Easter Concert

Numerous composers have written music inspired by Christ’s seven words on the cross, Sofia Gubaidulina among them. She wrote her concerto Sieben Worte for bayan, cello, and string orchestra in 1982, but at the time of its Moscow premiere she said nothing about the religious element in it, as the Soviet authorities abhorred the Christian faith. Sieben Worte is among Gubaidulina’s most powerful works. This performance features accordion virtuoso Geir Draugsvoll, a long-term collaborator of the composer’s, and ISO principal cellist Sigurgeir Agnarsson. 

Anton Bruckner ranks among the most religious composers of the 19th century, and his symphonies have often been described as the tonal equivalent of a cathedral. In his Symphony no. 3, a milestone in his career, Bruckner was able to find his own compositional voice after years of searching. It delighted the composer that Richard Wagner, whom he revered more than any other, agreed to be the dedicatee of the symphony. But this positive turn proved not to be the happy ending it presaged, as the Vienna premiere was an unmitigated disaster, and another decade would pass before the symphony was accorded the respect it deserves.

Nathanaël Iselin conducts the concert in place of Eva Ollikainen, who originally was scheduled to conduct. Iselin is a first Prize winner and Special Prize of the Orchestra at the 8th International Jorma Panula Conducting Competition, Nathanaël Iselin is a young French conductor currently living in Scandinavia. He is the assistant conductor of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, in Denmark.

Masterworks inspired by the sacred at the ISO’s Easter concert.