Скачать или смотреть Tötterström Kaamos (2023). Was+ Ensemble

Jouko Tötterström (b. 1956)
KAAMOS (2023) (Polar Night)
Fantasy for three: Meditations, songs and dances
(World Premiere)

WAS+ ENSEMBLE
Anna-Sofia Anttonen, saxphone
Frin Wolter, accordion
Aida Salakka, double bass

Recorded live at the Uuden Musiikin Lokakuu – Ostrobothnian Contemporary Music Festival 2023 in the Tulindberg Chamber Music Hall at the Oulu Music Centre.

THE INSPIRING SHADES OF THE POLAR NIGHT

It is fascinating to compose for a type of an ensemble for which there hasn't been much music written before. Such an opportunity came my way when I had the chance to compose a new work for the WAS+ Ensemble. It was exciting, shaping the the tone of my piece in my head, as there were almost no points of reference to begin with.

The title of the piece and its suffix say a lot about the heritage from which my music for this composition originated. Kaamos, the Polar Night, is often understood as a crippling factor of the Northern Winter, but I see a lot of creative inspiration in it. You could say that there are different nuances and colours of light in the darkness, and that this Arctic phenomenon plays different tunes than the soaring brightness of mid-summer.

Each of the three instruments speak their own lines in the music, adding their colours and tones in different registers, commenting on each other, contrasting or telling the same story together. The listener may understand the piece and the Polar Night according to his or her own imagination. We hear contemplative, lyrical and danceful themes. What is the Polar Night for you?

Jouko Tötterström

Jouko Tötterström (b. 1956), Doctor of Music, is a pianist, pedagogue and composer from Oulu. He studied composition with Erland Sundquist, Paavo Heininen and Kari Kuosmanen. Tötterström has done his life's work of an exceptional capacity as a piano teacher at the Oulu Conservatory and Oulu University of Applied Sciences, from which position he has recently retired. Tötterström has served as the Artistic Director of the Uuden Musiikin Lokakuu festival and the Chairman of the Board of the Lokakuu Contemporary Music Society. Tötterström's compositional output is extensive. His music has been performed widely, for example by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra and by various soloists and chamber ensembles in Finland and abroad. A notable ambassador of Jouko Tötterström's music is the pianist Laura Mikkola.