known for his chamber music, which Mälkki and Irvine Arditti, among others, have championed for a long time. Read HERE about Mälkki's views on Francesconi's Quartett, which was unfairly trashed by the London media who seem to pride themselves on being obtuse, since facetiousness is better clickbait than comprehension.  Read my review HERE.  For a good analysis of Duende, read HERE about the Turin performance (in Italian).

Duende does benefit from careful listening. It's almost zen-like in its quiet contemplation. The rustlings with which it starts develop into a  palette of sounds which move elusively, ever changing and morphing into new directions. Josefowicz's brilliance lies in her ability to blend extreme virtuosity with intelligent refinement and emotional depth. As the piece progressed, longer chords stretch, creating magical ellipses, undercut by subtle angular bowing. Midway, tempi increased.. I thought of Xenakis's Pithoprakta, written the year Francesconi was born, though the textures in Duende are much more transparent. This gives way to a darkly mysterious section, written with utmost restraint, where the lines of the violin are surrounded by long chords in the orchestra. It's as if the "waves" in the music were being pulled by mysterious tides. The last six minutes give Josefowicz a great range to explore, over a foundation of two-note repetitions in the orchestrra. Magical -  like aural starlight. Not all so far from the world of The Planets after all.

Mälkki Philharmonia Bartók Neuwirth Prom 42

Susanna Mälkki and the Philharmonia together at the BBC Proms.  A match mde in heaven. The Philharmonia is - I'll stick my neck out - the finest orchestra in London, players of great skill, eager to stretch themselves as artists. Remember their Schoenberg Gurrelieder with Esa-Pekka Salonen at the South Bank some years ago?  Much more idiomatic than Saraste  and the BBC SO at the Proms this week. Susanna Mälkki challenges them and they respond. She is Music Director of Ensemble Intercontemporain and has conducted many of the major orchestras in Europe. At BBC Prom 42, Mälkki and the Philharmonia showed what they can achieve together.

This programme was extremely well chosen on many levels. Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Suite no 1 set the tone. The programme would end with Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra which incorporates elements of dance and makes a wry dig at Shostakovich. Between them, Olga Neuwirth's Remnants of Songs - an Amphigory (a message that purports to convey no meaning)  All three pieces  incorporate references to other works and genres, enhanced when heard togther. Very subtle, but very brainy. Mälkki's Prokofiev is elegant and precise, as dance should be. No need for slushy fake Romaticism. In dance, poise is of the essence. You don't "approximate". Mälkki made Prokofiev move with grace.


Olga Neuwirth's music is purposeful, and with Remnants of Songs - an Amphigory she shows how delicately she can write. Some objected to her Lost Highway when it came to the ENO Young Vic in 2008 because it didn't resemble the David Lynch movie that inspired it. But that was precisely her point: she was writing music, not illustrating film (review here).  Remnants of Songs evolves from fragments of song. Conceptually it's strong: we process what we hear until it sinks into our subconscious, emerges in snatches, often disassembled. The soloist, Lawrence Power, giving the UK premiere, plays delicate wisps that dissolve as soon as you begin to pin them down. Sometimes almost bare chords against silence, then circular figures that turn upon themselves. I thought of a squirrel scurrying about, storing things away for future retreival. Powers bows angular shapes, and the orchestra concludes the second "song" with a splendid, golden semi-fanfare. Power changes tack, plucking  rather than bowing, and the song spirals up and down the scale, gaining in momentum, til it suddenly ceases. Smooth transits. The orchestra responds with loud, dramatic chords, evoking the film noir. The viola dances exuberantly, and the piece ends with a mood of cheeky brightness. Are we hearing faint traces of Schubert in the ending, as we heard in the beginning? It hardly matters, for Neuwirth is blending whimsy with inventive energy. 

The ethereal high theme that begins Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra develops subtly until it emeges with expansive confidence. Mälkki observes detail carefully, so the music seems to oscillate with light and clarity. This highlights the more disturbing undercurrents in the work. Bartók's music keeps churning and changing, tempi spirited along as if propelled by winds of change. As with Mälkki's Prokofiev and Neuwirth, you hear the spirit of dance. Particularly vibrant flutes and piccolo. Then the tam tams reintroduce memories of Magyar traditions. Bartók knew full well what was happening in his native Hungary in 1943. The eerie "night music"gives way to trumpet calls. Firm staccato, disconcerting tempi changes. Yet, Mälkki and the Philharmonia make this concerto feel affirmative. Bartók isn't going to give in to despair.

photo : Simon Fowler

London live in January - multiple clashes

London comes back to life in January. Everything starts to happen again. So much is happening that I'm splitting it in two parts. Please see HERE for what's happening until middle of the month - lots of good thing esp the Henze weekend and several big name starry concerts, that lots of people will want to hear. The second part of the month is interesting too, but beware, multiple clashes, many things on at the same time, all good.

At the Royal Opera House, The Rake's Progress from 22/1, and Così fan tutte from 29/1. The latter is a revival of the Jonathan Miller production and the former the first revival of last year's premiere. Robert Lepage sets The Rake's Progress in 40s' Hollywood which is fair enough. The Rake is about artifice, stylized neo-classicism that isn't quite what it seemed. Hollywood is an excellent simile for Georgian London - both societies high on excess and false appearances, acting as an alternative to life. The First Act is excellent - the devil appears mounted high above on a camera crane. Theatre within theatre. Baba The Turk is Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard - also a good allusion. Although the Second Act runs short of ideas, it will be worth seeing this for Patricia Bardon who stole the show last time in the role - she's magnificent!

Voice people are in for fun - after Henze's Phaedra (17th) and Gergiev's Strauss Elektra (12th and 14th), Netrebko and Hvorotovsky do a big gala at the RFH on the 18th. Joyce DiDonato's doing an all-Italian gala (even Beethoven in Italian) at the Wigmore Hall on 26/1 which is almost certainly sold out. The one I'd dearly love to get returns for is the 31/1 concert with Angelika Kirchschlager and Simon Keenlyside. Every year the Wigmore Hall celebrates Schubert's Birthday with something special, so tickets for this disappeared ages ago. Paul Lewis is also part of the celebration, playing Schubert piano pieces the night before.

Orchestrally, more big hitters. Daniel Barenboim brings the Berlin Staatskapelle to the South Bank with Schoenberg though of course the crowds will be out for his Emperor Concerto and rightly so. An odd clash with Ashkenazy conducting The Philharmonia in Elgar and Mendelssohn on the exact same night, but I guess they can meet up for coffee the next day.

Susanna Mälkki conducts the BBCSO at the Barbican on 30/1 - Webern Passacaglia, Ravel's Concerto for Left Hand (Pizarro) and Zimmermann's Photoptosis. It's a super programme and she's one of the best modern music conductors out, which is saying something. Perhaps everyone else will be flocking to the other concerts that weekend, but this is an important event, too, an excellent introduction to the 20th century. I'll be going for Zimmermann alone.

That day I'll be at a conference on Weimar music at the impossible-to-park-on-Saturday Kings Place so I'll park at the Barbican and bus/taxi. The conference is part of a short series on composers I care about intensely - Eisler, Zemlinsky, Krenek, Schreker, Goldschmidt etc. and it's supported by films of the Weimar era. Most of these films everyone knows but it will be good to see them again in context with the music. I've been doing a lot of Weimar and related cinema lately, though I don't write it all up on this blog.

Then there's the big Sibelius series at the South Bank at the same time. Osmo Vänskä conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The first concert on 27/1 is unusual, not the usual symphonies but the rarer Wood Nymph and Humoresques. On 30th he conducts symphonies no 3 and 2 but interspersed with songs - Sibelius songs are wonderful, and Helena Juntunen the soloist, is very good. Trouble is, there are at least five things on this same evening. The series (like the Barenboim/Berliner Staatskapelle) continues into February. In the midst, handing the LPO baton to Vänskä, Jurowski conducts period instrument Beethoven symphonies with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment!

And Rolf Hind's series of new music at the Roundhouse , early opera and lots else besides! And of course tons of mainstream and chamber music, and even a piano transcription of Mahler's Tenth symphony! And I have clear forgot to include something booked ages ago - Luke Bedford at the Wigmore Hall, 24th !

Berlioz, Beethoven and Ben Foskett Prom 24 2009

Getting a commission for the Proms gives a composer the biggest publicity possible. New music has been part of the Proms since the beginning. Though much of it is newly written rather than actually "new", now and again something comes along that's genuinely original and deserves to last. So listen to Ben Foskett's From Trumpet from Prom 24 (2nd August) on repeat broadcast. It's one of the good ones.

Foskett, like Luke Bedford, was a student of Simon Bainbridge, so it's not surprising he's distinctive. He's a favourite of the London Sinfonietta, whose leader is Clio Gould, for whom he wrote his Violin Concerto (for link to the recording, please click HERE) From Trumpet is much more mature, and well structured - a simple cell moving from stasis, filling out texturally. A violin melody enters, and trumpets shatter the line back to the simple rhythm which moves in circulating spirals, through staccato percussion and the lively frolics of woodwinds, gradually returning to stasis, but on a different, more elevated plane.

Having the good fortune to have the piece conducted by Susanna Mälkki helps, too. Mälkki is extremely good. She took over as director of Ensemble Intercontemporain which at last gave her the prominence she merits. When she conducts, you pay attention, because her style is powerfully intelligent. So it's worth preserving what she tells the BBC about why she likes Beethoven's 4th Symphony. Between the mountains of the. 3rd and 5th symphonies, it's "an oasis of beauty". Although the orchestra is modern, her approach is influenced by the articulation of baroque music. "there has been a trend for making Beethoven 'beefy", she says, "but I'm looking for a strength that comes from articulation, instead of massive weight and power. We show the structural rhythms, so that the pillars of architecture are fabulously clear."

So Mälkki invigorates the BBCSO, getting an electrifying performance. Here, the elegance of Haydn meets the intense energy of the modern age. Listen to the way Mälkki keeps the orchestra poised in the third movement before unleashing the final surge. Themes are clearly defined, their development vivid. For all his inventiveness, Beethoven uses simple, basic ideas. Mälkki and the BBCSO make Beethoven 4 shine because they grasp its spontaneous, free spirit.

What's even more remarkable is that Mälkki manages to make Berlioz's Te Deum shine with the similar lucid grace. This Te Deum was written as a blockbuster to end all blockbusters. It was meant to stun audiences into submission, obliterating all else by its showmanship. The Times is fixated on the idea that Proms must start with massive pieces like this, but why? As Beethoven's 4th showed, good music doesn't need to be grotesque. Blockbusters are the exception in music, not the gold standard. It's not necessarily a good thing to blitz out anything that won't fill football stadiums.

Berlioz's Te Deum is wonderfully over the top, and why not? It's fun because it's so utterly audacious, with its massed voices, booming organ, grandiose orchestration. Such things can and do work. Blast after blast about religion as power play, the mass en masse. But is the Te Deum really religious or spiritual? It doesn't matter a bit that Berlioz was an opportunist for whom the humility of Christ meant little. Neither did many potentates. No one needs to believe to write or appreciate religious music. It's enough that they make others believe they believe. But what is really at the heart of this piece, beneath gorging on glory?

Fortunately, Mälkki stops this Te Deum from descending into Party Rally. Her innate intelligence and sense of proportion keep her focussed on it as music, brilliantly engineered for maximum impact. She doesn't let textures blur into unregulated orgy, but keeps the fundamental architecture clean and clear. She sculpts the piece like a giant musical cathedral, whatever or whoever it may really be celebrating. As technique it's a marvel, which Mälkki shows it at its best.