commissioned by Bach Bridges Festival and Korsholm Music Festival
premier 1 (quintet): April 16, 2019 Lucie Horsch, recorder, Francisco Navarro, percussion, International Bach Festival in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
premier 2 (string orchestra): July 25, 2019 Anna Petrini, recorder, Antti Ohenoja, percussion, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra cond. Dalia Stasevska
published by Fennica Gehrman
HBL 9.2.2020 (Mats Liljeroos):
Wennäkoski odlar förvisso klangliga uttrycksmedel med en sällsynt subtil sensitivitet, men kan vid behov även ta i med besked. Så till exempel i Zeng (ungerska för genklang, eko) för blockflöjt och kammarensemble (2019) [—] som, liksom många av Wennäkoskis verk, nyttjar ungersk folklore på ett sällsynt kreativt sätt.
A composer works with sounds, notes, structures and time – but also with emotions and images. When starting a new score I usually try to find an “overall idea”, often first without any musical planning. The idea can be anything from an atmosphere to a phenomenon of any kind – I’ve worked for example with an idea of different fabrics (as in my flute concerto Soie), or the double meaning of a word (in Flounce for orchestra). Sometimes a single sound can suggest an identity for a whole piece of music (as the rubbing in the guitar concerto Susurrus), or a visual image can lead to a certain musical texture (as was the case in Foliage for cello and orchestra). Musically I’m often navigating in an area between exciting timbral qualities and more conventional gestures like melodic fragments. A feeling of air, space and clarity are also important.
In Zeng I’ve used folk music as my starting point. Besides my own Finnish tradition I have specially had Hungarian folk music in mind – Hungarian folk songs have been part of my life since I studied at the Bartók Conservatory in Budapest at the sensitive age of 19. Zeng (the word means to resound in Hungarian) is written for recorders, percussion and either string quintet or string orchestra. In the piece I’ve (very freely) used passages from two Hungarian folk songs: Az én lovam Szajkó and Magos a rutafa. I’ve also had the character of the folk instrument ütőgardon in mind – it is a kind of small cello which is played percussively with a stick.
Zeng was a co-commission of Bach Bridges Festival and Korsholm Music Festival, and the premieres took place in spring and summer 2019.
Lotta Wennäkoski
