Sirri/Sandpiper for viola da gamba and ensemble
photo: Minna Leinonen
According to some reports merisirri (The purple sandpiper) is assumed to be the first bird in Finland to die out of extinction because of the climate change. Merisirri nests only in shrubbery hilltops, habitats which are vanishing as forests cover the mountains.
Mikko Perkola is an inspiring and multitasking soloist who together with chamber ensemble articulates merisirri´s agony and cry for help, but also the flashes of hope. Texts used in Sirri, interpreting the subject, are from an article "It´s Not Climate Change - It´s Everything Change" by Margaret Atwood from 2015 and a novel "The Leopard" by Giuseppe di Lampedusa from 1958.
Instrumentation
gamba solo, fl, cl, ssax, pno, 2vln, vla, vlc, db
Premiere
Mikko Perkola, viola da gamba, Uusinta Ensemble, José María Sánchez-Verdú, cond. Musica Nova Helsinki, February 3, 2019
Commisioned by / dedications
Commissioned by Uusinta Ensemble. Dedicated to Mikko Perkola and Uusinta Ensemble
Listen
CHANGEnsemble, Mikko Perkola bass viol & Jutta Seppinen conductor
Recorded September 16, 2023 at the Tampere Hall by the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE.
Reviews
"Sirri, conducted by Jutta Seppinen, was the most arresting and earthmoving experience of the entire concert. Viola da gamba expert Mikko Perkola and the chamber ensemble TampereRaw brought the piece's fierce timbral world on the skin as much as it´s musically possible. The suffering of an endangered bird was conveyed with an almost frightening force. Awakening music!"
- Harri Hautala, Aamulehti 18th September 2023.
Minna Leinonen has organized energetically explosive agony in a skillful and dexterously rhythmical way. Sirri proves for it´s part that awareness of ecocrisis is strong in Finnish contemporary music and that composers and musicians are searching for their own relationship between the nature and the climate change.
- Hannu-Ilari Lampila, Helsingin Sanomat 02/2019
Watch Mikko Perkola´s interview (in Finnish)
Other performances
16th September 2023 Tampere Hall Small auditorium
Mikko Perkola, bass gamba
Jutta Seppinen, conductor
TampereRaw with Anders Pohjola, electronics
23th September 2023 Musiikki-talo Camerata
Mikko Perkola, bass gamba
Jutta Seppinen, conductor
TampereRaw with Anders Pohjola, electronics