#Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

[paul-archibald]

Brazil

The music of Brazil has developed some unique and original styles such as samba, bossa nova, choro and frevo alongside Brazilian versions of rock, pop, soul, hip-hop, rap and gospel. Instrumental music is also popular in Brazil especially jazz influenced forms. But there is also a long history of classical composers so today’s programme explores some of the composers who influenced and defined…

[onenakedfarmer]

Currently Playing

Leevi Madetoja SYMPHONY NO. 2 (1916-1918)

John Storgårds Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

[sysy-studyblr]

tuesday 13/08/2024

i like listening to classical music as i do math and german ft. my point n shoot film camera

♫ the wood nymph op. 15 - jean sibelius, helsinki philharmonic orchestra, john storgårds ♫

[lesser-known-composers]

Einojuhani Rautavaara (1865–1957) - Manhattan Trilogy: I. Daydreams

Conductor: Leif Segerstam

Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

[polymorphousculturevulture]

Helsinki philharmonic orchestra

[n4682]

raut concerto recs?

okay, so

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Op. 45)

okay so my favourite recording for this is by Laura Mikkola (pfte) and Hannu Lintu with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

i just love this recording so much it makes me go feral istg

Violin Concerto

check out the recording by Elmar Oliveira (vln) and Leif Segerstam with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. its just amazing and Oliveira's cadenza fits so well with Rautavaara's style that i honestly had a hard time trying to hear when it began

Percussion Concerto - "Incantations"

the percussion concerto is great. Colin Currie (perc.) with John Storgårds and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is amazing and its just

aaaaa!

Concerto for Birds and Orchestra - "Cantus Arcticus"

yes, you heard that right. not even birds are safe from composers.

but in all seriousness, the recording by Max Pommer and the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra is great and it just feels right. at least to me.

why i dont have more

ive just been trying to find good recordings. for the third piano concerto, Vladimir Askenazy's (pfte., cond.) recording is... alright? i mean its certainly not terrible, but it feels a bit too heavy at times.

ive been beginning to listen to the harp concerto as of late and its really quite wonderful.

the double bass concerto is something that ive listened to only in part.

also if you had to ask me what my favourite non-concerto work by Rautavaara is, it would probably have to be Over The Horizon. idk.

[lboogie1906]

Dr. Paul Douglas Freeman (January 2, 1936 – July 21, 2015) was a conductor, born in Richmond, Virginia.

He was a conductor, composer, and founder of the Chicago Sinfonietta. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music. A Fulbright Scholarship enabled him to study for two years at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin with Ewald Lindemann. He studied conducting with Pierre Monteux at the American Symphony Orchestra.

He began his conducting career as the music director of the Opera Theatre of Rochester for six years. He then held posts as associate conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. These were followed by a stint as principal guest conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He served as music director of the Victoria Symphony in Canada. He founded the Chicago Sinfonietta of which he remained the Musical Director until his retirement. Concurrently with his time with the Chicago Sinfonietta, he held the post of music director and chief conductor of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague. Following his retirement from the Chicago Sinfonietta, he was named Emeritus Music Director of the orchestra.

He can be considered one of the most successful recording conductors from the US. He has a nine-LP series that follows the history of African American symphonic composers from 1750 to the time of recording. This series garnered a lot of attention on the Columbia Records label during the 1970s and has since been re-released as a Sony Classical boxed set of ten CDs, published in 2019. He collaborated with pianist Derek Han to record all of the piano concertos of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. In his work with numerous orchestras, he has been a part of over a dozen televised productions in North America and Europe. He has been nominated for two Emmy Awards.

He married Cornelia Freeman and they had one son. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[serioustravelblogs]

Finlandia: From Lapland to Helsinki

  The symphony Finlandia was composed by the famous Finnish composer Sibelius prior to the Second World War, when Finland was invaded by the Russians – and fought them off for 6 months – an act of unbelievable courage from such a small population. I attended the performance of Finlandia by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra earlier in the year – and how it resonated with the audience with the…

[jingjingxuan]

Entry 6: Music and politics

This week is Week 3, which means we will have to complete our first assessment for each module. One of the assessment peeked my interested- writing a 500-word essay and present an inherent bias in a musical institution. For this assessment, I decided on discussing the female conductors in the classical music scene. 

The reason why I picked this topic is because I realised I have never encountered a female conductor before, even when I went on YouTube to listen to some orchestra recordings, there’s hardly any female conductors. I went through some digging on the internet and found the history in women conducting. It wasn’t until the 1930, Antonia Brico made her first debut as a female conductor with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. I understand that women are not allowed in the music scene in the early days, but we have Fenny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Amy Beach and few other female role models composing and performing in public in the 1800s, I did not expect the first female conductor to only appear in 1900s. It was shocking for me and honestly a little disheartening to know this fact. 

I researched some factors that contribute to this issue. The main reason why all this happened was the double standards between men and women. There were arguments about how women has weaker stage presence, or have no stamina in conducting, or has more feminine gestures and the musicians will misinterpret it. I found it ridiculed that another reason is because the board members are mostly men, and thought that they have the role and responsibility to keep the tradition going on, which is by only having a male conductor, a maestro, to lead the orchestra. I thought it was nonsense, the board member shouldn’t made the decision based on prejudice. They didn’t even let the female conductor to showcase their talent and just decided to just shut them off. There's an article that mentions female conductors don’t lack talent, they lack the opportunities and I agree with them. 

Some more interesting facts about female conductors are there is currently no female conductor leading the top 25 best orchestras in the world. Marin Alsop used to be the only female conductor that made it to that list, guiding Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, but she left in 2021 and now it is back to square one. On the bright side, more and more female conductors are taking up roles as chief conductor and music director in orchestras. We have Simone Young, the only Australian conductor that made it to Gramaphone’s Top 50 conductors 2022, recently being appointed as the chief conductor for Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Xian Zhang for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki for Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

I have gain a lot of insights through this assessment. The female conductor field had made a leeway, but there is still a very long way to go. I sincerely hope female conductors won’t give up their dream due to any double standards they faced and will continue to thrive so there’s more role model to the younger generations. I also hope that everyone can stop labelling musicians based on their gender: male conductor or female conductor, and just refer them merely as conductors. In the end, all the conductors disregard of gender or race, they all hold the same intentions and motive; to bring music alive. 

[amatesura]

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra photographed by Marko Rantanen

[octothorpetopus]

watching la forza del destino bawling my eyeballs out at the callbacks to the pilot. dan knowing the obscure conductors of major philharmonic orchestras. helsinki. one of them trying to convince the other one that it’s worth staying at sports night.

[onenakedfarmer]

Currently Playing

Einojuhani Rautavaara SELECTED WORKS

Cantus Arcticus, Op. 61 Pertti Pekkanen Klemetti Institute Symphony Orchestra

Angel Of Dusk Leif Segerstam Olli Kosonen Radion Sinfoniaorkesteri

String Quartet No. 2 Jean Sibelius Quartet

Cantos I-III Juhani Lamminmäki Tapiola Sinfonietta

Epitaph for Béla Bartók Hommage à Zoltán Kodály Hommage à Ferenc Liszt Csaba Szilvay Géza Szilvay The Helsinki Strings

A Requiem In Our Time Jorma Panula Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

Sonetto for Clarinet and Piano Kullervo Kojo Juhani Lagerspetz

[burlveneer-music]

Stefan Pasborg - Ritual Dances - Stravinsky arranged for jazz big band

Danish drummer/composer Stefan Pasborg grew up in a household of ballet dancers, allowing him to have an intimate relationship with their lifestyle and performances. One of his first formative musical experiences was witnessing a performance of Igor Stravinsky’s legendary ballet, The Rite of Spring, by The Danish Royal Ballet. The experience embedded a love for Stravinsky’s work that has manifested in Pasborg’s new recording, Ritual Dances. Even though his compositions were seen as dangerously revolutionary when they premiered, Igor Stravinsky’s music has inspired listeners for generations. His many works have become part of the canon for many philharmonic orchestras but are still presented in more challenging programs. Stravinsky was a key figure in avant-garde symphonic writing, but it was his ballets, The Rite of Spring, The Firebird, and Petrushka, that solidified his legend. The Rite of Spring and The Firebird were the two ballets that inspired Pasborg to reinterpret the Stravinsky’s work for a jazz big band. Ritual Dances takes music from these two works as a basis for Pasborg’s re-structuring. The pieces are heard performed by two large ensembles: the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra on two live cuts and Blood Sweat Drum+Bass for the complete studio recording. The bands are augmented by a number of soloists and electronic musicians. Stefan Pasborg - drums Anders Banke - tenor sax (tracks 3, 5, 6, 8, 9), clarinet (tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, 7) Anders Filipsen - keyboards (tracks 2-10) Fredrik Lundin - tenor sax (tracks 3, 4, 10) Goran Kajfes - trumpet (track 6) Jeppe Kjellberg - guitar (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10) Jeppe Tuxen - Hammond B3 organ (tracks 6, 8) Jussi Kannaste - tenor sax (tracks 1, 11) Mikael Myrskog - Moog bass (tracks 1, 7, 8, 11) Rune Harder Olesen - percussion (tracks 7, 10) Seppo Kantonen - keyboards (tracks 1, 11) Ståle Storløkken - Hammond B3 organ (track 5) UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra (tracks 1 & 11): Ville Vannemaa - conductor Mikko Mäkinen - soprano, alto sax Sampo Kasurinen - tenor sax, flute Teemu Salminen - tenor sax, bass clarinet Max Zenger - baritone sax, bass clarinet Marko Portin - flute Teemu Mattsson - trumpet Timo Paasonen - trumpet Tomi Nikku - trumpet Tero Saarti - trumpet Kasperi Sarikoski - trombone Mikko Mustonen - trombone Pekka Laukkanen - trombone Mikael Långbacka - bass trombone Aarne Riikonen - percussion Blood Sweat Drum+Bass (tracks 2-10): Jens Christian "Chappe" Jensen - conductor, saxophones (track 9) Michael Mølhede - trumpet, flugelhorn Bent Hjort - trumpet, flugelhorn Malte Pedersen - trumpet, flugelhorn René Damsbak - trumpet, flugelhorn Ole Visby - soprano sax, clarinet, bass clarinet Julie Kjaer - alto sax, flute, alto flute Jacob Rønne Danielsen - tenor saxophone, contrabass clarinet, clarinet Nikolaj Schneider - tenor sax, clarinet Harald Langåsdalen - baritone sax, clarinet Jens Kristian Bang - trombone Jonathan Bruun Meyer - trombone Kirstine Kjaerulff Ravn - trombone Jonathan Henneveld - bass trombone Rasmus Svale Kjaergård Lund - tuba Sisse Foged Hyllestad - bass Magnus Lindgaard Jochumsen - percussion Søren Lyngsø Knudsen - electronics

[lesser-known-composers]

Leo Brouwer (b. 1939) - Guitar Concerto No. 5, "Helsinki": I. Spaces ·

Timo Korhonen, guitar

Conductor: Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen

Orchestra: Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra

[historical-babes]

Robert Kajanus (1856-1933).

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He was a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher. In 1882, he founded the Helsinki Orchestral Society, Finland's first professional orchestra. As a conductor, he was also a notable champion and interpreter of the music of Jean Sibelius. He also championed Finnish national music.

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He worked in Dresden in the years immediately after his graduation, and returned to Helsinki in 1882. He founded the first permanent orchestra in Finland: the Helsinki Orchestral Society (later to become the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finland's national orchestra). He brought the orchestra to a very high performance standard very quickly, so that they were able to give quite credible performances of the standard late classical/mid-romantic repertory. Kajanus led the Helsinki Philharmonic for 50 years, and among the milestones of that history was the first performance in Finland of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in 1888. His early-electric 78-rpm atmospheric, authoritative recordings of Sibelius symphonies are still interpretive milestones.

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Kajanus was appointed director of music at the University of Helsinki in 1897 and remained in the post for the next 29 years, a period in which he had a major impact on music education in his native country. In 1917, he became the first president of the Finnish Musicians' Union. He was also the founder of the Nordic Music Festival in 1919. He received many decorations, including the French Légion d'honneur.

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Kajanus composed over 200 works, of which Aino and the Finnish Rhapsodies are enduringly popular. His compositions were mostly influenced by the German Romantic composers and by Finnish folk music.