Einojuhani Rautavaara - On the Last Frontier (1997)

00:00 A solemn, brooding string introduction blooms into luminous clusters and brilliant arpeggios at 1:19 04:15 Distant and mysterious woodwind melodies prelude the choir entrance at 05:43 07:02 An epic climactic chord before falling away into gentle textures and a series of light-footed solos at 7:52 09:50 A lovely, warm oboe solo over luscious harp and strings 10:46 A suddenly frantic mood pushed by deep arpeggios 12:49 The music steadies into a grand forward progression bursting into... 14:40 Luminous clusters and brilliant arpeggios again, now with stronger orchestral support 16:08 ...falling away into a frightened, panicked mood, before reclaiming form at 17:20 18:39 Stately forward melodies mix with frantic runs leading into... 21:20 The grand climax as the chorus pushes with thick harmonies between huge orchestral arpeggios, before epic Amaj7 chords at 23:41 Score available from Fennica Gehman: On the threshold of his seventies, Rautavaara felt that he, too, was approaching the mysterious last frontier and returned to the ending of Poe’s work, which he describes as “a mystical, almost metaphysical fantasy.“ He explains that, in his composition, “the fascinating closing pages of the novel from the whole. I could not use Poe’s text verbatim for this purpose... it had to be reworked somewhat. It became, in the mouths of the chorus, the core and framework of a longer narrative, around and in between which the orchestra weaves its own rich, colorful texture. Because I already knew the performers at the time I composed the work, I was spurred to write a number of instrumental solos. The orchestra’s role is to tell the tale in a way that is beyond the scope of words -but perhaps expresses it better than words are able to.“ from wocomoMUSIC, Composer: Einojuhani Rautavaara (October 9, 1928 – July 27, 2016) Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam Choir: Finnish Philharmonic Choir How I make my videos: Program I develop for this channel: