Lauri Toivio: Trio "The Series of Spirits" for Flute, Clarinet in Bb & Bassoon Op. 1 (Composed 1988-90)
1. Koleria 00:27
2. Fobia 03:37
3. Melankolia 07:51
4. Finale 10:52
Live performance @ Järvenpää Hall, Finland, October 30, 2008
Lauri Toivio, flute, Patrik Stenström, clarinet & Tuukka Vihtkari, bassoon
Recording by Pekka Mikael Laine
© 2023 Lauri Toivio / All rights reserved
Lateneum Creations MMXXIII
Sheet music (score + parts) available @ Ostinato: www.ostinato.fi/en/
Preface
When I was studying composition at the Sibelius Academy Youth Department, practice tasks and small-scale compositional motifs began to take on a life of their own, gradually take shape and organize themselves into material for a four-part chamber work. As a result of a long and unhurried composition process, The Series of Spirits, trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon was completed in the spring of 1990. I felt the piece as my first ”real” composition, and thus to be entitled to carry the honorable opus number 1 in the composer’s oeuvre. The work belongs to a rare group of Finnish works composed for this particular woodwind ensemble.
The movements of the trio get their musical ideas inspired by different moods and emotional states: a choleric state (koleria) means a compulsive need to do something, phobia (fobia) means fear and melancholy (melankolia) depression. The stubborn five-note motif is omnipresent in Koleria's music, the need to escape grows from the frightening silence in Fobia. The plaintive melody in Melankolia, colored by blues elements, submits to its fate despite the efforts, until joy is unleashed in the Finale and the trio ends with musical fireworks. The trio’s first performance on May 12, 1990 at the Sibelius Academy featured the composer (flute), Patrik Stenström (clarinet) and Kari Vehmanen (bassoon).
- Lauri Toivio