Finnish group's Indonesian debut to close Art Summit
By Izabel Deuff
JAKARTA (JP): Art Summit Indonesia II: Performing Arts draws to a close with two concerts by the Petals Ensemble, which comes from Finland and is led by electroacoustic composer Kaija Saariaho.
It will perform on Sunday and Monday at Gedung Kesenian Jakarta, although the second show is for invitees only.
Named after Kaija's first solo 'cello piece Petals, the group was born this year even though its six members have played together since 1981.
"The Petals Ensemble consists of very high quality musicians who have a very diverse repertoire. All the musicians are personal interpreters who can play and sing music from many centuries," said Kaija.
The art summit concerts will be their first performances in Indonesia.
"This festival seems to be an interesting international collection of events and concerts," Kaija said.
"It is a good way to get our music heard in Indonesia," she said, adding that "it's good to see a little bit of Indonesia and hear some of its music."
The pieces to be played here are all by Kaija.
"Some of the pieces have very significant electronic parts, some are purely acoustic pieces. Some are very short, some are very long," explained Kaija.
In the first concert on Sunday, the ensemble will play Jardin secret II (Secret gardens II), Mirrors, Prs (Close to), Fall, Laconisme de l'aile (The Terseness of a Wing) and Gates.
On the second day, its program is Lonh (from afar), Cendres (ashes), Jing, Petals, Noa-Noa (Odor), DuGick, flg and Die Aussicht.
The composer said that Prs for 'cello and electronic instruments, Lonh for soprano and electronic instruments and Cendres (ashes) were some of the most important pieces of hers.
Prs was created between 1992 and 1994 with its twin parts: Amers also for cello and electronic instruments. In this piece, Karia focuses on material, wave shapes, rhythmic figures and timbres. Lonh means "from afar" in Old Provenal, in which the text in sung. The piece was written for soprano and electronic instruments and based on a poem by the medieval troubadour Jaufr Rudel.
The latest work is Cendres, which premiered this month. It is the matching piece of ... la fume for alto flute, 'cello and orchestra (shifted by piano for Cendres).
"All the three different instruments of the trio have their very own character and palette of colors. The musical tension is created and regulated by bringing the instruments as close as possible in every aspect (such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, articulation, color) or letting them to express the music in their most idiomatic way," said Kaija.
Born on Oct. 14, 1952 in Helsinki, Kaija began playing music at six before devoting herself to composition in 1976. Six years later, she studied musical computing in Paris. She has received various prizes for her compositions.
She also became famous through the role computers play in her compositions. She uses them as a complement for what instruments or human voices cannot do. Always looking for harmony, she mixes different instruments with voices, hisses, whispers and breathing. Weird sounds seeming coming from unknown areas amplify and modify our listening to the other instruments.
Kaija and her colleague Antoine Mercier play the electronic instruments. The other member of the group is Pia Freund, a soprano. who has studied in Finland and Sweden and has been rewarded with several prizes such as the Mustakallio Competition at the Savonlina Opera Festival in Finland or the Neue Stimmen Competition in Germany. After singing in Scandinavia, Europe and South America, she joined the London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of last August.
Strictly speaking, there are three "traditional" musicians in the group: Tuija Hakkila who plays harpsichord and piano, Mikael Helasvuo playing flute and 'cellist Anssi Karttunen.
The former studied contemporary music at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and has been to France and to the United States to perfect her playing. Her recordings of the Mozart Fortepiano Sonatas have been particularly widely acclaimed. She has played as a soloist as well as in chamber groups all around the world.
Helasvuo has also performed all over the world after studying in Helsinki, Prague and Freiburg. From 1976 to 1988, he worked in the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and received many awards, among which the Madetoja Prize of Finnish Composers is perhaps the most prestigious.
Karttunen is well known to be a versatile cellist. He performs on modern, classical and baroque instruments and as a soloist and in chamber groups. Apart from standard 'cello pieces such as Beethoven's works for 'cello and fortepiano, Anssi arranged some less-known pieces. He had a parallel carrier as an artistic director at the Suvisoitto Festival in Porvoo, Finland, from 1994 to 1997 and since 1994 he has played in the Avantil chamber orchestra.