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Subscription Concerts 2022-2023Program B
No. 1967 Subscription (Program B)

Program

Grieg / Piano Concerto A Minor Op.16

A father of Norwegian classical music, Grieg started piano lessons at home before studying abroad at the Leipzig Conservatory. Being trained by the pianist Ignaz Moscheles, a champion of Beethoven, and becoming acquainted with works by Mendelssohn, Chopin and Schumann there had an influence on the young student. Later in the early 1860s, he stayed in Copenhagen to study under the Danish composer Niels Gade who would also teach Nielsen (described below).
In Leipzig, Grieg heard Clara Schumann playing her husband's Piano Concerto in A minor. The Norwegian composer since avowed himself to be a great admirer of the work. While some similarities have been pointed out between the two men's concertos, especially the central key and how they start, Grieg's is surely original particularly in the treatment of folkish idioms. An excellent pianist, Grieg wrote it in his mid-twenties. After its 1869 premiere in Copenhagen brought him a first reputation as composer, he revised it several times over three decades. It became, unsurprisingly one of the most celebrated pieces of piano literature.
The first movement begins with a timpani roll crescendo followed by the dramatic entry of the soloist playing a cascade of falling octaves. Then woodwinds sing the idyllic first theme. The meditative slow movement is opened by strings utilizing mutes, a devise to make a softer sound. Without pause, the finale in sonata rondo form gives a short, brilliant passage by the pianist, who then introduces the stomping main theme recalling the "halling," a Norwegian acrobatic folk dance. The lyrical second theme appears on the flute solo. In the last stage, the time switches from triple to quadruple (Andante maestoso) to close the concerto magnificently.

[Kumiko Nishi]

Nielsen / Symphony No. 3 Op. 27, Sinfonia espansiva*

Born in the Danish Island of Funen in 1865, Nielsen is considered today one of the most
essential Nordic composers. However, he didn't gain the genuine international fame in his lifetime as contrasted with Jean Sibelius, the same age as him, and their senior Grieg whose music impinged on early works of Nielsen. He studied composition under Niels Gade, Grieg's teacher, at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. While composing, he started his career as an orchestral violinist and later served as a conductor with the Royal Theatre in the capital and the Orchestra of the Copenhagen Music Society.
Nielsen left us a vast catalogue including six unconventional, inventive, beautiful symphonies (premiered on his native soil between 1894 and 1925), concertos, two operas and a profusion of songs and choral works. The pre-World War I work, his Third Symphony was written in 1910-1911 and first performed in 1912 under his own baton. The uniqueness more than anything of this unique symphony is the presence of human voices (described below) in the slow second movement.
The work's subtitle comes from the first movement's tempo and performing indication "Allegro espansivo (expansive)". The way it begins is already unique and astonishing, as the orchestra gives consecutively a wallop of the A note twenty-six times. The first sonata theme immediately follows it evoking a valiant waltz. In contrast, woodwinds gently state the tuneful second theme. The "expansive" character shifts to "pastorale (pastoral)" tone when the second movement comes. Here we hear the distant, paradisiacal vocalise (wordless song) by soprano and baritone soloists. After the scherzo-like third movement, the finale revives the "expansive" character. It opens with the hymnlike majestic theme sung by violins and clarinets in unison.
The symphony concludes in triumph with the powerful A note, reminiscent of its outset.

[Kumiko Nishi]

Artists

Herbert Blomstedt ConductorHerbert Blomstedt

Born in 1927, now reaching his mid-nineties, Herbert Blomstedt is literally the conductor enjoying the strongest bond with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Since their first collaboration in 1981, he has returned to the orchestra's podium frequently, with rarely longer than a two year interval. Needless to say, with a popular repertoire centered on the German and Austrian sphere, in recent years, he has actively been taking up works by Northern European composers (Grieg and Nielsen will be featured in Program B in October). The collaboration with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, as both sides deeply know each other's music, leaves a profound impression engraved in the hearts of audience, thus making a legendary performance each time they work together.
He was born to a minister father and a pianist mother, and started his career as a conductor in Northern Europe. As a devout Seventh-day Adventist and music missionary, he became Chief Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden in 1975, a position which had remained vacant for years, and led the orchestra to build a golden age, and at the same time, his fame became known to the world. Disapproving of the former East German government's involvement in art, he assumed the position of Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1985 (–1995), then led the NDR Sinfonieorchester (presently NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester) (1996–1998), and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (1998–2005). After that, he has distanced himself from taking a fixed position, however, he has continued appearing with world’s most renowned orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Wiener Philharmoniker. The NHK Symphony Orchestra awarded him the title of Honorary Conductor in 1986 and Honorary Conductor Laureate in 2016.

[Mitsunori Eto, music critic]

Olli Mustonen PianoOlli Mustonen

Olli Mustonen has his own artistic belief as an all-round musician, pouring passion and energy into piano performances, composition and conducting. He was born in Helsinki, Finland, and started learning piano, harpsichord and composition at the age of five. He studied piano under
Ralf Gothóni and Eero Heinonen, and composition under Einojuhani Rautavaara. He started garnering attention as a new-generation piano virtuoso for his clear and transparent sound, sharp technique and intellectual rendition from the mid-1980s. In recent years, he has recorded many works including Beethoven and Prokofiev, in which his well-honed expression reflecting his perspective as a composer bears fruit. His compositions are not confined to piano and chamber music pieces, but include orchestral and vocal works, as well. At the same time, he has been ardently conducting orchestras, and since 2021, has been serving as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. He has frequently visited Japan since 1990, and first worked with the NHK Symphony Orchestra as piano soloist performing Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 in 1991. In 2009, he conducted the orchestra from the keyboard playing Beethoven, and conducted his own work and that of Sibelius. In his long-awaited appearance this autumn he will perform Grieg to the eager anticipation of the audience, in a Northern European program under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt.

[Takaakira Aosawa, music critic]

Mao Morita* SopranoMao Morita*

Takashi Aoyama* BaritonTakashi Aoyama*

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Subscription Concerts 2022-2023
Program B

No. 1967 Subscription (Program B)

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