The Polytech Orchestra

Concerts

In the Autumn Concerts we celebrate forgotten masterpieces and the composers behind them. Aarre Merikanto was a modern visionary, ahead of his time as a composer. His Intrada sparkles with the exotic expression of the early 20th century, as if baroque dances had been draped in an opium-lit cloak. The Parisian organ virtuoso Alexandre Guilmant, for his part, remained as a composer in the shadow of his students Nadia Boulanger and César Franck, even though his symphony already offers a foretaste of Impressionism, embraced by a romantic pastoral world. The Finnish-Swedish composer Ida Moberg was highly educated—among other places in St. Petersburg and Dresden—yet her output was initially erased from the history books. Now her masterpieces are beginning to receive the recognition they deserve, not only in Finland but internationally as well. The child prodigy Florence Price gave her first piano recital at the age of four. The first work in her oeuvre of more than 300 compositions was published when she was eleven. Known also as an organist, Price wrote symphonies that overflow with sonic richness—rhythms and harmonies evocative of Debussy, Wagner, and African-American dance culture—alongside a distinctive, instantly recognizable musical voice. To our knowledge, Price’s Third Symphony is now being heard in Finland for the very first time!