Friday, October 11, 2024
Concert Hall, Helsinki Music Centre, Mannerheimintie 13 A, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
In a concert dedicated to the memory of Leif Segerstam (see below), it was good to hear Aquifer again so soon after its UK premiere (also as below). It’s a score bustling with incident, an unstoppable force, and will stand up to repeated listens very well – this account from Helsinki was excellent, exciting in its energy and power, enigmatic too at times. Equally mysterious and built to last is the Baudelaire-inspired Tout un monde lointain… written for Rostropovich – ethereal, rarefied and poetic music requiring a sensitive and subtle touch from all concerned, ably embraced by Nicholas Collon and his Finnish Radio forces and certainly by Tomas Nuñez, rich-toned, expressive, intense, combative (when required), confident and poised. Following the interval, Tchaikovsky Four, which in the (architecturally sound) first movement lacked emotional tension and was short on passion. The middle movements fared well, and the Finale was fast and festive, played con fuoco.