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- Joel Järventausta
Bacchanale (2023)
- Edition Wilhelm Hansen Copenhagen (World)
Commissioned by Orchestre National d'Ile de France
- 2.2.2.2/4.3.2.1/timp.perc./str.
- 5 min
- 9th May 2026, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 11th May 2026, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Programme Note
I was honoured to be asked by l’Orchestre National d’Île de France to write a short festive work to celebrate their 50th Anniversary. There are various musical influences and elements in my work, from pop, old-style Hollywood film music, game music, brass band music and Romantic orchestral gestures, incorporated into my own language. A continuous sense of pulse and ever-changing soundworld drives the music forward, leading to a ‘bacchanale’ dance to finish the work.
- Joel Järnvetausta
Scores
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Reviews
This short piece, which lasts around five minutes, forces us to concentrate from the outset, with a brief tutti immediately followed by a mysterious atmosphere in the pianos, with a wealth of colours and contemporary sound effects. Here the Finn demonstrates his mastery of the orchestra's resources, with a sense of flowing sequences that is always spellbinding.
This is a highly rhythmic score that makes abundant use of brass instruments (trombones and tuba) and percussion, sometimes reminiscent of Bernstein, in which we can recognise various influences borrowed from pop, Hollywood music, video game music and brass band music (...)
A very colourful work, with a rich orchestration, in which Ainārs Rubikis gives a very committed performance, supported by precise, sharp conducting.
Bacchanale (as this new piece is called) seems to explore a form of sonic stasis, through the use of orchestral colours and the juxtaposition of rhythms and melodic evocations. This sound gradually densifies into a rich acoustic landscape ranging from pop music to film music or even certain twentieth-century classical aesthetics (though without being explicit).