Migros-Culture-Percentage-Classics 180°

Regular performances of classical orchestral music have only existed in Iceland for around a century. A new era dawned on the island with the founding of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 1950. The orchestra has long since established itself as one of the best orchestras in Europe; it has performed at the Vienna Konzertverein, the Kennedy Center in New York and at the BBC Proms. The orchestra has also made a name for itself with studio recordings, such as the complete works for orchestra by Vincent d’Indy, for which it received a Grammy nomination. Its artistic directors have included personalities such as Vladimir Ashkenazy and Osmo Vänskä; the current chief conductor is Eva Ollikainen from Finland. And since 2011, the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavik has also provided an architecturally and acoustically outstanding venue.

Eva Ollikainen’s "natural stage presence and captivating musicality" have been praised by the specialist press. The Finnish conductor, who was born in 1982 and won the Jorma Panula Conducting Competition at the age of 21, has indeed enjoyed a brilliant rise in recent times: she has been chief conductor of the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, performed with the Wiener Symphoniker, the Orchestre National de France and the BBC Philharmonic as well as at the Semperoper Dresden. In 2021, she was appointed artistic director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, where she focuses on contemporary music, for example in her collaboration with composer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir. Ollikainen herself began her career as a student of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where she also teaches today.

"Individuality, depth of expression and a charismatic appearance" is how Kian Soltani is described. The Austrian with Iranian roots is indeed at home in two cultures − a fact that he paid tribute to in his debut album with the telling title "Heimat". When it was released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2018, Soltani had already won the Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki− and the coveted Credit Suisse Young Artists Award. He has since established himself internationally with appearances at the Schleswig-Holstein, Lucerne and Kissingen festivals as well as regular collaborations with greats such as Daniel Barenboim and Renaud Capuçon. In 2022, his innovative film music album "Cello Unlimited" was awarded an Opus Klassik.

Concert introduction with compocer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir (approx. 5')

Vast, dark soundscapes, repeatedly roughened and interspersed with individual reflections of light: Anna Thorvaldsdóttir’s musical language is almost inevitably reminiscent of the nature of her native Iceland. When she uses the term "soundscapes", however, she is referring to those within herself. Her orchestral work "Archora", premiered at the BBC Proms 2022, also revolves around the idea of a parallel universe, seductively beautiful but never quite tangible – in a way that perhaps only music can convey. The title of the work is made up of the Greek words for origin ("arche") and space ("chora").

The Cello Concerto dates from Edward Elgar’s last creative phase; it was completed in the summer of 1919. There is hardly any sign of the triumphant gesture of earlier orchestral works here; everything is geared towards introspection, melancholy and resignation. Elgar makes use of the enormous "power of speech" of the cello, which repeatedly demonstrates its melodic qualities, especially in the 1st and 3rd movements. But the gruff, brusque character of the instrument also comes into its own. All in all, a work of farewell and retrospection, the crowning capstone of Elgar’s oeuvre.

Bright and friendly: Jean Sibelius’ Second Symphony is often described with these attributes, precisely in order to set it apart from the tragically shadowy No. 1. Does it reflect the experiences of a stay in Italy, of which the composer himself said that he "became a completely different person" during that time? Or does Sibelius dare to look to the future with his new work, to a free, sovereign Finland? It is not surprising that his contemporaries preferred the latter. But even without its political overtones, the Second is still one of the Finnish late Romantic composer’s most popular creations.