Chamber Opera performance hopefully coming soon

Well. It's been a hell of a long time since I wrote anything, and there's a lot to write about. We've been working on some new material with Paganus and it looks promising. We might put some of that stuff on record somewhere before spring. I also did a gig at the Hamina town square as Bull in a China shop somewhere in July(?) which was performed as background music for buying carrots & other goods.

Basically time has flew by eating eggs and butter covered bread with my family (in the picture on father's day), among other things. I also wrote a chamber opera following my own text called 'Nooa & Utnapishtim', and at the moment am trying to get it performed here in Hamina. It's about 40 minutes of weirdness & preciseness; a surrealism influenced work which takes me some place new as a composer.

Other things going on: Trying to get as many bands as possible to record new stuff (the Sun Tryst, Paganus, Raptus), possible live improv-performances on various instruments, cooking, keeping it cooking.

list of works (12.10. 2007)

List of works:

(as approved by the composer)

- Echoes from the dried waters - Jousiorkesterille [for strings] (2003)

- Basho-runoelma - naiskuorolle [for female choir] (2003)

- Dialoque with a scene - orkesterille [for orchestra] (2004-2005)

- Introspektion I - sello/sello-duo (2006)

- Ombra-interludi - "henkiä kevään ryteikössä" - sello, oboe, piano (2007)

- Klarinettikvintetto 'Double talk-quintet - Three approaches on

spoken word' - klarinetti, jousikvartetti [clarinet, string quartet] (2007)

- Invocation speeches for a silent god - Pianolle [for piano] (2007)

- Hommage Omar Khaijam (w.i.p) - sekakuorolle [for mixed choir] (2006->)

Concert at saturday 17.00 Vehkalahtitalo

There is a concert at vehkalahtitalo 17.00 on saturday profiling into my compositions from the years 2003 and 2007. The artists are (responsible of interpretation) orchestra of Kauniainen conducted by Ylermi Poijärvi, a quintet group from Helsinki: Aino Salo, Anna Äyräväinen, Elina Poikonen, Tuomas Auvinen, Eero Untamala, and for a trio piece: Jouko Teikari, Alexei Kalatchev, Niina Huopainen, and a piano piece will be played by Jouni Hirvelä. This is the largest event, and a first one to properly introduce my (art)-music for the crowd. There will possible also be a recording of the music, so it might appear on a myspace website somewhere in the future.

There was also an article at the sunday paper of kymensanomat, that can be found from the next page:

http://www.kymensanomat.fi/page.php?page_id=7&news_id=200734141400

The Concert:

Invocation speeches for a silent god (2007)

Ombra-interludi - Henkiä kevään ryteikössä (2007)

Double talk quintet - Three approaches on spoken word (2007)


**** brake, coffee & cigarettes****


Echoes from the dried waters (2003)


Ye' all Welcome!!!


- T

Bull at Nosturi & Possible record to come!

Well. The Bull did a performance at Nosturi, also performed Antti Tolvi with his minimalistic output, Basilian savut & the most disturbingly twisted Justice Yeldham: Although my set had some noise in it, he was totally Mr noise, up to the point where begun self mutilation, which I have to say took the whole performance sub zero. That is the point where I leave the audiance, as a principle, when the shock value of destruction won something that had nuances & construction, which I prefere totally over (postmodern) destructive approaches. I thought it was a shame, and have to say I loath all kinds off violence on stage whether its target is someone else, or the performer him self. I like to think art is aboat life and construction (whether it be painfull pushing it forward or dancing on roses). Death and destruction can however be material to abstract expression, but they have to be transcended to another level: as it was with Ligeti who loathed Stockhausen's joyfull reaction for 11.9. in U.S: Yep, it was not a work of art as Stockhausen had interpreted it, neither is self mutilation, even if we wanted bad to include sacrifical thinking in our expressive acts. The wrong way is taken (I think) where the vacuum of modern/postmodern identity has put us into the point where we have already compromised (aka sacrificed) our being, and we go even further into a form of a kind of double sacrifical-ritual in a sort of: "Look at me, I'm empty"-kind of way, putting our selves through the act of mutilation because we've already been driver over and mugged by the sosiopathic society, that -in a way- wants us to addapt, or in the extreme case, be fooling around with a piece of glass.
However! A performance of "trancended violince", done with a glass instrument (in a more ideal level) would have done the same trick, but would have taken the violence into the control of the performer, or the act, and done even more than the real mutilation (without the the easy way of extreme shock performances), whatever the meaning of using such ideal or trancended forces, or even if there were no intended bright-as- a-day-meaning, but more less obvious metaphoric levels in question, in bringing violence through music into the picture. (Eventhough I won't go to the everlasting art discussion now...)

Well, otherwise, without supermusical stuff, (as it is always there with out pushing it too deliberately there) it would've been great.

Anyway.. There has been some talk aboat putting out a record from Bull In A China Shop, and the material will maybe have some glimpses from "the pedestrian music". It is not yet definite what kind of material it'll be; more like the animal seen on few gigs, or a more minilmalist one spotted on the sidewalk... We'll find out. Maybe a hybrid of these elements. The Bull is an animal of controlled maximalism, and the point where this turns (through the logic of timbre-music) into minimalism is, I think, much more fruitful/meaningful than a prerequisite of minimalistic expression. It's all in the relation of things babe!

More later.... With a possible video clip from the gig. Chauuuuhh!


- T

The Bull strikes again!!!

The B u l l (s) hits the road again with his infernal one-man-band at downstairs Nosturi! The set is going to be more noisy than before, fitting the company mentioned in the poster above. Still it's gonna have some acoustic elements to it, however the final word gonna be said on the spot. There is a rising interest for me to do also some old fashion electronic stuff, so maybe we'll hear some of that also, since it is very much more comfortabe and nice to be working with electronics than mixing them with instruments, but I guess that'll be my cross to carry, since it (I think) has some originality in it mixing different stuff together in a new kind of brew.

So it is Tuesday 3.7. at Nosturi 19.00, a rare animal at the stage! With noise guru Justice Yeldham (Aus) & Antti Tolvi also to be checked out.

- T

'Music for pedestrians & fellow citizens'

On 5. of May the Bull in a china shop launches a project at the center promenade of Järvenpää, called Music for pedestrials & fellow citizens (Musiikkia kävelykadulle ja kanssaihmisille). It is a work of enviromental sound, consisting of improvisations pre-recorded by the Bull & organized into order (each one lasting a week) by a random cd-player. So it is a month long musical piece, that can be heard in Järvenpää from 15.00 to 18.00 on weekdays, a which is in interaction with it's enviroment, and works as a communicator between the people and the imaginary, with a sort of trancendental aspect to the every day life of the base, a call for dialogue, a stage without actors, where in fact the pedestrians become the main characters of a drama with no cathartic inclosure in the sense of a plot. The piece also evolves in the new creation of music for each week, so it's a work in progress of four weeks, and sheds a different light to the (indifferent) life of the center promenade & 'passagens' of trade & commerse (in a interpretative way of Walter Benjamin) of Järvenpää, ascending a context of it's own, against which everyone is to sustain theirs, in a way approaching the trancendentality of music & sound championed by Charles Ives.

- T

Anti-virtuoso-chanting & other noises!

A short video from the gig at the improvHelsinki
By Bull in a china shop can be found from the address below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3H-fuapH9s

(Thanks Tuukka!)


I'm not sure if there's more video available from that gig,
but I'll try to check that
out. Also if I find a workin minidisc
(& it will read my distorted & broken disc) I'll
put the last two pieces in mp3 somewhere.

The stuff on the video is about as drone as it gets
with the Bull, but it also worked in a larger context
as a "relaxing piece" for the audiance:
the last one of the evening from me, and
a follower for few more twisted improvs.

Well! Hope you like it! & Use maximum bass
from your stereo to listen to it for a delightful effect.

       - Le Bull