tara jovana valkonen – PLAY III aikojen alun kvartetto (2024; rev. 2025)

GOSSIP Among the lyre-players of Athens, Persephone is the ugliest, yet the most adored. Lais, the hetaera of Corinth, was known as the most beautiful woman of her time. In her old age she drank herself to death. Moments before dying she was asked, what the greatest virtue was. Lais replied: “Two women in the same bed.” When Sappho later wrote that she had no need for men, their wailing echoed through the alleys of Lesbos for centuries. The tax collector entered my house, but settled for my arse. Themis, the oracle of Delphi, claimed that renouncing pleasures guaranteed a long life. The next day, a brick fell from the temple roof and killed her. The moment Polidora leaves to home village to help her parents, Aristophanes bolts off to his lover. Polidora’s parents have been in ashes for years. She has a lover there, from the most respectable family — Erectheus, husband of Harmonia. My bowels haven’t worked in days. And Teutemos is arriving tomorrow. Do not fret. Love will make you do great things. The poet Kyrios gazed at the calm sea and asked: “Is this all there is?” Soon a great wave rose from the sea and swept everything away. Mortally wounded gladiator Flamma traced into the bloody sand of the arena: “the greatest adventure is yourself.” --- 2025 revised version premiered by: Aino Szalai, violin Liam Mansfield, violin Joshua Kail, viola Johannes Välja, violoncello Originally commissioned and premiered by Avanti! String Quartet. Revised version premiered and recorded at the Avanti! concert on the 13th of December 2025 @ Avanti Club, Kaapelitehdas. #followmyScore #contemporary #contemporarymusic #newmusic #stringquartet #SheetMusic #scorevideo #scorefollower