LEWISTON – Winter in a northern climate was a common inspiration for Scandinavian composers, so the theme of the upcoming Midcoast Symphony Orchestra concert at the Franco-American Heritage Center may suggest familiar scenes for its Maine audience.
The orchestra will present its “Sounds of Scandinavia” concert Friday, Feb. 3, in Lewiston and again Saturday, Feb. 4, in Topsham.
The first part of the program features the music of Edvard Grieg. The orchestra will perform Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 and Two Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34.
The second part of the concert is music by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. These pieces are Valse Triste, Op. 44, No. 1 and Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43.
Music by Scandinavian composers is sometimes thought of as “dark, brooding and rugged,” said conductor Rohan Smith. While some of the themes of Grieg and Sibelius fit these descriptions, familiar melodies such as “Morning Mood” from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite are light and airy, he pointed out.
Smith said the second symphony by Sibelius is that composer’s greatest work. “It’s very optimistic with a lot of Finnish nationalism. This symphony is very satisfying with a lot of rich melodies.”
Sibelius, best known for his “Finlandia,” put the same optimism into the second symphony, Smith said. It’s about people struggling for their national identity – in this case, the Finns who are surrounded by Russia, Norway and Germany.
Grieg is sometimes described as a “miniaturist” composer. His pieces are tone poems and many of the Peer Gynt themes, such as “Anitra’s Dance” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” are very familiar.
The idea that Scandinavia might have had its own musical sound was not even an idea until toward the end of the 19th century. Before that, music in Scandinavia was Italian and German, either in actuality or in style.
However, the nationalist movements of the mid-19th century encouraged both a reliance on indigenous folk materials and the development of a characteristic sound to identify the region as distinct from the dominant German tradition.
Smith said both Grieg and Sibelius used the traditional styles of central European composers; but, he added, “They have something special.”
He said the pieces in the upcoming program do not depend upon individual soloists. “All of the pieces give the orchestra a chance to display the talent and prowess of each member. The orchestra is the soloist.”
In Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, “Morning” evokes a kind of generalized folk world in its wind-instrument opening and the pentatonic structure of the tune. (That is, one could play this tune using only the black notes of the piano.)
“Aase’s Death,” scored only for strings, is particularly Scandinavian in its relentless minor-ness, the stark melody, and the close spacing of the parts.
“Anitra’s Dance” is from the Egyptian portion of the story, while “The Hall of the Mountain King” uses a tried-and-true marker of Northernness – very low instruments alone. In structure, though, it uses the technique of playing the same melody over and over again, each time with a bit more decoration, so that it seems to work itself up into a trance-induced frenzy. Ravel’s “Bolero” works the same way.
“Valse Triste” by Sibelius originated in 1903 as an incidental piece for the play “Kuolema” (Death), by Sibelius’s brother-in-law Arvid Jarnefelt, in which a dying woman describes a dream in which she goes to a ball. This piece layers a series of sweetly sad tunes over a slow waltz rhythm, but ends in the minor, with a typically Sibelian dark and dramatic moment for the strings, followed by an ethereal cadence.
During Sibelius’s lifetime, the very identity and integrity of Finland was in danger, mostly from Russian territorial ambitions. His second symphony was written in 1901-1902, when the Russians were trying to absorb the Finnish army into their own. Sibelius protested publicly and was acutely aware of his symbolic importance to the country at this time.
In this work, his contemporaries heard the overall movement from minor to major – darkness to light – as an expression of hope for the country.
This program marks the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra’s second season of performances at the former St. Mary’s Church, now the Franco-American Heritage Center, and it’s their first season of concerts since major renovations there.
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