Several months ago I interviewed Hannu Lintu, now in his second full season as Chief Conductor of the Finnish RSO. Me being me, and knowing that Lintu is a very adventurous conductor, I brought my score of Pettersson 15 to the interview. After the interview we listened to the symphony for a few minutes, score in hand.
He was in a hurry, but closed the score and said something to the effect of (I cannot remember precisely):
"We need to do more things like this."
I was of course very excited to hear that. I decided to ask my contacts at Gehrman's if a score of Pettersson 15 could be provided for Lintu. They agreed.
Last night was the opening concert of the Finnish RSO 2014-2015 season. After the concert I met Lintu backstage, and gave him the score. He seemed quite excited, and said that a lot of 2015-2016 is still open.
Finland has actually produced a number of Pettersson enthusiasts, most notably Leif Segerstam. In recent years Jan Söderblom has performed both the Symphony No. 7 and Concerto No. 1 for String Orchestra in Tampere and Helsinki, repectively. Söderblom is now concertmaster of the Helsinki Phil, and has expressed interest in performing the Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra as soloist. And let's not forget Annemarie Åström, the formidably talented violinist who was the soloist in last year's Helsinki performance of the Concerto for Violin and String Quartet.
So, will we be hearing the Symphony No. 15 in Helsinki next year? I certainly hope so! Keep your fingers crossed.
