Shadows (Sallinen)

The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) premiered the work on 30 November 1982 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., under the direction of its music director, Mstislav Rostropovich.

[1] Reporting on the concert, The Washington Post wrote that Sallinen's orchestral prelude had "had a powerful impact on its first performance", noting in particular its kinship with the Sibelius concerto, due to its "having a similar prevailing darkness of tone and a strong sense of dramatic contrasts".

[1] A day later, on 1 December, Rostropovich and his orchestra gave Shadows and the Sibelius concerto at Carnegie Hall in New York, but this time paired with Nielsen's Sinfonia espansiva and Nordal's Choralis.

[2] In its review, The New York Times found the Sallinen "heavy and sober" in mood and "eclectic" in style, concluding "the shadows evoked by the piece were definitely of the darker sort".

Finnish conductor Ari Rasilainen has also recorded the prelude (an interpretation that is notably quicker than those of his predecessors) as part of cpo's compendium of Sallinen's orchestral works.