Estimated duration

2 h, incl. intermission

Organizer

Helsingin kaupunginorkesteri

The supernatural world, mystery, black magic and mysticism have all inspired the composers featured in this concert conducted by Olli Mustonen.

Olli Mustonen, conductor
Ian Bostridge, tenor

Anatoly Lyadov: Kikimora
Olli Mustonen: Symphony No. 3 “Heavenly Lights”
Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 3

Mustonen’s Third Symphony draws its text from the Kalevala. “As much of it is simply impossible to translate, I have felt that with the help of music it could be possible also to convey some of the untranslatable and at times even hypnotic and shamanistic qualities of this poetry to an audience not fluent in our unusual language,” Mustonen says.

Sergei Prokofiev composed his Third Symphony from the same powerful materials that he used for his opera The Fiery Angel. The symphony is dominated by the opera’s dark atmosphere, which draws its tone from black magic and superstition, sexual obsession, devilish ghosts and the epic battle between good and evil.