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Under the Apple Tree

(2001-2021)

  • (a) Piano Solo (2001)

  • (b) Orchestra: 2222/2220/11/0, strings  (2002)

  • (c) Wind Orchestra (2003)

  • (d) Recorder Quartet (2004)

  • (e) Flute, Alto Flute, Clarinet in Bb, Bass Clarinet (2006)

  • (f) Harpsichord, Accordion (2007)

  • (g) Recorder Trio (2009)

  • (h) Saxophone Trio (2016)

  • (i) Bassoon Quartet (2021)

  • Duration 7:00 - 13:30 min. (depending on version)

  • First performance (a) by Elisa Järvi on February 25, 2002, in Helsinki, Finland

  • First performance (b) on December 1, 2005, in Montréal, Canada by Ensemble Orchestral de Montréal, Samy Moussa, cond.

  • First performance (c) on November 18, 2003, in Helsinki, Finland by Helsinki Symphonic Winds, Sami Ruusuvuori, cond.

  • First performance (d) on August 26, 2004, in Helsinki, Finland by Eero Saunamäki, Anna Saunamäki, Riikka Holopainen and Reetta Varjonen

  • First performance (e) on March 3, 2006, in Helsinki, Finland by Heljä Räty, flute, Hanna Juutilainen, alto flute, Harri Mäki, clarinet, Asko Heiskanen, bass clarinet

  • First performance (f) on April 2, 2007, in Burgas, Bulgaria by Anka Zlateva, harpsichord and Adam Ørvad, accordion

  • First performance (g) on July 21, 2009, in Hólar, Iceland by Eero Saunamäki, Pernille Petersen and Anna Saunamäki

  • First performance (h) on August 13, 2016, in Turku, Finland by Saxophone Trio Ava: Samu Metsänen, Kalle Oittinen and Eero Saunamäki

  • First performance (i) on November 28, 2021, in Helsinki, Finland by Mikko-Pekka Svala, Vladislav Dmitriev, Pekko Aakko and Topias Kiiskinen

  • Recording (piano solo version): PianoNyt! Contemporary Piano Music from Finland, Sibelius Academy SACD 14 (2005), Elisa Järvi, solo piano

  • Recording (recorder quartet version): (Reflections of the Past and Present, Pilfink Records JJVCD-128 (2014), Bravade Recorder Quartet






The title of this work is a metaphor that relates the composer’s compositional technique, knowledge and skills to the fruit of an apple tree. This tree must be cared for and nurtured before it can bear delicious apples. Comparison between fruit and compositions also brings us back to the double meaning of fruit. As Mozart wrote on the front page of his six Haydn string quartets, “il frutto di una longa e laboriosa fatica” (the fruits of a long and laborious work), we remember that fruit, here, represents the products and results or even the rewards that await us after we have planted the seeds of hard work. In Under the Apple Tree, each movement has a title after a particular breed of apples. Each sort of apple has its unique features, which, in this case, have been transformed into musical parameters. One of the compositional techniques used was the association of specific intervals to each movement. In every section, two main intervals are applied in various ways to shape the music.


Under the Apple Tree exists in many forms. Over the years, it has been a kind of personal orchestration school to write such amount of different arrangements, from varied chamber music set-ups to full orchestra. TR, 2001/2023

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