Contemporary Baroque
Music from our time for period instruments
Nordin–Thorvaldsdottir–Nemtsov–Richter
Antti Tikkanen, violin and leading
Finnish Baroque Orchestra
FiBO has been performing new music with old instruments for several years already, and more and more music has been commissioned in the recent years. Thus it was natural that FiBO visited the legendary Time of Music Festival for contemporary music for the first time in the summer of 2018, where the orchestra premiered beyond its simple space by upcoming German composer Sarah Nemtsov (born 1980). Now it is also time that FiBO presents its first concert with music by only living composers!
The distance between the past and the present is, however, short – and sometimes very subtle. We present an ear-opening version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, more than familiar to friends of Baroque music, as the concert finale is Max Richter’s Four Seasons Recomposed, premiered in 2012. It modifies the Four Seasons concertos into minimalist remixes.
Sometimes Vivaldi and Richter choose the same direction, and sometimes Richter twists the music into an unexpected angle or stretches it into cosmic Baroque sceneries through repetitions. The result of the recoloured harmony bases and surfaces reminding of electronic sounds is ear-tickling and intelligently performed ambient Vivaldi.
Sarah Nemtsov’s beyond its simple space is based on a Helsinki-themed poem by the American poet Robert Creeley. The nine parts of the piece, reflecting the meditative everyday realism of the lyrics, introduces Baroque instruments to the means of contemporary music, with extended ways of playing and electronic effects. We will also hear chamber music pieces by Nordics Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Jesper Nordin, bringing forth the fine tonal world of Baroque instruments.
Duration: 2 h (incl. intermission)
Petteri Pitko introduces the concert and discuss with Sarah Nemtsov at the House of Nobility on 5th February from 18–18.30.
In cooperation with Musica nova Helsinki