From Winter's Stillness presents a program driven by momentum and intensity. The music of our upcoming tour is a dialogue of energy and calm, seemingly opposite forces in a harmony of musical communication. Rather than a presentation of a single period or tradition, From Winter's Stillness draws connections across centuries and styles.
Geography traces a thread through the program. From Iceland and Norway to Sweden and Estonia, many of the works are connected by northern landscapes, histories and cultural traditions. Other works arrive from further afield, yet ask similar questions about place, spirituality, movement and reflection. Together they create a musical journey that is more concerned with connection than chronology.
Stillness is not silence, nor absence of activity, but a way of listening and a sense of perspective. It can be found from ancient Nordic hymns, through to a world premiere. Every work in this program approaches this idea, revealing an unexpected through-line across millennia, genres and cultures.
Terry Riley's Half-Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight arrives in the first half. Best associated with minimalism and his influential work, In C, Riley's music extends beyond any one genre. Originally written for Kronos Quartet as part of a larger epic, Salome Dances for Peace, Half-Wolf Dances Mad in Moonlight brings both a sense of kinetic energy and serene beauty, to the program. The music reveals a stillness defined by the balance of energy and restraint.
That balance is evident in Tõnu Kõrvits' Kellamäng (Bells), written for Arve Henriksen and Trio Mediæval. The Estonian composer frequently draws inspiration from landscape, folklore and the natural world, and the sound of bells has become a recurring presence in his music. In Kellamäng, that fascination becomes a meditation on resonance, as bell-like sounds repeat and unfold, creating fading echoes on which to linger.
Our new commission from Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, continues the same themes, while sparklingly new and fresh. Renowned for her scores for Joker, Tár and Chernobyl, her musical language shares the same meditation on stillness that connects the works in this program. This new work, Tíminn og Vatnið (Time and the Water), was written especially for Trio Mediæval, Arve Henriksen and the ACO. Drawing on a poem by Icelandic modernist Steinn Steinarr, the work explores themes of love, distance and separation, with water serving as both a literal and symbolic presence. The text held personal significance for Guðnadóttir, whose grandmothers recited Steinarr's poetry to her as a child. Water also became a guiding idea in conversations between the composer, Trio Mediæval and Henriksen during the work's development, again connecting the Nordic cultures represented throughout the program.
The first half concludes with the music of the Icelandic Sigur Rós, a contemporary expression of the same ideas. This music shares a sense of place, atmosphere and contemplation with the Kõrvits and Guðnadóttir works, a 'spiritual stillness' that runs through much Nordic music.
In the second half, Alfred Schnittke's remarkable Concerto Grosso intertwines with traditional song and Nordic hymns, bringing different centuries, traditions and musical languages into conversation. A self-described "polystylist", Schnittke was comfortable moving between musical worlds, and the Concerto Grosso reflects that approach. Echoes of the Baroque period sit alongside strikingly modern sounds: harpsichord meets prepared piano, while familiar forms are interrupted and reshaped. At the centre of the work are the two solo violin parts, performed by Richard Tognetti and Satu Vänskä. Interwoven throughout the Concerto are ancient Nordic hymns sung by Trio Mediæval, providing moments of clarity and perspective within Schnittke's charged musical landscape. Rather than interrupting the work, the hymns act as points of orientation, allowing seemingly distant musical worlds to be heard side by side. In their meeting, the themes of From Winter's Stillness come into focus - stillness and intensity existing together in unexpected harmony.
Bringing together Trio Mediæval, Arve Henriksen and the ACO, From Winter's Stillness traverses centuries of music and a shared northern geography. Across the program, energy and calm, urgency and restraint, ancient traditions and new voices exist side by side, illuminating one another in unexpected ways. Maximum intensity and maximum stillness sit together, fusing into one.
From Winter's Stillness is touring nationally from 25 July to 9 August.
