Monthly Archives: October 2024

Sibelius & Saraste

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Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (Photo: © Sakari Viika)

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under the leadership of its chief conductor and artistic director Jukka-Pekka Saraste has launched the Sibelius & Saraste series, during which all of Jean Sibelius’s symphonies will be recorded as high-quality multi-camera productions. The series will have its international premiere in November on Deutsche Grammophon’s Stage+ streaming service.

The series begins with Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5, which will be performed at the orchestra’s concert at the Helsinki Music Centre on 7 November and broadcast worldwide live on the Stage+ streaming service. The concert can also be viewed on the ARTE Concert video service. In addition to Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony, the  programme includes Lotta Wennäkoski’s Verdigris and Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Nelson Goerner as soloist.

Originally founded in 1882, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra premiered the majority of Sibelius’s orchestral works, often conducted by the composer himself. The orchestra’s chief conductor and artistic director Jukka-Pekka Saraste sees the recording of Sibelius’s symphonies as a natural continuation of the orchestra’s and the composer’s journey together: ‘Sibelius & Saraste is a complete series that aims to achieve the atmosphere of a live concert experience while relating the story of Sibelius’s orchestra to a wide international music audience.’

It has been more than 20 years already since the HPO’s last complete recording of Sibelius’s symphonies. Although more than 60 recordings of the composer’s symphonies have been made, there are only a few high-quality film recordings of his entire symphonic output.

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is the first Finnish symphony orchestra to be broadcasted on the Stage+ streaming service. The classical music streaming service currently offers concerts by the Cleveland Orchestra and Concertgebouworkest. 

Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Jukka-Pekka Saraste (Photo: © Sakari Röyskö)

All of Sibelius’s symphonies will be performed in concert by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste and will be recorded as international multi-camera productions during the years 2023–25. The recorded symphonies will be available for viewing at a later date.

2025 will mark the 160th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius. To celebrate the anniversary, plans are for the Sibelius & Saraste series to be viewable in its entirety in 2025.

Information source: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

Adès conducts Sibelius, 21 November 2024

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Thomas Adès

Thomas  Adès (photo: Hallé website)

Thomas Adès will conduct Sibelius’s Fifth and Seventh Symphonies with the Hallé at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on Thursday 21 November 2024 at 7.30pm.

Two compositions by Adès are also on the programme: Aquifer, brimming with fluid motifs and rhythms that expand and withdraw as the water would in its namesake geological structure, and Air (Homage to Sibelius), a transformative work first premiered earlier this year. The concert also includes Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Deux Sérénades, a delicately poignant work in two movements. Both Air (Homage to Sibelius) and Rautavaara’a Deux Sérénades feature the acclaimed violinist Stephen Waarts.

Thomas Adès has said of Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony: ‘The music reached a hand inside me and rinsed my nervous system, restored my strength, set me free from that time and place. I think the greatest gift of art is free to us from time and place.’

Programme
Sibelius Symphony No. 7
Rautavaara Deux Sérénades
Adès Aquifer
Adès Air (Homage to Sibelius)
Sibelius Symphony No. 5
Pre-concert- talk at 6.30pm in the auditorium: string players from the Hallé and violinist Stephen Waarts discuss the evening’s programme.

Ticket prices: £17 to £50. Concessions and discounts available
Booking: click here

Leif Segerstam 1944–2024

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Leif Segerstam, 2015
Leif Segerstam with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
in Lahti in 2015 (photo: © Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Juha Tanhua)

The conductor and composer Leif Segerstam has died at the age of 80.

Born in Vaasa, Finland, on 2 March 1944, Segerstam was one of the most versatile musical talents in the Nordic countries. He enjoyed a distinguished and colourful career since 1962, when he made his debut as a violinist. His first conducting appearance came the following year, when he also gained his conducting diploma from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He also studied the violin, piano and composition Sibelius Academy, and continued his education at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

Segerstam was chief conductor of ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1975 until 1983, and principal conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 until 2007, later becoming its chief conductor emeritus. He was also principal conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm and appeared at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland. He held positions with numerous other orchestras, including the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and  guest-conducted all over the world. From the autumn of 1997 until the spring of 2013 he was professor of orchestra conducting at the Sibelius Academy. The Nordic Music Committee (NOMUS) awarded Segerstam the 1999 Nordic Council Music Prize, and in 2004 he was awarded the annual Finnish State Prize for Music.

His music-making was sometimes controversial but was distinguished by a fiercely sharp intellect coupled with boundless creativity. In an interview with Bruce Duffie in Chicago, he emphasized that the purpose of music is ‘communication’; ‘music is always reborn when it is relived in the performing moment’.

Leif Segerstam, 1967
The young Leif Segerstam (1967) (Photo: Lauri Kautia. CC BY 4.0)

Segerstam was a powerful interpreter not only of composers such as Mahler and Allan Pettersson but also of Sibelius. He  had an instinctive and profound understanding of Sibelius’s sound world, producing performances that were both monumental and full of inner life. His Sibelius discography was vast and wide-ranging, including not only two complete cycles of symphonies (Danish National Symphony Orchestra / Chandos and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra / Ondine) but also a series of rare works and theatre music (Turku Philharmonic Orchestra / Naxos) and much more.

He displayed exceptional creativity as a composer throughout his musical career. He wrote more than 370 symphonies, well as concertos and chamber and vocal music.

Leif Segerstam passed away on 9 October 2024.