Music Finland Core

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Milan Kundera compared symphonic music to a journey through a world which has no boundaries. And so it is with the solo violin in this work, which seems to be on a journey where it continually encounters new vistas and situations. At the very opening, the violin’s long cantilena arc occupies an ever-widening gamut of intervals, as if winging through higher spheres. It transforms into an energetic antiphony with the horn and then culminates in a heavy fluctuating passage in the orchestra. A new, more virtuosic section starts in which the violin’s double-stopping motion, accompanied by figurations in the flute, heads continually upwards only to descend in cascades of failing arpeggios. The orchestra’s weighty cantilena which follows ends with a jerky cadenza from the solo violin, to which various instruments add their comments in conversational fashion. The last section of the movement again starts with a slow melody, into which the orchestra joins with variations of its own. The solo sets off on a series of fast excursions, seemingly forming an endless line like the horizon (in fact the instruction to the player is ‘create a horizon’). Eventually the movement comes to a close in a quiet reminiscence of the opening motive, a retrospective glance at what has gone before.If one thinks of the concerto’s first movement as the opening and slow movements in the classical sense collapsed into a single movement, the second movement for its own part can be regarded as a synthesis of scherzo and finale. It gets off to a romping start with some energetic, rhythmically ever-changing music in which punctuations from the orchestra seem to whip more and more speed into the solo line. This action gives way to a quiet passage in which the oboe leads us into a moonlit landscape. The solo violin joins in, bringing its own increasingly independent character to the melodic line developing it eventually into a solo cadenza. Here the composer has left the end of the cadenza for the soloist to invent in traditional classical fashion. When the orchestra re-enters, the solo violin strives for the great heights we associate with Romanticism, but then condenses its motion into a final stretto in which the the player’s command of the bow is put to the test in continuous forte repetitions, played détaché at breakneck speed. Precisely these last pages of the concerto, containing the furious stretto finale, were written in New York’s Manhattan. Returning after two decades of absence to the city in which I studied as a young man was a moving experience for me. As I looked from my workroom window at the sky-scrapers of Downtown Manhattan, with their thousands of lights switching on an off in the windows around the clock, and listened to the endlessly changing murmur of traffic on 5th Avenue, I realised that the violin part should live its final moments passionately and restlessly, untiringly penetrating the orchestral texture right up to the very last bars of the piece.© Einojuhani Rautavaara(translated by © Andrew Bentley)Milan Kundera on verrannut sinfonista musiikkia matkaan läpi rajattoman maailman. Niinpä viulukonserton sooloviulu tuntuu olevan matkalla, jossa se kohtaa yhä uusia maisemia ja tilanteita. Aivan alussa sen pitkälinjoinen cantilena liikkuu vähitellen yhä laajenevin intervallikaarroksin kuin korkealla ilmassa kaarrellen. Se muuttuu energiseksi vuorolauluksi käyrätorven kanssa, kunnes musiikki kulminoituu orkesterin raskaaseen aaltoiluun. Alkaa uusi, ’konsertoiva’ jakso, jossa viulun kaksiääninen, huilun kuvioiden ympäröimä liike suuntautuu yhä ylöspäin laskeutuakseen taas putoilevina murtosointuketjuina. Orkesterin raskaasti liikkuva laulu keskeytyy sooloviulun oikukkaaseen kadenssiin, johon kuitenkin nivoutuu eri soittimien repliikkejä kuin keskustelussa. Loppujakso aikaa taas hitaalla melodialla, johon orkesteri yhtyy omilla variaatioillaan. Viulusoolo lähtee nyt nopeaan aaltoliikkeeseen, se tuntuu muodostavan loputonta taivaanrannan viivaa (esitysohjeena on ‘create a horizon’), ja osa sulkeutuu hiljaiseen muistumaan avausmotiivista, kuin taakse katsoen.Jos konserton ensimmäinen osa voidaan nähdä klassisen pääosan ja hitaan osan yhdistelmänä, niin on jälkiosa scherzon ja finaalin synteesi. Vauhdikas avaus on rytmisesti koko ajan vaihtuvaa, energistä musiikkia, jossa orkesterin iskut tuntuvat ajavan sooloa kiihkeästi eteenpäin. Liike laukeaa rauhalliseen taitteeseen, jossa oboe johdattaa kuutamoiseen maisemaan ja kun viulu yhtyy mukaan, vie se melodiaa yhä itsenäisemmin, lopulta soolokadenssiksi. Siinä säveltäjä on jättänyt kadenssin loppuosan kunkin solistin itse sävellettäväksi, vanhaklassilliseen tapaan. Orkesterin tultua taas mukaan kohoaa viulu romanttisiin korkeuksiin, tihentää sitten liikkeensä loppustrettoon, missä solistilta vaaditaan jousikäden varmaa hallintaa jatkuvissa forterepetitioissa, nopeana détachéna. Juuri nämä konserton viimeiset sivut, finaalin hurja stretto syntyi New Yorkissa, Manhattanilla. Paluu nuoruuteni opiskelukaupunkiin kahden vuosikymmenen jälkeen oli minulle syvä elämys, ja kun katsoin studioni ikkunasta Downtownin piivenpiirtäjiä, joiden tuhansissa ikkunoissa valot syttyivät ja sammuivat lakkaamatta läpi yön ja päivän, kun kuulin 5th Avenuen alati vaihtuvan, loputtoman äänivirran tiesin, että viulusoolon piti elää kiihkeästi viimeiset hetkensä; se porautuisi hellittämättä läpi orkesteritekstuurin loppuun saakka.© Einojuhani Rautavaara

Year of composing

Arranger

Movements

Availability

Abbreviation	Instrument
Woodwind
acl	alto clarinet
afl	alto flute
arec	alto recorder
asax	alto saxophone
barsax	baritone saxophone
barhn	baritone horn
bcl	bass clarinet
bfl	bass flute
bob	bass oboe
bsax	bass saxophone
bsn	bassoon
cbsn	contrabassoon
cl	clarinet
ehn	English horn
fl	flute
hn	French horn
ob	oboe
pic	piccolo
rec	recorder
sax	saxophone
srec	soprano recorder
ssax	soprano saxophone
trec	tenor recorder
tsax	tenor saxophone
Brass
ahn	alto horn
atrb	altotrombone
barhn	baritone horn
btrb	bass trombone
cornet	cornet
euph	euphonium
fhn	flugelhorn
hn	French horn
tba	tuuba
thn	tenor horn
trb	trombone
trp	trumpet
Percussion
dr	drums
glock	glockenspiel
mar	marimba
perc	percussion
timp	timpani
vibr	vibraphone
xyl	xylophone
Strings
db	double bass
gamba	viola da gamba
str	strings
vla	viola
vlc	cello
vln	violin
Other
acc	accordion
cel	celesta
cemb	harpsichord
chords	chords
elbas	electric bass
elg	electric guitar
elorg	electric organ
elpno	electric piano
guit	guitar
harm	harmonium
hca	harmonica
hp	harp
instr	instrument
kantele	kantele
keyb	keyboard
live electr	live electronics
mand	mandolin
mel	melody
org	organ
pno	piano
synth	synthesizer
tape	tape
Vocal
alto	alto
baryt	baritone
basso	bass voice
ch	choir
chc	childrens choir
chf	female choir
chm	male choir
chx	mixed choir
cten	countertenor
mezzo	mezzo-soprano
sopr	soprano
speaker	speaker
ten	tenor
voc	vocal

Symphony orchestra
2222 4331 11 1, str = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, one other percussionist, harp and strings
Wind band
2252 3 423 21212 3 = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 5 clarinets, 2 bassoons - 3 saxophones - 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones - 2 cornets, alto horn, 2 tenor horns, baritone horn, 2 tubas - 3 percussionists
Big band
221 4 4, pno, guit, db, dr = 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, baritone saxophone, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, guitar, double bass, drums
Additional codes
+	fl+pic = flutist doubles on piccolo
/	pno/org = can be played on either piano or organ
lib	ad libitum
obl	obligato
str	str: 65432 = specified number of string players
str min	str min: 65432 = at least 65432
str max	str max: 65432 = not more than 65432
solo	vln solo = violin is the solo instrument in a work not obviously for solo violin

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra