Manze’s menu
Andrew Manze conductor
Timothy Ridout viola
Arnold Schönberg: Chamber Symphony No. 2, Op. 38
Anders Hillborg: Viola Concerto
Intermission
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52
Anders Hillborg is Finland’s most popular Swedish contemporary composer. His viola concerto (2021) presents the solo instrument in a more heroic role than usual. The work was commissioned for Laurence Power, who will perform as the Tapiola Sinfonietta’s soloist at the start of the autumn season, but now the soloist is the rising star of the younger generation, violist Timothy Ridout. Andrew Manze first made his name as a baroque violinist, but as a conductor he has been drawn to more contemporary music. Schönberg began his Second Chamber Symphony in 1906 but did not complete it until 33 years later, by which time he had become a very different composer. In his Third Symphony, Sibelius shifted direction from the increasingly narrow confines of national romanticism toward a new symphonic logic and the bright key of C major.
