Description

Max Savikangas: Lands of Treasure, concert version for vocal sextet and ensemble (2022)

Animated art film Lands of Treasure by artists group IC-98, for which I composed the music, was on display for the first time at the Serlachius Museum Gösta, Mänttä, Finland from September 25th 2021 until March 6th 2022.

The short musical motifs I composed were recorded in the studio by conductor Nils Schweckendiek and the vocal sextet of The Helsinki Chamber Choir: Tove Djupsjöbacka, Veera Kuusirati, Eira Karlson, Susanna Sippola, Martti Anttila and Jussi Linnanmäki.

The motifs were divided into four categories: 1) main music 2) solos with accompaniment 3) spectral and more dissonant chord materials, which took the form of both harmonic progression, musical ambience, polyrhythmic textures and declarative chord accents 4) speech choir segments (wind imitations, spoken asemantic syllbabic and concsonant textures), which created an interface toward sound design.

I composed the finished music from these motifs on a digital audio workstation, utilizing a modular composition technique i.e., by arranging the motifs sequentially, overlapping, stacking, etc. At some points six singers are realistically heard, at others a multiple. The music was quite extensive in duration, inevitably progressing, rugged, sculptural and mostly gloomy. In the beginning there were long episodes that invited the listener to step into the work to experience the space, and to feel the false spectral melodies produced by slowly sung diphthongs, which each listener would experience individually; the overlapping vocal slides created an aurora-borealis-like flickering spectral veil over the sung pitches.

There was no given semantic text in the music, as requested by IC-98. My solution was to have the choir sing with asemantic vowels and slow diphthongs which I composed into the music. The formant slides served both rhythmic, coloring and mentioned false melody function.

Also, as a byproduct, at certain moments in the music, where I had superimposed the polyrhythmic chord texture sung with different vowels and the consonant utterance speech choir texture, one might have imagined listening to a language that may had been, would be, or existed in some parallel reality.

The soundtrack was in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound format and the loudspeaker system was installed accordingly. Indeed, the music took advantage of the placement of its many different elements around the listener and their movement around the listener. For me as a composer, the immersion of sound in this case was one equal means of expression alongside melody, vocal expression, harmony, rhythm and tone of voice. Many thanks to sound designer Toni Ilo (Finnvox Cinepost), who not only made all the other sounds in the soundtrack and was responsible for the whole, but also realized the spatial dimension of the music in the studio according to my wishes!

My composition being premiered on November 27th 2022, Lands of Treasure for vocal sextet and ensemble (2022), is based on this soundtrack. The duration of the piece is ca 20 minutes and it is composed for six singers (SSAATB) and 7-members ensemble ((fl/picc/afl, cl/bcl, perc, vl, vla, sopr.sax/ten.sax, db). Since I composed the soundtrack using the mentioned modular technique, the linearly progressing concert version had to be composed all the way through. In addition, the music of the ensemble had to be composed from the very beginning.

For me the instrumentation of this concert version allows for a colorful tonal palette, and in addition, the singers get to take the voices from the ensemble (the material to be sung is not exactly easy, but of course such that it can be realised by professional singers). More polyphonic situations than just a six-voice vocal sextet also became possible. The composition is suitable for the echoing large hall of the Hyvinkää Art Museum, the venue of the first performance; sounding big when required, but not too loud.

I incorporated also some of the sound design materials of the original art animation (such as the hum of the wind, crackling of the trees, rustling of wings, tinkling of bells and mining sounds) for the ensemble, applying extended playing techniques.

I would like to warmly thank the Hyvinkää Orchestra and its general manager Charlotta Kivistö for the composition commission.

I hope you enjoy the music!

Max Savikangas 2022

Instrumentation

fl+pic, cl, tsax+asax, perc, vln, vla, db, 2sopr, 2alto, tenor, bass

Category

Vocal and Choral Works

Language

Muut

Lyricist

Max Savikangs

Premiere

Helsinki Chamber Choir's vocal sextet (Tove Djupsjöbacka, Veera Kuusirati, Keri Kallio, Eira Karlson, Martti Anttila, Riku Laurikka), Hyvinkää Orchestra's ensemble, Ruut Kiiski, cond. November 27.2022, Hyvinkää, Finland

Commisioned by / dedications

Commissioned by Hyvinkää Orchestra

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Archive number

MF34921

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