Symphony No.6 “Vincentiana“ - Einojuhani Rautavaara

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Max Pommer I - Starry Night: 0:00 II - The Crows: 19:28 III - Saint-Remy: 25:40 IV - Apotheosis: 33:35 Rautavaara’s Sixth Symphony draws a considerable amount of its material from the composer’s opera “Vincent“, a heavily symbolic, non-linear collage of the life and mind of Van Gogh with libretto penned by the composer. The symphony is divided into the traditional four movements, each one with a subtitle alluding to a painting or an idea from the opera. This is the only of his symphonies to feature a DX-7 synthesiser, for the most part in soloist roles, which are most prominent at the edges of movements with the orchestra filling up the space in between. Meandering quasi-tonal rhapsodies (that as a Rautavaara listener, you either come to love or hate) are freely mixed with passages of extreme atonal/12-tone violence throughout the work, though some of those rows also contribute to the consonant triadic material as well, a Ra