There are 59 concerts and 13 Heart of the Day -events in the festival programme. The amount of events is so large that it is sometimes very hard to decide which concerts to attend. We have made lists of recommendations for those cases. Are you a first-time listener, a modern enthusiast, a lover of chamber music or a hard core -listener? Here under are recommendation lists to you each of you.
Recommendations for A FIRST-TIME LISTENER:
The well-tempered ear (No. 2)
Composers that are familiar: Mozart, Schumann, Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert
Double concertos (No. 7)
It’s always nicer to play and experience life together
The eternal clock (No. 19)
The Tik-Tak Polka and other pieces about clocks and time
White nights (No. 23)
Nordic summer night
There’s something about Mélisande (No. 41)
The story of Pelléas and Mélisande told by Fauré and Sibelius
The secret history of Sankt Stephan (No. 45)
It’s almost like listening to Strauss in Vienna on New Year’s Day
Fish tales (No. 49)
Composers go fishing
Love actually (No. 50)
An emotional night for lovers of romance
Melancholic Slavic dances (No. 56)
Start your day with melancholic dances
Any Heart of the Day -event, where you can connect directly with the festival artists.
Recommendations for A MODERN ENTHUSIAST:
Fuel for the imagination (No. 12)
Modern pieces by Weinberg and Fagerlund alongside Beethoven
Associations (No. 14)
A piano trio by Sebastian Fagerlund and an oboe quartet from Olli Mustonen
Sudden shadow (No. 22)
String quartets by Shostakovich and Weinberg bring dark shadows to a summer evening.
White nights (No. 23)
Modern Nordic composers
Concert No. 27
Saturday evening’s marathon concert includes pieces by Widmann, Kurtág and this summer’s guest composer Osvaldo Golijov. Something incorporating the old and the new.
Obsessions (No. 28)
Passion, jealousy and emotion
How to write an air (No. 38)
Even a balloon can be an instrument
Autumn songs (No. 48)
Autumn tunes from Japanese composers Hosokawa and Takemitsu
Fish tales (No. 49)
You must hear Crumb’s Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale) at least once in your life. Then again, Schubert’s Trout quintet can be heard dozens of times, and you will find something new every time.
Back to Paris (No. 55)
The sacred intriguing connection between the flute and the harp
Recommendations for A LOVER OF CHAMBER MUSIC:
2=1 the cosmic union (No. 10)
Presenting siblings Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn – Felix’s string octet is something to experience at least once in a lifetime
The black list (No. 16)
Previously banned compositions now performed in Kuhmo!
Chamber music workshop (No. 20)
Young and promising stars of the future tackle Dvořák and Beethoven
Sudden shadow (No. 22)
String quartets by Weinberg and Shostakovich complement one another
On the edge (No. 30)
Great orchestral pieces performed as chamber versions
Souvenir d?2?un paysage inconnu (No. 31)
Experiencing Souvenir de Florence every summer is a must!
Sounds about words (No. 35)
Fantasies for every taste and the premier of the Kuhmo City fanfare
Beethoven’s business letter (No. 36)
Musical fireworks in ensemble playing in Beethoven’s septet for wind and string instruments
Wordless opera (No. 40)
Antti Tikkanen will join the Quartetto di Cremona in a Mozart string quintet.
History of histories (No. 43)
The endearing L’Histoire du soldat was composed in the middle of World War II but it always seems relevant somehow.
The secret history of Sankt Stephan (No. 45)
Strauss, Strauss, Strauss and a bit more Strauss!!!
Autumn songs (No. 48)
The sublime clarinet quintet by Brahms is on the programme
Vienna (No. 53)
Schubert, Webern and Brahms take the audience to 19th century Vienna.
Davidsbündlerstänze (No. 57)
Two monumental works in the same concert! The massive F.A.E sonata for violin and piano, and a dance suite that lasts over half an hour.
Recommendations for A HARD CORE -LISTENER:
Black list (No. 16)
All these pieces were blacklisted.
On the edge (No. 30)
In one and the same concert the divinely beautiful Adagio from Mahler’s symphony no. 5 in an arrangement for strings, and Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King, where solo vocalist Thomas Florio can show off his range, virtuosity, talent and sheer looniness.
Heine’s review (No. 34)
Paganini – the mysterious creature – who stunned his audience with his virtuosity.
Paraphrases (No. 39)
Opera arias as solo pieces
From the time the Earth was flat (No. 42)
La creation du monde is an absolute classic!
History of religion (No. 44)
A wide presentation of prayers, religions, beliefs and church chorales from Bach to Golijov.
Des Knaben Wunderhorn (No. 46)
Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Knaben Wunderhorn as interpreted by various composers.
Love actually (No. 50)
Opera, chamber music and solo works about love.
Back to Paris (No. 55)
Period of relaxation in the church listening to flute and harp music.
Dance of the blessed spirits (No. 58)
In the final concert of the festival you will hear dance music from Baroque period, and then via Sibelius to the jazzy, heady 1930s and Broadway!
OR!!!
Recommendations for a hard core -listener:
Weekly season ticket 1, first week of the festival
Weekly season ticket 2, second week of the festival
Further information:
www.kuhmofestival.fi