Finnish group's Indonesian debut to close Art Summit

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.