Lotta Wennäkoski Soie for Flute and Orchestra Hava Amor Omnia Suite

LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI SOIE FOR FLUTE AND ORCHESTRA Hava Amor Omnia Suite KERSTEN MCCALL, FLUTE FINNISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DIMA SLOBODENIOUK LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI (b. 1970) Soie (2009) for flute and orchestra 18:28 1 I Voile 10:04 2 II Lin gros 1:26 3 III Soie 6:58 4 Hava (2007) 10:01 5 Amor Omnia Suite (2014) 26:31 KERSTEN McCALL, flute (1-3) FINNISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA DIMA SLOBODENIOUK, conductor “The genesis of my music can proceed in many ways. But there has to be an all-encompassing idea, one that will generate a name, a sound and perhaps even harmonies. I am inspired not just by music for its own sake; I like to take impulses from the outside world too.” This is how Lotta Wennäkoski describes her composition process. Even though the original impulse for a piece is usually extra-musical, the music she writes is not descriptive or programmatic; instead, she translates the ideas derived from those outside impulses into her musical idiom. Wennäkoski’s works are characterised by a rich and colourful sound world that often incorporates unconventional playing techniques and noise. “Tonal colour is important to me, but I don’t consider myself a spectral composer. I like dynamic forms and translucence. There has to be air in the music,” she says. Wennäkoski’s output is consistent and has evolved organically; the changes that have happened in her modernist aesthetics have to do more with expression than with style. Her early works were dominated by stagnant, fragile textures that earned her the label of a ‘lyrical’ composer. Although this is a valid appraisal of her work, it must be understood in a broad sense, and we must also understand that it is not an exhaustive description. While it remains valid as a reference to her sensibility for sound and sonorities and her ability to conjure up meaningful moments from the nuances of the tiniest gestures, in recent years her range of expression has become gradually broader, deeper and more powerful, well beyond the confines of what could be reasonably described as ‘lyrical’. Her tempos have also become livelier with the introduction of a regular pulse. She herself describes her recent works as “fast tonal colour music”. Wennäkoski emerged as a composer while studying at the Sibelius Academy, mainly with Eero Hämeenniemi, in the 1990s. She completed her composition diploma in 2000. Her teachers at the Sibelius Academy also included Kaija Saariaho and Paavo Heininen, and she also studied with the completely different Louis Andriessen in the Netherlands. Wennäkoski’s early output focuses on small ensembles, but more recently orchestral works have emerged as her principal genre. She has also written a few vocal works and cross-discipline works but does not see her self as a particularly pluralist creative artist. Some of her works show her desire to address important contemporary issues: for instance, her monodrama Lelele (2010–2011) is about human trafficking and forced prostitution. 3 The titles of Wennäkoski’s works often serve as useful keys to the music, and Soie (2009) is a case in point. The title, meaning ‘silk’ in French, refers to her understanding of the concept of ‘texture’ not just as music but in a more concrete sense as the structure of fabric. The three movements of the work reflect different types of weave in Wennäkoski’s vivacious and colourful language, spiced with a variety of noises. The work contains both sensitivity and roughness, both virtuoso speed and slow meditation. Scored for flute and orchestra, Soie comes across as a concerto. The solo part is demanding, calling for both modern techniques and a solid traditional flute sound. The second movement in particular requires the soloist to switch between the two idioms in rapid succession. Soie was commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and in spring 2012 it was placed on the list of recommended works at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers. The opening movement, ‘Voile’ (meaning a sail, a veil or gauze), was conceived by Wennäkoski as reminiscent of a “light, translucent, billowing fabric”. There is a scintillating edge to the music, incorporating wavering tiny glissandi and flute flourishes. After a sharp culmination towards the middle, the music descends into introvert meditation. The brief second movement, ‘Lin gros’ (rough linen), is – true to its name – rough, jagged and aggressive, dominated by non-traditional techniques where tones often break into noise. The concluding movement ‘Soie’ is smooth and caressing, with echoes of the rustling of silk. But if we are to look to titles for meaning, then what does Hava mean? While it is actually the Hungarian word for ‘snow’, perhaps referring to the year that Wennäkoski spent in Budapest as a young musician, studying the violin, theory of music and Hungarian folk music, it might more relevantly be taken to allude to Finnish words meaning ‘rustling’ or ‘becoming alert’. In this case, the title came after the piece. Wennäkoski says that she wanted to write a “fast texture piece”. The scherzo character is apparent particularly in the first half of the piece, with lively rippling figures; the performing instruction is ‘capriccioso’. The flurrying gestures and sparkling textures stemmed from “an idea of falling, like leaves floating to the ground”. Towards the end, the music decelerates into calmer ‘molto sensible’ moments, fragile as glass – until a sudden moment of ‘alertness’ concludes the piece. Hava was completed in late 2007 to a commission from the Tapiola Sinfonietta and was premiered at the orchestra’s 20th anniversary concert in January 2008. Wennäkoski was composer- in-residence with the Tapiola Sinfonietta in the 2010–2011 season, during which the orchestra performed several of her works. 4 Wennäkoski’s most extensive work to date is the soundtrack to the film Amor omnia (1922), written in 2011–2012 and lasting nearly 90 minutes. It was commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra as part of a series where five Finnish composers were invited to write a new score to old Finnish silent films. Amor omnia, directed by Konrad Tallroth, is a tragic love story where the young lovers Margaretha and Carl-Johan do not know that they are actually sister and brother. This is not revealed until they are actually standing at the altar, ready to be married. Devastated, Carl-Johan volunteers for military service and goes off to war; a few months later, a message arrives reporting that he has been mortally wounded. Margaretha rushes to his bedside, and in the morning they are found dead in each other’s arms, Carl-Johan having died of his wounds and Margaretha of a broken heart. In 2014, Wennäkoski adapted a concert suite from her film score, the Amor Omnia Suite. The adaptation was quite as much of a challenge as writing the original score. “I had to think carefully about which bits of the music would work on their own, without the visual,” says Wennäkoski. She wrote brief transitions for the concert suite to knit together the excerpts from the film score. Although titled a ‘suite’, the work is in a single movement. The film score required the musicians to whisper words in Finnish; these were translated into the more universally applicable English for the concert adaptation. While Wennäkoski did not want to overwhelm the visual narrative with her music, she remained consistent in her expression and style. The score includes extremely quiet and retiring tones, and moments of silence too. The music is rich in sensitive colours and delicate nuances, with textures carefully written out including the modern techniques required. However, there is also an element of sentiment – this is a tragic love story, after all – an almost Mahler-like late Romantic expressiveness that emerges in the strings towards the end. In the original score, this is designated the ‘love theme of the young couple’. Kimmo Korhonen Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi 5 Kersten McCall, since 2005 principal flutist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, was born in Freiburg, Germany. His father is composer Brent McCall. He grew up in Donaueschingen, where the Donaueschingen Festival for contemporary music is still held every October. It was in this rich musical environment that McCall took up the flute at the age of nine. He later studied with teachers such as Felix Renggli, Renate Greiss and Aurele Nicolet. Between 1997 and 2005 he was principal flutist of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Saarbrücken, Germany. Kersten McCall is first prize winner of the Kobe International Flute Competition and has won prizes at competitions such as ARD Munich, the Prague Spring and the Mendelssohn Wettbewerb Berlin. He has been invited as guest principal flutist to perform with orchestras such as the Berlin and the New York Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, he has performed with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Camerata Academica Salzburg, Les Violons du Roy, the Radio Orchestras of Saarbrücken and Hilversum, the Sharoun-Ensemble and many others, under conductors such as Kurt Masur, Sándor Végh, George Benjamin, Martyn Brabbins, Bernard Labadie, Michael Stern, Petr Altrichter and Ruben Gazarian. He has toured many countries in the Far and Middle East, South America, Russia and most European countries. In 1996, McCall founded the ensemble est!est!!est!!! for contemporary music and performance, which has won several prizes in Germany. Kersten McCall is a member of the Linos-Ensemble and teaches at the Amsterdam Conservatory. 6 KERSTEN McCALL 7 The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission is to produce and promote Finnish musical culture. Its Chief Conductor as of autumn 2013 is Hannu Lintu, following a season (2012/2013) as the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor.

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