Expressionen

Expressionen, a suite of miniatures for clarinet, cello and accordion, had its origin in the autumn of 2012 through a co-operation project with the Sara Hildén Art Museum. It was premiered on the 25th of November 2012 by Samuli Turunen on clarinet, Tuula Tikkala on cello and Pasi Raukola on accordion. It was performed at the event “To be heard from the picture” arranged by the art museum, where also the composer Jouni Kaikapinen, the artist Lars Holmström and the art collector Vexi Salmela discussed the connections between visual arts and music.

At once after hearing about the project in September 2012, I went to the Sara Hildén Art Museum to se the expressionistic exhibition, to which we were asked to compose music. The names of my miniatures are the same as the names of the pictures, which inspired me to compose them. It was a funny coincidence that the nine pictures that inspired me were all painted by different artists. I wanted to get as many combinations as possible from the trio I had chosen, so that is why I chose to write nine miniatures, for an as symmetric result as possible (three solo pieces, three duo pieces and three trios).

Expressionen is a stylistic exercise in expressionism, that is why I have tried to compose the suite in the style of the early twentieth century. The pieces don’t strive for systematic atonalism (like Schönberg with his 12-tone rows), but still strive away from tonality. From the interval structure you can find a lot of symmetry, but the most important element in the pieces is their character; I have tried to create with every piece a atmosphere authentic to the one in the original picture.

Cecilia Damström – Tampere 25th April 2013