Congratulations Esa-Pekka!

When, at the age of 21, he stepped up onto the podium for the first time, in front of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, he considered himself to be a composer who would do a little conducting on the side. Fate chose otherwise, but even though Esa-Pekka Salonen is better known as a conductor, composition is of equal importance to him. He has said that the two sides feed off one another, that his composer’s brain is always engaged. Salonen’s Cello Concerto explores the very meaning of virtuosity, a word associated with lightning-fast nimbleness, advanced rhythms and technical brilliance. But he argues that the quiet, almost motionless moments also require incredible skill; virtuosity is equally about imparting profound meaning to a single note. Salonen has described himself as chronically curious and his concerto has been inspired by a wide variety of sources: elements of chaos theory, meteorology and astronomy are combined with detailed orchestral execution and, in the simple as well the complex movements, virtuoso cello solos.

Another erstwhile trailblazer was Heinrich Biber, an Austrian violinist who, with intrepid curiosity and musical brilliance, wrote some of the most important works in musical history for the instrument. He experimented with retuning the strings of the instrument, polyphonics and very advanced techniques. As early as 1673, in his work Battalia à 10, he used different forms of extended techniques that many today would consider modern, or at least contemporary. As the name implies it is a battle, rendered in music, complete with gunshots, whistling bullets and rhythmic war drums. By preparing the instruments with pieces of paper, playing with the wood side of the bow and plucking hard on the strings, the battlefield materializes before the listening audience. One of the movements takes place in between the fighting when the drunken soldiers sit around, singing a variety of German, Bohemian and Czech folksongs in a cacophony that, if anything, is reminiscent of Charles Ives.

Richard Wagner, frequently associated with mighty and dramatic operas, was an ardent admirer of Beethoven in his teenage years. When, at the age of 14, he heard Beethoven’s exuberant Symphony no. 7 he was allegedly deeply moved, as so many others both before and after, and he later described the symphony as “the Apotheosis of the Dance itself”. On the one hand an uncharacteristic statement, considering the popular image of Wagner as a serious, intellectual and melancholy man, but on the other it is evidence of the music’s irresistible playfulness and joie de vivre. Music writer George Grove wrote about the symphony’s captivating fourth movement that, “the force that reigns throughout this movement is literally prodigious”. The second movement, which in itself has become a popular concert piece and been turned into both folk music and rock versions, was so well received at the première that they performed an encore. Again: what better way to celebrate one of our greatest and most lauded musicians, Esa-Pekka Salonen!

No bus to Berwaldhallen from Stockholm City –
Busline 69 is shortened and runs Karlaplan – Kaknästornet / Blockhusudden. For more information, please visit www.sl.se/en/

FESTIVAL OFFER (Östersjöklippet)
With the Baltic Sea Festival Offer (Östersjöklippet), you get three different levels at a discount – 10, 15 and 20% off the regular fare depending on whether you buy three, four or five different concerts at the same time.
TO ’ÖSTERSJÖKLIPPET’

Here you can see the entire festival program