Susanna Mälkki returns to Helsinki this month, to lead the Helsinki Philharmonic for three concerts. The first, hosted on April 20, features Mahler’s profound and powerful Symphony No. 9:
Programme note – The number 9 must have supernatural powers. Beethoven, Schubert, Bruckner and Dvořák all departed after their ninth symphonies. Mahler did too, but he was so superstitious that he avoided numbering his last symphonies in chronological order. The last of his ninth numbered symphonies is nonetheless the most complete, the most powerful and the most revealing. The themes of death and surrender fade into silence in a long farewell.
Following this concert, Ms. Mälkki and the orchestra are joined by acclaimed soprano Karita Mattila for a splendid programme on April 25 & 26 featuring Enio Poppe’s Altbau and Beethoven’s “Ah! Perfido” with Ms. Mattila as soloist, as well as the composer’s Symphony No. 3.