www.joensuu.fi/orkesteri

DUO TIKSOLA

Antti Tkkanen, violin and viola

Minna Pensola, violin

Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel, einmal anders op. 28 (ar-ranged for violin, clarinet, French horn, bas-soon and contrabass Franz Hasenöhrl), (1954)

Benjamin Britten: Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra, (1932)

Allegro ma non troppo

Rhapsody. Poco lento

Allegro scherzando – Allegro non troppo

BREAK

Joseph Haydn: Symphony no 94 G major H1/94, ”Surprise”, (1791)

Adagio – Vivace assai

Andante

Menuet (Allegro molto)

Finale (Allegro di molto)

The duration of the concert is about 1.5 hours

DUO TIKSOLAMinna Pensola, violinAntti Tikkanen, violin and viola

THU 21ST OF NOVEMBER 2019 AT 7 PM | CARELIA HALL

Minna Pensola | violinMinna Pensola performs as a chamber

musician, soloist and leader.

She is a founding member of Meta4 string quartet which is the first prize winner of the Dimitri Shostakovich String Quartet Competiti-on (Moscow 2004) and the Joseph Haydn Cham-ber Music Competition (Vienna 2007). Meta4 performs regularly in key music capitals and concert halls around the world.

Minna Pensola is a co-founder of The Puna-vuori Chamber concert series, and runs a club for classical music in her home town Helsinki since 2008. She acted as an artistic director for the Sysmä Summer Sounds Festival in Finland years 2006-2012. During the seasons 2019-2021 Pensola will work as an artistic partner of Joen-suu City Orchestra.

Minna Pensola teaches violin at the Sibelius Academy and is tutor at the European Cham-ber Music Academy (ECMA). Her own studies took her to through the Sibelius Academy, Mu-sikhochschule Zürich and European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) where she enjoyed valuable guidance of Kaija Saarikettu, Ana Chumachenko, Hatto Beyrle and Josef Rissin.

Minna Pensola plays a Carlo Bergonzi vio-lin (1732) kindly on loan from Signe ja Ane Gyllenberg Foundation.

In her free time she tries to follow the intentions ans inventions of her two young daughters who’s impeccable logic keeps her in constant marvelling.

Antti Tikkanen | violin, violaAntti Tikkanen is a versatile musician who-

se dynamic career spans solo, chamber as well as baroque performance. The wide range of repertoire from early baroque to contemporary music reflect the scope of his talent.

Antti was born in Oulainen, Finland and began to study the violin at the age of seven. His first teacher at the Jokilaakso Music Institute was Tomasz Orzech. From there on he studied in the Kuhmo Violin School with Professor Zinaida Gilels, at the Sibelius Academy with Lajos Garam, Mi-Kyung Lee and Kreeta-Maria Kentala and for a short period he also studied in the Lyon CNSM with Pavel Vernikov.

Antti Tikkanen has performed with numerous Finnish orchestras, including the Finnish Radio Symphony, Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Helsin-ki Philharmonic.

Tikkanen has performed extensively around the world’s music festivals as a chamber musician, soloist or a member of an ensemble. Antti is also a member of the internationally well-known Finnish String Quartet Meta4.

Antti Tikkanen plays a Stradivarius violin ”ex Berglund” kindly on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

ESIINTYJÄT

WORKS

Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel einmal anders (”Till Eulenspiegel once more differently”, arranged by Franz Hasenöhrl)

A historical cheater and practical joke maker Till Eulenspiegel lived in Northern Germany in the 14th century. Richard Strauss (1864–1949) became interested in subject after seeing Till Eulenspiegel opera by Cyrill Kistler in 1889. Strauss held the post of assistant conductor in the Weimar opera house between 1889–1894 and there he started to plan his own opera of the same theme.

Strauss marked on his sketch book about his main character: ”Till, the hater of peop-le and the worshipper of nature. A loafer who is harassing our Lord and cheating people whenever possible. Him, who is not respecting women but tries to seduce them all the time”.

In 1894 Strauss started his work as a conductor of Munich court orchestra and that time he formed a symphonic poem of the subject, Till Eulenspiegel’s merry pranks op. 28 (1895). This symphonic poem is one of the greatest virtuoso pieces of orchestral repertoire which has a place in the shows of big orchestras.

The chamber arrangement of the work by Franz Hasenörl (1885–1970) could feel li-ke a sacrilege unless the subject of Strauss original work wasn’t so unholy.

Reducing the massive orchestra to violin, contrabass, bassoon and French horn and cutting half the duration of the original work makes a good-natured prank of Strauss profound sense of humor. The virtuosity of the original work is untouched, even highlighted.

A legend tells that the Hasenörl’s arrangement was played somewhere is Germany in the 1940s. An old gentleman came to thank the arranger afterwards. – You should listen the original work, it’s much more better, convinced Hasenörl. –I know, I’m Richard Strauss.

Benjamin Britten: Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra (1932)

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) was an English independent nonconformist of music, an intellectual virtuoso and a prodigy who had difficulties coping with the concervative cultural elite. He started

studying piano at the age of seven and later he played also viola. Britten took private composing lessons from Frank Bridge and when beginning his studies at the London’s Royal Academy of Music in the 1930s, he was a learned composer.

Britten was 18 years old when he compo-sed his breakthrough work, Sinfonietta op. 1, which is skilfull and self-sufficient. This probably caused some disorder at the work’s rehearsals, so the composer didin’t finish his next work, a concerto for violin, viola and orchestra (1932).

An apparent comparison work for Britten’s Double concerto was Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante KV 364 which was one of the young Britten’s favourites. A second source of inspiration was Concerto for viola by William Walton from 1929.

The Double Concerto stayed untouched until year 1987 when the work had it’s premiere. Composer Colin Matthews finished the work. According him, the sketch was fully orchestrated so he only had to complete couple of bars.

The first movement (Allegro non troppo) begins by strings but the Frech horn plays the first theme. The soloists pick up the theme next but Britten leaves space for the independent orchestral episodes too.

The viola begins often the solo passages before the violin but otherwise the solo instruments are treated equally. The mood of first movement is energetic and fresh but also mysterious at the end.

The slow movement (Rhapsody. Poco lento) caused some problems for the composer but the beginning of the movment creates a fine background for the solo passages of violin ja viola. The sharp solos doens’t avoid bitter shades either but they change warmer when the wood-winds join them. The slow movement ends rhapsodically as the headline suggests.

The charged finale (Allegro scherzando) starts immediately from the drum tapping which ends the slow movement. The rhythmic main theme dominates the music which moves ahead constant-ly led by the virtuoso soloists. Suddenly, at the end of the movement the tempo becomes slower and music changes more peaceful and idyllic The last solo passages of violin and viola are reflective and the music slowly fades away.

Joseph Haydn: Symphony no 94 G major, ”Surprise”

In 1790 Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) got an invitation from concert promoter Johann

Peter Salomon from London to perform for English audiences. Having worked almost 30 years for the Esterházy family, Haydn got an opportunity to reivse his sympho-nic style to more popular direction. Haydn’s 12 ”London” symphonies (nos 93–104) are works for large audicence and a big orchestra.

Finished in 1791, the symphony no 94 G major is still the most popular because of its ”surprise” at the slow movement. A typical mischievous trick for Haydn – which according to him ”made womed scream” – has sometimes overshadowed symphony’s other fine structures.

The first movement starts with a short introduction (Adagio) where a cosy dialogue is followed by more mysterio-us shades. Allegro theme (Vivace assai) rushes in 6/8 meter but the contrasting second theme is a vital waltz. The development section consists of main theme elaborations and second theme’s patternings.

Haydn used the slow movement’s pea cef u l theme l ater on h is oratorio The Seasons. The slow movement consists of variations on major and minor keys. Humor is also present at the variations.

Menuet (Allegro di molto) was a surprise for the contemporary listeners because of its fast and rustic music. The movement’s trio section is a technical masterpiece. The final (Allegro di molto) begins with a rondo-like theme but it turns out to be in a sonata form. Haydn blends in the music surprising turns and modulations.

Written by Antti Häyrynen

Translation by Outi Mustonen

La 30.11. klo 18 | Joensuu AreenaHuba Hollókői, kapellimestari | Kuorot: Mari-Annika Heikkilä

Sanna Heikkinen, sopraano | Timo Turunen, tenori | Juha Eskelinen, baritoni Carl Orff: Carmina Burana | Karl Jenkins: Adiemus & Palladio

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YHTEISTYÖSSÄ:

IN ADDITION IN THE ORCHESTRA THIS WEEK PLAYS: Arto Koistinen, viola | Vilhelm Karlsson, contrabass

IN COOPERATION:

Eero Lehtimäki, artistic directorAtso Almila, honorary conductorMariko Matsumoto, concert master Viacheslav Grikurov, alt. concert master Paweł Domański, II concert masterJuha Ikonen, I violin sdHeli Untamala, I violinAnton Solonen, I violinIlona Piirainen, II violin sdElina Jalas, II violinMerja Riihola, II violinGrażyna Wendland-Górzyńska, II violinAlina Hiltunen, II violinSławomir Górzyński, viola sdUlla-Riikka Karvinen, violaBoris Popov, violaKatri Hänninen, viola Erkki Hirvikangas, solo celloistPiotr Sobczak, cello sd

Konstantin Mishukov, celloClaire Lacey, celloHeikki Helske, contrabass sdKari Räsänen, contrabassAlexander Viazovtsev, flute sdAlice Thompson, fluteKatharina Freihoff, oboe sdJoona Parkkinen, oboe Petri Vallius, clarinet sdElina Pyykönen clarinet Lauri Mykrä, bassoon sdHannu Vähäkainu, bassoonJonathan Nikkinen, horn sdHannu Korkalainen, hornKyösti Varis, trumpet sdMatti Raijas, trumpetAri Varpula, tuba sdHannu Porkka, percussion sd