Alfvén’s powerful, sensual fourth symphony begins with the rolling caress of the waves and a young couple’s mutual desire among the outermost islets of the archipelago. When the sun rises “over the first and final day of love’s joy”, as the composer himself writes, the sea and love are shaken by a storm. Joy is destroyed. The wordless song is sung by soprano Ida Falk Winland and tenor Adam Frandsen.
The concert begins with Wagner’s Prelude to Act I of the opera Lohengrin and Ravel’s Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé. This sensuous orchestral suite with its famous flute solo is taken from the composer’s choreographic symphony, a tribute to Ancient Greece.
Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard is the former Principal Guest Conductor and Music Director of the Seattle Symphony and Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.