Music Finland Core

* Title

Additional title

Description

The last Magnus Lindberg composition to be commissioned by the Helsinki Festival was given its first performance here six years ago to the day, on September 4th, 1985. On that occasion, too, Lindberg had been invited to produce a piano concerto, but what rolled off Lindberg’s drawing-board — and simultaneously steamrollered over the customer and many more besides — was the ensemble concerto Kraft.This time around, Linberg has learnt the error of his ways, and set out quite definitely to write a piano concerto and nothing but a piano concerto. His starting-point has been Maurice Ravel’s G major Concerto, the small orchestral forces of which closely resemble Lindberg’s own instrumental requirements. A second link lies in the handling of the piano. Lindberg has rejected the habit increasingly common since the days of Béla Bartók — of treating the piano as a percussive instrument. Instead he has sought once again to bring out the piano’s own natural sound.When one considers what sort of works Lindberg has written in the years since Kraft it is possible to get at least some sod of idea of the sound we are likely to hear in the new composition. Kraft and the ensemble piece UR that followed it marked journey’s end on the composer’s manic exploration of the world of rhythm and rough, hard sounds. Kinetics, together with the piano work Twine that came shortly before it, introduced a new Lindberg, who had opened up another drawer in his desk and found from it the key to the rich world of harmonies. The Kinetics line was extended in Marea for a classical orchestra line-up, and in Joy, written for large instrumental ensemble. Looking back on it, Lindberg now speaks of these as a trilogy.Tonight’s Piano Concerto may well turn out to be a new turning-point in Lindberg’s output. It is his first work that can be clearly labelled as an instrumental concerto. At the same time this is his most extensive work to date. There are more notes here than in Kraft, even though in places the texture is very thin.The abundance of notes on the page is a result of the fact that this concerto is fast music. The characteristic features are lightness, brightness, and a scherzo-like feel. Lindberg says that he has written the first slow movement of his composing career, but he is in some doubt as to whether anyone will notice, since even there the piano is blazing away in top gear.The concerto is played without a break, but one can discern the shape of the three movements of the traditional concerto. The first movement is dynamic in character with a strong sense of development, and it contains, rather in the manner of Joy, a series of consecutive processes opening out in different directions.The second movement is slow in terms of its overall motion, although the piano does shine and glitter in bursts of sound over a static surface. In terms of structure the movement approaches the concerto grosso, where sections dominated by the piano and various small instrumental combinations alternate with chorale-type tutti sections from the orchestra. In the latter half of the movement the piano part moves diagonally — in the composer’s description of the event — through the orchestral texture and arrives at a cadenza that takes us directly on to the third movement.Lurking in the background to the first two movements one might remember Lindberg’s comments on Ravel and the works of Stravinsky’s neoclassical period, but with the third movement, written last and the longest of the three, the composer is off on another track altogether. Four solo violins saw away furiously at Zigeuner-flavoured figures over blocks of chords. The movement is a single long process. It leads to a climax, filling the entire harmonic register, which as if freezes in place and gradually finds its tonal colouring. Lindberg has made use of similar distillations of motion on previous occasions, for instance in Sculpture II and Kraft but rather than a single sound, we here arrive at a sonorous harmonic state.After this climax, we move into the second phase of the finale, in which the piano paints a new pointillist landscape, at the same time as the orchestra piles up aggressive columns of chords. Gradually the two musical elements, seesawing between opposites, arrive at a balance, and the music returns to the sensitive world of the opening to the first movement. The piano has scraped off all the extra material that has clung onto its surface during its headlong flight through the various episodes of the work.If in the beginning there was rhythm, then in the ‘trilogy’ harmony, now perhaps Lindberg is stepping into the world of form. Always assuming that form means changes in the relationships and functions of hierarchical worlds, time and motion, development and death. Playing with music.© Risto Nieminen, 1991(Helsinki Festival)(translated by © Susan Sinisalo)Lindberg avait déjà promis d'écrire un concerto pour piano pour le Festival d'Helsinki, mais le projet initial s'était transformé en Kraft en 1985. Son premier concerto, dans le sens classique du terme, vit le jour en 1991, sous un titre anglais probablement en signe d'amitié envers son dédicataire, le pianiste britannique Paul Crossley. Le piano n'est pas traité ici comme un instrument de percussion, comme dans la plupart des concertos pour piano de ce siècle. Plutôt que par Bartók, l'écriture semble être influencée par Ravel, à qui Lindberg doit son instrumentation, presque identique au concerto en sol majeur du compositeur français.Piano Concerto No. 1 est joué attacca du début jusqu'à la fin, mais il est marqué par les trois mouvements d'un concerto traditionnel. Le premier mouvement est dynamique et évolutif, proposant, à la manière de Joy, des processus successifs s'épanouissant en différentes directions. Le deuxième mouvement, sorte de concerto grosso où alternent sections solistiques et orchestrales, est de caractère lent, même si le piano étincelle sur un fond immobile. Le troisième mouvement, un long processus, commence par un ensemble de quatre violons jouant des figures énergiques et avance progressivement vers le climax, agrégat harmonique figé. La deuxième partie du troisième mouvement revient graduellement vers les sonorités du début de la pièce, avec cette fois quelques subtiles références aux Préludes de Debussy. Une autre citation discrète peut être remarquée au milieu de la pièce : la Valse triste de Sibelius, comme un hommage aux versions de cette pièce improvisée lors des concerts de l'ensemble Toimii.Après la création au Festival d'Helsinki, Lindberg souhaitait quelques modifications et coupures dans la pièce dont il n'était pas entièrement satisfait. Quelques retouches furent effectuées à l'occasion du concert du festival Stockholm New Music en mars 1993, mais, selon le compositeur, la pièce n'a pas encore trouvé sa forme définitive. Piano Concerto No. 1 marque un changement dans la pratique d'écriture de Lindberg : c'est la première fois qu'il réalise une partition sur ordinateur à l'aide du logiciel de notation Finale. Auparavant, il avait toujours écrit ses partitions à la main, laissant ainsi beaucoup d'esquisses pour les musicologues s'intéressant à la genèse d'une oeuvre musicale. Toutes les pièces écrites après ce concerto sont réalisées directement sur ordinateur.© Risto Nieminen, 1993© Ircam - Centre Georges-Pompidou, 1993(From Magnus Lindberg, Ircam 1993)[...] In etlichen Werken gab er sich auch strengen Materialstrukturen hin, wobei ihm insbesondere das rhythinisch-vitale Moment wichtig erscheint, das auch das heute zur österreichischen Erstaufführung gebrachte Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 deutlich bestimmt.Das Werk entstand 1991 in seiner ersten Fassung über Auftrag des Helsinki-Festivals und gelangte dort am 4. September 1991 durch Paul Crossley, das Finnische Radio-Symphonieorchester und den Dirigenten EsaPekka Salonen zur Uraufführung. Lindberg nahm sich hier vor, ein Konzert zu schreiben, das einerseits das transparente und abwechslungsreiche Klanggewand des Ravelschen G-Dur-Konzertes besitzt, andererseits das Instrument ganz bewußt wieder „traditionelle“ Spieltechniken ausführen läßt und seinem im 20. Jahrhundert so häufigen Einsatz als „eine Art Schlaginstrument“ abrät. Dazu kommt ein deutlicher Scherzando-Charakter, der Vitalität und Humor paart, im Mittelteil des Werkes aber auch emotionaler Lyrik Platz gewährt.Lindberg wies sogar einmal darauf hin, daß er hier den ersten langsamen Satz seiner Komponistenkarriere verfaßt hätte – die drei Abschnitte gehen allerdings ohne Pause ineinander über und stellen lediglich die Charaktere von drei Sätzen dar, ohne solche im eigentlichen Sinne zu sein.Der 1. Teil ist überaus dynamisch gehalten und eröffnet das Geschehen mit etlichen thematisch-strukturellen Prozessen, die gleichsam zielgerichtet in die verschiedensten Entwicklungen führen. Der langsame 2. Teil läßt das Klavier vor einem statischen Hintergrund glitzernde Kaskaden exponieren, sich aber auch mit anderen Instrumenten zu einem Solisten-Ensemble vereinen, das gegen ein mit Choral-Anklängen arbeitendes „Tutti“ tritt. Eine Kadenz führt schließlich in das Finale, in weichem zunächst vier Solo-Violinen „zigeunerhafte“ Figuren hören lassen, bis sich das gesamte Ensemble immer mehr thematisch verdichtet, einem ersten Höhepunkt zusteuert und dann dem Klavier das Feld überläßt. Dieses ziseliert nun eine „pointillistische“ Landschaft, gegen die das Orchester anstürmt, doch dann beruhigt sich die Szene, der Bogen rundet sich und führt uns in die ruhige Atmosphäre des Werkbeginns, über welcher der Solist noch einmal Reminiszenzen an die verschiedenen Stationen der Entwicklung erklingen läßt und schließlich einem Ende zuführt.Für das Sibelius-Nordic-Festival der JEUNESSE hat Lindberg eine „final version“ erstellt, die heute züm ersten Mal erklingt.(writer unknown)(for the premiere of the final version of the Piano Concerto, Wien, October 2, 1994)

Year of composing

Arranger

Movements

Availability

Abbreviation	Instrument
Woodwind
acl	alto clarinet
afl	alto flute
arec	alto recorder
asax	alto saxophone
barsax	baritone saxophone
barhn	baritone horn
bcl	bass clarinet
bfl	bass flute
bob	bass oboe
bsax	bass saxophone
bsn	bassoon
cbsn	contrabassoon
cl	clarinet
ehn	English horn
fl	flute
hn	French horn
ob	oboe
pic	piccolo
rec	recorder
sax	saxophone
srec	soprano recorder
ssax	soprano saxophone
trec	tenor recorder
tsax	tenor saxophone
Brass
ahn	alto horn
atrb	altotrombone
barhn	baritone horn
btrb	bass trombone
cornet	cornet
euph	euphonium
fhn	flugelhorn
hn	French horn
tba	tuuba
thn	tenor horn
trb	trombone
trp	trumpet
Percussion
dr	drums
glock	glockenspiel
mar	marimba
perc	percussion
timp	timpani
vibr	vibraphone
xyl	xylophone
Strings
db	double bass
gamba	viola da gamba
str	strings
vla	viola
vlc	cello
vln	violin
Other
acc	accordion
cel	celesta
cemb	harpsichord
chords	chords
elbas	electric bass
elg	electric guitar
elorg	electric organ
elpno	electric piano
guit	guitar
harm	harmonium
hca	harmonica
hp	harp
instr	instrument
kantele	kantele
keyb	keyboard
live electr	live electronics
mand	mandolin
mel	melody
org	organ
pno	piano
synth	synthesizer
tape	tape
Vocal
alto	alto
baryt	baritone
basso	bass voice
ch	choir
chc	childrens choir
chf	female choir
chm	male choir
chx	mixed choir
cten	countertenor
mezzo	mezzo-soprano
sopr	soprano
speaker	speaker
ten	tenor
voc	vocal

Symphony orchestra
2222 4331 11 1, str = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, one other percussionist, harp and strings
Wind band
2252 3 423 21212 3 = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 5 clarinets, 2 bassoons - 3 saxophones - 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones - 2 cornets, alto horn, 2 tenor horns, baritone horn, 2 tubas - 3 percussionists
Big band
221 4 4, pno, guit, db, dr = 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, baritone saxophone, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, guitar, double bass, drums
Additional codes
+	fl+pic = flutist doubles on piccolo
/	pno/org = can be played on either piano or organ
lib	ad libitum
obl	obligato
str	str: 65432 = specified number of string players
str min	str min: 65432 = at least 65432
str max	str max: 65432 = not more than 65432
solo	vln solo = violin is the solo instrument in a work not obviously for solo violin