''The Ring of Fire and Love'' is an orchestral composition written in 2020 by the Finnish composer

Outi Tarkiainen Outi Tarkiainen (b. February 7, 1985) is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music. Tarkiainen grew up in Rovaniemi, the capital and commercial center of the Finnish Lapland region. She studied composition with Eero Hämeenniemi and Veli ...

. The work was commissioned by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, which performed the world premiere under the conductor Sakari Oramo at the Stockholm Concert Hall,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, on 18 March 2021. The piece is dedicated to Sakari Oramo.

Composition

''The Ring of Fire and Love'' last about 9 minutes and is cast in a single

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

. The piece is named after the Ring of Fire—a volcanic belt surrounding the Pacific Ocean in which most of the world's earthquakes occur. "Ring of fire" also refers the phenomenon that takes place during a

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

when the moon blocks all but the outside ring of the sun. Additionally, as the composer wrote in the score program note, "the same expression is also used to describe what a woman feels when, as she gives birth, the baby's head passes through her pelvis. That moment is the most dangerous in the baby's life, its little skull being subjected to enormous pressure, preparing it for life in a way unlike any other." She concluded, "''The Ring of Fire and Love'' is a work for orchestra about this earth-shattering, creative, cataclysmic moment they travel through together."

Instrumentation

The work is scored for an orchestra comprising two flutes (both doubling

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

), two oboes, two

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

s (2nd doubling

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

), two

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

s, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones,

bass trombone The bass trombone (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to ...

, tuba, timpani, three percussionists,

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

, and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Reception

Reviewing a performance by the

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Em ...

, Rob Hubbard of the ''

Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

'' described ''The Ring of Fire and Love'' as "an intriguingly atmospheric piece, with dark menacing murmurs transcended by some Miles Davis-esque muted trumpet." The music journalist Jari Kallio similarly observed, "the nine-minute score opens with buzzing oscillations for full orchestra, clad in extraordinary colours and textures. These initial turbulences are cooled down gradually over the next sixty-or-so bars, paving the way for a contemplative solo for muted trumpet. The opening material reappears for further permutations, subsequently bridging into the captivating closing tableau; an extended meditation for the trumpet soloist and orchestra, conceived in the most refined textures."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ring of Fire and Love, The Compositions by Outi Tarkiainen 2020 compositions Compositions for symphony orchestra Music commissioned by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Works about human pregnancy