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Fred Lerdahl in Residence at Musica nova Helsinki; World Premiere of Give and Take

Feb. 03, 2015

Fred Lerdahl in Residence at Musica nova Helsinki; World Premiere of <em>Give and Take</em>

Musica nova Helsinki hosts Fred Lerdahl as composer-in-residence at the 2015 edition of the Finnish biannual festival. The festival, which runs this year from February 6 through 14, is Finland’s largest contemporary music festival and one of the leading events of its kind in Europe. In keeping with its mission to provide listeners with a survey of the most interesting new music from around the world, this year’s festival features performances of four works by Lerdahl, including the world premiere of Give and Take, for violin and cello, on February 9 at the Helsinki Music Center’s Camerata Hall. 

Lerdahl dedicates Give and Take to Anssi Karttunen, cellist and artistic director of Musica nova Helsinki. Mr. Karttunen, for whom Lerdahl has previously written two works, performs the premiere of Give and Take alongside Ernst Kovacic, an Austrian violinist and member of Karttunen’s Zebra Trio. With Give and Take, Lerdahl references the festival’s theme of “Dialogues.” Lerdahl elaborates:

The title Give and Take evokes the responsive and varied interaction of the violin and cello throughout the piece. They are in an intense conversation, sometimes echoing and elaborating one another, other times each going its own way in its own tempo, still other times one breaking off with a change in direction that is soon followed by the other.

Following the premiere, the Uusinta Ensemble performs Lerdahl’s Time After Time under the baton of Magnus Lindberg on February 11. On February 12, Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the Tapiola Sinfonietta in the Finnish premiere of Spirals, Lerdahl’s 2006 work for chamber orchestra. The concert, which takes place at Espoo Cultural Center’s Tapiola Hall, also features Lerdahl’s Imbrications and Wigglesworth’s Violin Concerto with Barnabás Kelemen as soloist. 

Additional festival performances include Toshio Hosokawa's Trio and Johannes Maria Staud's Für Bálint András Varga on February 7 with the Boulanger Trio, Miroslav Srnka's Tree of Heaven with the Zebra Trio on February 9, Beat Furrer's Lied and Staud's Towards a Brighter Hue with violinist Ernst Kovacic and pianist Joonas Ahonen as well as Hosokawa's The Raven in a production with mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen on February 10, a portrait concert of chamber works by Oliver Knussen on February 13, and Wolfgang Rihm's Innere Grenze with the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and Helsinki Chamber Choir on February 14.  

For more details on Music nova Helsinki, visit musicanova.fi.

Click below for more information on the composers:
Fred Lerdahl | Ryan Wigglesworth | Toshio Hosokawa
Johannes Maria Staud | Miroslav Srnka | Beat Furrer
Oliver Knussen | Wolfgang Rihm 

Fred Lerdahl
Give and Take (2014)
for violin and cello
14’

Time After Time (2000)
for chamber ensemble
fl.cl-perc-pno-vn.vc
19’

Spirals (2006)
for chamber orchestra
2.2.2.2-2.2.0.0-2perc-pno-str
18’

Imbrications (2001)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano
3’

Ryan Wigglesworth
Violin Concerto (2011; rev 2013)
for violin and orchestra
2(2.pic).2.2.1.cbsn-2.2.0.0-timp-hp.cel-str
16’

Toshio Hosokawa
Trio (2013)
for violin, cello, piano
11' 

The Raven (2011-2012)
monodrama for mezzo-soprano and 12 players
text (Eng) based on “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe
afl(pic, fl, bfl).bcl(cl).tsax(asax)-tpt.tbn-perc-pno-str(1.1.1.1.1)
45’

Johannes Maria Staud
Für Bálint András Varga (2007)
10 miniatures for violin, cello and piano
14'

Towards A Brighter Hue (2004)
for solo violin
9'

Miroslav Srnka
Tree of Heaven (2010)
for violin, viola, cello
18'

Beat Furrer
Lied (1993)
for violin and piano
12'

Wolfgang Rihm
Klangbeschreibung 2 (1986/1987)
"Innere Grenze" 
text (Ger) by Friedrich Nietzsche
for 3 sopranos, mezzo-soprano, 5 brass and 6 percussionists
hn.2tpt.2tbn-6perc 
30' 

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