Juhannusaatto
for violin, celesta, and piano

Work no. 192
2021

This is one of the satellite pieces of Many Pink Butterflies, derived from that work's Solo V. Each solo in MPB is about a minute long, and explores a single compositional technique. A satellite piece based on a solo develops that technique further. In this case, the technique was inversion: in the original solo, a melody was simply followed by its inversion. In Juhannusaatto two different groups of melodies follow the same procedure. There are three sections, each followed by a solo for one of the instruments of the ensemble: like a miniature Many Pink Butterflies.

The music I came up with for trio sections seemed festive to me, but calm at the same time. I immediately thought the Finnish writer Tove Jansson's short story A Memory from the New World, and that eventually led to thoughts about Midsummer's Eve celebrations in Finland and Scandinavian countries – the title is the Finnish name of the holiday. This was my third Finnish piece, after Suomi Jukebox and Phoenix.