Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Concert Hall, Helsinki Music Centre, Mannerheimintie 13 A, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Kaisa Kortelainen seduced with Syrinx and was then joined by a few string-playing colleagues for Boulez’s fluid Mémoriale (… explosante-fixe … Originel). Mozart’s ‘Paris’ Symphony (No.31, K297) followed, given a lively and vivid account, with buoyant outer movements (incisive rhythms and crisp timpani, the Finale especially fleet) and a flowing slow one (there’s no Minuet). Following the interval the full forces of the FRSO were wheeled out, first for the five Notations that Boulez expanded and orchestrated from the twelve piano miniatures of 1945, scored extravagantly yet without compromising his trademark clarity and precision – alluring music, whether thrilling, expressive, enigmatic (VII, sounds heard through mists), ending with the explosive II. Meticulous performances. Ravel next, two works that might have cancelled each other out, but didn’t, both slightly underwhelming – a well-detailed Daphnis Second Suite and a quick-paced Boléro that blossomed to a surprisingly raucous conclusion.
“One of the themes for the ongoing FRSO season is Paris. Mozart did not actually like the city, but luckily the Parisians delighted in his symphonies. This season, we also celebrate Pierre Boulez, whose Notations is a sort of musical autobiography. The FRSO’s principal flautist Kaisa Kortelainen will hold us spellbound in Claude Debussy’s Syrinx about the beguiling nymph pursued in vain by the god Pan.“
Claude Debussy: Syrinx
Pierre Boulez: Memoriale
W. A. Mozart: Symphony No. 31 in D Major K. 297/300a “Paris”
Pierre Boulez: Notations
Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2
Maurice Ravel: Bolero