In memoriam

Fri 28/02/2025 19:00 - 21:00
6.50€
49.50€

Esittely

Composed in memory of a colleague, Cantus is one of Arvo Pärt's most beloved compositions. Ravel dedicated his work to his friends who died in the World War.

The news of Benjamin Britten's death touched Arvo Pärt deeply. Composed in memory of a colleague, Cantus is one of Pärt's most beloved compositions. Maurice Ravel in turn dedicated his work to his friends who died in the World War. For the last piece of the concert, two grand pianos are rolled onto the stage for the Labèque sisters. French baroque music looms like a ghost in Nico Muhly's concerto. 

Arvo Pärt: Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten 

Obliged by the prevailing regime in his native Estonia to modify his modernist style of composition, Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) immersed himself in music of the Renaissance and developed a mode of expression he called “tintinnabulism” (derived from the Latin word for a small monastic bell). Its salient features are tonality, triads and counterpoint. His “easy” idiom and notably religious subjects have made Pärt one of the few really popular contemporary composers.

Benjamin Britten died in 1976. Pärt later said, “I had just discovered Britten for myself. Just before his death I began to appreciate the unusual purity of his music – I had had the impression of the same kind of purity in the ballads of Guillaume de Machaut. And besides, for a long time I had wanted to meet Britten personally – and now it would not come to that.” Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell was premiered in Tallinn in 1977.

Maurice Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin

Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) was originally a piano suite inspired by music of the Baroque, and especially the harpsichord pieces by François Couperin. In Baroque tradition, a tombeau (tomb) was a musical monument to a particular person, and Ravel now devoted each movement to a friend who had died in the war. He later made a version for orchestra, omitting two of the original movements. Accused of writing music that sounded too jolly for a tribute to the dead, Ravel replied: “The dead are sad enough in their eternal silence.” The flowing Prelude is dedicated to Ltn. Jacques Charlot, the light Forlane (an Italian folk dance) to Ltn. Gabriel Deluc (a painter), the nostalgic Minuet to Jean Dreyfus and the lively Rigaudon to his childhood friends Pierre and Pascal Gaudin.

Benjamin Britten: An American Overture

The first shots of the Second World War were already echoing across the English Channel when Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) set sail for America. His reputation as a fine composer had already winged its way across the Atlantic and he was soon receiving commissions. The three years he spent in the US and Canada were, however, a trial, for he suffered from acute homesickness and writer’s block. In 1941, he appears to have composed An Occasional Overture as a commission for the Cleveland Orchestra. He later denied this and instead wrote a new piece of the same name. He later acknowledged it, but it was not premiered until 1981, as An American Overture.

Like his Canadian Carnival of 1939, the American Overture is a deep bow to Britten’s friend Aaron Copland, whose style had become synonymous with US music in the 1930s. The orchestration is exceptionally sparse: a plodding bass and brass fanfares evoke memories of a march band, and the shower of bare fifths and fourths is maybe a stylised nod in the direction of the American sound ideal. 

Katia and Marielle Labèque

Katia and Marielle Labèque, a French piano duo internationally celebrated for their seamless playing, have specialised in repertoire for piano four hands and two pianos since graduating from the Conservatoire de Paris in 1968.

Katia (born 1950) and Marielle (born 1952) Labèque frequently perform with the world’s most prestigious orchestras and conductors. The duo’s repertoire spans traditional classical works and contemporary music, and they have collaborated with composers including Thomas Adès, Louis Andriessen, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Bryce Dessner, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, György Ligeti, and Olivier Messiaen. With the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Labèque sisters present the Finnish premiere of Nico Muhly’s In Certain Circles, a concerto commissioned for them.

The Times praised the Labèque sisters for their ”unerring sensitivity and virtuosic ferocity’” in their performance at the Barbican in June 2024, describing their piano duo as ”telepathic”.

Pekka Kuusisto

Pekka Kuusisto (b. 1976) is one of Finland’s most renowned musicians. At the commencement of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2024/25 concert season, Kuusisto began his second year as Principal Guest Conductor. Additionally, as Co-Artistic director, he is a member of the Artistic Leadership Team responsible for planning the programme. As he states, 'We offer both long perspectives and flashes of inspiration, both safety and fun.' In the HPO’s concerts, Pekka Kuusisto will perform as a soloist, conductor, and also as a player-director at the front of the orchestra with his violin.

Pekka Kuusisto’s career as a solo artist took off in 1995 when he won the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition at the age of 19. Since then, he has toured concert halls around the world. Kuusisto’s repertoire spans classical music to modern experiments. He improvises and composes, readily intertwining music with other art forms, aiming to make concerts more accessible and engaging for the audience.

In addition to Helsinki, he frequents Oslo (Norwegian Chamber Orchestra), Bremen (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie), and San Francisco (San Francisco Symphony).

Taiteilijat

Pekka Kuusisto
conductor
Katia Labèque
piano
Marielle Labèque
piano

Ohjelma

    19:00
    Arvo Pärt
    Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
    Maurice Ravel
    Le Tombeau de Couperin
    Benjamin Britten
    An American Overture
    21:00
    Nico Muhly
    In Certain Circles, Concerto for Two Pianos (first performance in Finland)
Series III
Musiikkitalo Concert Hall
Pekka Kuusisto
Katia Labèque
Marielle Labèque
Arvo Pärt
Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Maurice Ravel
Le Tombeau de Couperin
Benjamin Britten
An American Overture
Nico Muhly
In Certain Circles, Concerto for Two Pianos (first performance in Finland)