Beethoven, Bottesini & Mustonen - Chamber music - live broadcast from Musiikkitalo

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The programme for this Friday’s chamber music concert presents music by Johannes Brahms, Luciano Berio, Robert Schumann and Aulis Sallinen, who is also celebrating his 85th birthday at the beginning of April.

Falling in love can cause sleeplessness and weight loss – or the Symphonie fantastique. Tormented by the waves of passion, the Artist comes to life as Lélio in a piece that Berlioz composed as a sequel to his Symphonie fantastique. This is the first time that the two pieces, which the composer intended as a pair, will be performed together in Finland.

Tchaikovsky travelled with his brother Modest to Rome in 1880 and was inspired by the city’s soundscape: the carnivals, the animated locals, even the fanfare of the cavalry that could be heard through his hotel window in the morning. It is very possible that the composer admired the same fountains that inspired Ottorino Respighi to compose his tone poem a few decades later.

It has been a hundred years since Sibelius’s Humoresques were first performed and 150 years since the birth of Armas Järnefelt. 

”Veli Kujala performs magic tricks for a hobby. This can perhaps be heard in his music,” says violinist Eriikka Maalismaa, describing the musical language of this evening’s debuting composer.

Born 250 years ago this year, Napoleon is remembered with imperial pieces and a musical reaction to tyranny. Schönberg’s Ode to Napoleon was his statement of support for the forces fighting Hitler. The composer insisted that the singer must have ”the number of shades, essential to express one hundred and seventy kinds of derision, sarcasm, hatred, ridicule, contempt, condemnation, etc., which I tried to portray in my music.” Elisabeth Leonskaja is a piano legend whose devoted fans follow her achievements from one concert and country to another.

The concert season begins with a message by the vocal ensemble EXAUDI from the source of our musical heritage and the heart of Italian vocal polyphony.

“Thus Fate knocks at the door” is how Beethoven described the theme of his Symphony No. 5, without which the history of music would sound quite different. Akiko Suwanai in turn performs a violin concerto that earned her fame in 1990 as the youngest ever winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonic fairy tale for children has familiarised young audiences with orchestral instruments from one generation to the next.

Your ears will be in for a surprise as the Musica nova Helsinki festival once again presents the latest in contemporary music alongside established classics. Bryce Dessner, guitarist of The National, composed his piano concerto for the evening’s two sibling soloists. Also being performed in Finland for the first time will be Metacosmos, which was commissioned for the New York Philharmonic, and the rhythmic De Snelheid. The opening concert of the festival culminates with Delta, a composition by Jay Schwartz that explores the dimensions of sounds.

The ode to universal friendship ends our autumn season in traditional fashion. The excitement of one of the most popular concerts of the year is ensured by top Finnish soloists together with the Helsinki Music Centre Choir. Eva Ollikainen will be conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time.

We celebrate Finnish Music Day with an international atmosphere.

Igor Stravinsky had already established a reputation as a young composer to watch with his gently controversial pieces, but The Rite of Spring was a step too far for Parisian audiences. The debut performance in 1913 met with much shouting and indignation. Even though the scandal surrounding the composition has subdued over the years, it remains as powerful as ever.

Duke Ellington’s swing is brought to life as the UMO Jazz Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra join forces once again. The programme includes the classic album Symphonic Ellington and its iconic musical description of Harlem. Antti Rissanen conducts the orchestras as they take on familiar and fresher arrangements of the music of the jazz giant.