Finnish Fireworks Sat 17 September 2022 • 20.30 Programme Notes
PROGRAMME
conductor Tarmo Peltokoski piano Lahav Shani
George Gershwin 1898-1937 Rhapsody in Blue, for piano and orchestra [1924, orchestration by Ferde Grofé 1926]
Richard Strauss 1864-1949
Don Juan, symphonic poem for large orchestra (after Nikolaus Lenau), op. 20 [1888]
Jean Sibelius 1865-1957
Symphony no. 7 in C major, op. 105 [1924]
Concert ends at around 21.30
Most recent performances by our orchestra:
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue: Aug 2017, piano and conductor Lahav Shani
Strauss Don Juan: Jan 2009, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin Sibelius Symphony no. 7: Dec 2019, conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Cover: Northern lights. Photo Benjamin Suter.
George Gershwin with the score of his Rhapsody in Blue, 1924. Photo Hulton Archive.A kaleidoscope of colour
George Gershwin, Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius are three composers to have shaped the course of musical history from the late nineteenth century onwards. In their individual ways, they have contributed to a new direction, or to dressing old values in vibrant new clothes.
Gershwin, for example, fired the starting gun on the use of jazz-like elements in ‘classical’ music, whilst Strauss took the narrative element in music to a new level and new form. And as for Sibelius, he was able to give the age-old symphony a twentieth century makeover, by which his compositions became a template for many composers who followed him.
Metropolitan madness
In the nineteen-twenties
Gershwin was above all the toast of Broadway, with his brilliant songs and shows. But his ambitions went further than this, lured by the concert hall, the home of ‘serious’ music. He had the luck to receive a commission from one of the leading proponents of American jazz – albeit that it was something he had to read second-hand in a newspaper.
On 3 January 1924 band leader Paul Whiteman had announced in The New York Tribune a concert that ‘would expand the horizons of concert-goers’. He then revealed that George Gershwin was working on a ‘jazz concerto’. Gershwin is said to have known nothing about it, but a telephone
call was enough to seal the deal for what would become known as Rhapsody in Blue. The work was originally inspired by a train journey to Boston, ‘with its steely rhythms and the rattle-ty bang that is so often so stimulating to a composer,’ as Gershwin would later reveal. ‘And there I suddenly heard the complete construction of the rhapsody… I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America, of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our metropolitan madness.’ Gershwin scored the work for two pianos, offered some suggestions for instrumentation, and left the orchestration in the hands of the Whiteman band’s arranger, Ferde Grofé. But even Grofé could not take responsibility for the ultimately iconic clarinet cadenza that opened the work. During a rehearsal, Ross Goran, Whiteman’s virtuoso clarinettist, decided to play the low trill and lightning-speed scale as an enormous glissando, something that till then had been thought of as an impossible feat. Gershwin was so enthusiastic that it would remain the opening to a work that combined blues elements with the romantic style of Rachmaninoff and that would eventually set the
standard for the balanced use of jazz and blues in classical music.
Glamour and excitement
Rhapsody in Blue can be listened to as a kind of symphonic poem. In this regard, Gershwin was following in the footsteps of Richard Strauss who in 1889, at the age of 25, christened his first real symphonic poem Don Juan. Just as one of his inspirations Franz Liszt regularly did, Strauss looked to literature: in this case the similarly-named, unfinished drama in verse form written by Nikolaus Lenau in 1844. But what Strauss mostly depicts in his Don Juan is a portrait of a man in search of the ideal woman in the knowledge that he will never find her.
Although the influence of Richard Wagner still permeates strongly,
the statue of a nobleman whom he had once killed. When Don Juan whimsically invites him to dinner, the nobleman’s son also appears, and Don Juan is killed in the duel that inevitably follows. A beautiful coda signals the end of a life full of glamour and excitement.
Following completion of his symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben in 1898, Strauss focused mostly on opera. Nevertheless, he is regarded as the composer who most carried through the romantic ideals into the twentieth century. In this capacity he has remained a role model for composers who wanted, and still want, to give the nineteenth century symphonic poem a twentieth and twentyfirst century makeover.
Strauss was nevertheless able to present his symphonic poems in a unique way. The brilliantly long melodic lines, the rich harmonic language, the rhythmic vitality and, above all, the feel for musical drama. Furthermore he freed himself from the yoke of traditional forms by organising his work in narrative episodes. In Don Juan these episodes are connected by the theme that begins the work and identifies the eponymous hero. Following a couple of love scenes, Don Juan arrives at a masked ball and Strauss treats us to the various dance themes. The turning point occurs when the legendary womaniser finds himself at a cemetery, and sees
Indivisible entity
The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius has also been extremely important in the continuation into the twentieth century of music with romantic roots. Because although his Second Symphony remains his most popular, it is mostly his last symphonies, culminating in his Seventh, that have contributed considerably to a new symphonic model for the twentieth century. And thus his Seventh Symphony represents a crowning achievement in Sibelius’ search for his own individual symphonic form and language. The genesis of this symphony goes back to 1914. His original idea was for a largescale symphonic poem in four
movements. However, nothing came of this, although shortly after completion of his Sixth Symphony Sibelius would make another attempt. The form first taken by what would become the Seventh Symphony was a work in several movements that Sibelius described as a Symphonic Fantasy. And that is how it was premiered in 1924, except that by then there was very little left over from the original. With its publication in 1925 Sibelius had changed the title of the work to Symphony no. 7. Rightly so, because with this symphony Sibelius had got closest to his symphonic ideal – a large-scale work in one organic movement, springing from a single musical motif. The first theme, one of the themes that survived from the symphonic poem, is the seed from which the entire symphony grows. And although one can distinguish four movements in the work that form a link to the traditional symphonic structure, this Seventh Symphony derives its power precisely from the indivisible entity within which the thematic material keeps changing colour, whilst remaining recognisable and familiar.
On completing this Seventh Symphony Sibelius appeared to have said everything he wanted to say, and his work as a composer virtually came to an end. He swore to friends: ‘If I can write no better symphony than my Seventh, then this will be my last’. In 1932 he burned a couple of sketches for his Eighth Symphony and made no further attempts to add a new symphony to his body of work. Sibelius had said everything he wanted through his symphonies, and would compose almost nothing more up to his death in 1957.
Paul JanssenGershwin had the luck to receive a commission from one of the leading proponents of American jazz – albeit that it was something he had to read second-hand in a newspaper
Tarmo Peltokoski - dirigent
Born: Vaasa, Finland
Current position: Music Director of the Latvia National Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Education: piano at Kuula College (Vaasa) and the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), conducting with Jorma Panula, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu and Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Breakthrough: early 2022: positions in Bremen and Riga
Before: concerts with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Ring des Nibelungen (with organ accompaniment) in the Eurajoki Bel Canto Festival
Upcoming: debuts with Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre national du Capitole Toulouse Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2022
Lahav Shani - piano
Born: Tel Aviv, Israël
Eduction: piano at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music Tel Aviv; piano and conducting at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ Berlin; mentor: Daniel Barenboim
Breakthrough: 2013, after winning the Gustav Mahler International Conducting Competition in Bamberg
As a pianist: solo appearances with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Gianandrea Noseda and Valery Gergiev, play-conduct with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, solo recitals and chamber music at Verbier Festival, Aix-en-Provence Easter, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2016
Photo: Marco Borggreve Photo: PolycastMusicians
zo 18 september 2022 • 13.15 en 15.00 uur dirigent Adam Hickox regie Lise-Lott Kok bewerking Lotte van Dijck acteur Ayrton Fraenk beeld Camille Scherrer Stravinsky Vuurvogel-suite
do 29 september 2022 • 20.15 uur vr 30 september 2022 • 20.15 uur dirigent Lahav Shani viool Hillary Hahn Widmann Con brio Dvořák Vioolconcert Brahms Eerste symfonie
vr 30 september 2022 • 17.00 uur piano Lahav Shani viool Igor Gruppman en Hed Yaron Meyerson cello Emanuele Silvestri hoorn David Fernández Alonso Dvořák Pianotrio ‘Dumky’ Brahms Hoorntrio
za 8 oktober 2022 • 20.30 uur dirigent Bertie Baigent Wagner Meistersinger-ouverture Rachmaninov Vocalise Dvořák Largo uit de Negende symfonie
Bizet Carmen: Eerste suite Elgar Sospiri Ravel Boléro
vr 14 oktober 2022 • 20.15 uur dirigent André de Ridder piano Daniil Trifonov Barber Adagio for Strings Bates Pianoconcert Roukens Eerste symfonie ‘De Kaleidoscopische’
zo 16 oktober 2022 • 10.30 uur Music for Breakfast 1 kamermuziek van Pärt, Ter Veldhuis, Martinů en Ravel
Chief Conductor Lahav Shani
Honorary Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Principal Assistent Conductor Bertie Baigent
First Violin Igor Gruppman, leader Marieke Blankestijn, leader
Quirine Scheffers Hed Yaron Meyerson Saskia Otto Arno Bons
Mireille van der Wart Cor van der Linden Rachel Browne Maria Dingjan Marie-José Schrijner Noëmi Bodden Petra Visser Sophia Torrenga Hadewijch Hofland Annerien Stuker Alexandra van Beveren Koen Stapert
Second Violin Charlotte Potgieter Cecilia Ziano Frank de Groot Laurens van Vliet Tomoko Hara Elina Staphorsius Jun Yi Dou Bob Bruyn Letizia Sciarone Eefje Habraken Maija Reinikainen Sumire Hara Wim Ruitenbeek Babette van den Berg Melanie Broers
Viola Anne Huser Roman Spitzer Maartje van Rheeden Galahad Samson Kerstin Bonk Lex Prummel
Janine Baller Francis Saunders Veronika Lénártová Rosalinde Kluck León van den Berg Olfje van der Klein Cello Emanuele Silvestri Joanna Pachucka Daniel Petrovitsch Mario Rio Gé van Leeuwen Eelco Beinema Carla Schrijner Pepijn Meeuws Yi-Ting Fang
Double Bass Matthew Midgley Ying Lai Green Jonathan Focquaert Robert Franenberg Harke Wiersma Arjen Leendertz Ricardo Neto
Flute Juliette Hurel Joséphine Olech Désirée Woudenberg
Flute/Piccolo Beatriz Da Baião
Oboe Remco de Vries Karel Schoofs Hans Cartigny Anja van der Maten
Oboe/Cor Anglais Ron Tijhuis
Clarinet
Julien Hervé Bruno Bonansea Jan Jansen
Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet Romke-Jan Wijmenga
Bassoon Pieter Nuytten Lola Descours Marianne Prommel Bassoon/ Contrabassoon Hans Wisse Horn David Fernández Alonso
Wendy Leliveld Richard Speetjens Laurens Otto Pierre Buizer
Trumpet Giuliano Sommerhalder Alex Elia Simon Wierenga Jos Verspagen
Trombone Pierre Volders
Alexander Verbeek Remko de Jager
Bass Trombone Rommert Groenhof Tuba Hendrik-Jan Renes Timpani/ Percussion
Randy Max Danny van de Wal Ronald Ent Martijn Boom Adriaan Feyaerts
Harp Charlotte Sprenkels
Agenda