Music Finland Core

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I wrote Aiva for orchestra 1991 for a competition by invitation in honour of the 75th aniversary of Finland's independence. The title of the piece originates from archaic Finnish - "aiva" is an obsolete word meaning "bare" or "pure", thus pointing to the translucent and chamber musical character of orchestration.The musical gesture at the very beginning of the piece is a kind of seed in two senses. Firstly, it was just this little and all which I had as a kindling in my hand, when I lighted a fire for the process of composition. Secondly, it also has more or less clearly proveable relations to the later events of the work. Nevertheless, Aiva does not confess itself to be a piece totally based on just one fundamental idea - quite soon there appeared additional material, molecular gems of music which strongly manifested themselves, redeemed their admission with convinging tendency towards the same work-identity, towards the same possible world. On the other hand, Aiva has been born partly via filtering, through revealing and reducing, thus resembling sculpture which uses stone as its basic material. Under the textural surface of Aiva there is concealed a microtonal, symmetrical 24-note chord, a kind of macro chord, out of which I hammered a number of subharmonies for the piece. The harmonic outlines of Aiva are marking the limits, as happens very commonly in my production, for a relatively narrow territory, which without doubt is one elementary factor in creating musical cohesion, organically united with such archetypes of chords, which progress one could chronologically observe from one work to another, as a history of evolution linked to my style and production as a whole.The music video Ssh! a door to morningland is a nocturnal journey of a little boy to a dark deserted house. It is an independent work of video art created and directed by Timo Lähteenmäki on a musical basis offered by Aiva. The video was shot in the middle of the summer 1997 during a few dewy, rainy nights under a ramshackle roof of an old flour millers house between a grassy bluff and stony rapids of clayey Salo river.© Harri Suilamo, 2001

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