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time through light / valoa vasten aika (2010-11)Concerto for Horn Quartet and Orchestra (3323/0331/13/str)time through light is a concerto for horn quartet and orchestra. I borrowed the idea to compose for such an ensemble from Schumann: after listening to his Konzertstück, I got the strong feeling that I had to do something like it… The conscious similarities with Schumann nevertheless extend no further than the ensemble – though I did omit horns from the orchestra, unlike Schumann, in order to enhance the quartet’s soloist role.Concertante chamber music, in which some instrument or group of instruments one after the other assumes the role of soloist within the ensemble in the manner of a concerto is, to my mind, an interesting arrangement and one I had already used in several of my earlier works. The solo quartet is now a unit in itself, separate from the orchestra, but there is still an element of chamber music: the work has virtually no solos, i.e. “playing alone”, in the true sense of the word; rather, all four give voice at almost all the horn points, and things pass from one instrument to another, sometimes very rapidly, in the manner of chamber music. Thus no member of the quartet becomes the “leading soloist”, even though I have, out of respect for tradition, usually assigned the lowest notes to the fourth horn.I can’t – and won’t – really give a proper explanation for the title. It does not pose a riddle to be solved; it just says something about the work’s initial images (though I didn’t in fact succeed in formulating the title until a week before the premiere). Natural light with its innumerable shades is, for me, an endlessly fascinating phenomenon; in order to appreciate its finesses, you have to stop, just look. (The same applies to sounds and music – you just have to listen.) Time is, in turn, a basic element of music and our very being, in music time is to my mind above all “experience time” determined primarily by feelings, recollections, expectations at each moment of the music, and not so much the equal-length seconds of a clock.For the wording of the title I am indebted to Göran Tunström who, in a book entitled Talvimatka Intiaan (A Winter’s Journey to India) describes how “projects”, ambitious and major undertakings “in time shut out the little observations, the trivial messages left by rain and mist on the trunks of trees”. He likens such little observations to a jigsaw puzzle: “First the jigsaw has to be assembled, and then, so I imagine, you can begin to examine the shapes and colours of the individual pieces, hold them up to the light, settle on your campstool, -- and unhurried, unlaboured, observe their existence.”Composing a concerto easily becomes what Tunström denotes a “project”, but listening to it does not need to be one. The jigsaw is finished; now is the time to examine it “…unhurried, unlaboured…”Hannu Pohjannoro(transl. by Susan Sinisalo, permission by Fennica Gehrman)

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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

valoa vasten aika / time through light