A cold night passes into a radiant morning. In a performance honoring the pathbreaking composer Kaija Saariaho, who died last year, Ciel d’hiver (Winter Sky) begins in the orchestra’s heights, haunted piccolo shimmering like the northern lights. Magnus Lindberg’s new Viola Concerto pushes the fearless violist Lawrence Power to epic limits. And Schumann, struggling with illness, finds the warm light of dawn in the murmured fanfares of the Second Symphony.
A few things to know:
• This concert commemorates the legacy of the pathbreaking composer Kaija Saariaho. For three decades, Saariaho’s work crisscrossed the globe. Her shimmering, emotional music has to some extent come to define the classical sound of the early 21st century.
• After a year of pain and mental and physical illness, Schumann wrote to a friend, “Drums and trumpets in C major have been blaring in my head. I have no idea what will come of it.” It became the opening to the Second Symphony. The music poured from his pen in three short weeks.
• Lawrence Power travels the world as a viola soloist and chamber musician. He is a passionate champion of music by living composers. “Working with contemporary composers is a big part of what I do and something I really enjoy,” he says. Power has developed a large repertoire of new works—the latest is this Lindberg concerto.
