Tähtien synty/Birth of Stars for mixed choir
photo: Anu Levä - for the Key Ensemble´s concert with Jutta Seppinen 8.2.2023
Tähtien synty (2010)
Work for mixed choir. Duration 5 min.
Text by Jaakko Juteini (in Finnish).
Commissioned by Wiipurilaisen osakunnan laulajat (WiOL).
Dedicated to WiOL and Jutta Seppinen.
Fp. WiOL cond. Jutta Seppinen, Temppeliaukio Church,
Helsinki, May 22nd 2010.
Available on CD: "Äänen ääret" by WiOL (2010) https://www.helsinki.fi/jarj/wiol/aanenaaret.html
Tähtien synty (The Birth of the Stars) got its inspiration from WiOL´s suggestion to compose for mixed choir using Finnish author Jaakko Juteini´s (1781-1855) poetry. WiOL inspired me to choose one of Juteini´s most musical poems and to seek challenges: textures and soundmasses vary frequently during the piece and occasionally all voices are soloists. Creation and universe are expressed with percussive hammering, churning laces, magically seething surfaces, differing edges of earth and sky and twinkling points of stars. Tähtien synty was composed to celebrate WiOl´s 80th anniversary.
Tähtien synty sai alkunsa WioL:in ehdotuksesta säveltää kuoroteos käyttäen viipurilaisen kirjailijan Jaakko Juteinin (1781-1855) tekstiä. WioL innosti minua tarttumaan mielestäni yhteen Juteinin musiikillisesti innostavimmista teksteistä haasteita kaihtamatta: tekstuurit ja sointikentät vaihtelevat teoksen aikana tiheästi ja paikoin kaikki äänet ovat solistisia. Luomiskertomusta ilmennetään sävellyksessä perkussiivisena takomisena, vellovina nauhoina, maagisesti kuhisevina pintoina, maan ja taivaan eriävinä äärinä ja tähtien tuikahtelevina pisteinä.
Reviews
"Minna Leinonen is one of the most influental composers of our time. The cathedral concert of the Key ensemble led by its new conductor rose to wonderful astropsychic dimensions when Leinonen´s five minute work took over the vaults.. The text by Jaakko Juteini from Vyborg is the basis, but there is nothing old-fashioned in the composition even though the subject is archaic. The Birth of Stars is weaving of many soloist voices, a surface play of shifting sound fields, cruises and rhythms with an impressive depth. It is unlikely that many such ultra-modern compositions have been heard before in the national cathedral."
Kari Salminen/Turun sanomat 9.2.2023
"It's possible to communicate convincingly even just with the phones rising from the text. Minna Leinonen (b. 1977) chopped Jaakko Jutein's Kalevala-inspired Tähtien synty into a strinking image of creation, making the sky vibrate with the long, straight lines of female voices separated by micro-intervals."
Recent performances
8th of February 2023 Turku Cathedral Key ensemble with Jutta Seppinen, conductor
21th of September 2023 Ritarihuone Helsinki Key ensemble with Jutta Seppinen, conductor
17th September Martinkirkko, Turku Key ensemble with Jutta Seppinen, conductor