Nisula Mikko: Sonata no. 2 for Accordion, "Emanations"

Mikko Nisula Sonata no. 2 – "Emanations" for Accordion (2006)

My most philosophical work so far, the second accordion sonata ('Emanations'), op.22, was written mostly during the summer of 2006, when I became interested in the music of the Russian mystic composer Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915). The word 'emanation' means the streaming of energy and all the creatures from the Supreme Being into our visible world. In the slow introduction ofthe sonata´s first movement, The Mystery, an enigmatic chordformation and the fast flutterings based on a twelve-note row depictcosmic forces incomprehensible to the human senses. After that are heard attempts at a philosophical explanation, embodied in the Allegro volando (bb. 14–48) and ironico music (bb. 49–64), whichis driven into an irreconcilable conflict before the movement´s end. The second movement, Starlit Night, depicts a spellbound experience of the beauty of nature. The longest section in this movement is a passacaglia (bb. 19–60), which expands gradually in large arches and which is based on the same freely applied twelve-note row as the introduction to the first movement. The sonata´s last movement, Carnival, is a virtuosic concluding number, during which the 'cosmic' music of the introduction in the first movement is still sometimes heard. One such point is the culmination of the extensive fugato section (bb. 78–79).

My second sonata is dedicated to the accordion artist Veli Kujala, who gave its first performance on 18 April 2008, in Tampere, Finland, during the Tampere Biennale Festival.

ISMN 979–0-55003-214-9

M187