Illustration, Jim Padgett
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Concert Hall, Helsinki Music Centre, Mannerheimintie 13 A, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
I was sorry to miss Väinö Raitio’s The Swans (1919) but caught it later, as below, only joining the broadcast in time for Prokofiev’s second and final movements, brought off in fine style by Julia Fischer, sympathetically accompanied, penetrative to the piece, its devilry, and icy passions, with her adding a poised Paganini Caprice (No.13) as a deserved encore.
I have heard Sakari Oramo conduct VW’s Job twice before, in Birmingham (CBSO) and at the Proms (BBCSO). This third just-as-lucky performance found the FRSO playing like natives (including fine saxophone and violin solos) with Oramo unerringly distilling the music’s pastoral beauty, nobility, depth of feeling, thrilling and edgy drama, and the poignancy of the final measures.