Albert de Runs Actualités
Dernière mise à jour
2024-03-28
Actualiser
2015-01-16 10:13:15
ResMusica: Tell us a little bit about the history of the Musica nova festival in Helsinki (Runs 6-14 February 2015). Anssi Karttunen : Musica nova Helsinki became the new name of the Helsinki Biennale in 1997. The Helsinki Biennale was created in 1981 at a moment when many things were opening up in Finnish music life. The music life became much more international than before, and both musicians and audiences became interested in what was going on in the world. Until this point, composers mostly had to live in a world of their own with performers being hostile to their efforts and much more interested in only the music of the distant past. At the same time, many new trends were being born in Helsinki; the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra was formed, the young composers of the Korvat Auki association (founding members include Esa-Pekka Salonen and Magnus Lindberg) made themselves felt, […]
2014-11-05 07:47:05
All-Russian evening with the Helsinki Philharmonic
Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 is firmly established in the core repertoire of just about every cellist on the international circuit, and performances of this work are sufficiently frequent that one might take this masterpiece for granted. Perhaps this is the case, but it is likely that this work does strike at least some fear in the hearts of most cellists. Shostakovich demands near superhuman technical prowess and almost non-stop playing from the soloist, alternating between white-hot intensity to the most fragile tenderness. The soloist in this evening’s performance was Julian Steckel, making his Finnish debut. Overall, Steckel’s best playing came during the work’s quiet and introspective moments. Steckel’s tasteful yet rich vibrato and singing tone supported his somewhat extroverted view of the brooding second movement. The same movement’s central section featured some impossibly delicate playing, and the false harmonics after the climax were chillingly and accurately executed. The transition […]
2014-08-27 09:16:50
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, despite being one of Canada’s flagship ensembles, has had a difficult recent history. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the orchestra struggled with financial difficulties, a musician’s strike, poor attendance, and a seeming lack of public sympathy to the orchestra’s situation. Some even wondered if the orchestra would survive. The fact that the ensemble has risen from the abyss and is now touring some of Europe’s major halls and festivals could be called miraculous. Claude Vivier is arguably Canada’s most well-known composer, although his name was likely unfamiliar to many in this evening’s audience. Orion is one of the two strictly orchestral works which Vivier managed to compose in his short life. The work opens with a sense of expectation, like a vast galaxy has been opened. Two solo trumpets introduce some of the key material which will be used throughout the piece. As the music […]
2014-03-17 19:34:24
Kalevi Aho continues his world-music explorations
After Osmo Vänskä became music director of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003, it was not unexpected that he would commission a work from Aho. The composer writes that he was asked to provide a piece of approximately 15-20 minutes in length, would be suitable as an opener for tour programs, and should feature every member of the orchestra. Minea is the result of this commission and is part of the composer’s series of works exploring non-Western musical traditions (other works include the Symphony No. 14 and the Oboe Concerto). Woodwinds play a prominent role in the work’s opening, which consists of an emphatic gesture of a rising second, followed by improvisatory, melismatic Runs. Following a series of impressive orchestral waves, the second section of the work is introduced, led by quiet and hypnotic percussion. Aho then builds up to another series of climaxes, leading to the final section of the […]
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- chronologie: Compositeurs (Europe).
- Index (par ordre alphabétique): R...