Programme Note

​

Hämäränsäde (‘ham-a-ran-sad-eh’) is a Finnish word which roughly translates as ‘Crepuscular Ray' or 'Dusk's Sunbeam'. 

Composed for the fifth annual Fiskars Summer Festival in 2024, Hämäränsäde emerged from from the distinctive landscape surrounding the village of Fiskars in southern Finland.  The title refers to the way the late summer evening sunlight gently illuminates the landscape from the side, casting a dusky haze over its crystalline lakes, lush vegetation, and craggy outcrops.  

​

In its approach to orchestral texture and sonority, Hämäränsäde takes its cues from the idiosyncratic use of the orchestra developed by Sibelius, especially in the Fifth Symphony and later orchestral works.  Apart from more fleeting direct glimpses of those works, at a deeper level Hämäränsäde explores Sibelius’ technique of layering multiple strata which progress at different speeds and rates of development.