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Ruth Bakke
(b. August 2nd 1947, Bergen)
Into the Light - Meditation for Violin and Organ (1982)
Into the Light - Meditation for Violin and Piano (2022)
First Performance (organ version): Bergen, autumn 1982. (Exact date not available)
Håkon Gulbrandsen, violin & Ruth Bakke, organ
Ruth Bakke was educated as an organist at the Bergen Music Conservatoire - now Grieg Academy.
She completed a 2 year music study at the University of Oslo in half a year (spring 1968) and then passed an exam as an organist at the Bergen Music Conservatoire in June 1968. She then travelled to the USA on a Fulbright scholarship. She obtained a bachelor degree from Texas Lutheran College and a master degree (with a double major: composition & organ) from Washington State University. In august 1972 she moved back to Bergen and became the organist and choir director at Storetveit Church, a position she held for 45 years. She also taught sporadically at the Bergen Music Conservatoire/Grieg Academy and at the Bergen Teachers' College (dept. of Music).
Bakke’s production includes orchestral and chamber music as well as many works for the organ and liturgical music, both vocal and instrumental. Her abilities as an improviser have seeped into her compositions, which often display seemingly intuitive elements and a keen ear for tonal colour within a clearly ordered framework. This is very obvious in the myriad registrations and nuances found in her fascinating music for the organ. In later works she has explored the possibilities of whole-tone structures from a very personal angle.
Bakke’s music seems to be in search of a spiritual dimension and is often contemplative in mood. However, it can also embrace humour, albeit usually of a somewhat arcane character. An apt example is her sextet “Des Kaisers neue Kleider” which is a very elaborate musical joke, but the music is purposely devoid of any externally “funny” aspects. Her work “Pano-Piano (25 Small Piano Pieces)” is a collection of miniatures written for young players. They include graphic scores, motifs and tone-rows intended to be developed by the players as well as simple two-part pieces in a free-tonal language and a piece for prepared piano. Young pianists enjoy playing them, as they awaken their creativity.
Her orchestra work “Lone Star Memories” was a commission from the Mid-Texas Symphony Orchestra for their bi-centennial season.
Bakke has also worked within the electronic and electro-acoustic media. She premiered her newest multi-media work “De Composition” at the Borealis Festival in 2021 in cooperation with the video artist Anne Marthe Dyvi.
Ruth Bakke wrote Into the Light for Håkon Guldbrandsen, former concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. It is a simple and powerful composition that always makes a strong impression on the listener. As the title implies, the work represents a progression from darkness to light. It is inspired by a verse from the 1st Letter of St. Peter
Blessed be the Lord, our God, who has called us
out of the darkness and into his marvellous light (1. Peter. 2:9)
The work is clearly divided into three continuous sections. The first one represents darkness, followed by a transition that leads to the final section, where light is the obvious reference.
A twice repeated five-note motif on the organ provides the introduction for the extended first part. A pensive, ever evolving violin line is supported by a slow quaver pulse on the bass pedals and modal harmonies that lead into one another by way of clusters. These clusters or “sound clouds” are also a representation of the obfuscating effect of darkness, while the resulting chords seem to offer glimpses of a brightness that is yet to be fully reached.
As both instruments reach a high register (measure 24), the five-note motif reappears one fifth higher than before, and again a minor third higher, now in conversation between the organ and the violin. The latter is left alone to further develop the same motif and the three-note motif – C-Bb-C – that introduced the violin into the piece. The violin dives into the deep but rises again, reaching the same high note it had attained in m. 24. It then goes up a semitone and the organ joins, now playing in the high register until the very end of the piece. The former, implacable quavers in the pedals are now replaced by sustained thirds and seconds in the bright 2-foot registration. The old chords linked by clusters have now transformed into a sparkling 32nd-note hocket between the hands. On top of this scintillating background the violin soars with a very high continuous melody of unpredictable note lengths. The now prevailing ecstatic mood is briefly interrupted by a shorter violin solo (m. 64) that describes a final ascent to the realm of everlasting light. The last four measures of the work focus on this heightened state, finally reaching as high as both instruments can achieve.
Ruth Bakke has made a new version for violin and piano of this – one of her classic works – especially for this edition. Naturally the sound world she creates here is quite different from that of the organ version. A bass part has been added to the introduction. The right hand chords are repeated at different time intervals and the clusters are substituted by slow arpeggiated figures. The final section is, naturally, missing the old organ pedal part. Instead, the piano’s own pedal provides an overall glow to the music that fits in perfectly with its luminous intent.
Ricardo Odriozola 1. November 2022
German preface not available ....
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