Aika-avaruutta/Within the Space of Time

03/08/2024

A song cycle for soprano and piano composed to Suvi Nuotio's current poems about how our seasons are changing, transforming and remaining for future generations.

photo: Minna Leinonen

"Within the Space of Time" was composed between 2018 and 2024 as a collaboration with poet Suvi Nuotio. First we completed Kevätkesän avaruus/Space of Spring-summer, which was created for the Majaoja Foundation's lied composition competition in 2018. While planning their first lied, we were dazzled by the brightness of May, which was "pure light, a white flower." Inspired by this rewarding collaboration, we began planning a song cycle that would include not only the sun-drenched space of spring-summer but also other seasons. The song cycle was completed for soprano Meeri Pulakka and pianist Mirka Viitala to premiere at the Kokonainen Festival in the summer of 2024.

The five parts of the song cycle can be performed separately and in any order, allowing many different emphases and interpretations. Stars Like Sand depicts the sensual constellations of August. Moon that doesn't exist tells about the dark November nights, when humans light an artificial light reaching all the way to space. In the lullaby-like Light of the World, in the heart of winter the children of the world are swaddled in a sheltered place, relying on wild strawberry-like miracles. In Already, already now for soprano solo April floods in, the future melts, and everything is seen too clearly.

The work was composed with support from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and among others, excerpts have been performed since its premiere at the Kaustinen Chamber Music Weeks in 2025 by Meeri Pulakka and pianist Niilo Ruotsala.