SKU: PR.11640342S

UPC: 680160687749.

The Body Electric draws its inspiration from great American poet, Walt Whitman's work I Sing the Body Electric. Two years earlier, while writing a setting of Whitman's Crossing Brooklyn Ferry for baritone and chamber orchestra, I became enamored with many of the poems from his collection, The Leaves of Grass. I had not revisited Whitman's poetry since high school and that distance provided a fresh look at Whitman's poetry. In the spring of 2009, I came back to this collection and decided to write another work inspired by Whitman's poetry, this time for chamber orchestra alone. Writing a work that attempted to capture the mood of this epic poem seemed impossible. Because of the inherent abstract nature of text-less music, writing a work that was a musical blow-by-blow of the poem seemed equally impossible. For me, the solution was to take three fragments of the poem and focus on conveying their particular moods. In the score, I have included the following lines at the beginning of each section: the Body electric, A divine nimbus exhales, and the Body at auction. the Body Electric was written for the 2009 Wellesley College Composers Conference and was premiered on the final concert of the conference with Jim Baker conducting. Clint Needham.
the Body Electric draws its inspiration from great American poet, Walt Whitman’s work I Sing theBody Electric. Two years earlier, while writing a setting of Whitman’s Crossing Brooklyn Ferry forbaritone and chamber orchestra, I became enamored with many of the poems from his collection,The Leaves of Grass. I had not revisited Whitman’s poetry since high school and that distanceprovided a fresh look at Whitman’s poetry. In the spring of 2009, I came back to this collectionand decided to write another work inspired by Whitman’s poetry, this time for chamber orchestraalone.Writing a work that attempted to capture the mood of this epic poem seemed impossible. Becauseof the inherent abstract nature of text-less music, writing a work that was a musical blow-by-blowof the poem seemed equally impossible. For me, the solution was to take three fragments of thepoem and focus on conveying their particular moods. In the score, I have included the followinglines at the beginning of each section: the Body electric, A divine nimbus exhales, and the Bodyat auction.the Body Electric was written for the 2009 Wellesley College Composers Conference and waspremiered on the final concert of the conference with Jim Baker conducting.Clint Needham.

SKU: FG.55011-320-6

ISBN 9790550113206.

Guitar sonata A Walk to the Mysterious Woods (2012-13) is so far the most extensive of the works Kai Nieminen has written for his own instrument, the guitar. The sonata features virtuosic and delicate timbre which is typical of Nieminen's musical idiom and which requires both technical and poetic skill of the performer. The music invokes a fairytale-like scene of nature with its references to Finnish mythology.

Kai Nieminen's guitar sonata is in four movements which follow each other attacca. The form of the work resembles the traditional sonata form: exposition (A Walk with Birdsong) - development (Along the Brook and Song(s) from the Arctic) - recapitulation (Return). The dark chords of the beginning, the pressing silence and the icy-sounding harmony created by the E flat bass line evoke an image of a winter forest. As if following birdsong, the music carries the listener through various landscapes and moods. Birdsong takes the listener to a brook, which then carries the traveller to the ancient Sami joik, a traditional form of chant, and allows him or her to bask in the serenity of natural beauty in a moment where the past and present meet.