Photo & © Maria Nehro
On Friday morning we caught the train to Sundsvall, Kristina and I, to listen to the Orchestra Association’s 100th anniversary concert, where Helen and Anna Stadling would be guest soloists. Sundsvall Orchestra Association, which gave its premiere concert on May 25, 1913, is a hundred years old this year, and the celebration would take place in Tonhallen on Saturday afternoon at. 3.00 pm, local time. The orchestra was, for this special occasion, enhanced with former members. Everyone who had ever played in the orchestra had been invited to participate. At two o’clock we got off the train, and walked the few blocks to The Little Hotel, which turned out to be a simple but very affordable hotel with friendly staff.
Since we were hungry we went out to eat something, and also took the opportunity to purchase flowers for the next day. We had been given access to rehearsals for the concert, both on Friday evening and the dress rehearsal on Saturday morning. However it was uncertain whether Helen would take part on Friday or not, but after careful consideration we decided to go to Tonhallen and find out!
The relatively long walk went quickly in nice company. We first went up to the main entrance, but it was dark and locked. We went back down to a smaller entrance, where orchestra members had entered when we arrived. We were referred to the right floor by a spirited little girl. When we stepped off the elevator we at first glance saw a lot of young girls, but no one who seemed to be in a responsible position that we could ask where to go. At last we met the leader of the orchestra, who told us we could go in via the stage. It felt a little odd to pass through among instruments and musicians, and our thoughts were unsought directed to Aniara, where the audience also were admitted via the stage!
No one seemed bothered about who we were or what we were doing there, and soon we were sitting in two good seats a few rows up in the concert hall. The girl’s choir started with one of their songs. It was immediately apparent that Fredrik Burstedt, the home-coming conductor, was very professional with great insight and very definite opinions about how he wanted it to sound. Much time was devoted to make each group of instruments be heard just enough so that it neither became too dominant nor disappeared in the crowd. He also went into details in the notes and told the orchestra members what he wanted them to do. Although he was a bit stressed, he took the time to joke, and a few times he turned to the very sparse audience and asked for their opinion.
It was very interesting to follow their work, and even more so a bit later when it was Helen & Anna’s turn to enter the stage, to sing together with the orchestra! Especially Anna seemed to have much trouble with her microphone, gesturing and shouting out her wishes to the sound engineer. At her side was her guitarist Pekka Hammarstedt. At first he looked like an old bearded bum with a hat pulled down over his ears. When he the next day no longer wore his hat, he looked so neat and common that we at first didn´t recognize him! At the concert he even wore a jacket and tie.
We were told that a program would be handed out at the concert, so we didn´t have to ponder too much over which songs were played. At eight o’clock Helen & Anna’s part was done, and they packed up and left. The same did Kristina and I, and then we ended the evening at the cozy organic cafe / restaurant Tant Anci & Fröken Sara, in the same block as our hotel. We were happy that we had decided to go to Tonhallen, despite the uncertainty about Helen’s involvement, and felt that it had been an unusually memorable evening!
The next morning we once again left for Tonhallen. We went in the same door as on Friday, crossed the stage and sat down about the same place as the night before, to listen to the dress rehearsal! On Friday, we had been almost alone in the audience, but now there were a few more people, which felt nice.
The orchestral pieces and songs were sung and adjusted, though not as much as the night before. Helen wore a gray and black striped jersey dress. Almost all of the orchestra members were comfortably dressed in jeans, and the conductor Fredrik Burstedt led the orchestra dressed in a t-shirt. At half past twelve the rehearsal was over and we went into the foyer to eat our lunch. At half past two we were once again admitted into the concert hall – through the usual entrance this time.
Kristina and I had our seats at the very front, in the middle of row 1. It was not really the seats we had wanted, since the edge of the stage is high and you see it all from a worm’s-eye view. But those were the tickets we could get. Among the advantages were that we had plenty of space to put all our luggage, which there wasn’t space for in Tonhallen’s incredibly narrow lockers.
Now there were no jeans-clad figures in the orchestra, with leisure shirts and tank tops, but instead a very neat and tidy orchestra dressed in black that took its place on stage. Also Helen and Anna were dressed in black, to honor the day. Helen wore trousers, a top with lace sleeves and a vest. Ceremony master was Lars T Johansson, and the concert began with Beethoven’s Overture to Prometheus, op. 43, just like all the orchestra’s anniversary concerts have opened with through the years. Then we listened to the following:
You’ve got to hide your love away / Norwegian Wood – Anna & Helen
J. Lennon / P. McCartney
From the Dance Suite: Nordic Tango Pavane for a Trout Lake
S. Robertson (b. 1940)
A thing called love – Anna with choir
J. Reed
Ärlighet – Helen
B. Joel
From Prince Igor: Polovsisk Dance No. 17 (with choir Florus Chorus)
A. Borodin (1833-1887)
PAUSE
Overture from Candide
L. Bernstein (1918-1990)
Aftonpsalm – Helen & Anna
O. Magnell
Ring of fire – Anna J.
C. Cash
Jag såg dig – Florus Chorus
E. Lestander
Lyrics: J. Stewart / L. Moodyson
Gabriellas Sång – Helen
S. Nilsson
Lyrics: Py Bäckman
Sommarkort – Helen & Anna (secret encore, not in the program)
C. Cohen
From Symphony No. 5 in E minor op. 64:
Finale: Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace
P. Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
It was a lovely concert, about two hours long, which felt just right! I liked all of the program a lot, but if I have to choose one favorite it’s the beautiful Aftonpsalm, which moved me to tears already during the rehearsals! Anna Stadling was a very positive surprise, because I hadn´t heard much of her before. She will release a new CD in March, with songs by Johnny Cash, which was available for purchase during the evening. Unfortunately, it was sold out already during the break, otherwise I would have bought a copy!
To our indignation our flowers weren´t given to Helen & Anna during the applause. Therefore Kristina set out to clear up the situation, while I stayed and watched our luggage. It turned out that our flowers had been forgotten, so Kristina brought them into the concert hall, and we could leave them in person at the stage. I gave Anna her flowers, and she thanked us and shook our hands. Kristina gave the flowers to Helen, and we also had time to chat with her for a while.
When we were satisfied with the evening we set off with our bag and baggage to the train station. There we had to wait for an hour before the train departed, but both the wait and the return journey with two changes went beyond expectations, and just after midnight, I was back home. As an added bonus, my husband met me at the Central Station, so the journey home, that I thought would be lasting and tedious, passed on quite quickly.
Next, I´ll listen to Helen in Falköping on April 21, and am already looking forward to that!