Miroslav Srnka: Simple Space (2006)

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Anssi Karttunen, cello and Magnus Lindberg, piano

Recorded in Porvoo, Finland June 2007 by Matti Heinonen

Prostý prostor (Simple Space)

2006 pro violoncello a libovolný harmonický nástroj / for cello and one harmonic instrument

to Magdalena

to Anssi Karttunen and Magnus Lindberg to play

and to Kaija, Hannele and Kari as a thank you

premiéra / first performance » 30/09/2006, Musica Strasbourg: Anssi Karttunen - cello, Magnus Lindberg - piano

When my son Jakub was born 4 years ago, I wrote in the first days and weeks – in this flight of joy about giving the new life – orchestral songs Writing Your Eyes on the poems of the young Czech poet and my friend Petr Borkovec. When Magdalena was born as the second child this joy was not smaller – but it was the second joy of that kind and you can never write twice the same piece, the same mood, the same emotion. But I had to write a piece also for her and I was looking during more than one year for something which would be special, only for her and for no one else.

And I found it – surprisingly enough – in Porvoo. When I saw the church burnt down, everything connected. I imagined the stupid kids who did it, who would be stigmatized by this act for their whole lives and who would always miss a part of free space in their minds blocked by this youth action. And there was the city of Porvoo that missed the roof – it missed the noble space between the two high walls, it missed a part of identity space. That’s why the piece is called Simple Space – this is what I wish to the always very energetic and experimenting Magdalena: the simple space of life that should be never violated by such an irreversible act and that will never disturb the inner space of anyone else. Even more, the Czech version of the title is Prostý prostor – „simple“ and „space“ have in my language the same etymological root.

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Magnus Lindberg-Anssi Karttunen: Return to Faust (2004) for cello and piano

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Magnus Lindberg, piano & Anssi Karttunen, cello

Return to Faust is a joint composition by Lindberg and Karttunen with a partly open form. It uses as material all the cello parts and all the piano parts in Magnus Lindberg's compositions. Lindberg and Karttunen spent time finding ways of fitting together material from completely different periods and building a new continuity with them. Although the sequence of events is determined in advance and all the notes come from existing pieces, a great deal of freedom is left to the performance in order to react to surprising "accidents". As a result no two performances are alike.

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Denis Cohen: Ombre I (2002) for cello and electronics

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Anssi Karttunen, cello

Recorded in St. Marcel church in Paris by Nikolaos Samaltanos

Denis Cohen composed Ombre I for cello and electronics in 2002, it was first performed by Anssi Karttunen in Paris 13th of February 2003. Ombre I is part of a cycle of solo pieces : Ombre II for Clarinet and electronics, Nodus I for clarinet solo and Nodus II for cello solo. In Ombre I, as the name indicates, the electronic part functions like a shadow of the instrumental part and is made completely from the sounds of the cello which are treated with computer.

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Discover more specials on Anssi Karttunen’s website:

http://web.mac.com/anssivk/iWeb/Anssi/recordings.html