Music Finland Core

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Erkki Pohjola, the founder and director of the Tapiola Choir, sowed the seed which led to the writing of this work. He came to see me, and brought along two veritable songbird soprani, one girl and one boy. They sang with such natural and pure voices that the memory of that sound — clear, and beautifully in tune — has rung in my ears from that day to the present. It has grown into this work, In Tapiola, which is a hommage to both Erkki Pohjola himself and his magnificent choir.By way of reinforcing the Tapiola idea, I have borrowed a few lines from the forty-first poem of our national folk epic The Kalevala. Tapiola, being the haunt of Tapio, the god-like figure and mysterious spirit of the forest in Finnish mythology, clearly acts as a source of inspiration for this composition. The piece unites the ancient song of the bards — which I have had the privilege to hear sung in its native Karelia — with my own personal conception of the myth.The 5/4 time signature of the bardic song continues to ring on in my ears, almost as if Väinämöinen himself were playing to the creatures of Tapiola’s forest, humans and animals alike. The musical language used in In Tapiola is rough and archaic, free from major and minor keys. Here we are brought into contact with a world where primitive monody and two-part writing breaks out into free tonality and polyphonic texture. Lyricism is combined with dramatic power, and childish playfulness with shamanistic extasy.The work’s introduction — a dialogue between two children — acts as a signpost indicating the musical direction of the work: an interchange between the choir’s sopranos and altos, searching for its own rhythmic outlets.In the ecstatic state of the final passage, the vocal parts are liberated from their previously precisely notated form, in order to better express the joyful communion among the inhabitants of the Tapiola forest.© Erik Bergman, 1992Erkki Pohjola, Tapiolan kuoron luoja ja johtaja, istutti Tapiolassa-sävellyksen siemenen aivoihini. Hän tuli luokseni kahden kaunisäänisen lapsisopraanon, tytön ja pojan, kanssa. He esittelivät luonnonkaunista ääntään, ja siitä päivästä lähtien heidän puhtaat ja kirkkaat äänensä ovat soineet korvissani ja luoneet kylvömaan Tapiolassa-sävellykselle, joka samalla on kunnianosoitus Erkki Pohjolalle ja hänen kuorolleen.Käsitettä ’Tapiola’ olen yrittänyt korostaa lainaamalla joitakin rivejä kansalliseepoksemme Kalevalan 41. runosta. Suomalaisen mytologian metsän salaperäisen olemuksen ja jumalolennon Tapion kotipaikkana Tapiola on käsitettävä inspiraatiolähteeksi tälle sävellykselleni, jossa ikivanha runolaulu, jota itse olen kuullut Karjalassa, yhdistyy omaan näkemykseeni myytistä.Runolaulun 5/4-tahtilaji on soinut korvissani kuin kuulisin itse Väinämöisen soittavan Tapiolassa kaikille metsän olennoille, ihmisille ja eläimille. Tapiolassa-sävellyksen sävelkieli on karhean arkaistista, duurista ja mollista vapaata. Siinä kohdataan maailma, jossa primitiivinen yksi- ja kaksiäänisyys murtautuu kohti vapaata tonaliteettia ja polyfonista äänenkuljetusta. Siinä lyriikka yhdistyy dramaattiseen voimaan, lapsellinen leikillisyys shamanistiseen ekstaasiin.Sävellyksen johdanto, dialogi kahden lapsen välillä, toimii tienviittana sävellyksen musiikilliselle kululle, vuorovaikutukselle kuoron sopraanojen ja alttojen kesken, jotka hakeutuvat omille rytmisille teilleen.Loppujakson ekstaasitilassa muuttuu nuotinnettu laulu säveltasoiltaan vapaaksi, mutta rytmitetyksi puhelauluksi, eräänlaiseksi riemuitsevan olemassaolon ilmaukseksi Tapiola-metsässä.© Erik Bergman, 1992

Year of composing

Arranger

Movements

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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