© Aamos Ruha / Ville Paasimaa

The Colours of Life and Death

Timo Riihonen, bass
Kirill Kozlovski, piano

When a young person dies, it feels as if life itself loses its strength. Like a tree that withers too early. I personally experienced the loss of a peer in my youth. Our confirmation pastor comforted us with these words: "When the cold winds of autumn blow and the brown, dead leaves scatter, the chlorophyll does not disappear. It is stored within the tree, waiting for a new spring. Your friend’s chlorophyll lives within you." This message of comfort told us that although the death of someone too young is a great loss, they are not forgotten. Through them, and because of them, we live, grow, remember, and love even more deeply.
— Timo Riihonen

Themes of death and the beginning of new life have inspired many composers and poets. Sibelius’s Sydämeni laulu (Song of My Heart), set to a poem by Aleksis Kivi, was completed shortly before the death of Sibelius’s young daughter. It is said that Sibelius played the song by her deathbed. Toivo Kuula's Epilogue, on the other hand, is a tribute to the triumph of new life over death. In Modest Mussorgsky's song cycle Songs and Dances of Death, a dialogue unfolds between the dying and Death itself. Death may appear as a release from prolonged suffering, or as a grim rider on the battlefield, proclaiming victory. Whichever side wins the battle — Death always claims its own.

Duration approx. 70 minutes, no intermission.

Tickets €15–35 + order fees (from €1.50 + 0.65% per order at www.lippu.fi)