About my composition Azonal for viola and ensemble (2015-16)

My composition Azonal for viola and 12-member ensemble (2015-16) was premiered in the Klang Concert Series in 8th of April 2016 at the Helsinki Music Centre, Sonore Hall by Uusinta Ensemble , conducted by József Hárs and me as the Viola soloist.

The title Azonal (without zones) refers to the type of musical form of the piece; transitions between different musical materials occur without clear boundaries or cuts between them.

The solo part utilizes extended playing techniques and sounds resulting, such as circular bowing, whisked whistle, glissando repetition and rumble, which the 12-member ensemble reflects – not as effects added afterward, but as an integral part of musical expression.

By the end of the piece there is a solo cadenza, which can be also performed as a separate solo viola piece under the title Azonal Advice (which is actually an anagram with the letters in the words Viola Cadenza). I composed this piece already in 2009 with the intention that it would be later integrated into as a cadenza of a concertante work for viola and ensemble. The cadenza is not fully written out, but utilizes the Directed Modular-Transformative Improvisation Technique developed by me. Including improvisation means, I hope, that each performance will be somewhat different, which might help the piece to stay fresh and interesting over several performances.

Azonal brings the Viola into the spotlight in a new way, as a vital and potent solo instrument of its own right. I dare to claim that the solo part is absolutely idiomatically written for the Viola – it is not at all as difficult to play as it may sound! I also hoped that Azonal would give the listeners a novel, imaginative, energizising and positive musical experience. And indeed, the premiere was welcomed very warmly and enthusiastically by the audience and it also received a positive review in the Finnish press.

The second performance of Azonal took place in 1st of April 2017 at the Annual General Meeting event of the Finnish Viola Society at the Sigyn Hall of the Turku Conservatory, Finland, with a student orchestra, conducted by accordionist Mikko Luoma and me again as the Viola soloist. The second performance went also very well and was cheered enthusiastically by peer violists in the audience.

Because many told me after these two performances that Azonal might be my best composition so far, I’m hoping that some other viola soloist would take her/his courage in both hands and try it out – You might be surprised!

Recording, score, solo part etc.

 

 

Max Savikangas, composer

I enjoy contemporary music with its constantly renewing challenges, improvising, listening to the world, experimenting with sounds—and composing. As a composer-musician I have wanted to expand the means of expression of my own instrument Viola with new playing techniques and experimental live-electronics, which has led to studying these possibilities of other instruments as well. The seeds of my compositions often emerge as a result of (instru)mental improvisation, of savouring all kinds of sound events of the world and of tentative computer sound processing experiments. As a rule, some of these spontaneous ideas thus found begin to lead a life of their own in my mind, ending up as the points of departure for my written-out and/or media compositions.

I believe that timbre in contemporary music is equal to melody, harmony and rhythm and it should be understood as an umbrella term, covering all components of a sound event. At best, different hoots, wails, hisses, gushes, whispers, crackles and buzzes are by no means effects or seasoning added afterwards to the music, but they are an organic and sensual part of expression, which is further expanded by the virtual acoustic space created by means of sound processing and amplification.