Music Finland Core

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“’Täällä Ainolassa tämä hiljaisuus puhuu.’ (Jean Sibelius, 1948). Asked
 for a work on a Finnish theme, I turned to choral music, a genre that 
embodies for me both the personal and the communal, the intimate and the
 shared. Having performed most of Jean Sibelius’s choral oeuvre myself, 
the work that remains my favorite is the modest Christmas song Nyt 
seimelle pienoisen lapsen (“Now to the little child’s manger”), with its
 gently asymmetrical rhythms and Dorian modality.<article>This source material is sampled, remixed, looped and time-stretched 
into an ambient soundscape of tone clusters, chiming chords and 
occasionally growling noise. “Silence” is present as a quiet mass of 
strings, hovering immobile throughout, over which ideas are sketched, 
held up to the light and allowed to sink back into the mist. The 
orchestra is enormous, but is used for depth of sound rather than 
volume. While I rarely state explicit technical goals, I set myself the 
challenge of only using the pitches in the original song, with the 
result that much of the piece consists of “white” notes.I’d originally had a bright tone in mind, which remains to a great 
degree. But the intervening pandemic years made me consider many 
different silences: the silence of solitude, of winters in isolation; 
the silence of creative drought; the angry, forced silence of the arts, 
of the singing voice; of political indifference and protest; the silence
 of grief and loss, and the comforting silence of togetherness. All 
these silences are eventually subsumed in a final surge of light – a 
kind of rebirth.Hiljaisuus puhuu was commissioned by the Helsinki Philharmonic 
Orchestra as part of its “Helsinki Variations” series, and is dedicated 
to its conductor, Susanna Mälkki.</article>

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