The Concert Concerto, found in the manuscripts of our national composer Jean Sibelius, will be premiered after 120 years. The orchestral piece, referred to in the newspapers as the “Neito tornissa” (Maiden in the Tower), was premiered at the Turku Fire Brigade Hall on 7 April 1900 by the composer himself, after which it was soon forgotten.
Conductor and Sibelius scholar Tuomas Hannikainen found this 12-minute composition in Sibelius’ manuscript collection. According to Hannikainen, “the work is based on the music of Sibelius’s stage work Jungfrun i tornet and was found hidden, as it were, in its original scores. Against this background, the original innocence and lightness of the work are not surprising”.
Now, more than 120 years later, Hannikainen’s edited Concert Concerto is awakened from its Sleeping Beauty sleep and made part of Sibelius’s published output. The unique work is woven into a performance of Masked Musicians, reflecting the Corona period, recorded in the majestic Knights “Hall without an audience. Avanti! will perform Sibelius” works in addition to the Concert Concerto, the melodrama Portrait of the Countess and parts of the music for the play The Feasts of Belshazzar.
Edgar Allan Poe’s famous short story The Masque of the Red Death, about a desperate escape from a plague to a knight’s castle, has inspired artists from visual arts to music. These include French composer André Caplet‘s poem Conte Fantastique, which will be heard arranged for narrator, harp and string orchestra. The harp part will be played by Laura Hynninen.
Conductor Tuomas Hannikainen has designed, arranged, directed and dramatised an ensemble that combines music, theatre and coat of arms. The texts are interpreted by actor Timo Torikka.
“The period of social isolation has made me wonder what the role of art could be in the new world. How can we use classical music, so strongly rooted in tradition, to mirror our own time and draw creativity from the phenomena of our time?” says conductor Hannikainen. “Masked Musicians is one attempt to answer such questions.”
The radio broadcast was heard on Wednesday 26 May at 19:00 on Radio 1 and on Yle Arena, where it will be available for 30 days. You can watch the video recording of the concert below. A video recording of the entire concert will be available on Sunday 30 May at 19:00 on the orchestra’s YouTube channel.
