With the competition in Bulgaria now fading into long-term memory I am looking forward to my next project which is once again in Bulgaria. I am attending a master-class with the famous conducting guru Jorma Panula, there is a Wikipedia article about him here
Details of the course are here, scroll down a bit once the page has loaded.
The master-class takes place in Ruse, which I am told has a good orchestra. We are covering two Mahler Symphonies, 2 & 3, his Ruckert Lieder and Kindertotenlieder, with Sibelius Symphonies 2 & 7. Of these works the only ones that I have not conducted before are Mahler 3 and the Ruckert Lieder, the former is a massive piece, 90 minutes long! The Ruckert Lieder are delightful miniatures, only one having heavy brass.
I have to admit that Mahler’s Symphonies don’t feel as natural to me as they once did, and I am struggling to get back into these works and to learn them. I have done Kindertotenlieder many times over recent years, in different formats and venues but always with the wonderful Nina Alupii-Morton as soloist. Nina has such a wonderful voice, and such a feeling for a line that she has been a great joy to work with on these songs. It will be a wrench to do them with someone else, though it will be fascinating too.
These days it is the Sibelius Symphonies that command my attention. Over recent months I have been studying them and different recordings of them in some detail. Of all of them the one I feel closest to is No. 4, the darkest and most bleak. I find it very passionate and emotional, the finale’s catastrophic collapse one of the most powerful statements in music. Unfortunately I have never conducted it; one day, when I am ready, I would love to. The Sibelius Symphony I most admire technically is No. 7 which I have conducted before. As a work of composition it embodies everything that Sibelius does, particularly the way themes, motifs and tempi emerge and merge with and from one another. I am looking forward to working on it with Panula, and to hearing what he has to say about it.
Perhaps this course will re-engage me with the Mahler Symphonies, they are certainly great masterpieces, but currently they do not touch me in the say way as Sibelius does. There is plenty to be learnt about conducting from them, I am looking forward to working with Panula!
