Nordic Breeze at Carnegie Hall
(first published in The Cincinnati Post Jan. 20, 2005)
Music director Paavo Järvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra shook up Carnegie Hall on their first visit together in April, 2003 with the Symphony No. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
They return Monday with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, less of a roof-rattler, perhaps, but a work close to Järvi’s heart.
Also on the program are Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen’s Symphony No. 8 ("Autumnal Fragments") and the Grieg Piano Concerto with German pianist Lars Vogt.
Erich Kunzel will lead the Cincinnati Pops – the CSO in red blazers – with vocalist Kristin Chenoweth Tuesday at Carnegie Hall in a reprise of their crowd-pleasing show heard Sunday evening at Music Hall.
Cincinnati listeners can preview the CSO concert – and hear the U.S. premiere of the Sallinen - at 7:30 p.m. tonight, 11 a.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at Music Hall.
"The program is obviously something that people associate now with this orchestra," said Järvi. There is a lot of Nordic accent."
The Sibelius Fifth is "one of my favorite pieces," he said. "It has to do with the kind of picture it paints. The slow, magic horn opening gives you an atmosphere rather than anything particularly melodic or harmonic. It puts you immediately into a state of mind that allows you to listen on your own terms."
Vogt, a sensation in his CSO debut in Sept. 2002 (Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4), "is one of the young stars," said Järvi.
The Sallinen is important "because we are bringing a new piece to New York. It is something that shows the very serious side of this orchestra, that we are not going with only the most popular and success-oriented program."
That said, there is nothing to fear from Aulis Sallinen, who like many of today’s classical composers, shed strict modernist techniques during the 1970s and adopted a neo-romantic style.
Järvi premiered the 20-minute work with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam last April. It fulfills its title, he said, though not literally. "It has nothing to do with the changing of the seasons. It’s sort of a man being in the autumn of his life."
Harmonically, it is "very tonal and very understandable." Though autumnal, the mood is "not pessimistic or tragic, but sort of realistic," Järvi said. "You can feel and hear throughout a very Nordic, especially a very Finnish, sound."
Sibelius (also Finnish) was an obvious influence, he said.
Estonian born Järvi is no longer concerned about being tagged as a Nordic conductor. "Let’s face it, I am Nordic, but I do so much other stuff that at this point, it doesn’t really matter. We (the CSO) have a CD coming out that is Debussy and the last one was Ravel. I don’t think I am seen anymore as a purely Nordic conductor, though I do have an affinity for that music. I like Sibelius and there is nothing wrong with that, if it isn’t the only thing you do."
Interestingly, Järvi will be in New York the day after his father Neeme Järvi, music director designate of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, conducts an all-Nordic concert in Newark’s Prudential Hall (including two works by Sibelius).
"It’s a nice coincidence," said Järvi, because the CSO was mentioned in a full-page spread about the NJSO’s "Northern Lights Festival" Jan. 7 in the New York Times. Planned by Neeme Järvi, the NJSO program of concerts and special events (Jan. 4-23) focuses on the Scandinavian countries.
For their second Carnegie visit, Järvi plans to show New York (again) "just how good this orchestra is and what we can do – which is pretty much the same thing we’re showing our audiences here every week."
He will have a hard act to follow. Performing on Sunday afternoon at Carnegie Hall will be James Levine and the crack Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
"Carnegie Hall is a place where you feel the heat anyway," laughed Järvi.
Paavo Järvi and the CSO perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall at 8 p.m. Monday. Tickets are $24-$82. Erich Kunzel and the Pops perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are $24-$58. Both are available at www.carnegiehall.org or call (212) 247-7800.