What is at the very lowest? In the soil, it is the ground moraine or the coarse substance of gravel and sand formed by glacial rivers. In a piece of music, the lowest frequencies are often reached by the double bass. Lotta Wennäkoski composed her new work for HPO double bassist Adrian Rigopulos at his request.
When György Ligeti composed his Romanian Concerto in the 1950s, a work based on folk melodies, he had to be careful not to go against the rules of art in Stalinist Hungary. He was not careful enough: the F sharp note, which did not belong in the scale of B flat major, was too much for the censors, and the work was labelled politically incorrect.
Not until Stanley Kubrick used (without permission) music by György Ligeti (1923–2006) in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) had anyone really heard of this avant-garde composer. The partnership nevertheless proved lucrative and was resumed for The Shining (1980).
The Ligeti sound of the 1960s was not, however, possible until he escaped from Hungary in 1956. His early Concerto Românesc represents a composer forced to observe the official Stalinist line. Even folk music had to be politically correct. Even so, the Concerto failed to meet the censors’ approval and its performance was banned. The reason probably lay in the last two movements, in which Ligeti models the lame rhythms and off-key intonation of village folk musicians. One version of the Concerto was premiered in 1971, but Ligeti later revised it.
The finale is a real showpiece for composer and orchestra alike, in which laid-back village music meets modernist tricks.
The Concerto Românesc lasts about 12 minutes and is in four movements performed without a break. The first two bear echoes of earlier works by him. The finale is a real showpiece for composer and orchestra alike, in which laid-back village music meets modernist tricks.
Each of the symphonies by Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) adopts a different approach; the 8th, for example, was inspired by nature and the 9th by melodies he heard in America. When the London Philharmonic Society commissioned him to write his Symphony No. 7 (1885), he was already well known for his Slavonic Dances, so decided to seek inspiration in his Bohemian homeland. The premiere he conducted in London was a success, but the 7th has been overshadowed by some of his other symphonies, even though some claim it is one of his best. Maybe the minor key and the only faint hint of Slavonic dances were not quite what the audience expected.
Though the symphony ends on a mighty major chord, the listener may be left wondering whether it was in fact triumphant.
The heavy tread of the first movement may call to mind another composer highly popular in London at the time, Johannes Brahms. The score of the second, a mournful orchestral song, bears a footnote “From the sad years” – Dvořák lost both his mother and oldest daughter within a short period of time. The third movement is a scherzo, a Furiant dance and a reminder of the former man- of-the-people Dvořák. Though the symphony ends on a mighty major chord, the listener may be left wondering whether it was in fact triumphant.
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.
