Description

At the late 1996, some months after I had finished the final version of 'Hydrology' I started to study how to use different sound banks, filters etc. of my Roland JV-1080 synthesizer. Until that moment I just had used Roland's General MIDI sound patches, so the possibilities to create interesting soundscapes were very limited. I started to study how to combine different sounds, use filters, effects and many different techniques. Somewhere in January of 1997 I got an idea of a big form that would be divided in several 'periods'. Meanwhile I also got interested in improvisation and actually this was the technique I used very much as I was composing 'Periods'. Due to many things (for example, I graduated from high school in 1998 and before that, during the whole spring of 1998 I had matriculation exams and other such things) it took almost an year and half to compose 'Periods'. It's a long time when compared to Hydrology, which I composed in three months.

I composed the first part of 'Periods' in January of 1997 and the second part as late as in July of the same year. One reason for this quite long pause between the composition of these two parts was that I was still deciding whether to do a small or a bigger work. The main reason for this delay was that I got involved with my first project for classic ensemble called 'Aamu metsässä' ('A morning in the forest'). Finally I ended up composing this classic piece until the end of April of 1997. After the summer of 1997 I got involved with different things and did not compose almost anything at all during the last half of 1997.

I started to work with 'Periods' again in December of 1997. At that moment I had planned 'Periods' to be a three-part composition so it was a time to write the final part. But as I was working with the final part during the end of 1997 and the beginning of 1998, I noticed that something I could not include to this final part would be needed anyway, so I decided to compose the third and the fourth part later and use this final part as the fifth part. The matricualtion exams began at the beginning of 1998 and I also had a exam (ground course 3/3) in guitar so the final part was ready in March of 1998. After a short pause I composed the third and the fourth part in April and May of 1998.

'Periods' was ready in May of 1998 and was performed in its total form on May 29th, 1998. After that it has never been performed in full, although the third and the fouth parts have been performed some times after that. The premiere performance featured a light show with projected video, four synthesizer players and one flute player with the other voices coming from a DAT. No choir or dancers were used. In September of the same year I composed 'Phases' (a two-part work) and performed it with 'Periods' Part III and Part IV. In addition to live synthesizers and flute this show also featured a light show with smoke effects and dancers with flashlights. After that, 'Periods' has not been performed.

© Markku Klami

Instrumentation

synthesizers

Category

Chamber Works

Premiere

Markku Klami, Päivi Kukkonen, Helena Virtanen, Yoko Asakura, synthesizers, Emmi Polviander, flute, High school of Kaarina, Kaarina, May 29, 1998.

Movements

Part I: OpeningPart II: BalladPart III: DreamingPart IV: HymnPart V: Closing

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