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Thebe is strongly influenced by Arabian music and its structure is
rhapsodic.
The composition has descriptive subheadings e.g. "The Valley of the
Kings",
"The Temple of Ammon", "An elegy for Osiris etc. The source for
Thebe's
motives lie in the novel "Sinuhe the Egyptian" by Mika Waltari.
Compared
to the rest of my works, there are exceptionally many sound effects,
controlled
improvisational sections and a demand for special techniques.
My chamber music partner for many years, guitarist Pekka Nyyssönen
has greatly helped me in writing the guitar part, as he has done also
in
my other works for flute and guitar.
First public performance was in Kuopio 14.3.1987 by Herbert Lindholm
and Pekka Nyyssönen
Duration: 7,5 min. Degree of difficulty: 8
A melodic and folk like duet where the flute and guitar parties
thematical
dialogue is fluent but done as if with different languages not noticing
one another.
First public performance in Kuopio 29.3.1987, by Herbert Lindholm and
Pekka Nyyssönen
Duration: 4, 5 min. Degree of difficulty: 7
The source of inspiration is once again Waltari and this time his
novel
"Johannes Angelos". Greek and Turkish music conflict and mingle in a
rhapsodic
composition which describes the conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul)
by
Turks in easter 1453. The Turks victory meant the fall of the
thousand-year-old
Eastern Roman Empire. The ethnical motives built a story where the epic
drama is underlined by subheadings "Eastern bells, Warning bells and
Funeral
bells".
First public performance in The New Valamo Monastery, Heinävesi
25.8.1987 by Herbert Lindholm and Pekka Nyyssönen
Duration: 5, 5 min. Degree of difficulty: 7
Fauni dei funghi (Fauns on the Mushrooms)
Suite for Flute and Piano, op. 4 (1987)
In the movements Faunus Boletus (Cep) and
Faunus
Cantharellus
(Chantarelle) "new impressionistic" atmosphere is reached
by a soft, misty piano texture, whereas Faunus Amanita (The Fly
agaric) and
Faunus Gyromitra (The False morel) have more piquant
neo-classical features.
First public performance in Kuopio 16.2.1988 by Herbert Lindholm and
Jaakko Untamala.
Duration: 12 min. Degree of difficulty: 7
A flute-story about sacred dancers and the birth of Aphrodite, inspired by ancient Greek mythology.
The atmosphere in the first two movement is introverted, directed
towards
the dark depths of subconscious. The third movement finds the way out
to
bright sunlight. The tired, pale red outline of the Tired Sun is
dimly visible through the mist until it is time to go Into
the
Darkness, to unending gloom. No, not unending after all: Frost
Crystals
emerge to give light.
First public performance in Kuopio 16.2.1988, Marja Luiro and Eini
Winter
Duration: 12 min. Degree of difficulty: 7
Once more a composition inspired by Waltari's novel, this time
"Turms,
the immortal". The colour of the alto flute's tone brings out the
mystical atmosphere in the tone-poem of the mythological Delphi's
Oracle,
which is underlined by guitars part. The guitar, as Apollo's harp, is
of
equal importance. The headlines of the movements take you to the
Prophesy,
The
Rite and The Revelation in Apollo's misty temple.
First public performance in Odessa 5.3.1990 by Herbert Lindholm and
Pekka Nyyssönen.
Duration: 15 min. Degree of difficulty: 8
The flute choir work is formed from short themes and motives like
brushwood
building a birdís nest. The nine voiced bird-choir turns
gradually into
an accelerating mass, into a gathering flock, which flies away,
screaming.
First public performance in Riistavesi Music Camp 18.7.1990
Duration: 2, 5 min. Degree of difficulty: 6
This fluent, light-hearted and short trio is closely related to
The
Bird Story, like the "bird trio", lost from its flock.
First public performance in Kuopio 4.12.1990 by Tiina Laakkonen, Virva
Kirves and Seija Mononen.
Duration: 3, 5 min. Degree of difficulty: 6
Virtuoso flute concerto, played without interruption and based on
traditional
playing techniques, was composed for my student's post graduate
diploma.
The orchestra part is written so that it can be performed also by
non-professional
orchestras. The role of the percussion section and of the vibraphone
are
significantly important in the dialogues with the solo flute. The
woodwinds
are left out completely from the score.
The style in fast movements is almost neo-classic where the slow middle
movement is more influenced by impressionism. The composition is
neither
tonal or atonal but floats chromatically in-between, which is typical
to
my style. I have also made an arrangement of the score for flute and
piano.
First public performance in Kuopio 25.2.1992 by Marja Luiro and the
Orchestra of Kuopio Conservatoire, cond. Antti Meurman.
Duration: 12 min. Degree of difficulty: 8
These songs or canzonas, as my previous works, is firmly anchored to the melody. Due to its melodic nature it is called "Four Songs", though it could also be named sonata or suite. It makes heavy demands on the flutist's technique to play this perhaps most virtuously piece of all my flute works.
The first canzona is light-hearted with dialogues including small
motive
fragments which are gradually gathered into a hymn-like final theme.
In the second rondo-formed and cheerful canzona are two rival themes,
a dark sullen one and a humorous, light-hearted one.
The third canzona is like the alternation of light and darkness in
a foggy sea. High and low voices are written to their ultimate
registers,
bringing to ones mind the seductive song of the sirens.
The fourth canzona (not included in the flute-piano version) is in
style of a "Grand Finale" the most powerful and boisterous movement of
this work. It is a summary of the previous movements, though not using
straight quotations of their material.
First public performance on Lahti International Organ Festival
6.8.1992,
by Petri Alanko and Juhani Romppanen.
During autumn 1994 I made an arrangement for flute and piano. Sirpa
Piiroinen and Anne Heiste performed the new version in my composition
concert
in Kuopio in October 1994.
Duration: 20 min. Degree of difficulty: 8
In my work as a teacher, I had noticed that there is a lack of
small
etudes focusing on specific technical problems. This is why I
made
a collection of intermediate studies. The titles of the etudes
tell
their purpose.
The beginning of the collection is mostly tonal but gradually atonality
takes place, so the etudes also have a function as an introduction to
modern
music.
Degree of difficulty: 4-7
The Sonata is composed for Jari S. Puhakka and Pekka Vapaavuori
for
their performance on the Faroe Islands Music Festival in 1992.
The demanding music is based on traditional playing techniques. The
form loosely follows the sonata form. Pastoral Morning, filled
with
expectations is followed by a lazy Afternoon siesta. In the Evening
it is time for a fierce tarantella-revelry.
First public performance on the Faroe Islands and in Kuopio in 1993
by Puhakka and Vapaavuori.
Duration: 13 min. Degree of difficulty: 8
From the pedagogic point of view, these quartets are meant to be a
kind
of ensemble-etudes. At the same time they are also demanding concert
pieces
for skillful flautists.
The first two quartets, Snow Flurry and Faux Bourdon,
polish the traditional ensemble-playing skills, such as playing in
exact
rhythm and in tune. The third quartet, Cliché, leads the
flautists to contemporary music, effects and ensemble-playing without
rhythmical
pulse.
Cliché's first public performance was in St. Johns Church in
Kuopio 1993 by the composer's students. The Snow Flurry's first
performance
was in 1997 and Faux Bourdon 1997 in Kuopio.
Duration: 8+8+6 min. Degree of difficulty: 7
The setting of this music is from Anna Ahmatova's anthology "A
poem
without a Hero". The "poem-music" production, in cooperation with
actress
Seija Haarala, was performed in Kuopio City Theatre and in Helsinki
1995.
The music of this production form the large Peterburgian trio suite in
nine movements, and can be performed as a separate work. It consists of
Chekhovian idle moods, fast russian dance themes and the soviet era
atmosphere.
An unifying factor is the style, which is melodic and rhythmically
capricious
and avoids the most discordant dissonances or most common consonances.
The Peterburgian suite's nine movements can also be played selected
or separately.
In the first public performance in Kuopio in 1994 the third, sixth,
fifth, seventh and fourth movements were played by Herbert Lindholm,
Pekka
Parkkinen and Pekka Nyyssönen.
Duration: 26 min. Degree of difficulty: 8
This album is really useful for flautists at all levels and
especially
useful information e.g. for young flute teachers. Here you have a
collection
of different etudes, scales and patterns, chord exercises, micro
interval-
and trill-chart, modern flute sounds etc. to improve the teachers
innovation.
The Willow Pipe includes easier suites of finnish folk songs for
flute
and piano and also arrangements for three flutes.
Degree of difficulty: 1-5
In my second flute-choir work each part is a demanding link in a
constantly
glittering pattern. Northern Lights gets its name from the fast moving
and sparkling motives. The clarinet and the piano gives the flute-choir
periodically a darker colour. The clarinet part can also be played by
one
or two alto flutes.
First performance in Kuopio 1997.
Duration: 5 min. Degree of difficulty: 6
Chamber Concerto for Flute and Ensemble or Piano, op. 31 (1999)
The Chamber Concerto is written especially with young flute
players
in mind. It is difficult enough technically but not too hard to learn
and
have a clear structure. The work can be accompanied as well by piano as
by chamber ensemble, in which case the piano part is enriched with two
violins, a clarinet, cello and a double bass. The piano part shows my
affection
for impressionistic tone colours, in which the harmonies melt into one
another. This freetonal and melodic concerto gives the flautist a
possibility
to make a brilliant impression without any competition, since the
solistic
material of the accompaniment is squeezed to a minimum.
Duration: 11 min. Degrees of difficulty: 6