Chamber Series: The Sound of Tomorrow

The Heslinki Chamber Orchestra is happy to introduce a brand series of chamber music concerts centered around music by living composers, called “The Sound of Tomorrow”. The first concert will take place on November 24th 2023 at Ritarihuone hall, at 19:00, and consist of around five chamber music pieces.

La petite sirène, Antoine Cesari, 2023, commissioned by Duo Eclipse

Antoine Cesari is a French pianist and composer completing his master degree in composition at the

Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris. The commissioned piece from Duo

Eclipse (Laure Paris, Leïla Martin) takes its inspiration from the tail The Little Mermaid by Hans

Christian Andersen.

Five Clips, Kimmo Hakola, 2003, clarinet and marimba

Five Clips was commissioned in 2003 by the percussionist Jani Niinimäki. This piece might be

considered as excerpts from a theatre play. The first movement announces the tragedy with a hurried

tempo and unstable melody which portrays a mysterious and anxious situation. The original meaning of

the word clip is to cut with a sharp instrument. With evolution, the verb clip ended up by meaning to

shorten, cut off something, which led to the expression a movie clip, meaning an excerpt from the movie.

Despite being excerpts from a larger scenario, Five Clips is also playing with the double meaning of its

title. Indeed, the two instruments are playing similar material in almost all of the movements, but they are

rarely together. Five Clips features the idea of being on the edge, almost “clipped” together, but at the

same time pulled by opposite forces.

Sans Paroles, Outi Tarkiainen, 2012, clarinet

The solo clarinet work Sans paroles is a song without words. The piece consists of long gliding phrases

interspersed with playful and sometimes jarring rhythms. The piece is dedicated to the clarinetist Lauri

Sallinen.

Ihtiriekko ja Sielunlintu, Elisar Riddelin, 2016, violin

Ihtiriekko ja Sielunlintu addresses Finnish mythology. Ihtiriekko is the ghost of a murdered child, who

haunts without getting peace, until someone finds it. Sielunlintu is the selfdom in everyone, who flies

towards the north when a person dies. These two attributes of death are at the core of this piece. A child's

lament – Sielunlintu's song. Destiny and hazard, constantly competing.

And Legions Will Rise, Kevin Puts, 2001, violin, clarinet and marimba

Composed in the summer of 2001, And Legions Will Rise is about the power in all of us to transcend

during times of tragedy and personal crisis. While I was writing it, I kept imagining one of those war

scenes in blockbuster films, with masses of troops made ready before a great battle. I think we have forces

like this inside of us, ready to do battle when we are at our lowest moments. The piece was written at the

request of Makoto Nakura and commissioned by the Kobe Shinbun. It was premiered in October 2001 at

Matsukata Hall, Kobe, Japan by Mr. Nakura, Yayoi Toda (violin), and Todd Palmer (clarinet).

(text by Kevin Puts)