Music Finland Core

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Description

Suizen forms the third and final panel of a series of pieces for 
different solo instruments, beginning in 2007 with being the pine tree 
for accordion, later followed by Ume for guitar in 2013. Each piece is 
based on one of a trio of seasonal images common to a number of Chinese 
and Japanese art forms: pine tree, plum blossom and bamboo, the 
so-called “Three Friends of Winter”. While all three represent different
 shades of strength and endurance, they are each endowed with their own 
particular virtues as well. The pine stands for longevity and patience, 
the plum blossom for purity and evanescent beauty. The bamboo, in its 
turn, embodies flexibility, bending with the wind, as well as the 
quality of emptiness – referred to as mu in Zen texts – a boundless 
spaciousness that is the true state of all things.As with the other panels in the series, I wrote the music through the
 instrument itself, creating material as I improvised on them as best I 
could, making a special effort to note the (many) imperfections in my 
naïve playing and create a place for them in the piece. By this means 
the error – the accidental – becomes beautiful and exalted rather than 
unwelcome. Each piece also has a strong connection to a traditional 
Japanese instrument whose structure and technique it resembles. In the 
case of the bass flute, the inspiration was the hocchiku, a larger, more
 rough-sounding version of the end-blown bamboo shakuhachi flute. In 
contrast with the other pieces, though, Suizen was influenced by a 
specific tradition of playing, even a person. In late 2008 I heard a 
performance by Atsuya Okuda, whose specific meditative practice was 
improvising on the hocchiku, known as suizen, literally “blowing 
meditation”.It was never my intent to fall into exoticism by copying 
Asian-sounding pitch patterns or melodies. Rather, I was drawn to the 
intense quality of Okuda’s playing, his range of tonal colors, in which 
gestures separated by long, intensely shaped silences seemed to evolve 
constantly, as if a single, uninterrupted thought were being 
relentlessly pursued in a fragmentary way. Of particular interest was 
his way of ending a piece very suddenly, with an almost perfunctory 
gesture, the timing of which nonetheless felt absolutely right. Phrase 
lengths are calculated according to the duration of a single breath. 
Durations are long, notes are few, and the music employs the full range 
of colors produced by the performer’s breath, from its strongest and 
most violent to its most ragged or fragile. Suizen is dedicated to Hanna Kinnunen, whose playing shares many 
qualities with Okuda’s, and which has been a neverending inspiration 
since our first meeting many years, and many pieces ago.

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