DIALOGUES

Thursday 7th of September, 2023 at 7 pm
Rita­ri­huone // The House of Nobi­lity

Performed by Lempi­kuoro
Conducted by Julia Lainema
Featu­ring Nome Quartet:
Elina Päkkilä, violin
Anna Husgafvel, violin (guest)
Elina Heik­kinen, viola
Petja Kainu­lainen, cello (guest)
Taru Tiusanen, double bass

PROGRAMME

Jukka Linkola (1955-)
Puna­paula, 2. part from the series Mieli­teko (1999)
text: trad
solos: Kaisu Havu­kumpu, Salla Laisi, Tuike Lehko, Otto Velt­heim

Juhani Komu­lainen (1953-)
Fantai­sies Déco­ra­tives
text: Oscar Wilde
Le Panneau (1996)
Les Ballons (1997)

Claudio Monte­verdi (1567–1643)
Luci serene e chiare (1603)
text: Ridolfo Arlotti

Eric Whitacre (1970-)
Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine (2001)
text: Charles Anthony Silve­stri
solos: Aino Heis­kanen, Hanna Juntunen, Stefano De Luca

- INTERVAL -

Caro­line Shaw (1982-)
To the Hands (2016)

text: Caro­line Shaw, The Internal Displace­ment Moni­to­ring Centre & The Bible

I. Prelude
II. in medio / in the midst
III. Her beacon-hand beckons
IV. ever ever ever
V. Litany for the Displaced
solos: Anni Jaalas, Ella Kähärä, Hanna Juntunen, Lauri Marja­mäki, Xiaoyu Chen, Stefano De Luca, Lauri Lehmusoja, Devina Boughton, Elissa Shaw, Pilvi Kekkonen
VI. i will hold you
solos: Inka Laisi, Pilvi Kekkonen, Ella Kähärä, Jukka Parkas, Aleksi Tiira

Finnish premiere, 7.9.2023
Lempi­kuoro, Julia Lainema & Nome Quartet

JULIA LAINEMA

The Dialogue concert programme reflects the conver­sa­tions between diffe­rent eras, compo­sers and social issues. Opening the concert, Jukka Linko­la’s exhi­la­ra­ting rein­terpre­ta­tion of the folk tune Puna­paula is a small curtsy towards tradi­tion. Combi­ning modern and quaint, the result is a joyful and fresh piece of music brought to the present day. Oscar Wilde’s colourful poetic phrases are trans­formed into glorious harmo­nies in Juhani Komu­lai­nen’s Fantai­sies Déco­ra­tives. The seam­less connec­tion between the music and the poem is powerful: the choir’s sound changes with the text from flic­ke­ring to dark, from delicate to powerful.

Luci serene e chiare is from Claudio Monte­ver­di’s fourth madrigal book, dating to 1603. When Eric Whitacre was looking for inspi­ra­tion for his compo­si­tion Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine, he listened a lot to the songs from Monte­ver­di’s fourth madrigal book. The connec­tion between the compo­sers was found without any conc­rete dialogue – it just happened to be four hundred years apart.

The second half of the concert is dedicated to the six-move­ment compo­si­tion To the Hands by the American composer Caro­line Shaw. For this work, Lempi­kuoro invites Nome Quartet, rein­forced by a double bass player, to take to the stage. Lempi­kuoro and Nome’s perfor­mance is the Finnish premiere of the piece.

Caro­line Shaw composed To the Hands as part of the Seven Responses project, in which seven contem­po­rary compo­sers were commis­sioned to write a duet for Diet­rich Buxte­hu­de’s Membra Jesu Nostri cantata. To the Hands was composed to accom­pany the canta­ta’s Ad manus section. The work engages in a dialogue not only between contem­po­rary music and 17th-century music, but also, through its content, with social issues. The central pers­pec­tive is the suffe­ring of people seeking asylum and our role and respon­si­bi­lity in global and local crises.

To the Hands begins and ends around Buxte­hu­de’s musical language. The medi­ta­tive soundscape of the first move­ment carries into the second move­ment, which is based on a quota­tion from Buxte­hu­de’s cantata. The text “what are these wounds in your hands” (manuum tuarum) turns at the end of the second move­ment to address us all about our social respon­si­bi­lity: “what are these wounds in our hands” (manuum nostrum). The third part calls for safety and freedom. In the fourth part, the focus shifts to a closer look: we are confronted with a vision of a grand­mother in waiting – who is she, who is she waiting for, what has she left behind? The figures listed in part five are people who have been displaced within the borders of their own country. The promise of comfort and unity in the sixth part is found in us and in somet­hing greater than us, whether it be the words of Jesus, a parent, or an entire nation.

Julia Lainema
Artistic Director of Lempi­kuoro


Julia Lainema graduated with a Master of Music degree in Choral Conduc­ting from the Sibe­lius Academy in the summer of 2022, having previously completed a Master of Music degree in Music Educa­tion. In addi­tion to Lempi­kuoro, Julia is the artistic director of Ahjo Ensemble, Kaari Ensemble and, from spring 2023, also the Näsi Chamber Choir. She arranges and composes choral music and has orga­nised various choral music events. Julia is a member of the Committee for Equal Oppor­tu­ni­ties of the Finnish Choral Direc­tors Associa­tion and writes a blog on choral music called “Women compo­sers in choral music”.

Lempikuoro

Lempi­kuoro is a Helsinki-based mixed choir founded by expe­rienced singers in autumn 2019. In Lempi, high-class singing meets the joy of making music and explo­ring new perfor­mance methods together. The choir’s reper­toire is based on a wide range of clas­sical choral music from the Renais­sance to the present day. In June 2023, the choir was awarded two gold medals at the Tampere Choral Festival. In the summer of 2022, the choir performed in the highly acclaimed Sun & Sea opera produc­tion, which was part of Kias­ma’s ARS22 exhi­bi­tion and the Helsinki Festival. The choir has also been among the first choirs to hold its own live­stream concert during the strict corona restric­tions in 2020, performed with pop musician Janne Masalin in 2021 and premiered five new choral works at the Sensa­tion concert in autumn 2022

Nome Quartet

The Nome Quartet is an ensemble of young profes­sio­nals who have been gaining a firmer foot­hold in the Finnish quartet scene in recent years. Founded at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in 2013, the Nome Quartet has been heard at the Kino Soi! concert series in Espoo Tapiola and at the Kumpula Chamber Concerts in Helsinki. In the Dialogue concert, the Nome Quartet will be joined by double bassist Taru Tiusanen. The cellist is subs­ti­tuted by Petja Kainu­lainen and the second violi­nist by Anna Husgafvel.

Elina Päkkilä, violin
Anna Husgafvel, violin (guest)
Elina Heik­kinen, viola
Petja Kainu­lainen, cello (guest)
Taru Tiusanen, double bass

nomequartet.com

TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

Linkola: Puna­paula (Red Ribbon)
text: trad

A lass puts a red ribbon on and dancing she goes
She ties it on the arm of her loved one
Why do you tie it so tight, O my love
Or do you think I’ll run away

.….….….….….….….…

Komu­lainen: Le Panneau – The Panel
text: Oscar Wilde

Under the rose-tree’s dancing shade
There stands a little ivory girl,
Pulling the leaves of pink and pearl
With pale green nails of polished jade.

The red leaves fall upon the mould,
The white leaves flutter, one by one,
Down to a blue bowl where the sun,
Like a great dragon, writhes in gold.

The white leaves float upon the air,
The red leaves flutter idly down,
Some fall upon her yellow gown,
And some upon her raven hair.

She takes an amber lute and sings,
And as she sings a silver crane
Begins his scarlet neck to strain,
And flap his burnished metal wings.

She takes a lute of amber bright,
And from the thicket where he lies
Her lover, with his almond eyes,
Watches her move­ments in delight.

And now she gives a cry of fear,
And tiny tears begin to start:
A thorn has wounded with its dart
The pink-veined sea-shell of her ear.

And now she laughs a merry note:
There has fallen a petal of the rose
Just where the yellow satin shows
The blue-veined flower of her throat.

With pale green nails of polished jade,
Pulling the leaves of pink and pearl,
There stands a little ivory girl
Under the rose-tree’s dancing shade.

.….….….….….….….…

Komu­lainen: Les Ballons – The Balloons
text: Oscar Wilde

Against these turbid turquoise skies
The light and lumi­nous balloons
Dip and drift like satin moons,
Drift like silken butterflies;

Reel with every windy gust,
Rise and reel like dancing girls,
Float like strange trans­pa­rent pearls,
Fall and float like silver dust.

Now to the low leaves they cling,
Each with coy fantastic pose,
Each a petal of a rose
Strai­ning at a gossamer string.

Then to the tall trees they climb,
Like thin globes of amet­hyst,
Wande­ring opals keeping tryst
With the rubies of the lime.

.….….….….….….….…

Monte­verdi: Luci serene e chiare
text: Ridolfo Arlotti

Eyes serene and clear
you inflame me, but the heart
finds plea­sure, not sorrow, in the fire.

Words sweet and dear,
you wound me, but my breast
finds plea­sure, not sorrow, in the wound.

O miracle of love!
The soul that is all fire and blood
destroys itself, grieves not, dies without languis­hing.

(From a programme published on the Internet by Sonoma State Univer­sity Chamber Singers)

.….….….….….….….…

Whitacre: Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine
text: Charles Anthony Silvestri

I.
Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine…

Tormented by visions of flight and falling,
More wondrous and terrible each than the last,
Master Leonardo imagines an engine
To carry a man up into the sun…

And as he’s drea­ming the heavens call him,
softly whis­pe­ring their siren-song:
“Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni á volare”. (“Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly”.)

L’uomo colle sua congieg­niate e grandi ale,
facciendo forza contro alla resis­tente aria.
(A man with wings large enough and duly connected
might learn to overcome the resis­tance of the air.)

II.
Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine…

As the candles burn low he paces and writes,
Relea­sing purc­hased pigeons one by one
Into the golden Tuscan sunrise…

And as he dreams, again the calling,
The very air itself gives voice:
“Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni á volare”. (“Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly”.)

Vicina all’elemento del fuoco…
(Close to the sphere of elemental fire…)

Scratc­hing quill on crumpled paper,

Rete, canna, filo, carta.
(Net, cane, thread, paper.)

Images of wing and frame and fabric fastened tightly.
…sulla suprema sottile aria.
(…in the highest and rarest atmosp­here.)

III.
Master Leonardo Da Vinci Dreams of his Flying Machine…
As the midnight watch­tower tolls,
Over rooftop, street and dome,
The triumph of a human being ascen­ding
In the drea­ming of a mortal man.

Leonardo steels himself,
takes one last breath,
and leaps…

“Leonardo, Vieni á Volare! Leonardo, Sognare!” (“Leonardo, come fly! Leonardo, Dream!”)

.….….….….….….….…

Shaw: To the Hands 

I. Prelude

II. in medio / in the midst

quid sunt plagae istae
quid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum 
in medio 
quid sunt plagae istae 
quid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum nostrarum 

trans­la­tion:
what are those wounds 
what are those wounds in the midst of your hands 
in the midst
what are those wounds 
what are those wounds in the midst of our hands 

III. Her beacon-hand beckons

Her beacon-hand beckons: 
give 
give to me those year­ning to breathe free
tempest-tossed they cannot see 
what lies beyond the olive tree 
whose branch was lost amid the pleas 
for mercy, mercy 
give 
give to me 
your tired figh­ters fleeing flying 
from the
from the 
from 
let them 
i will be your refuge 
i will be your refuge 
i will be 
i will be 
we will be 
we will

IV. ever ever ever

ever ever ever 
in the window sills or 
the beveled edges 
of the aging wooden frames that hold 
old photo­graphs 
hands folded 
folded 
gently in her lap 

ever ever 
in the crevices 
the never-ending efforts of 
the grand­mot­her’s tendons tending 
to her bread and empty chairs 
left for Elijahs 
where are they now 

in caverna 
in caverna

V. Litany of the Displaced

The choir speaks global figures of internal displace­ment, sourced from the Internal Displace­ment Moni­to­ring Centre (http://www.internal-displacement.org/global-fgures — accessed 01/03/2016). The numbers spoken are the numbers of inter­nally displaced persons by country, in ascen­ding order. These are people, some of whom may have legal refugee status, who have been displaced within their own country due to armed conflict, situa­tions of gene­ra­lized violence or viola­tions of human rights.

VI.  i will hold you

i would hold you 
i would hold you 
ever ever will i hold you 
ever ever will i enfold you 

in medio 
..
in medio manuum tuarum
(in the midst of your hands)