© Benjamin Ealovega
The Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo led the Cologne orchestra through a captivating “Lemminkäinen” suite.
There was a time – not so long ago – when it was best to avoid performances in which the Gürzenich Orchestra played Sibelius. It simply wasn’t their forte; they lacked the sensitivity required for the specific timbre of this orchestral music and its formal strategies, which diverge so strikingly from the German Romantic tradition. Well, times have changed: at the Sunday Philharmonic subscription concert, the orchestra now shone with a performance of the “Lemminkäinen” Suite that was captivating and excellent in every respect. Surprising? On closer inspection and listening, probably not – it simply requires the right person at the podium, a Finn who not only embodies the Sibelius spirit himself, as it were, but is also able to awaken it purposefully and effectively within the ensemble. Sakari Oramo, the orchestra’s Artistic Partner, succeeds in this to a high degree – his outward warmth blends beautifully with interpretative determination.
Now, the four-movement suite is, by its very nature, not as challenging for German performers and listeners as, say, Sibelius’s late symphonic works. Much of it sounds familiar here: ‘Tristan’ feelings set in, and the melancholic ballad tone and the work’s scenic imagery, with its references to the mythological Kalevala cosmos, find a comparatively direct path to the audience’s ears.
An intensity that leaves little room for further build-up
But that is precisely how it must be conducted: the way Oramo builds the sound at the start of each movement; the way he balances stagnation and flow; the way he allows wonderfully expansive melodies to grow out of the foundation of harmonic and rhythmic ostinatos – this is of the highest calibre and conveys a poetic aura whose intensity could scarcely be heightened. In this regard, the second movement (“The Swan of Tuonela”) is particularly worth mentioning, in which the English horn player Lena Schuhknecht lent her instrument’s voice to the birds circling the lake in the most captivating manner. But her colleagues – be it the strings with their agile brilliance or the horns with their haunting, yearning tone – were by no means outdone.
The concert had already got off to a flying start. As is well known, premieres these days often turn out to be mere flash-in-the-pans (though this was certainly no different in 18th-century Italian opera, for instance). The violin concerto “Concentric Paths” by the British composer Thomas Adès is certainly unlikely to be one of them in the long run; rather, it seems set to become a contemporary classic. The Gürzenich Orchestra had already performed it in 2011 under Markus Stenz, and now it was back on the programme.
And with good reason: the piece is undoubtedly ‘modern’, yet possesses a strong sensual appeal in its sound – in both the solo part and the orchestra. There are lyrical cantilenas, dance-like liveliness, motivic B-A-C-H constellations, and developmental passages spanning open fifths and octaves right through to ‘hearty’ thirds. And there are tonal impressions too, even if the traditional cadential resolution is ‘missing’ – the listener simply doesn’t know who or what is coming round the corner next, and then suddenly, somewhat surprisingly, it ends.
Oramo’s compatriot Tami Pohjola masterfully handled the demanding solo part, which soars very rapidly into star-high registers – with unquestionable virtuosity, a crystal-clear, dense tone and a remarkable sense of the required nuances in expressive values. It’s a shame she held back on an encore – even though there was actually plenty of time.
More information about the concert: https://www.guerzenich-orchester.de/de/event-detail/sagenhaft
Link to the article in the Kölnerstadtanzeiger: https://www.ksta.de/kultur-medien/koelner-philharmonie-mit-diesem-dirigenten-gelingt-dem-guerzenich-orchester-auch-sibelius-1262359