Matkalla - Male Voice Voyage

Price

20,00€

The Polytech Choir
Tapani Länsiö

Published in 1999

Contents

1. Juhlamarssi hiljaisille miehille (Mikko Heiniö)
2. Kuu ja aurinko , ikuiset matkalaiset (Olli Kortekangas)
3. Nattuvanar (Eero Hämeenniemi)
4. Ennen soturit, unelmat (Olli Kortekangas)
5. Lacrimosa (Olli Koskelin)
6. Tuuli läpitunkeva (Olli Kortekangas)
7. Padrigal (Jukka Tiensuu)
8. Aurinko punainen, punainen (Olli Kortekangas)
9. Kaamos (Tapani Länsiö)
10. Tänäänkö jo kaste (Olli Kortekangas)
11. Readings in Music History (Paavo Heininen)
12. En olekaan kuollut (Olli Kortekangas)
13. O gioia de’mortali (Eero Hämeenniemi)

Matkalla – Male Voice Voyage

Matkalla – Male Voice Voyage is Finnish music for male voice choir composed in the last decade of the millennium. All the works were commissioned by the Polytechnic Choir, which has also premiered them. The earliest date from the beginning of the decade, while Readings in Music History by Paavo Heininen was first performed at the choir’s 95th anniversary concert in March 1999.

The 'Voyage' in question is an exploration of the male voice, of Finnish music at this very point in time, of the myriads of shades reflected in this music or the listener’s mind. Geographically it spans an area bordered by the India or Italy of the works by Eero Hämeenniemi, the Japan of Olli Kortekangas’s haikus or the arctic world of Tapani Länsiö's winter darkness. The pieces also have a historical dimension, the polonaise-bolero of Mikko Heiniö and the play on a male voice madrigal by Jukka Tiensuu serving as tributes to the history of music. The human message is most direct in the undulating Lacrimosa by Olli Koskelin.

Surely the fact that only the minority of the pieces on this disc of Finnish male choir music are in Finnish says something about the times. The musical message can also be conveyed in syllables; Indian, rhythmic or double-Dutch. None of the charm of the male voice is lost as it travels from a low murmur to a sharp outburst and from marching drums back to a barely audible whisper.

The Quiet men of Mikko Heiniö's Juhlamarssi hiljaisille miehille march to the beat of a slightly distorted polonaise that swells to an unavoidable climax of triads scattering in all directions.

Eero Hämeenniemi’s Nattuvanar is a dialogue in song between a dance leader and the choir. Following a slow introduction, Nattuvanar sets a pace which the choir tries to outrun. The tinkling instrument is the talam. Nattuvanar was the new music work nominated by the UNESCO Rostrum of Composers in Paris in 1994.

Olli Koskelin’s Lacrimosa to words by Pentti Saaritsa is an expression of concern and gigantic sorrow at the children in whose world a bullet has been or will at some time be let loose. The music matures gradually; a whisper becomes a voice and even proclaims before subsiding again.

Jukka Tiensuu’s Padrigal is a play on words and moods. The tenors lark about, the middle voices groan, the basses bluster. The fooling around and word play are, however, suddenly engulfed in a big, heaving web. Little by little the voices come to an understanding again and the ragging can continue. The basses have the last word.

Kaamos is a vast open landscape of dark moods, of wind and mysterious half-light. The sound tape was produced using C-Sound at the Sibelius Academy electronic music studio with the help of Uljas Pulkkis. Thanks, Uljas.

Paavo Heininen’s Readings in Music History is far more than just names of composers one after and on top of the other. For the names become music, in gestures of one, two or three syllables, sharp or soft, hissing or buzzing, chinking or gliding melodically.

Eero Hämeenniemi has many loves – India, the Italian madrigal, jazz and improvisation – all of which are incorporated in the heart-rending poem about love by Rinuccini. The saxophone of Pentti Lahti weaves scraps of melody into the choral threads before soaring off into the heights. The choir sets up a swinging rhythmic background that incites the player to an ever greater frenzy. The work has so far usually ended just before Pentti Lahti completely runs out of breath.

Dividing off these seven works in the manner of intermezzos are six haikus by Olli Kortekangas; little aphorisms, fleeting thoughts or ideas. To the voyager they may be something that springs to mind and vanishes, or again something to return to before casting off anew.

Tapani Länsiö