Cantus Arcticus
The Cantus Arcticus by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016) combines an orchestral line-up with bird songs played back from tape. The work was created in 1972 and has the opus number 61.
Origin and premiere
Einojuhani Rautavaara created the Cantus Arcticus on behalf of the University of Oulu, founded in 1958, in 1972 on the occasion of their first graduation ceremony . Instead of the cantata composition traditionally expected for this purpose, Rautavaara opted for a “Concerto for Birds and Orchestra”, as the work is also named in the subtitle. The bird songs were on the Arctic Circle and in the marshlands of Liminka south recorded from Oulu.
The Cantus Arcticus was given opus number 61 and is dedicated to the Finnish President Urho Kekkonen . It premiered on October 18, 1972 in Oulu, played by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Stephen Portman .
Instrumentation and playing time
The score provides for the following scoring : 2 flutes , 2 oboes , 2 clarinets in Bb, 2 bassoons , 2 horns , 2 trumpets , 1 trombone , tuba , percussion ( timpani ad libitum, bass drum , pair of cymbals ), harp , celesta and strings , additional two-channel tape playback .
The performance lasts about 18 minutes.
characterization
The Cantus Arcticus is three movements. The first movement “Suo” (“The Marsh”) is opened by solos from the two flutes (the score begins with the note “Think of autumn and of Tchaikovsky”), to which more wind instruments and parts are gradually added of birds from the coastal marshland and marshland in spring. Towards the end there is a solemn string melody. In the second movement, “Melankolia”, the ear lark forms the dominant bird's voice over coordinated strings, later also brass, whereby the tape recording is alienated by being tuned down by 2 octaves . The third movement “Joutsenet muuttavat” (“Swans Migrating”) begins with the voices of whooper swans , after 30 seconds, underlaid by an aleatoric texture of four independent instrumental groups, with the wind players also imitating bird calls. With the addition of a chorale-like melody of the deep winds and later also strings with a dynamic increase in complexity, the swan sounds played are artificially multiplied before the sounds are lost in the distance at the end.
In contrast to earlier compositions by Rautavaara, some of which make use of serial techniques , the Cantus Arcticus, one of the composer's most frequently performed works, is predominantly committed to a neo-romantic-impressionist idiom.
literature
- CD-text (by Einojuhani Rautavaara; Engl.) To: E. Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus u. a .; Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Hannu Lintu; Naxos 8.554147, 1998.
- CD text for “The Best of Rautavaara”; Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam; Ondine, 2011.