Menneisyys ja nykyisyys

Influences from across the Atlantic

Czechia’s most significant composer, Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904), was already highly respected in his homeland when, around the age of 50, he received an invitation to New York to lead the local conservatory. Dvořák accepted the offer and spent the next three years, from 1892 to 1895, in the United States. Due to his teaching duties, his compositional output from this period is somewhat limited, but the influences he absorbed from America combined with his Czech musical language in a particularly fruitful way, and many of Dvořák’s most beloved works were created in the U.S. Perhaps the most famous of these is Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” closely followed by the String Quintet in E-flat major and the String Quartet No. 12 in F major, both known by the nickname “American.”

These chamber music works were composed in the summer of 1893 during Dvořák’s visit to the Czech community in Spillville, Iowa, in the American Midwest, and the Kneisel Quartet gave the premiere of the string quartet now being performed in early 1894 in Boston. The work begins almost like the first string quartet of Dvořák’s compatriot Bedřich Smetana, but then takes its own path. In many melodies, Dvořák achieves a pentatonic atmosphere without using actual pentatonic scales. In the Scherzo, one can also hear the sounds of the Iowan countryside, as Dvořák used birdsong he heard there as inspiration.

Like Dvořák, the German Karl Goepfart (1859–1942) also visited the United States for work: he served for a year as a conductor in Baltimore while still a teenager, around the mid-1870s. After returning to Germany, he studied in Weimar and came under the influence of the composer-pianist Franz Liszt, who was active there. After his studies, he became best known as a choral conductor in various German cities and, from 1885, as the conductor of the Weimar Court Theatre.

Goepfart’s Wind Quartet in D minor, Op. 93 from 1907 is in three movements, and its form is surprisingly unconventional in that a scherzo appears in the place of the traditional slow movement. Thus, a true slow movement is missing, and while the core of Dvořák’s American string quartet may lie in its slow movement, Goepfart’s central message is focused on the opening movement. Goepfart uses the woodwinds in a balanced way, avoiding extremes.

Tuomas Turriago is a Finnish composer-pianist born in 1979, with South American roots on his father’s side. Originally from Jyväskylä, Turriago studied piano at the Sibelius Academy under Erik T. Tawastjerna and currently works as a lecturer in accompaniment at the Tampere Music Academy. Alongside his career as a pianist, he has built a rather extensive compositional output.

Turriago’s piano piece Somber was composed in 2017 at the request of pianist Ville Hautakangas. As its name suggests, the work contains dark shadows and at times pushes through a hopelessly dark autumn, but the rhythmic drive—reminiscent of jazz and even György Ligeti’s piano études—keeps hope alive in the piece.

From right on the Atlantic coast, from San Sebastián in the Basque Country, comes Eva Ugalde Álvarez (1973–). She has distinguished herself especially as a choral conductor and has composed and arranged extensively for various choral ensembles. She currently works as an assistant professor at the San Sebastián Conservatory.

Bost Miniatura (Five Miniatures), composed for piano and wind quintet, draws inspiration from Basque culture, and its movements have very diverse instrumentations. The opening movement, Korapilo, composed for bassoon and piano, means “knot.” In the second movement, the clarinet joins in with a klezmer-like rhythm, and in Kemena, which means “sisu” or inner strength, the oboe also joins. Kamusada (heartache) begins with a horn solo, and finally, in the lively finale, the entire wind quintet and piano play together, with the flute given the anchoring role as themes bounce from one instrument to another. The title of the finale, korrika, means not only running in general but also refers to a relay race event held every two years in the Basque Country, in which participants run continuously for an astonishing 11 days. The event was established shortly after the end of Francisco Franco’s regime in 1980, and its purpose has been to promote awareness of the Basque language, whose status during the Franco dictatorship was even endangered. In the 2024 korrika, the running route covered as much as 2700 kilometers throughout the Basque Country.

Bost Miniatura will have its Finnish premiere at this concert.

Text: Panu Sivonen