Noble wonderful Salonen

Well it's been a while. Worth to break this silence with a noble wonderful man who lightened up my evening last night: Esa Pekka Salonen. Respectful, admired back, charismatic and modest: what a leader! Kiki, you would have LOVED this!
RSO, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Beethoven 7th Symphony

Percussion again ;-)

This piece was written by John Cage not so many years ago. He was a very sociable man, and he had his friends visiting every single day at his place. Much of the percussion music that he wrote was for his wife and them, no matter if they were not professional percussionists, and they played it together at home. You can get a glimpse of the home environment by noticing that these guys are playing jars and pots!

The fathers

NEXUS are the fathers of percussion ensembles, at least in North America; the first ones to be established and recognized as such. They explored the world in general and the consequent world of percussion in particular, as you can see in this video. It's funny to watch it, because now they grew up and they have - if any - white hair. Back then or nowadays, their live performances are simply life-changing.


"Mbira"

Armenian hidden pearl

Rarely played, intensely middle-eastern, rhythmical and passionate music from Armenia. Just to render the idea, this one that I am posting is the only full version that I could find on Youtube! Little background: its composer, with this name that sounds like a tongue twister (Babajanian) was in the spotlights in URSS in Stalin's times. I would be curious to know what you think of it :-)


Second Movement
Third Movement

"They bleed just like the rest of us" - R.D.

Today I leave my space to the words of Richard Dare, CEO of Brooklyn Philharmonic. He rules :-)
"The living composers I know though are real people. They bleed just like the rest of us (...) They drink beers and feel tired and ride subways and dream about a better life. They are human and they want us to share a deeper, richer human experience together with them. They want, in effect, the same things Beethoven wanted".




Second Movement
Third Movement

Dedicated to Brian and all the pages he studied :)

On December 27, 1941, Shostakovich completed his "Leningrad" symphony. This appellative is commonly thought to indicate the German terrible siege of the city during the World War II. It was, however, written before then, and Shostakovich clarifies: "Even before the war, there probably wasn't a single family who hadn't lost someone, a father, a brother, or if not a relative, then a close friend. Everyone had someone to cry over, but you had to cry silently, under the blanket, so no one would see. Everyone feared everyone else, and the sorrow oppressed and suffocated us. It suffocated me, too. I had to write about it, I felt it was my responsibility, my duty. I had to write a requiem for all those who died, who had suffered. I had to describe the horrible extermination machine and express protest against it" (from Volkov, Testimony 135).


Second Movement
Third Movement

From the New World

I can't believe I still haven't posted this symphony, but as they say, better late than never. It is been named "From the New World" because Dvorak wrote it  at the end of the 1800s during his visit to the States. While listening, don't you agree that he was pretty impressed by the native tribes, riding their horses in the rain towards endless horizons?

1st Movement, part 2
2nd movement, part 1
2nd movement, part 2
3rd movement
4th movement

Souvenir from Italy

Souvenir de Florence is a sextet that Tchaikovsky wrote on a trip through Italy. It is true that, as critique mostly say, he was probably charmed more by the sunny climate than by the local music, as the latter doesn't appear too evidently in his themes. I chose this movement, however, because there is a middle point in which I can totally picture a chaotic and funny Italian open market. Anybody finds it? :-)

Lava heart of dances

I don't know why, but posting this first Bach Cello suite today seemed like the perfect thing to do. Suites were born in early baroque period as sequences of dances played in courts. Then, they slowly moved to an independent purely musical form. I am sure, however, you can still feel the vibes of its lava heart of dances.

House Music

This trio is one of Mendelssohn's most renown Chamber Music pieces. Last night we participated in a wonderful House Music party, and this was one of the few scores we had. It is not so easy to read at first-sight, so, despite the musicians doing a great job, I feel we now have the duty to get to know it PROPERLY :-) I chose this version because these three fathers of Classical Music recorded in such an informal way that it fits perfectly!

Second Movement
Third Movement
Finale (sorry, I had to borrow it from other performers cuz of lack of material on the web :-S)

Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso

Cherubino is the Count's page, and he has an "over-infatuation problem" with all women. He gets discovered in amorous attitudes with too many women at court, and as a punishment, the Count sends him on army duty to Seville. In this aria, Figaro (the Count's valet) mocks him about how his new "womenless" life:

"You won't go any more, amorous butterfly

Fluttering around night and day

Disturbing the sleep of beauties

Little Narcissus and Adonis of love"

Debut!

This is the debut concert of a lovely mezzo-soprano from Sibelius Academy: Melis Jaatinen. Only students who graduate with honor can possibly access the chance to perform this kind of concert, and if they do, they will do the planning of the repertoire and the overall coordination themselves. I chose this performance also because, Kiki, if you go to 01.02.05, you'll see a familiar face :-)

Ensikonsertti, Melis Jaatinen

Phantasy!

So Kiki, this is the Fantasia Corale that I was speaking to you about. Beethoven used it as a laboratory for the super-famous "Ode to joy" (4th movement of 9th Symphony): can you recognize the seed of the theme? :-)

3rd and 4th movements

5th and 6th movements

Playful and funny, sympathetic and moody

On Thursday I went to a concert, and this trio was played. It is actually one of the first important chamber music pieces I faced as a cellist. Beethoven composed it just before beginning his string quartet repertoire, and I think he thought of each instrument as a human character, making their interactions at times playful and funny, at times sympathetic and moody. Many say that it doesn't sound like Beethoven at all...with which authority I don't really know :-)

II Movement

III Movement

Dedicated to Avital

I was in Israel last week, in the backstage of a violin and piano concert (Valeryi Sokolov and Evengy Izotov) during the intermission, and my friend Avital mentioned to the musicians that she loves this piece. As a personal gift, Valeryi started playing the first movement for her. You'll probably recognize it, as it was recently brought to the big audience by the movie "The Concert". Here is one of the versions that I prefer, starring Ivry Gitlis.

Second Part

Third Part

Fourth Part

Scottish trip

33-year-old Felix Mendelssohn had a trip to Scotland in 1840s, and history wants that a painting impressed him so much that he wrote this symphony as inspired by it. Here is the joyful second movement, possibly recalling some Scottish folk popular song.

Open up!

Brahms Violin Concerto was one of my first suggestions in this blog...but the occasion like the one we have tonight doesn't happen everyday: the young, talented, beautiful soloist Janine Jansen is playing with the warm-hearted Orchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. What to say? Open your hearts tonight!

Janine Jansen, Antonio Pappano e Orchestra di Santa Cecilia

Was it worth?

Dvorak was a successful composer and his friends and cellist colleagues asked him a million times to compose a concerto for cello and orchestra. He always refused, claiming that on the high register, the cello has a nasal voice and he didn't like it. Then, in 1894 while we was in New York, he surprised even his own self in writing this piece. Do you think it was worth the effort?

Second part of First Movement

Second Movement (1)

Second Movement (2)

Third Movement (1)

Third Movement (2)

Klassista pianomusiikkia :-)

Dedicated to two little girls who apparently need some good music to fall asleep. Good night, darlings, and enjoy the marvelous music interpreted by my friend Zlata!

Listen with your body

If you want to learn to open up ALL of your senses to sound...

Worthy break of a long silence

This concert deserves to have a big audience, and a big audience deserves to open its heart to this Music. It was Wiener Philharmoniker, one of the best orchestras in the world; they came on tour just yesterday to Helsinki and played wonderfully with their united, continental deep energy. They were supposed to be conducted by Lorin Maazel, but he fell ill and was replaced by Sakari Oramo. I was speaking to a few musicians after the concert, and they told me that they appreciated working with M°Oramo a lot: he conquered their trust and interest right away, even though mostly unknown among the orchestra. Gooooo Finland!

Sibelius 7th - Wiener Phil & Oramo

For a beloved friend

It unfortunately happens to all of us, sooner or later, to loose a loved one. In 1881 it was Tchaikowsy who lost his friend and mentor Rubinstein, and while he was in Rome he started composing this trio in his honor.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Fantastic Symphony

Berlioz wrote his Symphonìe Fantastique in 1830; he composed it pretty quickly, he claimed, because its scheme was already clear in his mind long before. It is actually true, as he had to do nothing else than selecting some of his pre-composed pieces left undone and merge them together. This resulted in a numerous sequence of scenes, like as if this symphony was a theatre play! Berlioz actually backed it up with the story of a young sensitive musician who, in excess of love desperation, poisons himself with opium, and instead of dying, he falls into a deep visionary hallucinogenic sleep. I leave it to you to imagine what the content is!

First Movement (2nd part)

Second Movement

Third Movement (1st part)

Third Movement (2nd part)

Fourth Movement

Fifth Movement

Taking you away...

Dear Ring Ohne Worte

RSO and Hannu Lintu

Unknown beauty

Everybody knows what an accordion is, but few people could picture it out of a scene of waltz and dancing music. Actually, beautiful pieces have been dedicated to to this multifaceted instrument by classical and contemporary composers, and the accordionist Vincent Lhermet, who happens to be not only a fine and exciting musician, but also a graduate at Sibelius Academy, structured this concert so as to lead us through its main works in its main times.

Folies Musicales de France

(For non-Finnish speakers: click on "Kuuntele")

Sweet dreams!

I don't know how or why, but during an evening with friends this trio popped up in my Spottify and charmed everyone. A sweet, romantic lullaby for you!

Story of an old Cossack

Taras Bulba and his two sons, Andrei and Ostap, join the Tsar troups in Ukraine and go to war against Poland. This symphony is the unfortunate tale of three deaths - Andrei in the 1st Movement, Ostap in the 2nd and Taras Bulba in the third - immersed in and surrounded by high ideals of love for the homeland, of orthodox faith and of family ties.

Taras Bulba (Janàček), RSO and Santtu-Matias Rouvali

Home sweet home :-)

Today I heard the RSO play, and as much as I enjoyed it, they woke a dormant nostalgia for my friends in Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Just as well, when he wrote this Cello Concerto, Antonin Dvorak had been living in the U.S. for quite a while, and put his attachment to the "old continent" into music. The melodies you hear, in fact, are from popular slavic, mediterranean, russian music...but (fun fact :-) also from gospel and cotton-fields songs. Enjoy!

http://pappanoinweb.telecomitalia.com/racconti/23gennaio

Sorry, no words :-S

I might have said this already, but this is one of my favorite pieces :-) I tried to think of a few introductory lines for you, but no, sorry: this time I am just full of Music and empty of words. I don't know if a recording drags your heart beat along with its rhythms as much as a live performance, or if the fourth movement makes you just wanna jump restlessly like as if you had to get rid of the devil that took you over...but while we wait for this quartet to be scheduled in some concert-hall nearby, let's give it a try here ;-) Just make sure you don't miss the last movement, ok?

II. Intermezzo. Allegro ma non troppo. Trio. Animato. (= Intermission. Cheerful but not too much. Trio. Lively)

III. Andante con moto (="On the go with motion")

IV. Rondò alla zingarese. Presto (="Roundabout at the Gipsy way. Quickly")

"E lucevan le stelle" (=And the stars were shining)

Try to imagine the following scene: Mario Cavaradossi is a painter, and he's in love with Tosca, the protagonist of the namesake opera. Our painter is imprisoned at the heart of starry Rome, waiting for his execution to be performed. He is so full of love that his last words reflect no other regret than spoiling the chance to stay with Tosca. He concludes: "I die despairing! And never was life so dear to me, no never!". Apart from the expressiveness and melodramatic content, I just would like you to notice the conductor and to recall our embarrassing adventure within the walls of Musiikkitalo today :-P

This one you'll have fun conducting :-)

It took Beethoven the longest period in his career to ultimate the 5th Symphony. It was a turbulent time, innerly and historically (still Napoleonic wars, couple years before the Egmont). "Here is the destiny, knocking at the door", he said to interpret the first four lapidary notes. And it is a destiny that, within this very piece, he fights and wins in the name of the human reason.

II. Andante con moto (1st part)

II. Andante con moto (2nd part)

III. Allegro (1st part)

III. Allegro (2nd part) and IV. Allegro (1st part)

IV. Allegro (2nd part)

Hero against oppression

"Egmont" is a sequence of pieces written by Beethoven during Napoleonic Wars - this is the Overture (="Opening"). Napoleon had just crowned himself Emperor, and this was such an outrage to the eyes of Beethoven, that he put his disappointment into music: Count of Egmont's story exalts a nobleman who sacrificed himself by taking a valiant stand against oppression. Fun fact of this overture, it became an unofficial anthem for the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

What you unfortunately missed tonight :-)

Mendelssohn in his late 20s was traveling Europe, and he pit-stopped in Italy. He loved the country so much that he didn't leave until 2 years later. During that time, he absorbed the extroverted Italian character, its carnival's colored insanity and its warm loving soul. I was curious to see how a Finnish orchestra would do in conveying all of this, and I must say I wasn't disappointed at all :-)

Mendelssohn Italian Symphony

Sweet Child O' Mine

I bet you never heard it like this, you rocker :-)

"To roar it all out"

Ever had a painful tangle of inextricable knots inside of your stomach? We think we're so strong, but then all of a sudden a word, a happening, our own sensibility puts us to not sleeping, hardly breathing, wishing we were a lion to roar it all out. I think Prokofiev knew this feeling very well when he wrote his Sinfonia Concertante.

Second Part

Third Part

Fourth Part

Tales from the East

"The Sultan Schariar, convinced that all women are false and faithless, vowed to put to death each of his wives after the first nuptial night. But the Sultana Sheherazade saved her life by entertaining her lord with fascinating tales for a thousand and one nights. The Sultan, consumed with curiosity, postponed from day to day the execution of his wife, and finally repudiated his bloody vow entirely", writes the composer as an introduction to this symphonic suite. I hope you enjoy its Arabian magic :-)

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Personally, today I need to laugh...

...so there you go, Igudesman & Joo: the kings of musical funniness!

Not only they are exceptional musicians, but also actors and...figure it out yourself :-)

Breathe...

Let's have a break from the troubles and sorrows of life, and lie calm in this surreal athmosphere. Nothing else to say about this Beethoven Sonata but...enjoy!!!

Part 2 (2. Scherzo. Allegretto vivace & 3. Menuetto. Moderato e grazioso)
4. Presto con fuoco (="Quick with fire")

Chaaaaaarge!!!

I believe there's no better piece to match our animated souls, my dear warriors, so make sure you listen to this masterpiece at the loudest possible volume, while you jump up and around your apartment with wild hair and your faces painted like a redskin. Why? First of all it's one of my very favourites :-) and second it brings you to places and it shows you feelings that you didn't even believe humanly possible! Warning: if somewhere in the the Second Movement you find yourself crying like a fountain, it's totally ordinary :-P

First Movement: Allegro (Second Part)
Second Movement: Andante con Moto
Second Movement: Andante con Moto (Second Part)
Third Movement: Scherzo - Allegro Molto
Fourth Movement: Presto

Smoothly going

After this long silence, here's what makes my current days (as a worker!) light, happy and smooth. Octets are real challenges for composers, as they include 8 strings, each one with an independent part. You can think of an inflamed team discussion of 8 colleagues with different skills, characters and backgrounds. Can you imagine how uneasy an ordered coordination is to achieve?


Second Part
Third part
Fourth Part