Orkesterin edessä / Conductivity

Framför orkestern.
    FI 2020 © 2019 Tuffi Films. P: Venla Hellstedt.
    D+SC: Anna-Karin Grönroos – based on the idea by Venla Hellstedt and Juuso Ikonen. Cin: Mika Mattila. M: Salla Luhtala. S: Tuomas Klaavo. ED: Okku Nuutilainen.
    Students: Emilia Hoving, I-Han Fu, James Kahane.
    Teachers: Atso Almila, Hannu Lintu, Susanna Mälkki.
    Orchestras: Sibelius Academy Conductor Band (kapubändi), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Nordiska Kammarorkestern.
    M selections:
– Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka 1947
– Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6
– Claude Debussy: La Mer
– Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 3
– Johannes Brahms: Serenade No. 1, Op. 11
– Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3
– Igor Stravinsky: Firebird
– Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 6
– Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 49
– Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
– P. I. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 Op. 64
– Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
– Alice Tegnér: "Goder afton, Goder afton (Julafton)"
– Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 2
    Loc: Helsinki Music Center, Temppeliaukio Church (Helsinki), Sundsvall (Sweden).
    Languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, French.
    75 min
    Finnish premiere: 7 Feb 2020 – distributed by Tuffi Films – Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Marko Pohjanrinne / Heidi Nyblom-Kuorikoski.
    DCP viewed at Kinopalatsi 7, Helsinki, 8 Feb 2020.

Orkesterin edessä ["In Front of the Orchestra"] is a rich and rewarding documentary about training conductors at the Sibelius Academy, alma mater of many world class conductors. The director Anna-Karin Grönroos gives us a privileged view to intimate scenes, starting with breathing and relaxation of hands. Young students are mercilessly thrown into the fire, conducting difficult works with a real orchestra. Everything is visually recorded, and the achievements are analyzed together.

It is tough and demanding, but a symphony orchestra is one of the most refined achievements of culture, and the art and skill of conducting can only be transmitted in a living master and pupil contact. We follow three students, James Kahane (France), Emilia Hoving (Finland) and I-Han Fu (Taiwan) being taught by the top conductors Hannu Lintu, Susanna Mälkki and Atso Almila.

It's a long journey into the theory and practice of music, and it is also about personal growth and learning more about culture at large. The teachers are not soft with students, and the students also resist some of the teaching: James Kahane clashes openly with Atso Almila, and I-Han Fu has his reservations with Hannu Lintu. We learn about cultural differences: I-Han Fu is impressed by the Finns' habit of giving people space. While still studying the future conductors also already take real gigs: James Kahane conducts a concert at the Church on the Rock, and Emilia Hoving travels to Sundsvall to conduct a Christmas concert.

Needless to say, the soundtrack is full of some of the greatest music ever composed.