HKO: Ad Spiram

Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor Iveta Apkalna, organ Sebastian Fagerlund: Organ Concerto “Ad Spiram” (Wed.) Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 “Ad Spiram loosely translates from Latin as ‘towards the spiral’ or ‘towards the whirl’, ” says Sebastian Fagerlund about the name of his organ concerto. “The Latin word ‘spirare’ also means to breathe. These two meanings have been strongly present in my mind during the composition phase. I have had an abstract image of an air‑sheet that winds spirally together as well as the idea of the instrument itself breathing.” “When I discovered the music of Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler in my late teenage years, I knew there was something I wanted to understand completely.” Bruckner’s music has become important to Jukka-Pekka Saraste over the years. “He was a humble person with an incredible will beneath the surface. Such duality in his personality inspires me greatly.”