UR

by Niilo Tarnanen

for guitar and accordion

Description

UR (2017) for guitar and accordion has been inspired by the miracle of life. I had done some early sketches for a guitar-accordion duo commissioned by guitarist Jonne Grans and accordionist Matti Pulkki, but they became secondary when my son was born.

In labour, my wife started humming a steady tone of relatively low pitch in order to relieve the pain. I found myself adding an octave, tenth, or twelveth below her voice in order to do participate in a meaningful way. The experience was profound and mundane at once.

I soon met Jonne and Matti in order to test the acoustic qualities and instrumental aspects of the ’Ursatz’ of what would become UR. The formal idea of recombination and improvisation in a rondoish framework was refined during pram walks with the newborn.

Unfortunately, in late 2016, I lost all recordings and almost all other notes from the workshop with Jonne and Matti. Thus, when I finally wrote the eventual score in August 2017, I had to trust my repeatedly confabulated schemes. A fitting process for the content.

Instrumentation

guit, acc

Category

Chamber Works

Premiere

Matti Pulkki, accordion, Jonne Grans, guitar, September 10, 2018, Helsinki

Commisioned by / dedications

Commissioned by Jonne Grans and Matti Pulkki. Dedicated to Väinö

PDF for promotional use

 Download

Archive number

MF33280

+ Add information