Rautavaara.

RAUTAVAARA:
SYMPHONY NO.6
"VINCENTIANA"

On 4 & 5 May 2017, Andrew Gourlay and the OSCYL gave the European premiere performances of "Vincentiana", Rautavaara's spectacular sixth symphony, inspired by the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh.  These were the first performances since the world premiere of 1992.

In 1996 the symphony was recorded by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.  During the recording process, the Yamaha DX7 synthesiser (featured prominently throughout the symphony) suffered a serious crash, which damaged some of the audio patches beyond repair.  Subsequent transfer from the outdated DX7 to modern computer software perpetuated the problem, rendering the symphony unplayable.

In 2016 Andrew Gourlay engaged Clive Williamson, a British pianist and synthesiser expert with whom he had worked at the London Sinfonietta.  Clive would perform the DX7 part at the OSCYL performances of May 2017 and, with the help of the publishing house (Fennica Gerhman), undertake the monumental challenge of reconstructing the DX7 audio files for future performance on FM8 software.  This laborious process has been successfully completed, securing the future of a great symphony, and allowing this masterpiece to be heard for the first time in concert halls around the world.