{"id":49943,"date":"2024-11-14T16:03:11","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T15:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bbae38ba-ac1b-4f57-bf2a-38fc11372aa2"},"modified":"2024-11-14T17:09:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T16:09:20","slug":"santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Santtu-Matias Rouvali: the Finnish conductor on the best and worst performances of his career so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 14 November 2024 at 15:03 PM<\/p>

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Read on to find out the Concert Heaven and Concert Hell performances of conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali…<\/strong><\/p>

Santtu-Matias Rouvali… Concert Heaven<\/h2>
R Strauss<\/strong> Also sprach Zarathustra<\/em>; An\u00a0Alpine Symphony<\/em> Philharmonia Orchestra Royal Festival Hall, London, 2021<\/p>
Obviously, there are so many great memories, but I think my Concert Heaven would be the first Royal Festival Hall<\/a><\/strong> performance after the pandemic. We played Richard Strauss<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Also sprach Zarathustra<\/a><\/strong><\/em> and An Alpine Symphony<\/em> to a full hall. It was a perfect feeling, because we were allowed to perform with over 100 musicians on the stage and the auditorium, of course, was crowded! Also, it was the opening of the season and my very first season as the principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra. So it really was the full package; it was quite a moment.<\/p>
Philharmonia Orchestra names Santtu-Matias Rouvali as new principal conductor<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul>
A welcome end to pandemic restrictions…<\/h3>
I had done concerts during the pandemic, but they were so restricted; we were playing without audiences and with reduced forces in the orchestra<\/a><\/strong>, and that went on for, let\u2019s say, two years. I can\u2019t actually remember what my last time on the podium was before that.<\/p>
We were really lucky with the programme at the Royal Festival Hall that evening because it was already planned like that and we were just hoping that the restrictions and rules would be over. We were able to have a normal amount of rehearsal time together, and it was so great for the orchestra to be back together. It was all\u00a0just\u00a0perfect timing.<\/p>

<\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra<\/em> and An Alpine Symphony<\/em> <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Santtu-Matias Rouvali… Concert Hell<\/h2> Tchaikovsky <\/strong>Symphony No. 5<br\/> Philharmonia Orchestra<br\/> Palacio de Congresos de Zaragoza, April\u00a02022<\/p> For my Concert Hell I am going to pick one where I became unwell on tour right\u00a0before the concert.\u00a0I was touring with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Spain in 2022, playing in Madrid and Zaragoza, and I began to feel really sick just three hours before the concert in Zaragoza. I must have got food poisoning, or something like that. At first my colleagues thought I was joking, and they didn\u2019t actually believe it. \u2018Santtu, stop that!\u2019 they said.<\/p> There was no time to find a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/what-does-a-conductor-do\">conductor<\/a><\/strong> and so our concertmaster (lead <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/instruments\/violin-history\">violin<\/a><\/strong>) Zsolt-Tiham\u00e9r Visontay had to conduct, and thank goodness he did, otherwise we would have had to cancel. Cancelling is the worst thing; it\u2019s terrible for the audience, terrible for the orchestra and terrible for\u00a0the venue.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/concert-cancellations\">Gull attacks, need wanderings and furious flirting: 15 calamitous concert cancellations<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Santtu-Matias Rouvali: ‘I was throwing up in the toilet’<\/h3> It was so lucky that Zsolt-Tiham\u00e9r Visontay had done a bit of conducting, and as the concertmaster he knew the piece quite well \u2013 again it was lucky that we were playing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/tchaikovsky\">Tchaikovsky<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Fifth Symphony, a standard repertoire piece. I think it must have been Concert Heaven for him! The orchestra were certainly kept on their toes but they made it, all while I was throwing up in the toilet. So that really was a hell for me.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/alison-balsom-best-worst-concerts\">‘I was in a cold sweat for 28 minutes’ \u2013 trumpeter Alison Balsom on her best and worst performances<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> It\u2019s a worst nightmare scenario, as you don\u2019t want to let people down. It\u2019s a terrible feeling when you want to go on but just can\u2019t. And this time I simply couldn\u2019t. We tried everything; we even brought a doctor in and I got a jab but it didn\u2019t help. By then my fever was racing and I was shaking in my bed, so there really was no chance.\u00a0<\/p> I heard lots of positive things about the\u00a0concert, though, so it was certainly the right decision. Thankfully, I recovered during the night and so I was able to do the next one. But \u2018no seafood before a concert\u2019 is my motto now; I\u2019ve learned my lesson. I just stay in my room\u00a0and roll\u00a0my\u00a0fingers through my hair! Nothing\u00a0else.<\/p> Santtu-Matias Rouvali\u2019s albums of <a href=\"https:\/\/signumrecords.com\/product\/santtu-conducts-shostakovich-symphonies-6-9\/SIGCD877\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shostakovich Symphonies 6 & 9<\/a><\/strong> and <a href=\"https:\/\/signumrecords.com\/product\/santtu-conducts-sleeping-beauty\/SIGCD928\/\">Tchaikovsky’s <\/a><\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/signumrecords.com\/product\/santtu-conducts-sleeping-beauty\/SIGCD928\/\">Sleeping Beauty<\/a><\/strong> are out on Philharmonia Records in November, distributed by Signum Classics<\/em>.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Published: Thursday, 14 November 2024 at 15:03 PM Read on to find out the Concert Heaven and Concert Hell performances of conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali… Santtu-Matias Rouvali… Concert Heaven R Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra; An\u00a0Alpine Symphony Philharmonia Orchestra Royal Festival Hall, London, 2021 Obviously, there are so many great memories, but I think my Concert […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":49944,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/santtu-matias-rouvali-the-finnish-conductor-on-the-best-and-worst-performances-of-his-career-so-far.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Thursday, 14 November 2024 at 15:03 PM Read on to find out the Concert Heaven and Concert Hell performances of conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali… Santtu-Matias Rouvali… Concert Heaven R Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra; An\u00a0Alpine Symphony Philharmonia Orchestra Royal Festival Hall, London, 2021 Obviously, there are so many great memories, but I think my Concert…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/49943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}