A chat with Leif Segerstam, Part II

Well, this is quite embarrassing. At least Comission and Ruzicka (intentionally or not) also missed it.

Last evening the Turku Philharmonic gave a guest concert in Helsinki, led by their new music director, Leif Segerstam. Although I have spoken before with Segerstam regarding his interpretation of the conclusion to the Symphony No. 15, I did not have the score with me at the time, so Segerstam had to go by memory. On this occasion, I made sure to bring my score to the concert and have a chat with the maestro at intermission. 

A brief refresher for those of you who are just joining us: for the final two chords of the Symphony No. 15, both Comissiona and Ruzicka cut off the winds and strings at the same time before the final strings-only chord, while Segerstam cuts off the winds only, allowing the strings to be heard alone before the transition to the final chord. You can read more about it here.

After the first half of the concert I found the maestro seated backstage. He remembered me from our previous conversation. When I showed him the score and asked him why he conducted the last measure the way that he did, he looked at the score for what must have been a fraction of a second, raised his voice, and said something to the effect of (I cannot remember exactly):

"...because that is what is in the score!"

I was confused. I thought Segerstam took some intepretive license here. 

"I don't make changes, I follow the score!"

"It is obvious!"

It is? What have I missed?

"There is a fermata over the strings only, but not over the winds and brass!"

D'oh!!!

The answer was right under my nose, always has been, and I missed it, and have been scratching my head for nothing. 

I was then scolded for asking "stupid questions."

He then put his hand on my shoulder and said he was joking. 

I thanked the maestro, and sheepishly left backstage. The fermata is over the strings only! That is why you hear strings only briefly before the final chord. Duh!!!

On the bus ride home I listened to final measures of the symphony, both the Segerstam and Comissiona versions, more times than I can remember. 

Pettersson knew exactly what he was doing here.

So did Segerstam.

Concert Review: Concerto for String Orchestra No. 1

Dear Friends,

Apologies for the long delay, as this concert took place on 15.11.2013!

One of the most pleasant surprises which I had shortly after moving to Helsinki was looking at the then just-released Spring 2008 calendar of the Tampere Philharmonic. In January 2008 this orchestra programmed the Symphony No. 7. On the podium was the violinist-conductor Jan Söderblom, somebody I had not heard of before. It was the first time I heard Pettersson live in concert, and it was a memorable performance. As for Söderblom, I made a mental note to check his performance schedule regularly, because more Pettersson could be coming from this source...

More than 5 years later, Söderblom conducted the Tapiola Sinfonietta (an excellent full-time chamber orchestra based in west Helsinki) in a performance of the Concerto for String Orchestra No. 1, the subject of this review. 

As I've probably mentioned before, every time I hear/see Pettersson live in performance I realize just how difficult this music is to play. About a year before this concert, I saw the same piece performed in Berlin, and the difficulties of the music appeared to overwhelm the musicians at times. Having seen the Tapiola Sinfonietta many times over the years, I am thoroughly familiar with their amazing ability and was looking forward to this concert. 

Söderblom led the piece from the concertmaster's chair. The first thing which struck me was the tight ensemble and extra-sharp articulations from the violas, who open the piece with repeated-note stabs. The entrance of the violins, with that motive based on fourths and fifths, came across as being a bit too cautious, instead of the storm of rosin I was hoping for. This was a general impression I had of this movement. 

While the contributions from the first desk players were excellent, in addition to the sense of cautiousness there were several transitional passages in the first movement which could have used a little more rehearsal. 

The second movement went about as well as I could have imagined. The opening "sigh" in e minor was chillingly played, the repeated notes were played with such maniacal insistence that they became almost disturbing, and the broad, quasi-Mahlerian section in Db/C# was extremely effective. 

The final movement went well, but again I felt that there was a certain sense of cautiousness. I'm so used to the final pages being taken relatively slowly, where the music is searching, falling into eb minor. As I've never seen the score, I do not know what tempo indication Pettersson had in mind. In this performance, the final measures went by pretty quickly, similar to Lindberg's take. Since Lindberg does such an incredible job of conducting exactly what  Pettersson writes, I'll assume that Söderblom was doing the same. 

Overall a great performance, and maybe another rehearsal would have made it amazing. 

So, what Pettersson will Söderblom perform next? Hopefully it will be sooner than five years from now...

Recording Review: Symphony No. 9, Norrköping SO, Lindberg

Dear Friends,

My review of this stunning new recording has been published online at ResMusica. Read here in English, or French, if you prefer. Enjoy!