Linjama, Jyrki

(*1962)

Jyrki Linjama (born 23 April 1962) studied composition at the Sibelius Academy with Einojuhani Rautavaara and Paavo Heininen obtaining an artistic doctorate in 2003. He also studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, where his teacher was Witold Szalonek, and took private lessons in Budapest with Zsolt Durkó. Jyrki Linjama has taught at the Helsinki Conservatory and the Sibelius Academy, and lectured in musicology at the University of Turku in 1993-2008. He has also written about music and been active in several organizations, e.g. as Chairman of the association for Finnish composers of church music and on the board of the Madetoja Foundation, for example. He has also taught in educational projects, such as workshops in schools.

His opus list has grown as a result of commissions and consists equally of sacred and more profane music. Having recently resigned from his position at the University of Turku, Linjama is now a freelance composer. His large-scale works include three concertos for violin, his main instrument, the Liturgical Concerto for Organ and Strings (2005) and pas de deux commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1994. Church music has gradually become more and more dominant in his work. He has composed Suomalainen Stabat Mater (Finnish Stabat Mater, 2012) and Vanitas for mixed chorus and orchestra (2013). Linjama’s operas include the church opera Das Geburt des Täufers which was premiered in Austria in 2010 when Linjama was the Composer-in-Residence at the Carinthischer Sommer music festival. Another opera is Kolme kirjettä Laestadiukselle (Three Letters to Laestadius) premiered in 2017. It is an impressive work which takes a stand against bigotry and the narrow role of women in religious circles.

Linjama has composed a wealth of chamber, vocal and instrumental pieces. His works in the Allerheiligentag cycle are based on the material from a Finnish folk chorale for All Saints’ Day (no. 146 in the Finnish Hymn Book). The first work in the cycle is a string trio (2007), the second a piece for orchestra (2009), the third is a string quartet (2018) and the fourth and fifth are solo works for viola da gamba and violin. Linjama’s vocal works include Das fliessende Licht der Gottheit (four songs for mezzo-soprano and piano to texts by Mechthild von Magdeburg) and Lieder der Elisabeth (four songs arranged for mezzo-soprano, viola and piano from the opera Die Geburt des Täufers).

When describing his music Linjama mentions its general sensitivity and obvious mimosa-like quality. He feels it is important to defend the right to intimacy, to richness of nuance and protection amid today’s increasingly widespread obscenity. On the other hand, he points out that the core of musical culture is a fruitful tension between counterforces: sensitivity and aggressiveness.

Allerheiligentag II

(2009)

for orchestra

2(II+picc)222-2200-01-str Percussione: Triangolo, Claves, Piatti, Tamburo Militare, Tubular Bells

Duration: 16

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 3

(1998-2001)

2(I=picc)2(II=c.ing)2(II=cl.basso)2(II=c.fag)-2100-02-pf-cel-str Perc. 1: Glockenspiel, Tubular bells, Tam-tam, Claves, Piatti, Triangolo, Grand cassa, Peitsche. Perc. 2: Timpani (3) (Fis, H, cis), Triangolo, Piatti, Wood-blocks, Claves, Wind metal chimes

Duration: 37

Die Geburt des Täufers

(2010)

Kirchenoper / Church Opera

0.0.0.0-1.0.0.0-0.1-str(1.1.2.1.1) Soloists: Maria (lyric soprano), Elisabeth (dramatic alto), Gabriel (tenor), Zacharias (bassbaritone)

Duration: 85

Kolme kirjettä Laestadiukselle

Soloists: bar-ms Ensemble: hn-perc-cemb-vl-vla-vc Percussion: Snare drum, Cymbals, Tamtam, 1 Tubular bell, 2 Triangles, Metal chimes, 2 Wood blocks, Claves, Maracas, Peitsche

Duration: 110

Liturgical Concerto for Organ and Strings

(2005)

solo organ + strings: 6-6-4-4-2

Duration: 25

Pas de deux

(1994)

for orchestra

3232-4330-13-hp-pf-str

Duration: 12

Suomalainen Stabat mater

(2012)

for soprano, alto, kantele and string orchestra

kantele(+triangolo)-str(min3.3.2.2.1)

Duration: 25

Vanitas

for mixed choir and orchestra (2013)

2[1.2/Picc] 2 2 2[1.2/CBsn] — 4 2 1 0 — 1 2 — mixed ch - Str Percussion (1-2 esec.): Tub.bells, Tam-Tam, Piatti, Tri, Metal chimes, Tamb.mil, Rain maker

Duration: 30

pas de deux
Finnish RSO, cond. Sakari Oramo
(YLE/Elävä arkisto)

Sonata da chiesa
Eero Heinonen, piano

Sonata da chiesa
Miikkael Halonen, piano

Sonata da chiesa III
Petteri Pitko, cembalo
(livetaltiointi kantaesityksestä Kemiönsaaren Musiikkijuhlilla Hiittisten kirkossa 7/2016, äänittäjä: Robi de Godzinsky)

Kolme luonnosta (Three Sketches)
Tomi Satomaa, organ