A SOLOIST ON THE LOOSE
A few years back I noticed a newspaper ad, in which it was announced that a stipendwould soon be available for a composer. It specified that the stipend was meant primarily for so-called "mature" composers. I took a look in the mirror, proving to myself that I filled that requirement. I completed an application for the stipend. In the application the use of the stipend had to be specified, so I wrote in "the composition of a violin concerto". I had almost forgotten the whole matter when a letter came from the Ministry of Education stating that my application had been approved.
I didn't believe my application would succeed, so I had not really considered what kind of a concerto I would write if I got the stipend. Now I had a problem to solve! Because I did not succeed in figuring it out by myself, I asked my violinist son, Pekka, what was needed in the violin repertory. As an answer, I got the reply that there was a need for a concerto with chamber orchestra, in which the soloist would improvise the music, other than just the cadenza. Based on this information, the CONCERTINO IMPROVVISANDO was born.
In addition to the usual cadenzas, this CONCERTINO left the soloist's music largely in the hands of the player. Nor was the orchestra used only as an accompaniment: it has its own contributions to make while the soloist remains silent or otherwise contributes something when the orchestra has the main musical material.
The work has three movements representing different styles. The first is a movement which reflects folk elements, especially the rhythms and melodies of Scandinavian music. In contrast, the second movement is slow "Swing" music with possibilities for the soloist to improvise in a jazz idiom. Depending on the "feeling", the performing time of this movement could, and should, vary greatly without forethought of practicality or planning. The third movement returns to a folk-music mood, but this time not to a Scandinavian idiom but to the rhythmic feeling of Latin American music. There is samba and tango music, with space reserved for the madcap virtuoso soloist to go wild.
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