Known as a prominent interpreter of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s music, Boris Giltburg believes that the composer’s First Piano Concerto lacks nothing. “It has heart-aching yearning and nostalgia, lush, warm-summer-day-laziness, singular beauty, tender and loving.”
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is among Béla Bartók’s best-known works. Completed in 1936, the composition fascinates with its contrasts that make the music at once wild and controlled, calm and terrifying.
Unlike many of the works by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg (b. 1958), the c. 17-minute Serenades are scored for a quite conventional ensemble reminiscent of the Romantic idiom. Possibly best known as the composer of powerful music such as his ground-breaking, spectacular Kraft (1983–85) of Lindberg reckons that the commission from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was maybe an attempt to ‘tame’ him.
The commission from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was maybe an attempt to ‘tame’ him.
“Much of the music I write is often fast and quite explosive – ‘slow music’ was never really my tonality, so to speak. So, when I was asked to write a serenade, I began with a musical idea that deep down has a slow-moving feeling, but then takes off in many contrasting directions, with big cuts and quick shifts. Even so, the music conveys a sort of night-time quality. I knew I had to write more than just slow music – I wanted to write music that features the orchestra’s shimmering virtuosity. So, in the end, the serenade I composed is a wild one.”
The fact that he was a Russian born in Russia inevitably influenced his character and his music, said Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943), yet he never tried to write deliberately nationalist music. On the contrary, he tended to distance himself from the latest trends – impressionism and expressionism – and stuck to the dominant 19th-century pan-European style, romanticism.
In 1900, Rachmaninov was only 17 when he wrote the opening movement of his first piano concerto, and only 18 when he finished the other two. In a letter dated 1917 he told a friend that he had rewritten it. “It is really good now. All the youthful freshness is there, and yet it plays itself so much more easily. And nobody pays any attention. When I tell them in America that I will play the First Concerto, they do not protest, but I can see by their faces that they would prefer the Second or Third.” His revisions of 1917 applied particularly to the points he felt were too like the popular Grieg concerto, but he also covered the first and last movements with red pen. The big cadenza in the first movement is the core of the whole concerto.
Béla Bartók (1881–1945) composed his four-movement Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta for the 10th anniversary concert of the Basel Chamber Orchestra. It would in time become a classic regarded by many as one of the most significant compositions of the 20th century. It is scored for two string groups, one on each side of the stage, plus harp, percussions, piano and celesta and incorporates melodic and rhythmic elements evocative of the folk music of Bartók’s native Hungary.
Many may, at this point, remember it from Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining.
Analysts tend to stress the intellectual aspects of the work, its application of the Golden Section in the form, its symmetrical harmonic solutions and other finer points. Bartók himself usually spoke of it in totally analytical terms, yet once, while listening to it, he is alleged to have whispered to violinist André Gertler in the middle of the third movement, “Listen, now, this is the sea and the noise of the waves.” Many may, at this point, remember it from Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining.
Boris Giltburg is lauded across the globe as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter. Especially he is widely recognized as a leading interpreter of Rachmaninov: ”His originality stems from a convergence of heart and mind, served by immaculate technique and motivated by a deep and abiding love for one of the 20th century’s greatest composer-pianists.” (Gramophone). To celebrate Rachmaninov’s 150th anniversary in 2023, Giltburg released the last disc in his acclaimed Rachmaninov concerto cycle.
Giltburg regularly plays recitals in the world’s most prestigious halls, including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussels’ Bozar, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, London’s Southbank Centre and Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Prague’s Rudolfinum and Vienna’s Konzerthaus.
This season, Giltburg’s programme includes Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 with the Prague Symphony Orchestra, both conducted by Kevin John Edusei.
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, has established himself as one of the outstanding conductors of his generation. Born in Finland in 1956, he began his career as a violinist. Today, he is renowned as an artist of exceptional versatility and breadth.
Saraste has previously held principal conductorships at the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, he appears with major orchestras worldwide, including the Orchestre de Paris, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Coaching and mentoring young musicians is of great importance to Saraste. He is a founding member of the LEAD! Foundation, a mentorship programme for young conductors and soloists.
| Violin 1 Jan Söderblom Kreeta-Julia Heikkilä Philip Zuckerman Eija Hartikainen Katariina Jämsä Elina Lehto Ilkka Lehtonen Jani Lehtonen Kari Olamaa Kalinka Pirinen Satu Savioja Sanna Kokko Harry Rayner Anna Tanskanen Violin 2 Anna-Leena Haikola Anna-Maija Hirvonen Teija Kivinen Kamran Omarli Heini Eklund Serguei Gonzalez Pavlova Dhyani Gylling Linda Hedlund Siiri Rasta Krista Rosenberg Ángeles Salas Salas Virpi Taskila Viola Torsten Tiebout Petteri Poijärvi Carmen Moggach Aulikki Haahti-Turunen Kaarina Ikonen Tiila Kangas Ulla Knuuttila Liisa Orava Hajnalka Standi-Pulakka Charlotta Westerback Cello Lauri Kankkunen Tuomas Ylinen Inkeri Rajamäki Jaani Helander Veli-Matti Iljin Jaakko Rajamäki Ilmo Saaristo Johannes Välja Bass Maria Krykov Eero Ignatius Tuomo Matero Paul Aksman Jasu Aalto Henri Dunderfelt | Flute Elina Raijas Päivi Korhonen Jenny Villanen Oboe Nils Rõõmussaar Jussi Jaatinen Paula Malmivaara Clarinet Matteo Mastromarino Osmo Linkola Anna-Maija Korsimaa Bassoon Markus Tuukkanen Erkki Suomalainen Mikko-Pekka Svala Horn Ruben Buils Garcia Miska Miettunen Sam Parkkonen Joonas Seppelin Trumpet Pasi Pirinen Obin Meurin Mika Tuomisalo Trombone Victor Álvarez Alegria Valtteri Malmivirta Jussi Vuorinen Tuba Ilkka Marttila Timpani Tomi Wikström Percussion Pasi Suomalainen Sampo Kuusisto Harp Katilyne Roels Keyboard Minnaleena Jankko Anna Kuvaja |
Yes, but only before or after the concert. During the concert we just want you to enjoy the music. This way you won’t disturb the musicians or other audience members.
Only the orchestra has a dress code. You can dress as you like.
You can give the ticket to a friend or donate it to a music student by calling 09-3102 2700 or sending an e-mail to helsinki.philharmonic@hel.fi by 3pm on the day of the concert.
