Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor Colin Currie percussion
Rautavaara Incantations (for percussion and orchestra; world première) Bruckner Symphony 8
When Jean Sibelius was asked to award a scholarship to the most promising Finnish composer of the generation to follow him, he chose Einojuhani Rautavaara. In the fifty years since that endorsement, Rautavaara’s orchestral kaleidoscope has rotated full circle from luscious post-romanticism to electronic sampling – not to mention the broad range of his fascinating vocal and chamber works. His dreamy, magical control of what seems like a distant musical world has made him one of the most performed European composers of today.
After evenings of indescribable electricity with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in recent seasons, here Colin Currie takes flight once more with a world first: the première performance of Rautavaara’s Incantations, a piece that promises to marry aura and animation, finesse and fireworks.
Nearly 120 years ago, Austrian Anton Bruckner was hard at work on his Eighth Symphony, the last he completed. His achievement brings Wagnerian luxury and richness into symphonic form, and some of the first listeners found the recipe too much for their aural palettes. But audiences eventually catch up with great artists’ visions, and we now savour fully this magical, solemn work – an incomparable portrait in sound glistening with the strings of Bruckner’s newly discovered harp.
FREE 6.15pm–6.45pm | Royal Festival Hall Colin Currie demonstrates sections of Rautavaara’s Incantations.
Listen to an interview with Colin Currie, in which he describes meeting Rautavaara.
October's podcast also contains an interview with Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Find out more about playing percussion with this video of Colin Currie.
Rautavaara’s Incantations is jointly commissioned by the London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tampere Philharmonic and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras.
CD: Colin Currie performs Higdon's Percussion Concerto £9.99 Marin Alsop conducts works by Macmillan, Ades and Higdon on the Orchestra’s own record label
