Esa-Pekka Salonen Conductor
Ricardo Morales Clarinet
Stucky Radical Light
Salonen Kínēma, for clarinet and string orchestra
Sibelius Symphony No. 5
Intensely personal, unfailingly compelling, Sibelius’s music astonishes, thrills, soothes, and beguiles. When he was composing his Fifth Symphony, Sibelius described his “preoccupation with its mystery and fascination. As if God the Father had thrown down pieces of mosaic out of heaven’s floor and asked me to solve how the picture once looked.” He had a profound appreciation of nature and loved walking in the forest. On one such walk he witnessed a flock of swans flying in formation, which inspired the majestic melody of the Symphony’s finale. He wrote, “One of my greatest experiences! Lord God, that beauty! They circled over me for a long time. Disappeared into the solar haze like a gleaming, silver ribbon …”
With too many awards to count and a resume studded with music directorships at great orchestras including London’s Philharmonia, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony, Finnish conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen “was born to conduct Sibelius” (The New Yorker). He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1986 at age 28, conducting Sibelius’s Fifth: “Grand and sweeping, full of drama and smart in its pacing, Salonen’s reading of his fellow countryman’s piece stirred real excitement,” wrote the Philadelphia Inquirer.
A gifted composer as well as conductor, Salonen brings one of his recent works, Kinēma, a brilliant showcase for Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales.