Silent Woods

Richard Wagner: Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin

His opera Lohengrin (1848) in many ways marked the culmination of the life and career of Richard Wagner (1813–1883). It was the epitome of his views on opera, yet the direction, singers and orchestra at its premiere in Weimar in 1850 were so abysmal that he decided that from then onwards he would handle everything himself. Twenty-six years would pass before Bayreuth was complete, but the seed had been sown in Lohengrin. This opera has many of Wagner’s best-known numbers – the brass fanfare that begins the HPO’s annual May Day concert and the wedding march chosen by millions, to mention just two. The Prelude to Act I sets the scene in 10th-century Antwerp as the Holy Grail descends to earth in the care of an angelic host. 

Frank Bridge: Oration – Concerto Elegiaco

Though highly-acclaimed in his lifetime, British composer Frank Bridge (1879–1941) is remembered today mainly only for the variations on a theme of his by Benjamin Britten. A fine orchestral colourist, he turned towards Modernism in later life and even experimented with 12-note techniques, but saddened by the loss of friends and pupils in WW1, his idiom became increasingly gloomy.

The Oration – Concerto Elegiaco of 1930 marked the culmination of his sombre period, and it is not difficult to see the war as the source of its symbolism. The soloist, in a muted prayer, faces an overwhelming orchestra – the individual caught up in the machinery of war – yet there is also a glimpse of hope amid the darkness. Rather than a concerto, the Oration is a rhapsody in eight movements performed without a break. Though lacking entirely in heroism, it is not without a touch of optimism; the seventh movement ends with high murmurs on the cello, followed by an epilogue that soars upwards to the light.

Antonín Dvořák: Waldesruhe

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) only really gained international recognition as a composer when he abandoned his Romantic German style in favour of an idiom that sprang from his native Bohemia. In the 1870s he won a Viennese competition for impoverished young composers. One of the members of the jury was Johannes Brahms, whose publisher advised him to feed his audience a taste of exoticism instead of imitating the familiar German style. Brahms in turn introduced him to Simrock the publisher, and it was Simrock who suggested that he compose a suite of six pieces for piano four hands. For this Dvořák drew inspiration from the forests near the Czech-German border and the imaginative titles supplied by the librettist Marie Červinková-Riegrová. The fifth movement, Klid (Waldesruhe, The Silent Woods), a lyrical piece packed with dusky imagery, became so popular that Dvořák arranged it for cello and piano and later for cello and orchestra.

Richard Wagner: Overture to Tannhäuser

While holidaying in Bohemia in 1842, writer-philosopher-composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883) turned to German mythology and was fired by its stories. So inspired was he that he began to write a libretto for an opera about a knight called Tannhäuser, the goddess Venus and a singing competition in Wartburg Castle. 

The plot revolves around the passion, faithfulness and love of a knight called Tannhäuser. Resisting the temptations of the Venusberg, home of Venus, he joins a band of pilgrims and hears that his beloved Elisabeth is still pining for him. He tries to impress her by taking part in a singing competition, but his song, in praise of Venus, proves to be a bad choice. Rejected and mortified, he joins the pilgrims in search of forgiveness. On his return, he finds that Elisabeth has died and he himself dies of grief. Only then does he receive absolution.

The overture to Tannhäuser is one of Wagner’s finest. The pilgrims’ chorus has all the hallmarks of a Bach chorale. It also looks ahead to the seductive capers of the Venusberg and Tannhäuser’s competition song.

Jaani Länsiö

Senja Rummukainen

Finnish cellist Senja Rummukainen (born 1994) started her career after winning the Turku Cello Competition in 2014. She further established herself by becoming a finalist in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019. From 2017 to 2021, she worked as a Second Principal Cellist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Praised by critics for her 'unbelievable power and intensity’, Rummukainen performs with renowned orchestras at prestigious venues. In the 2024/2025 season, she debuts as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Orquestra Filarmónica de Bogotá, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She also performs at the BBC Proms with Sakari Oramo and at the Salzburg Easter Festival with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Susanna Mälkki

Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki (born 1969) is sought-after at the highest level with symphony orchestras and in opera houses worldwide. She regularly appears in Europe and North America with top orchestras such as the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, where she was Chief Conductor from 2016 to 2023; Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Wiener Symphoniker.

Mälkki has conducted in major opera houses including Opéra national de Paris, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Wiener Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, and the Royal Opera House in London.