Lost Songs Op. 28b

by Lauri Mäntysaari

for piano, string trio and tape

Empty sheet

Lauri Mäntysaari

Lost Songs Op. 28b

Music Finland

Description

Lost Songs is originally conceived for piano and accordion.

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What does a lost song sound like?

Man has caused the loss of numerous animal species by his actions. Most vulnerable have been the birds of isolated islands, defenseless against our hunting frenzy and the foreign species brought along by us. As a sad document of these species, we can admire the stuffed Dodos, Great Auks and other extinct birds in museums of natural history. But their song is lost forever.

The Huia was last seen in New Zealand in the beginning of 20th century, and the song of this relatively small forest bird was never recorded. Decades later, Hennery Hammaneh, who had heard Huias singing as a young boy, was brought to a studio. Now all that we know of the song is a recording of this man mimicking it by whistling.

Lost Songs for piano, string trio and tape was inspired by this recording which forms the basis of the tape part. In the Prologue, small spoken fragments lead into a whirl of emotions. In the second part, titled "The Song", the recorded song itself is present. In the Epilogue, only a horribly bleak remembrance remains.

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Instrumentation

pno, vln, vla, vlc, tape


Category

Chamber Works


Opus no.

Op. 28b


Premiere

August 8th 2014, Musiikkitalo, Helsinki, by Elisa Järvi, piano, Andrea Kiefer, accordion and James Andean, electronics


Commisioned by / dedications

Commissioned by and dedicated to Elisa Järvi and Andrea Kiefer


PDF for promotional use

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Archive number

MF33608


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