PERFORMERS:
Helena Juntunen (soprano)
The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Leif Segerstam
PROGRAMME:
Richard Strauss
Vier Letzte Lieder for soprano and orchestra, TrV 296
Leif Segerstam
Symphony No 272 Summer Screamings
Jean Sibelius
Symphony No 1 in E Minor, Op. 39
Vier Letzte Lieder for soprano and orchestra was Richard Strauss’ last completed work. In May 1948 he wrote the song Im Abendrot to lyrics by Joseph von Eichendorff, followed by Frühling, September and Beim Schlafengehen to lyrics by Hermann Hesse (moreover, September appeared last of all, namely in September that year). European romanticism did not survive the First World War, although Richard Strauss – even after the Second World War and at the end of his days – was able to revive the style of his youth, albeit not for very long, with its absolute beauty and perfection. In the song Im Abendrot we hear a short extract from Strauss’ own symphonic poem Tod und Verklärung (1889), while the start of the orchestral introduction was possibly influenced by the first phrase of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem: “Selig sind, die da Leid tragen.”
In terms of the number of symphonies he has composed, Leif Segerstam has long surpassed Joseph Haydn and Christian Cannabich. In 2013 he exceeded – exactly tenfold – the number on which Nikolai Myaskovsky once halted. And Segerstam has produced other cycles of works for orchestra, among them Impressions of Nordic Nature, Bouquets of Flowers and Epitaphs. Segerstam writes, as he breathes, instantly recording on sheet music the things that he dreams of and that come to his mind. Several symphonies carry the secondary title of “Page from a Diary”. The “technique of free pulsation”, which does not require the precise synchronisation of every voice of the orchestral fabric, allowed him to complete the score in roughly one week.
To a great extent, Segerstam has been fed by the tradition of Finnish pantheism that began with Jean Sibelius and continues with Einojuhani Rautavaara. For example, Symphony No 21 is called September – Visions at Korpijärvi. In the catalogue of his works one may see something speculative and hard to interpret, a kind of “belated thoughts asking a question” (Symphony No 23), and the more comprehensible “simply recalling...” (Symphony No 224). Symphony No 272 was entitled Summery Screamings.
In 1899 in Helsinki Jean Sibelius conducted the premiere of his First Symphony in E Minor. He had already won acclaim as the founder of the national Finnish style as the composer of Kullervo and the bewitching The Swan of Tuonela. On the eve of the new century, however, the composer set out to discover a new way – in terms of pure symphonism. Moreover, he had always been drawn to Russian music. The main theme of the first movement (Allegro energico) is closely associated with the main theme of Borodin’s First Symphony. The solo clarinet in the first movement is a clear reference to the theme of the clarinet in the introduction of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony (also composed in E Minor). Tchaikovsky again springs to mind in the festive episodes of the Allegro energico, the mourning start of the finale and the wonderful and magical pages of the second movement. When Sibelius commenced work on his First Symphony he sketched out a programme for it which he subsequently rejected. The second movement was initially associated in the composer’s mind with Heine’s poem Der Fichtenbaum und die Palme and – arguably – northern daydreams of the South are truly brought to life in the music of the Andante.
Anna Bulycheva