Ambience I: Burning
Clarinet and electronics
Composed:
2024
Watch / listen
Score / parts
Instrumentation and duration
Clarinet and fixed electronics, with optional live electronics
Duration: 13 minutes
Commission / dedications
Commissioned by Lauri Sallinen with support from Sibelius Fund. Dedicated to Lauri Sallinen
First performance
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet, Markku Klami, electronics, Ainola, Meidän Festivaali, Järvenpää, Finland, July 29, 2024
Reflections
Concert review, published on Adventures in Music by Jari Kallio
July 30, 2024
To begin with the beginning, let us first examine the afternoon programme at Jean and Aino Sibelius’s Ainola, heralded by the inaugural performance of Markku Klami’s Ambience I: Burning (2024) for clarinet and electronics. Written for Lauri Sallinen, the ca. twelve-minute score builds upon cyclical meditations upon a single, consolidated idea – that of burning and renewal. In his note, the composer refers to the life cycles of the giant sequoias of the Sierras in California, in which fires play an essential part.
The first chapter in a projected series of musical works revisiting the composer’s roots in electronic music, Burning weaves its mesmerizing clarinet material together with ambient soundtrack of pre-recorded tapestries, coming up with an instantly appealing synthesis of texture and color. As Klami’s gently transforming spirals unfold, cloud-like sonorities hover in the air, revealing their spectral richness gradually as iterations mount.
Accessible in the best sense of the word, the score is far from mere sonic backdrop, thanks to its nuanced construction and intriguing harmonic layout, all brought to life with compelling authority by Sallinen, whose performance was quite magical indeed. One looks forward to Klami’s next installments in the series with eager joy.
Composer's Notes
Ambience I: Burning for clarinet and fixed electronics is the first piece in series of works written for solo instrument and electronics. The series, carrying a main title "Ambience", refer to my roots in composing electronic music in my teens in late 1990's, and my affection to ambient music.
Ambience I: Burning is inspired by the concept of burning. Although burning may lead one's thoughts to fire and its destructive power, the work aims to bring out burning as an event that creates new growth.
The increased number of forest fires in recent years is a reminder of man's impact on his environment. At the same time, however, forest fires are a means of survival for various tree species, such as Giant sequoias growing in the Sierra Mountains of California. Ambience I: Burning proceeds from the terrifying destructive power of fire towards the birth of something new and beautiful.
Ambience I: Burning was commissioned by Lauri Sallinen and is dedicated to him. The commission was supported by Sibelius Fund.