1 minute read
ANCESTRAL TALES
SAT JAN 28 | 7:30 PM
Centennial Concert Hall
Advertisement
Why does the English theme appear in the middle? So my auditory intuition worked, but not only. If we recall the story of King George the Sixth, who supported the spirit of the British during the Second World War, then here we can draw a parallel with the actions of the Ukrainian president, who became the true leader of his country during the war. It is about a person who overcomes his uncertainty and transforms into the spiritual leader of an entire nation. And, of course, Jeremiah Clarke “Trumpet Voluntary” is the ideal image of a royal victory, regardless of nationality.
— VICTORIA POLEVA
KALEVI AHO SYMPHONIC DANCES (2001) – CANADIAN PREMIERE
Of all the works by Aho, this has won most international acclaim. The recording of it has received a number of press awards and it has been praised as one of Aho’s most magnificent scores. The idea for it came from the Finnish National Opera, which commissioned Aho to complete Uuno Klami’s ballet Whirls by adding a third act. Although it does retain some of Klami’s motives, it is for the most part entirely Aho’s own composition. It is a highly enjoyable proof of his talent in painting lush, lavish, late-Romantic colours.
The “Prelude” is distinguished by its numerous quotations from the first two acts. The “Return of the Flames and Dance” proceeds with breathtaking energy and culminates in a wild dance. Central to the third act is the smith Ilmarinen, a character from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. In “Grotesque Dance”, he enters a magical forest, amidst an awakening of different forest animals and spirits. In the “Dance of the Winds and Fires”, he builds a fire that creates the Sampo (a mythical object from the Kalevala). The four winds stoke the fire and lead to the brilliant build-up of the north wind. The character of the music changes abruptly in the coda, where Aho represents the idea of the Sampo as a symbol of youth and love with a heavenly, slow chorale-like passage for the violas and cellos.
The Symphonic Dances were commissioned by the Finnish National Opera and premiered on 6 December 2001 by Osmo Vänskä and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
