Ardbeg

by Osmo Tapio Räihälä

("The Ultimate Piece For Orchestra")

The Ultimate Piece for Orchestra

Description

I started Ardbeg in January 2003. A composition that would somehow be connected to the Inner Hebrides island Islay had already been hovering in my plans for a couple of years. I visited Islay in August 2001, and having been deeply impressed by the island, its nature, people and of course the incomparable single malt tradition, I had already worked on a couple of sketches for an orchestral composition, before Ardbeg was started.

Much like Barlinnie Nine, Ardbeg is another orchestral tribute. This time the object is partly one particular single malt from Islay, partly the island itself. There is something ultimate about Islay, and referring to a slogan of the malt with the same name, Ardbeg bears the by-name "The Ultimate Piece for Orchestra". The one-movement work lasts about 17 minutes and is scored for a sinfonietta-size orchestra. The music is not programmatic, but if the listener lets imagination fly, one can hear the nature and the history of Islay in the music. Ardbeg was finished in October 2003.

© Osmo Tapio Räihälä, 2004

Instrumentation

2222 2211 11, str [pic, ehn]

Category

Works for Orchestra or Large Ensemble

Prizes

Recommended work in the 1st International Uuno Klami Competition 2004.

Premiere

Kymi Sinfonietta, cond. Dmitri Slobodeniouk, Kotka, March 9, 2005.

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