Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Presents a Musical Epic

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 19 May 2023 13:41

Written by Jack Angstreich

Susanna Mälkki directs the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo by Chris Lee.

At Carnegie Hall, on the evening of Tuesday, May 9th, I was provided the exceptional privilege of attending a superb concert featuring music by Finnish composers and performed by the splendid musicians of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, under the sterling direction of Susanna Mälkki, one of the most impressive contemporary conductors.

The program began auspiciously with a luminous reading of Jean Sibelius’s too infrequently heard tone poem, the beautiful Lemminkäinen’s Return from theLemminkäinen Suite,after tales from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. The celebrated flautist, Claire Chase, who is known for her commitment to avant-garde currents in new music, then joined the ensemble as soloist for an admirable account of Kaija Saariaho’s striking Aile du Songe, a mysterious work notable for its meticulous orchestral writing. According to the program note by Jaani Länsiö, the piece is “a joint commission from the Flanders Festival Ghent, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for flutist Camilla Hoitenga” and “based on the collection Oiseaux by French Nobel Prize–winning poet Saint-John Perse.”

The second half of the event was even more memorable, mainly for a brilliant realization of Sibelius’s incomparable Symphony No. 2, the premiere of which he conducted with this orchestra in 1902 and which it has played more than any other work. The somewhat charming opening of the initial Allegretto conceals grander ambitions that rapidly emerge as the movement acquires a more portentous and emotional cast. The ensuing slow movement—marked Tempo andante, ma rubato—is also suspenseful and becomes even more Romantic in inspiration, while the Vivacissimo third movement, although dramatic and turbulent, nonetheless functions as a scherzo. Thefinaleis ultimately the most joyous of the movements, although it contains more subdued and enigmatic passages, building to a stunning, affirmative conclusion. Enthusiastic applause elicited two fabulous encores written by the same composer: the Valse triste--one of his most exquisite creations—and the exhilarating Finlandia.

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