Turbulence (2006) for symphony orchestra.
Crosswinds, flickering, a breeze. The sound of a ferry coming ashore, or a plane shivering in a tempest. These and other ideas used in this work came to life during a ferry trip to Hiiumaa island, listening to various noises of the engine and the rattling of the ship, until, suddenly, music emerged from the noise — strong and powerful.
The ideas were further developed during some plane trips, and there was even a part played by a “wistful factory” in Visby that, due to complaints from the neighborhood, no longer “sings”, but once inspired me with the sounds of its machinery.
A symphony orchestra, which uses electric instruments and alters its sound live, augmenting classical soundscapes with modern technology. Here, natural sounds meet mechanical sounds, weaving a unified musical fabric. The result is a sonorous jungle illustrating the workings of a machinery and the beauty of creaks and rattles therein; sounds that are so common in our landscapes and environment, and so often considered terrible, but true gems nonetheless.
One of my inspiration sources in Turbulence: The “singing” factory near Visby.
We just passed the factory at nighttime and heard it “singing”. Then we recorded the factory in different times and discovered it’s “singing tone” depended on wind – with more wind it had more different notes in it’s squeak-melody. Unfortunately now this factory is silent due to people who lived in neighborhood and complained about this strange (but quite silent) melodies. I haven’t used these recordings in my music, but it has been an important source of inspiration in this piece.
In 2009, Tally’s orchestral work “Turbulence” was selected as one of recommended works at International Rostrum of Composers. She has received 2 prizes for her work “Turbulence” – the Composer Prize of the Estonian Music Days Festival (2007) and the small Christ Johnson Music Prize (2008) by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
