Orchestra
SKU:
FG.55009-402-4
Composed by Einojuhani
Rautavaara. Score.
Published by Fennica
Gehrman (FG.55009-402-4).
ISBN
979-0-55009-402-4.
According to Rautavaara
The name of the work is a
quotation from the
libretto of my opera The
House of the Sun: . .
.like a butterfly in a
dark autumn garden. . ..
The motif to which these
words are sung is the
theme for the variations
in the first movement.
Their texture gradually
grows and becomes denser.
Following on without a
break is a slow, poetic
movement of even rhythms
and dynamics. The quick,
lively finale begins
giocoso e leggiero. But
autumn is also a time of
colour, and of death. At
the end the music thus
turns into a festive
dance con grandezza.
Maybe it bears the echo
of a sarabande to the
dying splendour of summer
- or as T.S. Eliot put
it: late roses filled
with early snow. Autumn
Gardens was commissioned
by the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra and premiered
at the London Proms in
July 1999.