Kimmo PIANO Hakola CONCERTO Henri Sigfridsson Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra John Storgårds
John Storgårds John Storgårds (b. 1963) is one of the most versatile and respected Finnish musicians of his generation. An internationally acclaimed conductor and much celebrated violinist, he is an eager performer and champion of new and rarely heard works alongside more familiar repertoire. A creative flair for programming is becoming his hallmark worldwide. Storgårds is Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, taking up the post from the 2008/09 season. He additionally holds the title of Chief Conductor with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra (until the end of the 2008/09 season) and Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland (ongoing since 1996). Besides these tenures, John Storgårds works regularly with all major Finnish orchestras and the Finnish National Opera. Since his conducting début in 1996, John Storgårds has performed extensively both at home and abroad. Highlights have included concerts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, L Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI Torino, Ensemble Intercontemporain and a tour with the New Zealand Symphony. John Storgårds has made a number of prestigious recordings for Ondine, both as violinist or as conductor, including Peteris Vasks Violin Concerto Distant Light and the Second Symphony, which won the much coveted Cannes Classical Disc of the Year Award in 2004 (ODE 1005-2). Further highlights of his discography include Kaija Saariaho s Violin Concerto Graal théâtre (ODE 997-2) and a disc with music by John Corigliano (ODE 1039-2). Born in Finland in 1963, John Storgårds began playing the violin at an early age. He studied with Esther Raitio and Jouko Ignatius at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and then with Chaim Taub in Israel. Having played professionally under the baton of many world-class conductors, he was inspired to take up conducting and returned to the Sibelius Academy from 1993 97 to study with Jorma Panula and Eri Klas. John Storgårds received the Finnish State Prize for Music in 2002.
Kimmo Hakola (b. 1958) Piano Concerto Sinfonietta The Piano Concerto (1996) is in many ways akey work in Kimmo Hakola s output. It is like an observation terrace affording a view of both his earlier and his later works. It encapsulates many of the essential features of his music. Moreover, its genesis says a lot about his personality as a composer and the inner struggles a composer sometimes has to face. Hakola made his breakthrough with his First String Quartet (1986). This is a work firmly linked to the wave of Modernism that refreshed the musical scene in Finland in the 1980s. The intense dramaturgy of the quartet did not go unnoticed; Hakola won first place at the distinguished UNESCO composers rostrum in the category of composers under the age of 30. Five years later, herepeated the achievement in the general category with Capriole (1991) for clarinet and cello. This latter work became aturning point in his career, an emergence into a broader horizon of expression, symbolized by the strand of Mongolian folk music which makes a wholly unexpected appearance within the Modernist texture. At the time of writing Capriole, Hakola was already sketching out his Piano Concerto. The first announcement of this new work came in the early 1990s. The premiere was cancelled, however, and the work took several years further to complete. This was partly due to the heightened self-criticism of the composer, caused by the whirlwind success of his early works. Hakola wrote very little music at all in the early 1990s. When the long-awaited Piano Concerto was finally premiered at the Helsinki Festival in August 1996, it was ahuge success as well as ahuge surprise. Even its sheer size was startling: cast in nine movements, it clocks in at amonumental 55 minutes. At least as impressive, however, was the stylistic range of the work, extending from energetic Modernism to grandiose, voluptuous Romantic gestures and stylized ethnic materials. This eclecticism, which first appeared in Capriole, has since become afirmly established hallmark of Hakola s later output. The Piano Concerto proved to be akey work in his output in that it released his creative energies. Since then, there has been no holding him back, and he has been writing extensive works at an exhausting pace: three operas, an oratorio entitled Le Sacrifice, several orchestral works and concertos, and chamber music, solo instrumental music and vocal music to boot.
Hakola s Piano Concerto is painted with a broad brush, with virtuoso brilliance and power, defiance and sparkle, grand emotions and humour. Its nine movements have musically descriptive titles: Furioso -Capriccio -Forza -Toccata -Fuoco -Cadenza - Maestoso - Triste - Lux. Each movement brings its own dimension to the whole, yet the work is more than just a string of character pieces: it is a coherent entity whose movements share material. The cadenza is like a portrait of a pianist in a house of mirrors, by turns cavorting along the C major scale, making a detour into jazz, and finally shredding itself in a parody of the tangles of Serialist music. In the nine movements of his Piano Concerto, Hakola leans towards a variety of different kinds of music, clearly defined moods and textures. He has continued along these lines in many of his subsequent works too, observing that there are always the same modes of expression, adozen or so of them. Sometimes they coalesce into themes, even statements, appearing in different guises throughout the work, but they are always identifiable; they are like musical family members, if you will. It s my picture gallery. In the Sinfonietta (2000), one of these family members is dominant: a fanatical, relentless virtuoso energy of furious proportions. The work plunges forward like a wounded, demented musical monster. The dynamics are forte almost throughout, and the intensity seems overheated almost all the time. Nevertheless, this is not an uncontrolled rant. It has its pauses, albeit short ones. Also, its textures contain clearly defined, wedge-like counter-movements and an obvious hierarchy of rhythm. The fieriest rhythmic figures are given to the strings, while the brass have the slowest utterances. Kimmo Korhonen Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi Henri Sigfridsson Henri Sigfridsson (b. 1974) is a Finnish pianist whose career to date has included performances in central Europe and Japan. He was appointed a visiting Professor at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz in Austria from spring 2008. Henri Sigfridsson has enjoyed success in international competitions, most recently at the Beethoven Competition in Bonn in 2005, where he won first prize, the audience prize and the prize for best performance of chamber music. In 2004, he placed second at the Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens. His earlier achievements include first prize at the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar in 1994 and at the Nordic Soloist Competition in 1995, and second prize and the audience prize at the distinguished Géza Anda
competition in Zurich in summer 2000. He was the Finland Festivals Young Artist of the Year in 1996, and the Mozart Society in Dortmund nominated him Artist of the Year for the season 2001-2002. Henri Sigfridsson studied the piano with Sävy Nordgrén at the Turku Conservatory from 1985 and went on to study with Erik T. Tawaststjerna at the Sibelius Academy in 1989. He studied with Professor Pavel Gililov at the Cologne University of Music, and also with Lazar Berman at the Liszt School of Music Weimar in 1995-1997. Alongside his career as a soloist, he is artistic director of the concert series at the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum in Turku, Finland. The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, comprising 97 musicians, is one of Scandinavia s foremost symphony orchestras. As from August 2006 onward the new Chief Conductor of the orchestra is the Finnish conductor John Storgårds. August 2009 he will be followed by Hannu Lintu, the new Chief Conductor. Storgårds predecessor, the Estonian Eri Klas, is Conductor Laureate and Jouni Kaipainen acts as Composer-in-Residence. Other Chief Conductors have been Tuomas Ollila, Leonid Grin, Ari Rasilainen, Atso Almila, Paavo Rautio, Juhani Raiskinen and Eero Kosonen. The orchestra is based at Tampere Hall, which was built in 1990 and is the largest concert hall in Finland. Each year, the orchestra has a series of symphonic concerts and of chamber music concerts, and it also plays in local opera and ballet productions and regularly appears at the Tampere Biennale contemporary music festival. The orchestra has toured Scandinavia, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the USA. Its educational outreach projects and other events for kids and teens are one of its strong points: the Tampere Philharmonic is the first orchestra in Finland to establish a club for young listeners. The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded more than 40 CDs for the Ondine label with conductors such as John Storgårds, Hannu Lintu, Eri Klas, Tuomas Ollila and Leif Segerstam, featuring works by Einar Englund, Peteris Vasks, Alma Mahler, Leo Brouwer and John Corigliano, to name but afew. Many of these have received excellent reviews and awards, such as the Cannes Classical Disc of the Year Award 2004 (for Vasks s Second Symphony) and a total of five Cannes Classical Awards.
JOHN STORGÅRDS John Storgårds (s. 1963) opiskeli Sibelius-Akatemiassa orkesterinjohtoa,sävellystä ja viulunsoittoa. Hänen viulunsoitonopettajiaan ovat olleet mm. Esther Raitio, Jouko Ignatius ja Israelissa Chaim Taub. Sibelius- Akatemian kapellimestaridiplomin hän suoritti 1997 erinomaisin arvosanoin. Storgårdsin syksyllä 2006 alkanut kausi Tampere Filharmonian ylikapellimestarina jatkuu syksyyn 2009. Hän oli Tapiola Sinfoniettan kapellimestari 2001-2003 ja työskenteli päävierailijana Oulun kaupunginorkesterissa 1997-2000, Tampere Filharmoniassa 2000-2002 ja syksystä 2003 alkaen Helsingin kaupunginorkesterissa, jonka ylikapellimestarina hän aloittaa syksyllä 2008. Hän on myös Lapin kamariorkesterin taiteellinen johtaja.kansallisoopperassa Storgårds on johtanut useita menestyksekkäitä produktioita. Savonlinnan Oopperajuhlilla hän johti Mozartin Taikahuilun vuonna 2000. Storgårds on vieraillut mm. BBC Symphony Orchestran, Scottish Chamber Orchestran ja New Zealand Symphony Orchestran johtajana. Storgårds esiintyy ja levyttää ahkerasti myös viulusolistina. Hänen tulkintansa mm. Schumannin, Melartinin, Saariahon ja Nordgrenin viulukonsertoista ovat herättäneet laajaa kansainvälistä huomiota. Runsaasti kansainvälistä huomiota on saanut Storgårdsin johtama amerikkalaisen John Coriglianon orkesteriteoksia sisältävä levy Helsingin kaupunginorkesterin kanssa (ODE 1039-2). John Storgårds on toiminut kahden musiikkitapahtuman, Korsholman Musiikkijuhlien (2004 06) ja Luosto Classicin taiteellisena johtajana. Syksyllä 2002 hän sai kaksi merkittävää tunnustusta työlleen: säveltaiteen valtionpalkinnon sekä Jenny ja Antti Wihurin säätiön tunnustuspalkinnon. Peteris Vasks -levytys, jossa Storgårds esiintyy sekä viulistina että kapellimestarina, sai Cannes Classical -pääpalkinnon Vuoden levynä 2004 (ODE 1005-2).
Kimmo Hakola (s. 1958) PianoKonSertTo Sinfonietta Pianokonsertto (1996) on monessakin mielessä avainteos Kimmo Hakolan uralla. Se on kuin näköalapaikka, josta avautuu näkymä sekä hänen aiempaan että myöhempään tuotantoonsa. Siinä kiteytyy monia hänen musiikkinsa keskeisiä piirteitä. Se on myös teos, jonka syntyhistoria kertoo paljon hänen säveltäjäpersoonastaan ja niistä sisäisistä taisteluista, joita säveltäjä voi joutua kohtaamaan. Hakola oli murtautunut esiin ensimmäisellä jousikvartetollaan (1986). Teos kytkeytyy tyyliltään tiukasti siihen modernismin aaltoon, joka uudisti 1980-luvun suomalaista musiikkia. Kvarteton intensiivinen dramaturgia huomattiin laajemminkin, ja Hakola saavutti teoksella ensimmäisen sijan UNESCOn arvostetun säveltäjärostrumin alle 30-vuotiaiden säveltäjien sarjassa. Viisi vuotta myöhemmin Hakola saavutti samassa katselmuksessa uudelleen ensimmäisen sijan, nyt yleisessä sarjassa klarinetti-sello-duolla Capriole (1991). Siitä tuli tyylillinen käännekohta hänen urallaan, avautuminen laaja-alaisempaan ilmaisuun, jota kuvastaa teoksessa keskelle modernistisia kudoksia äkkiarvaamatta ilmestyvä katkelma mongolialaista kansanmusiikkia. Samoihin aikoihin Capriolen kanssa Hakola alkoi jo hahmotella pianokonserttoaan. Teos ilmoitettiin esitettäväksi ensimmäisen kerran aivan 1990-luvun alussa. Esitys kuitenkin peruuntui, ja teoksen valmistuminen viivästyi lopulta usealla vuodella. Osaltaan viivettä aiheutti varhaisten teosten hyvän menestyksen kiristämä itsekritiikki. Ylipäätään Hakola sävelsi 1990-luvun alkupuolella vähän. Kun kauan odotettu pianokonsertto sitten kantaesitettiin Helsingin juhlaviikoilla elokuussa 1996, se osoittautui sekä suurmenestykseksi että suuryllätykseksi. Teos hätkähdytti jo ulkoisilla mitoillaan -kyseessä on yhdeksänosainen ja 55-minuuttinen monumentaaliteos. Vähintään yhtä paljon herätti kuitenkin huomiota teoksen laaja tyyliasteikko, joka ulottuu energisestä modernismista suurieleiseen, vuolaaseen romantiikkaan ja tyyliteltyihin etnoaineksiin. Tämä jo Capriolessa avautunut ja pianokonserton myötä vakiintunut laajaalaisuus on ollut tunnusomaista Hakolan myöhemmällekin tuotannolle. Pianokonsertto osoittautui avainteokseksi Hakolan uralla myös sikäli, että se vapautti hänen luovat voimavaransa. Sen jälkeen sato on ollut yltäkylläinen, ja suurimuotoisia teoksia on valmistunut tiiviiseen tahtiin, mm. kolme oopperaa, laaja oratorio Le Sacrifice, useita orkesteriteoksia ja konserttoja sekä kamari-, soolosoitin ja vokaalimusiikkia.
Henri Sigfridsson Kimmo Hakola
Hakolan pianokonsertto on lavein vedoin maalattua musiikkia, jossa on virtuoosisuutta ja voimaa, uhmaa ja säihkettä, suuria tunteita ja huumoria. Teoksen yhdeksän osaa ovat saaneet musiikkia luonnehtivat otsikot: Furioso - Capricci - Forza - Toccata - Fuoco - Cadenza -Maestoso -Triste -Lux. Jokainen osa tuo kokonaisuuteen oman ilmaisullisen ulottuvuutensa, mutta mistään karakterikappaleiden ketjusta ei ole kyse vaan kiinteäksi taotusta kokonaisuudesta, jossa osien välillä on myös yhteistä materiaalia. Kadenssi on puolestaan kuin kuva vääristävään peilisaliin joutuneesta pianistista, joka taituroi vuorollaan pitkin C-duuri-asteikkoa, tempautuu jazz-tunnelmiin ja repii lopulta itsensä parodisessa hengessä sarjallisen musiikin nuottiryteikön piikkilankoihin. Pianokonserton yhdeksässä osassa Hakola on vuorollaan kallistanut musiikkiaan erilaisten, selkeästi erottuvien tunnelmien ja tekstuurien suuntaan. Tämäntapainen pyrkimys on jatkunut monissa hänen myöhemmissä teoksissa, ja hän on todennut, että hänen teoksissaan ovat läsnä samat, noin kymmenen erilaista ilmaisutyyppiä. Välillä ne ovat aineellistuneet selviksi teemoiksi, jopa puheenvuoroiksi, jotka ilmaantuvat eri teoksissa erilaisin kuosein, mutta niiden habitus on aina tunnistettava ja ne ovat ikään kuin musiikillisia perheenjäseniä. Minun galleriani. Sinfoniettassa (2000) tällaisista ilmaisutyypeistä yksi nousee määrääväksi: fanaattisen hellittämätön, raivoisa, virtuoosinen motorisuus. Teos rynnistää eteenpäin kuin jokin haavoittunut, ruhjova musiikillinen hirviö. Dynaaminen taso on lähes jatkuvasti fortessa, intensiteetti lähes jatkuvasti ylikuumentuneessa tilassa. Sinfoniettan kuohunta ei silti ole hallitsematonta. Siinä on omat, tosin ohikiitävän lyhyiksi jäävät hengähdystaukonsa. Lisäksi sen tekstuurista voi hahmottaa yhtäältä kiilamaisesti avautuvia vastakkaisliikkeitä, toisaalta selkeää rytmistä hierarkiaa. Kiihkeimmillään rytmikuviot ovat jousilla, vakainta ilmaisu on puolestaan vaskilla. Kimmo Korhonen Henri Sigfridsson Henri Sigfridsson (s. 1974) on suomalaispianisti, jonka urakehitys on vienyt vahvasti mm. Keski-Euroopan ja Japanin konserttilavoille. Keväästä 2008 alkaen hänet on kiinnitetty Itävaltaan Grazin musiikkikorkeakoulun pianonsoiton professoriksi. Henri Sigfridssonilla on runsaasti kansainvälistä kilpailumenestystä. Tuorein on ensimmäinen palkinto joulukuussa 2005 pidetyssä Bonnin Beethoven-kilpailussa, jossa hän sai myös yleisöpalkinnon ja palkinnon parhaasta kamarimusiikkiesityksestä. Vuonna 2004 hän sijoittui toiseksi Maria Callas Grand Prix -kilpailussa
competition in Zurich in summer 2000. He was the Finland Festivals Young Artist of the Year in 1996, and the Mozart Society in Dortmund nominated him Artist of the Year for the season 2001-2002. Henri Sigfridsson studied the piano with Sävy Nordgrén at the Turku Conservatory from 1985 and went on to study with Erik T. Tawaststjerna at the Sibelius Academy in 1989. He studied with Professor Pavel Gililov at the Cologne University of Music, and also with Lazar Berman at the Liszt School of Music Weimar in 1995-1997. Alongside his career as a soloist, he is artistic director of the concert series at the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum in Turku, Finland. The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, comprising 97 musicians, is one of Scandinavia s foremost symphony orchestras. As from August 2006 onward the new Chief Conductor of the orchestra is the Finnish conductor John Storgårds. August 2009 he will be followed by Hannu Lintu, the new Chief Conductor. Storgårds predecessor, the Estonian Eri Klas, is Conductor Laureate and Jouni Kaipainen acts as Composer-in-Residence. Other Chief Conductors have been Tuomas Ollila, Leonid Grin, Ari Rasilainen, Atso Almila, Paavo Rautio, Juhani Raiskinen and Eero Kosonen. The orchestra is based at Tampere Hall, which was built in 1990 and is the largest concert hall in Finland. Each year, the orchestra has a series of symphonic concerts and of chamber music concerts, and it also plays in local opera and ballet productions and regularly appears at the Tampere Biennale contemporary music festival. The orchestra has toured Scandinavia, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the USA. Its educational outreach projects and other events for kids and teens are one of its strong points: the Tampere Philharmonic is the first orchestra in Finland to establish a club for young listeners. The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded more than 40 CDs for the Ondine label with conductors such as John Storgårds, Hannu Lintu, Eri Klas, Tuomas Ollila and Leif Segerstam, featuring works by Einar Englund, Peteris Vasks, Alma Mahler, Leo Brouwer and John Corigliano, to name but afew. Many of these have received excellent reviews and awards, such as the Cannes Classical Disc of the Year Award 2004 (for Vasks s Second Symphony) and a total of five Cannes Classical Awards.
Recorded at the Tampere Hall, Tampere, 12/2007 Recording Engineer: Enno Mäemets Producer: Seppo Siirala Publisher: Fennica/Gehrman Oy Artist Photos: FIMIC / Saara Vuorjoki (Hakola), Marco Borggreve (Storgårds), Deutsche Telekom (Sigfridsson) Cover and Inlay Design: Roy Haapakoski Booklet Editor: Mikko Hannuksela Executive Producer: Reijo Kiilunen P 2009 Ondine Inc. Fredrikinkatu 77 A 2 FIN-00100 Helsinki Tel. +358 9434 2210 Fax +358 9493 956 e-mail ondine@ondine.fi www.ondine.net This recording was produced with support from the Foundation for the Promotionof Finnish Music (LUSES), and the Finnish Performing Music Promotion Centre (ESEK). Kimmo Hakola on Ondine: ODE 1063-2 Clarinet Concerto, Verdoyances crépuscules for Orchestra, Diamond Street Kari Kriikku, clarinet Finnish RSO Sakari Oramo, conductor ODE 960-2 Clarinet Quintet, Loco, Capriole Kari Kriikku, clarinet Avanti! Quartet Anssi Karttunen, cello
Kimmo Hakola PIANO CONCERTO 1 IFurioso 2 II Capricci 3 III Forza 4 IV Toccata 5 VFuoco 6 VI Cadenza 7 VII Maestoso 8 VIII Triste 9 IX Lux 5:01 10:45 1:59 2:20 4:57 4:46 11:49 7:02 7:35 10 Sinfonietta (1999) (b. 1958) (1996) 56:14 13:59 (70:27) Henri Sigfridsson, piano Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra John Storgårds, conductor ODE1127-2