"The piece was composed in 2015 at the Saari Residence, maintained by the Kone Foundation in Finland, where I was invited to undertake a project in composition. The score was commissioned by the Jyväskylä Sinfonia and its conductor Ville Matvejeff in honour of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sibelius.
Although the score is a spiritual tribute to the great Finnish genius, it does not make use of stylistic references to Sibelius; instead, it expresses my full gratitude to an illustrious predecessor whose work, which is so powerful and unique, has had a marked effect on me.
The title Matka means “voyage” in Finnish. I have a genuine fascination for this language, its structure and sonorous poetry, and I have also attempted to translate its magic through my own musical language. The landscape where it was composed, in the south-western part of Finland near the Bay of Turku, surrounded by magnificent, wild and vast nature, also uniquely inspired me.
The piece, a seamless whole, is expressed through several sections that explore a variety of characters: from the vast initial calm, to feelings of tension or relief, to the final jubilant tutti.
This score also explores two specific aspects of my music: my research on modal harmony (and its varying degrees of consonance) as well as my obsessive treatment of evolving melodic and rhythmic motifs.
The composition was premiered in Jyväskylä by Ville Matvejeff and the Jyväskylä Sinfonia on 9th December, 2015."
Eric Tanguy
Commissioned by Jyväskylä Sinfonia for the 150th birthday anniversary of Jean Sibelius
with the support of Kone-Saari Residence Foundation
World premiere
9 December 2015, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, cond. Ville Matvejeff, Jyväskylä, Finland
Other performances
5 June 2018, Ulster Orchestra, cond. Ville Matvejeff, Ulster Hall, Belfast, UK
12 September 2018, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, cond. Ville Matvejeff, Jyväskylä, Finland
3 October 2018, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, cond. Enrique Mazzola, Palais Montcalm, Canada
13 &14 February 2019, Orchestre national de Bordeaux, cond. Fabien Gabel, Bordeaux, France
Dates to come
23 September 2020, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, dir. Daniel Harding, Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland
24 September 2020, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, dir. Daniel Harding, Opéra de Lausanne, Switzerland
Cancelled - 21 November 2020, Orchestre Pasdeloup, dir. Corinna Niemeyer, Philharmonie de Paris, Grande Salle Pierre Boulez
Watch the broadcast of Ulster Orchestra performanceon BBC Radio 3
➡️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b539s1
Read full score ➡️ https://issuu.com/durand.salabert.eschig/docs/tanguy_matka
Website of the composer ➡️ https://erictanguy.wordpress.com/a-propos/
Watch the interview