Release Concert
Klaus Mäkelä Dmitri Shostakovich
Einojuhani Rautavaara

Concerto for Birds and Orchestra

Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016) composed Cantus Arcticus—Concerto for Birds and Orchestra in 1972 for the University of Oulu in northern Finland. In his most famous work, Rautavaara combines the symphony orchestra with actual recordings of birds from the Oulu region.

Rautavaara experimented with various styles, and in the 1960s, he was among Finland's most radical composers. By the end of the decade, he gradually shifted to a more romantic expression, and in Cantus Arcticus, birds soar over a somewhat melodic landscape.

In the first movement, The bog, a person wanders through the marshlands, represented by a slow and dignified melody. In the second movement, Melancholy, processed recordings of the skylark are heard, and the third movement, Swans migrating, concludes with the birds and the orchestra disappearing into the distance.

Launch of the Shostakovich Series with Symphony No. 5

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) composed Symphony No. 5 during one of the most ominous epochs in Soviet history. The years 1937–1938, known as the Great Terror, were marked by oppression, persecution, and mass executions under Joseph Stalin's regime.

Shostakovich had reason for concern. In 1936, his controversial and successful opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was heavily criticized in Pravda newspaper after Stalin saw it. Symphony No. 5 was an exercise in balance – maintaining artistic integrity without provoking too much.

Symphony No. 5 premiered in 1937 and was, as the authorities desired, a step towards a traditional direction, but Shostakovich's uniqueness remained intact. The third movement, Largo, conveyed a more profound message about the terror of the times, and the audience hailed the composer with tremendous applause after the concert.