CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 8:00 PM

“a mighty thing to hear”—New Yorker

Described by composer Claude Debussy as “one of the loveliest monuments of sound ever raised to the serene glory of music,” Wagner’s opera Parsifal took 25 years to complete. Grammy-winning Finnish soprano Karita Mattila sings Sibelius’s pastoral tone poem Luonnotar (The Spirit of Nature) and then joins Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen for the New York premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s Mirage, a “strange world of spiritual exploration” (London Times).

Pre-concert talk starts at 7:00 PM in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage: David Robertson in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Director of Artistic Planning, Carnegie Hall.

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
David Robertson, Music Director and Conductor
Karita Mattila, Soprano
Anssi Karttunen, Cello

WAGNER Good Friday Music from Parsifal
ZIMMERMANN Canto di speranza
SIBELIUS Luonnotar, Op. 70
KAIJA SAARIAHO Mirage for Soprano, Cello, and Orchestra (NY Premiere)
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 82

Program Notes:

RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883)
Good Friday Music from Parsifal

Parsifal, Richard Wagner’s last opera, reworks a medieval romance with strong religious overtones. That story concerns a brotherhood of knights devoted to preserving the Holy Grail, the chalice which, according to legend, Christ used to serve wine to His disciples at the Last Supper. The once strong band of Grail Knights has fallen victim to the dark magic of the sorcerer Klingsor. A young knight, Parsifal, arrives in their realm an innocent, ignorant of the world and even of his true name. This very quality permits him to defeat Klingsor and restore the strength and spirit of the Grail knights.

The opera’s final act begins with Parsifal returning on Good Friday morning to the castle of the Grail after years of wandering. There he experiences an epiphany in which the purity of nature is revealed to him. Glistening in the morning sunlight, the landscape seems reborn, purged of sin and sorrow. Wagner conveys the transcendent beauty of the scene in an orchestral passage known as the Good Friday Music.


BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN (1918–1970)
Canto di speranza, for Cello and Orchestra

At the time of his death, in 1970, Bernd Alois Zimmermann had gained widespread recognition as one of the most original voices in post-war European music. Eclectic and questing, his work chronicles the explorations of new sounds, formal ideas, and combinations of music with other media that were so much a part of the experimental ferment of advanced composition in the 1950s and ‘60s. At the same time, Zimmermann’s work remained highly individual. To a considerable extent, his art addressed his own very personal moral and philosophical questions. The composer was a devout Catholic who had received a cloistered parochial education and, having come of age in Hitler’s Germany, was painfully sensitive to the spiritual crises of his time. Several of his most important compositions—including the opera Die Soldaten, his best-known work—were written as efforts to reconcile his faith with the cruelty and suffering that seemed to him such an integral part of life during the period in which he lived.

Zimmermann initially composed Canto di speranza, a concerto-like work for cello and small orchestra, in 1952–1953, but he substantially revised the work in 1957. The composer was, during this period, exploring 12-tone serialism, and this piece shows what artful and expressive use he made of serial technique and the atonal sound world associated with it. Indeed, the eloquent melodic gestures and strikingly beautiful textures we find throughout this piece belie the conventional notion of serial music as dry, sterile, or overly cerebral.

Zimmerman declined to offer any explicit word on the significance of the title Canto di speranza (“Song of Hope”), though the opening moments of the piece suggest a general scenario. Here the solo instrument—Zimmermann did confirm the fairly obvious notion that the cello is the singer in this work—seems to wander through a stark, fractured sonic landscape of disjointed percussion sounds, growling tones, tremolo figures, isolated notes, and, later, violent hammer blows from the orchestra. Initially, soloist and ensemble seem almost oblivious of each other, each pursuing a separate musical agenda, as befits Zimmermann’s description of the cello part as tending to “monologue and meditation.” Eventually, the two parties find some common ground, particularly when the orchestra supports the cello in exquisitely shimmering sonorities. The music builds to an extended cadenza. From there, it retraces its steps, finally making its way back to the kind of pointillist textures of the opening passage. Here, however, the tone seems neither tense nor uneasy, as in the work’s initial moments, but calm, almost serene.


JEAN SIBELIUS (1865–1957)
Luonnotar

Jean Sibelius’s standing as Finland’s great national composer rests not only on his distinction as the first Finnish musician to achieve international prominence. Even more significant is his success in giving musical expression to important aspects of his nation’s culture. In doing this, Sibelius turned repeatedly over the course of his career to the Kalevala, Finland’s epic folk tale.

One of the fruits of Sibelius’s involvement with the Kalevala is Luonnotar, which the composer described as a tone poem for soprano and orchestra. Sibelius may have written it in 1910, when Finnish newspapers announced that he had completed such a work for the soprano Aino Ackté. However, the music was not performed until nearly three years later, when Sibelius used it to fulfill a commission from the Gloucester Music Festival, in England.

Luonnotar relates a creation myth set forth in the opening canto of the Kalevala. Luonnotar is the “Spirit of Nature,” the “Maiden of the Air,” who floated alone in the universe before the earth and heavens were made. Tired of her lonely maiden existence, she descended to the primordial ocean, where she swam for seven centuries. Longing to conceive, she called to the god Ukko. At last, a sea bird flew by, seeking a place to nest. Luonnotar raised her knee above the water, and upon it the bird laid her eggs. But at length the eggs emitted such great heat that Luonnotar flinched, spilling them into the water. The eggs shattered, and from their pieces were formed the earth, sky, sunlight, moon, and stars.

Luonnotar is not often heard, mostly because the soprano part, with its very wide range, is extremely challenging. The composition deserves more frequent performance. Writing to a friend, Sibelius declared that, whatever else might be said of it, “this piece is written in ‘my own’ style.” That assessment is entirely accurate. As much as any of his works, Luoonontar embodies the distinctive “voice” of the composer’s maturity.


KAIJA SAARIAHO (b. 1952)
Mirage

Today, a century after Sibelius achieved international fame, Finnish composers once again occupy prominent places in the front ranks of creative musicians. Among them are such notable figures as Esa-Pekka Salonen (an accomplished composer as well as a conductor), Magnus Lindberg, and Kaija Saariaho.

Born in Helsinki, Saariaho settled in Paris a quarter-century ago. There she initially worked with electronic techniques for generating and altering sound. Although she lately has moved more towards purely acoustic instrumental and vocal music, her experience with electronic sound strongly influenced her composing, inclining her to, among other things, a predilection for richly layered sonic tapestries and striking aural colors.

Mirage, composed in 2007, sets to music part of a chant by the Mexican shaman Maria Sabina (1894–1985). A native of Huautla de Jimenez, in the State of Oaxaca, Maria Sabina was famously associated with the sacred mushroom ceremony called velada. Although the text Saariaho chose for Mirage sings of the psilocybin mushroom’s power, its imagery of a powerful female spirit who soars and swims is as much archetypal as hallucinatory. Indeed, its parallels to the verses of Luonnontar are striking.

Saariaho’s setting is highly unusual in its pairing of soprano and cello in solo roles with orchestra. (The solo parts were conceived for tonight’s performers, Karita Mattila and Anssi Karttunen, each of whom has worked extensively with the composer.) And the relationship of the vocal and cello parts form the music’s principal focus and point of interest. The soprano sings of “the sacred eagle woman,” “the lady who swims ... in the immense,” “the shooting star woman beneath the water.” Meanwhile, the cello line soars and dives, tracing fantastical shapes through musical space, embroidering, supporting, even echoing the singer’s utterances, yet retaining a wild independence. It seems not too much to suggest that the solo instrument is the protean spirit of which the soprano sings. All this occurs against a background of shimmering, ever-changing orchestral sonority, surely the mirage of the composition’s title.


JEAN SIBELIUS
Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 82

Sibelius wrote his Fifth Symphony during the difficult years of World War I, and its creation also was difficult and protracted. An initial version of the piece, performed in December 1915, displeased the composer, who withdrew the score for revision. A second version, performed the following year, also failed to meet his standards. Not until 1919 did Sibelius complete the symphony in a way that pleased him.

During the course of his work on the composition, Sibelius combined what had originally been the first two movements into one. The symphony begins with an arching horn call, answered and extended by woodwind figures. Other ideas follow, and Sibelius leads his themes through some dramatic but seemingly organic metamorphoses. Suddenly, however, the music turns in a new direction, quickly accelerating into a delicately scored scherzo section, derived from what originally had been the symphony’s second movement.

The real second movement is based on a hymn-like theme plucked out by the strings and, in alternating phrases, sounded by the high woodwinds. Everything that follows is a development or variation of this single idea. Much of the music flows like a forest stream, at times cascading down slopes or over obstacles, occasionally slowing to form a quiet pool, and once in a while threatening to overflow its banks in an exuberant rush of orchestral sound.

The finale, long one of most popular movements in Sibelius’s symphonic output, has as its initial idea a swiftly moving melody given out by the strings. But the chief attraction is the second theme and its bold horn figures, which the English conductor and commentator Donald Francis Tovey likened to the Norse god Thor swinging his hammer. This subject returns in several guises during the course of the movement, most impressively in the symphony’s climactic final moments.

—Paul Schiavo

© 2009 Paul Schiavo

Paul Schiavo writes frequently on music and is the program annotator for the
Seattle Symphony and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
David Robertson, Music Director and Conductor
Founded in 1880, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is recognized internationally as an ensemble of the highest caliber, performing a broad musical repertoire with skill and spirit. In the 2008–2009 season, the symphony continues to build upon its reputation for musical excellence while maintaining its commitment to local education and community activities.

In December 2003, the SLSO announced the appointment of its 12th, and second American-born, Music Director, David Robertson. He began his inaugural season in September 2005, joining the SLSO after an 18-month international search. Prior to his Saint Louis Symphony appointment Mr. Robertson was music director of the Orchestre National de Lyon and artistic director of that city’s auditorium.

The symphony expanded its audience through frequent tours of the Midwest and the East and West Coasts in the 1980s and ’90s. Tours to Europe in 1985, 1993, and 1998, and to the Far East in 1986, 1990, and 1995, spread the reputation of the Orchestra throughout the world. Appearances at Carnegie Hall continue to garner critical acclaim. Recordings by the symphony have been honored with six Grammy Awards and 56 Grammy nominations.

The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra was founded on the belief that great music should be available to everyone. Through a series of innovative and nationally recognized community-oriented activities, including many education and outreach programs, the musicians of the Symphony have shared their love for music with millions and introduced classical music to those who otherwise might not have been exposed to it. Each year, Symphony musicians participate in more than 250 free performances and events throughout the greater St. Louis area.

As part of this effort, the Symphony participates in the E. Desmond Lee Fine Arts Education Collaborative, a partnership between the Symphony, the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, the Saint Louis Art Museum, Young Audiences of Saint Louis, the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, and more than 90 schools in 12 area school districts. The Collaborative enhances the music curricula of member schools through various initiatives, including classroom interaction with musicians, faculty, and artists from the participating institutions.

Karita Mattila, Soprano
Karita Mattila is one of today’s most exciting lyric dramatic sopranos. She sings in all the world’s major opera houses and festivals and performs regularly with the world’s great conductors including James Levine, Claudio Abbado, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph Dohnányi, Bernard Haitink, Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Her operatic repertoire encompasses works by Beethoven, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, and Janáček. Ms. Mattila is an influential artistic force in the development of new music, regularly collaborating with eminent contemporary composers in the debut performances of significant modern works. Most recently she performed the world premiere of Mirage by Kaija Saariaho with the Orchestre de Paris led by Christoph Eschenbach in Paris.

Ms. Mattila has many recordings to her credit on the Philips, EMI, Sony, DG, and Ondine labels. Recordings include Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Claudio Abbado; Arias and Scenes and German Romantic Arias with Sir Colin Davis, Grieg and Sibelius songs with Sakari Oramo, and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 with Sir Simon Rattle. Complete recordings of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, with the late Sir Georg Solti, and Jenůfa, with Bernard Haitink, won Grammy Awards for Opera in 1998 and 2004, respectively.

Highlights of the 2008–2009 season include appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Salome and Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. In addition, she appears in Kat’a Kabanová at Madrid’s Teatro Real and Fidelio at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. Concert appearances include engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra and performances of Richard Strauss songs with the Munich Philharmonic led by Christian Thielemann. In July 2009 she returns to the Salzburg Festival for Strauss concerts accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic.

Throughout her distinguished career, Ms. Mattila has garnered numerous awards. In 2005 she was named Musical America’s Musician of the Year, and in 2003 she was awarded France’s Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2001 the New York Times chose Karita Mattila as the best singer of the year, and, that same year, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Anssi Karttunen, Cello
Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen is one of the most renowned and versatile musicians in the classical music world today and enjoys a busy career as a soloist and chamber-music player. He performs on modern cello as well as on Classical and Baroque cellos and violoncello piccolo. He performs all the standard cello works, but has also discovered many forgotten masterpieces and arranged a number of pieces for cello.

Mr. Karttunen is a passionate advocate for contemporary music, and he has given more than 50 world premieres of works by such composers as Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Rolf Wallin, Luca Francesconi, and Tan Dun. He gave the world premieres of Mr. Lindberg’s Cello Concerto in 1999 with Orchestre de Paris, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Mania in 2000 with Avanti!, Martin Matalon’s Cello Concerto in 2001 with Orchestre National de France, and Mr. Francesconi’s Cello Concerto in 2004 with RAI Torino. The Boston Symphony Orchestra commissioned a concerto from Ms. Saariaho for Mr. Karttunen, which received its premiere in February 2007. The European premiere took place in March 2007 with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Karttunen has worked with outstanding orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony, London Sinfonietta, NHK Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Ensemble Modern, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Danish Radio Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, RAI Torino, Finnish Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, and many others.

Mr. Karttunen was born in 1960. His teachers included Erkki Rautio, William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pré, and Tibor de Machula. Between 1994 and 1998, he was artistic director of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. He was also artistic director of the 1995 Helsinki Biennale and the Suvisoitto-Festival in Porvoo, Finland from 1994-1997. From December 1999 to June 2005, Mr. Karttunen was principal cellist of the London Sinfonietta. He has also appeared as conductor: In February 2000 he conducted Mr. Lindberg’s Kraft in Antwerp on short notice, and in January 2003 he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic Cello Ensemble. Anssi Karttunen plays a cello by Francesco Ruggeri.