| Commissioned | Elisar Riddelin |
| Publisher | Music Finland |
| Category | solo |
| Year | 2014 |
| Duration | 6 |
| Instrumentation | violin or viola |
| Opus number | 32 |
Program note
Sydänlaulu means ”Song of the heart” in Finnish and that is exactly what the piece is, a song from the heart and about the heart. In December 2013 I had for the first time severe heart pain and arrhythmia after a few too many sleep deprived nights and too much stress. Having for the first time severe pain in combination with fever made me very worried about my health; I didn’t want to die from a stroke at the age of 25. During my moments of fear and listening to the arrhythmia of my heart I also noticed how much dreams, hopes, and emotions are linked to the heart and how all
of these hopes and dreams will never come true in case the heart will stop to beat once and for all. This piece contains arrhythmia, crawling bacteria in the body and blood stream, small passages of fear and of sorrow over heart illness, and also inner dreams that you seem to yearn for even more, and the hope that they won’t be taken away from you together with you heart beat.
Sydänlaulu for violin or viola – Listen on Soundcloud
Reviews
The highlight of the concert was Cecilia Damström’s Sydänlaulu for solo violin. In the work she explored the heart both from a medical as an eternal metaphore. Even though you might think everything possible is said about this theme long ago, Damström manages to find a fresh angle to both the pulsating heart beat as to the many lyrical themes.
-Jari Kallio, Amfion 21.8.2014
Performances
World premiere 20th of August 2014 by Elisar Riddelin
Turku 5th of February 2016 by Elisar Riddelin
German premiere – Ochsenhausen 4th of August 2016 by Prof. Andra Darzins
Stuttgart 17th of January 2017 by Prof. Andra Darzins
Gallery Fast Creative 13th of April 2018 by Doctor Linda Hedlund
Swedish premiere – Malmö 5th of May 2019 by Emelie Viitberg
Hamburg 15th of December 2019 by Mari Viluksela – More info
CANCELLED – US premiere – Colorado Springs 16th of March 2020 by Marta Muehleisen –More info
CANCELLED -Düsseldorf 25th of April 2020 by Lukas Döhler – More info
CANCELLED – Düsseldorf 30th of May 2020 by Lukas Döhler – More info
Stuttgart 12th of July 2020 by Paulina Riquelme – More info
US premiere – Colorado Springs 4th of December 2020 by Marta Muehleisen
Nurmes Summer Concerts in Finland 10th of July 2021 by Lilli Maijala – More info
Our Festival in Finland 29th of July 2021 by Lilli Maijala – More info
Luosto Soi in Finland 29th of July 2022 by Elisar Riddelin – More info
Stockholm Concert Hall 13th of February 2023 by Lilli Maijala – More info
Royal College of Music 8th of June 2023 by Kevin Huang – More info