Bold new work receives Southern Hemisphere premiere

31 May 2013 - NZSO Media Release for immediate release

Bold new work receives Southern Hemisphere premiere with NZSO

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to welcome world-renowned percussionist Colin Currie back to New Zealand for the Southern Hemisphere premiere of a new Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra, Sieidi.

Commissioned by the talented Scot, Currie first performed Finnish composer Kalevi Aho’s work at the Royal Festival Hall, London in April 2012 with respected Finnish maestro Osmo Vänskä (who will also conduct this NZSO performance) and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In Aho’s concerto, Currie explores the different timbres of the percussionist’s armoury - darabuka, tom-toms and snare, marimba, wood and temple blocks, vibraphone and tamtam - in a work that is lyrical and brilliantly rhythmic. Currie describes it a “masterpiece”.

“This is the piece to bring to New Zealand. It has great beauty and lyricism combined with a huge-hearted and fiery spirit which burns throughout,” says Currie. “The sense of wonder never lets up during the piece and it is an incredible experience in a live concert. As well as being massively exciting on a first listen, the audience also will enjoy the slow moving spectacle of my moving gradually across the stage, working my way along a variety of instruments, to rather dramatic effect.”

Currie is famous for his athletic energy and intensity, and his successful 2010 NZSO tour Soundscapes, when he performed American composer Jennifer Higdon’s Grammy Award-winning Percussion Concerto and James Macmillan’s thrilling Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, was evidence of his electrifying stage presence.

He’s been described as “a miracle of cool-headed brilliance” (The Daily Telegraph, 2012) and in this concert we put his skills to good use in one of the most exciting percussion works of contemporary times.

“I am delighted that the NZSO will present the Southern Hemisphere premiere of this work,” he says. “The atmosphere, quality and commitment of the NZSO to performing new music thrilled me during the collaboration we had together in 2010. There was a real sense of occasion to these concerts and the enthusiasm and energy of the orchestra was astonishing. It was a true musical partnership and I am so very excited to renew this adventure.”

This engagingly fresh concerto is framed by two other modern masterpieces. Arvo Pärt’s stunning Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten begins with evocative tubular bells and cascading layers of translucent sound. Composed in the wake of Benjamin Britten’s passing, it is a stunning tribute to the British composer in the centenary year of his birth.

Carl Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony is a great battle between the forces of order and chaos and signals his mastery of the symphonic form. Leonard Sakofsky, NZSO Section Principal Percussion, takes centre stage in the symphony, performing the famous snare drum solo in the second half of the work. He’s given the task of interrupting the orchestra, playing ad lib and out of time, with the intention of destroying the music. The rest of the orchestra fights back though, while the drummer struggles on. Eventually, he is beaten down and Nielsen’s glorious music prevails with winding melodies, cavernous space and an abundance of energy.

All three of these great works are brought together under the baton of Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, whose compelling interpretations of contemporary repertoire have garnered world-wide acclaim. Vänskä is a notable conductor, not only for his complete set of Sibelius recordings (BIS) with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra (Finland), but also for his work with the Minnesota Orchestra where he has been Music Director since 2003.

We are delighted to welcome him to New Zealand for this highly-anticipated Southern Hemisphere premiere of Aho’s Sieidi, following its world premiere under his baton last year.

After this first performance, blogger and BBC presenter Joe Harvey posted this Mellotone70Up blog:

‘Oh dear’, said the woman on my immediate right as she browsed her programme, ‘we’ve got this new modern piece to sit through before the Brahms’. When I told her that was what we were there for, she leaned away and looked at me askance. But by the end of said piece – the world premiere of Kalevi Aho’s Sieidi – she was on her feet and applauding.

Reward your curiosity and discover dazzling worlds of sound with the NZSO in Bold Worlds, proudly brought to you by ANZ Private.

ENDS

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