Magnolia

by Alex Freeman

for solo kantele

Empty sheet

Alex Freeman

Magnolia

Music Finland

Description

Magnolia was written for Eva Alkula, one of the finest kantele players in the world. The kantele is a traditional Finnish instrument. In its original form, it had only five strings. The modern kantele has 39.

Its mechanism is similar to that of a harp. The strings are tuned to five diatonic octaves. The pegs on the upper left hand side tune all octaves of a given pitch class up or down chromatically.

I was drawn to it because of its haunting and beautiful sound. The glissandi and harmonics possible on this instrument give it a unique sound palette. I was particularly interested in the fact that it is the only acoustic instrument on which a five-octave glissando is possible. I discovered this experimenting on the instrument myself, and was the first to employ the effect (subsequent pieces using this effect have labeled it the "Freeman glissando", a term coined by composer Matthew Whittall).

It is a one movement continuous work. The title can be thought to represent the overall 'blooming' effect of the musical material. It was also a word that seemed to fit the ambiance of the music. This is a purely abstract association, but the nostalgic feeling of it could also be connected with the Magnolia trees around my childhood home.


Instrumentation

kantele


Category

Works for Solo Instrument


Commisioned by / dedications

Written for Eva Alkula


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Archive number

MF24574


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