Youtubeko deskribapena:
Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928 - ): Ballad for Harp and Strings (1973/1981)
Willy Postma, harp
Pictures in the video are made by Vladimir Kush, a Russian surrealist (or metaphorical realist) painter and sculptor. Pictures were taken from the Internet.
Listening to this piece, one can imagine in the mind's eye some ancient bard from the days of chivalry and romance singing and accompanying his timeless song (here conveyed purely through music, of course, rather than music and words). This image is particularly strong at the opening of the work as we listen to the broad melody played by the harp. The plot takes a surprising turn early on: the music becomes restlessand the strings' glissando motion thickens into clusters, over which the harp plays feverish patterns. There follows a dialogue between the harp and the strings and the story continues to become dramatic, with extreme alternations in dynamic from pp to ff, until dense chords from the strings soothe the situation and prepare the way for the epilogue.
The music is characterised predominantly by motivic development and variation. Typical Rautavaarian symmetries are present in many places in the strings' harmonies and the harp's melodic progression. Many of the musical sections are linked together by abrupt changes, which serves to lend a loftiness or epic air to the work. (Einojuhani Rautavaara)
Einojuhani Rautavaara (born October 9, 1928 in Helsinki) is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music, and is one of the most notable Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius. Rautavaara has written in a variety of forms and styles. He experimented with serial techniques in his early career but left them behind in the 1960s and even his serial works are not obviously serial. His third symphony, for example, uses such techniques, but sounds more like Anton Bruckner than it does a more traditional serialist such as Pierre Boulez. His later works often have a mystical element (such as in several works with titles making reference to angels). A characteristic 'Rautavaara sound' might be a rhapsodic string theme of austere beauty, with whirling flute lines, gently dissonant bells, and perhaps the suggestion of a pastoral horn.
His compositions include eight symphonies, several concertos, choral works (several for unaccompanied choir, including Vigilia (1971--1972)), sonatas for various instruments, string quartets and other chamber music, and a number of biographical operas including Vincent (1986--1987, based on the life of Vincent van Gogh), Aleksis Kivi (1995--1996) and Rasputin (2001--2003). A number of his works have parts for magnetic tape, including Cantus Arcticus (1972, also known as Concerto for Birds & Orchestra) for taped bird song and orchestra, and True and False Unicorn (1971, second version 1974, revised 2001--02), the final version of which is for three reciters, choir, orchestra and tape.
Harpist Willy Postma was born in Amsterdam. After attending Schools in Rott
