The Minnesota Orchestra, led by Music Director Osmo Vänskä, opens its third season of "Close-to-Home" concerts in Mahtomedi, Minnesota, on Sunday, October 7, with a performance of Beethoven's buoyant Second Symphony, Sibelius' Rakastava suite, a brief musical rendering of a Finnish lover's tale, and a work for organ and orchestra by Félix-Alexandre Guilmant.
Like previous Mahtomedi Close-to-Home concerts, the program includes a 30-minute guided tour of the works being performed, hosted by Orchestra violist Sam Bergman, and a short question and answer session with Vänskä, followed by a full performance of the three works.
The concert, held at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, will take place on Sunday, October 7, at 4 p.m.
The Music: A Finnish lover's tale, Beethoven's Second and a brief organ showcase Jean Sibelius' brief 1912 suite Rakastava (The Lover), adapted from the composer's earlier choral work of the same title, draws inspiration from the Kanteletar, a 19th-century collection of Finnish folk poetry. Its three movements, scored for strings, timpani and triangle, chronicle the joyful meeting and bittersweet parting of a young couple. The Orchestra frequently performs works by Sibelius under the Finnish-born Vänskä, considered one of the world's foremost interpreters of Sibelius' music.
The character of Ludwig van Beethoven's Second Symphony, completed in 1802, is lyrical, playful and unpredictable. Its opening looks to the past, with a structure modeled after Mozart's Prague Symphony, while subsequent materials foreshadow the bold, fiery energy of Beethoven's Third and Fifth Symphonies. In its witty final movement, a lengthy coda famously forestalls the work's end. Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra, who are in the midst of recording all nine Beethoven symphonies, have previously performed that composer's First and Seventh Symphonies at St. Andrew's in Mahtomedi.
St. Andrew's Lutheran Church organist Bill Chouinard will join the Orchestra for its first-ever performance of the Allegro for Organ and Orchestra by late Romantic-era French composer and organist Félix-Alexandre Guilmant. The work opens in the style of a Bach fugue before transitioning to lively, concerto-style passages that bring the orchestra and soloist to a brilliant close.
The Orchestra will return to Mahtomedi on Sunday, March 9, 2008 for another Close-to-Home concert at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church featuring a preview of highlights from its 2008-09 season. -- www.minnesotaorchestra.org
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