http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2009/11/last_composer_standing_-_the_r.htm
It´s difficult to understand the reason for these pollings. They might be entertaining for some readers but the real substance is of course missing. The biggest record companies will naturally send their blessings to Mr Lebrecht and it seems that he is making them a favor in a same way the Finnish cultural minister Stefan Wallin is about to make a favor for Nokia, though the latter case is about copyright laws.
The music enthusiasts have never been very good prophets since the greatest composers are always ahead of their own time and Mr Lebrecht very wisely refers to other possible reasons for the obvious distortions on his list. Contemporary fame does not necessarily predict eternal life, not even life after 50 years. There must be few Albrectsbergers, Salieris and Reichas on this list. Which ones, I can´t say. I´m not a prophet either.
This actually happens to link very well with our concert on Friday last week in Tampere.
The week was musically interesting and logistically victorious. Veli-Matti Puumala´s magnificent and huge orchestral piece was rehearsed and performed in the presence of the composer. The score is literally huge as well. I remember few years ago a critic writing that "the score is in the size of a doberman but you still need a magnifying glass to read it". The premiere at the Helsinki Festival twelve years ago was disaster because the conductor booked for the occasion didn´t (or couldn´t) study it properly. The way how the piece came out this time was hopefully nearer to the composer´s intentions but there are still things we have to fix before the recording sessions in January. One of the most unique and difficult features in this piece is the stage layout of the orchestra. There are about one hundred musicians seated in semicircles, descant instruments in the front and lower instruments in the back. This creates new and fascinating textures and sounds. For the stage managers this creates a nightmare. Here are two pictures taken by our orchestral manager Maritta Hirvonen. In the first one the musicians of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra are desperately trying to locate their seats before the first rehearsal and in the second picture they are finally seated and the rehearsal is in process. The first Puumala orchestral CD will be released next spring to make sure that also his music will be heard 50 years from now.
We had also another composer present. Einojuhani Rautavaara (No. 11 on Lebrect´s list) had travelled from Helsinki to hear the Scandinavian premiere of his new "Incantations", concerto for percussion and orchestra. It meant a lot for us that he came, it was moving to see him there and an honour to play for him. Colin Currie was as impeccable as always. Such a pleasure to play with him. I´ll see him next time in Baltimore where "Incantations" gets the US premiere in April 2010.
A selection of songs by Sibelius was sung by Jorma Hynninen. It´s amazing how he always seems to find more new and surprising aspects of these popular songs. I just learned that he´s asked Kimmo Hakola to write him a new song cycle which he could perform in 2011 when he turns 70!
The first four months in Tampere are over and we are still getting along.
Strange.
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