Salonen Nielsen Fischer Søndergård

In this concert you will get to hear music from three nordic composers; Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Sibelius and Nielsen were contemporaries and knew each other, this year marks 150 years since they were born. Sibelius wrote his theatre music for King Kristian II as early as 1898, whilst Nielsen's fifth symphony is one of his later works, completed in 1922.

Esa-Pekka Salonen (b. 1958) was born in Helsinki and studied there together with among others composer Magnus Lindberg and our honorary conductor Jukka Pekka Saraste. Since then he has built up an outstanding position in today's music world: Many have attempted to combine conducting and composing activities, but few have succeeded to such an extent in both areas.

As a conductor he has amongst other things behind him a 17 year long period as chief conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, an episode that has been called «a turning point in classical music's recent history in America». Even so he has increasing prioritised compostition, and recently began a four years period as house composer for the New York Philharmonic.

The violin concerto was premiered in 2009, and was quoted by the influential reviewer Alex Ross in the New Yorker as «one the most powerful orchestral works of the last few years». The violin concerto was later released on Deutche Grammophon and Salonen was awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer-prize for the violin concerto in 2012.

To have one's music used in an advertisement is not neccessarily every composers dream, but it attracted attention when Apple fronted a TV campaign for it's newest Ipad with Esa-Pekka Salonen, his thoughts on composition and not least the sound of the notes of his violin concerto. The concerto was also played in Apple Store in Berlin by Philharmonia Orchestra, as the first orchestra work ever.

The first movement of the violin concerto begins with a solitary, energetic violin solo, soon together with the vibraphone. After a couple of minutes, the orchestra first comes in massively, and it «comes and goes» whilst the violin works constantly throughout the movement. The second movement, Pulse I, is much calmer, and the composer explains in his commentary (link) that is describes a person who lies half awake at night, without any other sounds around than the heartbeat of the person beside him.

The third movement, Pulse II, is strong and rhythmic, and is inspired by the pulsating bigcity life in Los Angeles and the pop culture that characterises the city bustle. The last movement is called «Adieu» and switches between melancholic parts and strong outbursts. The concerto was written at the end of the composers conducting period in Los Angeles, but he writes that it was not meant as a concrete parting with anyone, and just as much expresses the beginning of something new, as an ending.