Midnight Sun Variations
Description
This work for orchestra is a set of variations on the light when the sun never sets in the arctic summer night. For the northern sky above the Arctic Circle in summer reflects a rich spectrum of infinitely-nuanced hues that, as autumn draws near, become veiled in shadow until darkness slowly descends and the sun ceases to rise above the horizon. My son was born on the night when the summer’s last warm day gave way to a dawn shrouded in autumnal mist. Midnight Sun Variations is also about giving birth to new life, when the woman and the child within her part, restoring her former self as the light fades into winter.
- Outi Tarkiainen
Instrumentation
3333 4321 13 1, cel (pno), str
CategoryWorks for Orchestra or Large Ensemble
Premiere
BBC Philharmonic, cond. John Storgårds at the BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London on August 4, 2019
Commisioned by / dedicationsCommissioned by the BBC Philharmonic and The National Arts Centre Orchestra
