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THIS CONCERT HAS BEEN CANCELED - Peer Gynt

This year’s edition of the Baltic Sea Festival has been cancelled. Read more at balticseafestival.com

Edvard Grieg struggled with the music to Henrik Ibsen’s satirical play in verse about being forced to search and ultimately find oneself. Peer Gynt includes such popular and much loved concert pieces as In the Hall of the Mountain King, Anitra’s Dance and Solveig’s Song. Conductor Neeme Järvi and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra give a rare complete performance of Grieg’s incidental music.

Like so many other 19th century composers, Edvard Grieg wanted to create a national opera. He had only partly completed the project when the collaboration with the poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson over the Viking saga Olav Trygvason broke down. The libretto was delayed and in the meantime, Grieg had undertaken to set Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 play in verse Peer Gynt to music.

Grieg was given strict instructions: “In the second act, the scene with the three dairymaids may be treated in accordance with the wishes of the composer, but there must be mischief! The monologue (Act 2, Scene 4), I imagined accompanied by chords, like a melodrama. Likewise, there must be some accompaniment for the performances in the hall of the Mountain King; however, here the dialogue must be shortened considerably! The scene with the Bøyg, played out in its entirety, should also be accompanied by music. Birdsong should be heard, and in the distance, ringing bells and hymn singing…”

Grieg obeyed and took on the task with gusto, even though he found it “the most unmusical of all subjects”. Peer Gynt premièred in Kristiania in 1876. It was a formidable success and when German publisher Peters published the score in 1908 it contained more than 20 movements.

Ibsen’s critical satire of the emerging liberalism of the 19th century contained elements of both fairy tale and realism. It conveys a morality best described with the adage “pride goes before a fall”. Peer Gynt is a knave and a ladies’ man who falls out with everyone around him before heading out into the world. Meanwhile, his childhood sweetheart, the ever-forgiving Solveig, waits for him at home.

Peer is a cold-hearted cynic who even gets involved in slave trade, a Croesus surrounded by yes-men for as long as the money keeps flowing. In Ibsen’s mind, he is still not a sinner and will therefore escape the torments of hell, at least according to the Button-moulder who eventually comes for his soul.

Today, Peer’s personality type is more the rule than the exception. The world is different, everything has a price and very few things have value. Unscrupulous fraudsters like Peer appear in all walks of life.

“To be yourself is to sacrifice yourself”, Ibsen argued. The price for leaving the farm was a loss of identity. However, in our globalised world, Peer comes across as a more natural object of identification than he did in the agricultural society of the 19th century. Perhaps it also resurfaces old issues of belonging and rootlessness.

Peer Gynt has not only been of Norwegian interest. One could mention Werner Egk’s opera or Alfred Schnittke’s ballet, and in 2014, the Oslo Opera House hosted the première of Estonian Jüri Reinvere’s controversial Peer Gynt opera “as Ibsen would have made it today”. The central conflict of the work – rooted versus rootless – is a concurrent theme not only in literature, but also in life itself.

Hearing the full theatrical score, including In the Hall of the Mountain King with choir, is a rare opportunity these days. In 2005 Neeme Järvi and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performed it at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, and two seasons later Norwegian conductor Rolf Gupta performed it in Berwaldhallen. In this production of Peer Gynt, Loa Falkman narrates and plays Peer, Johanna Wallroth plays Solveig and Rebecka Wallroth plays Anitra.

Text: Henry Larsson


SWEDISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA dot 2020/2021
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Participants

 

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The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a multiple-award-winning ensemble renowned for its high artistic standard and stylistic breadth, as well as collaborations with the world’s finest composers, conductors, and soloists. It regularly tours all over Europe and the world and has an extensive and acclaimed recording catalogue.

Daniel Harding has been Music Director of the SRSO since 2007, and since 2019 also its Artistic Director. His tenure will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. Two of the orchestra’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been named Conductors Laureate, and continue to perform regularly with the orchestra.

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, and is a cornerstone of Swedish public service broadcasting. Its concerts are heard weekly on the Swedish classical radio P2 and regularly on national public television SVT. Several concerts are also streamed on-demand on Berwaldhallen Play and broadcast globally through the EBU.

Mikaeli chamber choir is one of Sweden’s most well-reputed choirs, with a broad and accomplished repertoire. Based in Stockholm, the choir comprises 32 experienced singers. Ever since the start in 1970 it has been led by Anders Eby, who is a professor of choral conducting and a conductor and teacher with various international assignments.

The ensemble’s passion for Swedish choral music has led to a large number of first performances, commissions and personal relationships with our greatest composers of choral music. The choir and its conductor also have an interest in historical music, which has contributed to the breadth of its repertoire, treating audiences to everything from female 19th century composers to polyphonic renaissance music.

Over the years, the choir has had extensive collaborations with Swedish orchestras and soloists. Mikaeli chamber choir appears on well over 20 recordings and countless radio performances, as well as concerts and performances on most of Stockholm’s major scenes. In an effort to further these traditions, the choir has also for many years arranged workshops and master classes for young, aspiring conductors.

During almost 50 years, the choir has been a mainstay of Swedish choral life. Since July 2018, Mikaeli chamber choir operates as an independent group.

Neeme Järvi is one of today’s most highly respected maestros. He conducts the world’s most prominent orchestras and works alongside soloists of the highest calibre. Currently, he is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Emeritus of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor Emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Guest Chief Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Over his long and highly successful career, he has also held positions with other orchestras across the world such as Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and Residentie Orkest The Hague.

A prolific recording artist, he has amassed a discography of over 500 recordings. In September 2018, Neeme Järvi received the Grammophone Lifetime Achievement Award. Among the highlights are the critically acclaimed complete symphonies of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Mahler, Sibelius and more, as well as less widely known composers such as Niels Gade, Franz Berwald and Johann Svendsen and composers from his native Estonia, including Arvo Pärt, Rudolf Tobias, Eino Tamberg, Veljo Tormis and Eduard Tubin.

In January 2019, Järvi received Barclay de Tolly Friends Club Order of Merit Award. He has received honorary doctorates from institutions such as the Estonian Music and Theatre Academy, Detroit’s Wayne State University and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

Loa Falkman has established himself as one of Sweden’s most renowned and beloved artists. Following his debut at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1973 as Ferdinand in Lars-Johan Werle’s Tintomara, he has performed more or less every noteworthy lyric baritone role at a number of prominent venues in Sweden and abroad. He has been awarded a Guldbagge, two Golden Masks, the Silver Medal of the City of Paris, he was named Court Singer in 2003 and has received the royal medal Litteris et Artibus.

He has received acclaim for his Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Swedish Opera, performed the title role in Verdi’s Rigoletto in Peter Oskarsson’s production at Malmö Opera and as Feste in John Caird’s production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at Sweden’s Royal Dramatic Theatre. Among his latest performances are Jupiter in Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers at Malmö Opera, Salieri in Folkoperan’s Mozart vs. Salieri and Maskinmästaren in the anniversary production of Rokokomaskineriet at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre.

He has also played Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Oscars Theatre, the title role in Wozzeck at the Royal Swedish Opera and he received international acclaim for his Escamillo in Peter Brook’s famous La Tragédie de Carmen. In recent years he has also become an appreciated teacher, for example at masterclasses in Mariefred and at the music festival Festspelen i Piteå.

Swedish soprano Johanna Wallroth was thrust into the limelight when she took First Prize at the prestigious Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in 2019.

Initially training as a dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, Wallroth subsequently focused her principal study on voice and went on to graduate from Vienna’s Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst (MDW).  In 2013, Johanna Wallroth made her operatic debut as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro under Arnold Östman at Ulriksdal Palace Theatre, Stockholm. Efter that she has regularly appeared on stages in Sweden and worldwide, for example as Despina in Cosi fan tutte at Schlosstheater Schönbrunn Wien and as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Moscow’s Gnesin Academy. In the 19/20 season, Johanna made her role debut as Zerlin  in Don Giovanni to great acclaim in a live-streamed semi-staged performance with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Music Director, Daniel Harding.

Already with an enviable experience on the concert platform, Johanna Wallroth has for example performed with Sakari Oramo at Helsinki Music Centre in Mahler, Symphony No 4 and Mozart, Requiem with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Barbara Hannigan. She was soloist on tour to Antwerp, Amsterdam, Dortmund, Köln, Hamburg and Luxembourg with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Orchestra in Mahler, Symphony No 4.

The 2022/23 season opens with a debut at Sweden’s historic Drottningholm Festival as Leocasta in Vivaldi’s Il Giustino with the Drottningholm Theatre Orchestra under George Petrou, and sees her first appearance at Opernhaus Zürich in a ballet production choreographed by Christian Spück based on the Madrigals of Monteverdi and conducted by Christoph Koncz.

Named as Classical Artist in Residence for the 2022/23 season by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Johanna Wallroth joins the orchestra for several concerts across the season including Berg, Sieben frühe Lieder with Daniel Harding, Mozart arias with Martin Fröst and Schubert Mass in E-flat with Andràs Schiff.

Soprano Rebecka Wallroth won the national competition Dalasolist in 2018 towards the end of her studies at Falun Music Conservatory. Among her performances, she has sung works by Delius and Wilhelm Peterson-Berger with Dalasinfoniettan and in conductor Simon Phipps and director Catarina Gnosspelius’ praised production of Bizet’s Béatrice et Bénédict. She is currently studying at Vienna’s Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst.

Programme

Approximate timings

Like so many other 19th century composers, Edvard Grieg wanted to create a national opera. He had only partly completed the project when the collaboration with the poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson over the Viking saga Olav Trygvason broke down. The libretto was delayed and in the meantime, Grieg had undertaken to set Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 play in verse Peer Gynt to music.

Grieg was given strict instructions: “In the second act, the scene with the three dairymaids may be treated in accordance with the wishes of the composer, but there must be mischief! The monologue (Act 2, Scene 4), I imagined accompanied by chords, like a melodrama. Likewise, there must be some accompaniment for the performances in the hall of the Mountain King; however, here the dialogue must be shortened considerably! The scene with the Bøyg, played out in its entirety, should also be accompanied by music. Birdsong should be heard, and in the distance, ringing bells and hymn singing…”

Grieg obeyed and took on the task with gusto, even though he found it “the most unmusical of all subjects”. Peer Gynt premièred in Kristiania in 1876. It was a formidable success and when German publisher Peters published the score in 1908 it contained more than 20 movements.

Ibsen’s critical satire of the emerging liberalism of the 19th century contained elements of both fairy tale and realism. It conveys a morality best described with the adage “pride goes before a fall”. Peer Gynt is a knave and a ladies’ man who falls out with everyone around him before heading out into the world. Meanwhile, his childhood sweetheart, the ever-forgiving Solveig, waits for him at home.

Peer is a cold-hearted cynic who even gets involved in slave trade, a Croesus surrounded by yes-men for as long as the money keeps flowing. In Ibsen’s mind, he is still not a sinner and will therefore escape the torments of hell, at least according to the Button-moulder who eventually comes for his soul.

Today, Peer’s personality type is more the rule than the exception. The world is different, everything has a price and very few things have value. Unscrupulous fraudsters like Peer appear in all walks of life.

“To be yourself is to sacrifice yourself”, Ibsen argued. The price for leaving the farm was a loss of identity. However, in our globalised world, Peer comes across as a more natural object of identification than he did in the agricultural society of the 19th century. Perhaps it also resurfaces old issues of belonging and rootlessness.

Henry Larsson

Approximate concert length: 1 h 15 min (no intermission)