Description
Elina Päkkilä, artistic design and violin
Susan Hwang, violin
Martta Wahlberg, viola
Mirka Malmi, violin
Katrīna Pelnēna, viola
Mikko Ivars, cello
Tomas Nuñez, cello
Tiina Karakorpi, piano
Amanda Maier‑Röntgen: Piano Quartet
Hildegard von Bingen: O virtus sapiente, arrangement for string quartet
Kaija Saariaho: Fleurs de Neige
Dobrinka Tabakova: Insight
Caroline Shaw: Three Essays
RSO's first violinist Elina Päkkilä compiled the program for the November Sunday Concert from pieces in which the string ensemble is used to express, for example, a coding language, a natural phenomenon or the sound of another instrument. The works take the listener from the beginning of the 11th century to the present day. Hildegard von Bingen was a German abbess, whose antiphon O virtus sapiente depicts a three‑winged being with divine wisdom. In Kaija Saariaho's Lumikukissa the sparkle of snow and the structure of snowflakes acquire sound. In Dobrinka Tabakova's Insight, the composer wanted to explore how a string trio can sound harmonic or brass‑like. Caroline Shaw's Three Essays concludes the concert, dressing phenomena related to spoken and written language in music.