Zemlinsky: Die Seejungfrau & Sinfonietta, Op. 23 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra & John Storgårds

• Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942): Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid)
• 1I. Sehr massig bewegt15:48
• 2II. Sehr bewegt, rauschend17:16
• 3III. Sehr gedehnt, mit schmerzvollem Ausdruck14:32
• Sinfonietta, Op. 23
• 4I. Sehr lebhaft -08:39
• 5II. Ballade: Sehr gemessen [poco adagio], doch nicht schleppend -06:31
• 6III. Sehr lebhaft06:25
• Total Runtime01:09:11

Info for Zemlinsky: Die Seejungfrau & Sinfonietta, Op. 23

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under John Storgårds offer a fascinating program of two major orchestral works by Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942) as world premiere recordings. 

Die Seejungfrau (Mermaid) is a powerful 3-movement symphonic 'fantasy' written by Zemlinsky in 1902. Before the work was premiered in 1905 Zemlinsky had already made radical cuts, which included removing 14 pages of the original score. For reasons still unknown today Zemlinsky withdrew the score and since 1910 never mentioned the work in his catalogue of works. The work was not heard again until 1984. The lush romantic score has appealed to its listeners ever since. This release is the first recording of a new critical version based on the original score.

Zemlinsky escaped Germany in 1933. The Sinfonietta, Op. 34 was written soon afterwards and premiered in Prague in 1935. The work is a fascinating example of Zemlinsky’s late orchestral writing and stylistic evolution. The work is heard in this recording as a new version for chamber orchestra by the Austrian composer Roland Freisitzer (b. 1973).

John Storgårds, one of Finland’s exceptional artists, has taken the classical music world by storm in recent decades. Since 2008, Storgårds has been Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of BBC Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012. 

'...The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under John Storgårds, captured in stunning SACD sound, delivers a suave and subtly nuanced performance ...' (Erik Levi, BBC Music)

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgårds, conductor

Truls Mørk’s
reputation as a cellist of fierce intensity and grace has been built on performances throughout the world. He is a celebrated artist who performs with the most distinguished orchestras, including the Berlin and Munich Philharmonics, Royal Concertgebouw, Philharmonia orchestra, orchestre de Paris, staatskapelle dresden, symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and Wiener symphoniker. In north America he has worked with the orchestras of Boston, los Angeles, new York Philharmonic, Chicago, and Cleveland, among others.

Truls Mørk is a committed performer of contemporary music who has championed the cello concertos of Henri dutilleux, Pavel Haas, Hafliði Hallgrimsson, John McCabe, krzysztof Penderecki, Matthias Pintscher, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and lasse Thoresen. He has made numerous recordings, mostly for Virgin Classics. In 2002, he received a grammy Award for his Britten Cello suites, and 2011 an ECHo klassik Award for his C.P.E. Bach Concerti. His most recent recording for ondine was Hafliði Hallgrimsson’s works for cello and orchestra.

His most recent awards include the sibelius Prize 2011 and the norwegian Critics’ Prize 2011.

Colin Currie
has been the driving force behind new percussion repertoire for more than a decade. Acclaimed for his virtuosity and musical integrity, Currie is a solo and chamber artist at the peak of his powers renowned for championing new music at the highest level. Currie is soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Concertgebouw orchestra, Philadelphia orchestra, los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia orchestra, and london Philharmonic.

From his earliest years Currie forged a pioneering path in creating new music for percussion, and his “athletic percussionism, compulsive showmanship, and deep musicality” (The Guardian) has inspired composers from around the globe. He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic society Young Artist Award in 2000 for his inspirational role in contemporary music-making, and since then has commissioned and premiered works by composers including simon Holt, kurt schwertsik, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Alexander goehr, Elliott Carter, steve Reich, James MacMillan, and louis Andriessen. His Cd recording of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto conducted by Marin Alsop on the london Philharmonic orchestra label, won a 2010 grammy Award.

John Storgårds
is one of Finland’s exceptional artists who have taken the classical music world by storm in recent decades. He has a dual career as a conductor and violin virtuoso and is widely recognised for his creative flair for programming and his commitment to contemporary music. since 2008, storgårds has been Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra. He additionally holds the titles of Artistic director of the Chamber orchestra of lapland since 1996 and Principal guest Conductor of BBC Philharmonic orchestra since 2012.

Storgårds appears with such orchestras as BBC symphony, City of Birmingham symphony, swedish Radio symphony, oslo Philharmonic, danish national symphony, Bamberger symphoniker, orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, netherlands Radio, and orchestra sinfonica nazionale della RAI Torino. Further afield, storgårds has conducted the sydney, Melbourne, and Australian Chamber orchestras, and the Boston symphony at Tanglewood Festival. soloists with whom he regularly collaborates include gil shaham, Christian Tetzlaff, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Truls Mørk, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Colin Currie, Håkan Hardenberger, sabine Meyer, kari kriikku, karita Mattila, and Matti salminen.

After starting a career as a world-class violinist, John storgårds returned to the sibelius Academy from 1993–97 to study conducting with Jorma Panula and Eri klas. His recordings for ondine include works by John Corigliano, Hafliði Hallgrímsson, uuno klami, Pehr Henrik nordgren, Andrzej Panufnik, kaija saariaho, Jean sibelius, Jukka Tiensuu, and Pēteris Vasks (Cannes Classical disc of the Year Award 2004 for the Violin Concerto ‘distant light’). In 2002, he received the Finnish state Prize for Music.

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
The oldest professional symphony orchestra in the nordic countries was founded as the Helsinki orchestral society by the young Robert kajanus, its first Chief Conductor, in 1882. Well known today for its tradition of performing sibelius, the helsinki Philharmonic orchestra gave the first performances of many of sibelius’s major works, often with the composer himself conducting. The orchestra undertook its first foreign tour to the universal Exposition in Paris in 1900 and since then has visited most European countries, in addition to visiting the usA, south America, Japan, and China. since 2008, John storgårds has been the orchestra’s Chief Conductor, succeeding leif segerstam who received the title of Emeritus Chief Conductor. The list of previous chief conductors also includes Paavo Berglund and okko kamu. A new era started in August 2011, when the orchestra moved its permanent residency from the Finlandia Hall to the new Helsinki Music Centre. The Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra and ondine have maintained a long-standing exclusive partnership involving for example an edition of the complete sibelius symphonies under the direction of leif segerstam, as well as numerous recordings of works by Einojuhani Rautavaara.

Einojuhani Rautavaara - Composer
(b. 1928) has often said, modifying a well-known quote: “A young composer who is not a Modernist has no heart; an old composer who is a Modernist has no head.” He has practiced what he preaches: his extensive output traces a beautiful arc from the combative experimentalism of youth to the serene wisdom of old age. Rautavaara’s earliest works, dating from the late 1940s and early 1950s, are couched in neo- Classicism, the then mainstream style in Finnish concert music. In the 1950s, his idiom began to acquire a sharper edge with his transition to a more Modernist style, including the adoption of twelve-tone technique. one of the first manifestations of this in his output was the orchestral work Modificata (1957). Moving on from dodecaphony and serialism, he sought a different approach in the 1960s and eventually ended up with a synthetic style that could be described as neo-Romantic, the idiom of his late works. His percussion concerto Incantations (2008) and second cello concerto Towards the Horizon (2009) are fine examples of this period.

Works from different times and in different styles. In Modificata we hear a rationalist, in the two concertos we hear a mystic. But even though it is possible to point to clearly defined stylistic periods in Rautavaara’s work, his personality inseparably binds together everything he has ever written. His personal voice is a stronger element than any stylistic features; the rationalist and the mystic are simply different aspects of the same persona.

Booklet for Zemlinsky: Die Seejungfrau & Sinfonietta, Op. 23