Presentation on Lauri Kilpiö’s clavichord piece Poème de jeux acoustiques:

The Finnish Clavichord Society has commissioned a work from composer Lauri Kilpiö.

It will be heard first time in Kuopio during the FCS 10th anniversary celebrations.

Here follows a presentation of the work by the composer himself:

Most of the keyboard music of the late 18th century could be performed either with

harpsichord, fortepiano or clavichord. My piece Poème de jeux acoustiques (Poem of Acoustic Games), however, is essentially clavichord music, i.e. it can be played only with clavichord. Both fretted and unfretted clavichords are acceptable. However, the instrument should be equipped with

covered strings in the bass register. For the performance of the piece you also need scissors with plastic handles. (Any suitable hard plastic implement may be good as well.)

While planning and composing the piece, I had a small clavichord in my use, and I soon became deeply impressed by the rich sound world of the instrument. In this piece, however, the clavichord is not treated in a traditional way: not a single tone is played from the keyboard. Instead, sounds are produced in many other ways, like rubbing, tapping and wiping the strings, or knocking and rubbing the soundboard. These more or less noisy effects are very rich, and, in my opinion, they give greatly inspiring and interesting opportunities for a composer. Consequently, my piece is essentially musique concrète instrumental (music of concrete sounds for a traditional instrument).

The title is a tribute to the French concrete music (tape music of concrete sounds) of the 1940's and 1950's, but also to the old French keyboard music as well.

My piece is dedicated to Mr. Pekka Vapaavuori, who was active in commissioning the piece.

If you have any questions about my work, please contact the composer:

E-mail: lkilpio(a)siba.fi