Symphonic Stories – Concert Program

Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat or YS (Helsinki University Symphony Orchestra) is an orchestra with almost 100 members operating cooperation with the Student Union of the University of Helsinki. It is also the heir of the oldest symphonic orchestra in Finland, with a history covering 95 years. During each year the orchestra performs at least two large symphony programs and in addition will perform regularly in academic and other events. Most of the members are students at the University of Helsinki, but there are also students from Aalto University, the University of the Arts Helsinki and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. In this concert the orchestra is directed by József Hárs.

Jari Koivistoinen is a choir director and musician from Helsinki, with experience with both small professional groups and large choirs. In addition to Unreality, Jari also acts as the second lead for Tapiola kamarikuoro and as choir master for Helsinki filharmoninen kuoro. In addition, he acts as a music teacher for the Cantores Minores boys’ choir, which has cooperated with many other choirs in the Helsinki capital region, incl. Murtosointu, Mieskuoro Manifestum, Kumpulan kuoro and Helsingin Poliisilaulajat). In addition to choir work, Jari also works as the cantor for Hietaniemen hautausmaa cemetery and acts actively with music as an accompanying pianist, chamber musician, singer, composer and arranger. Besides music, he also consumes great amounts of other culture and is very interested in movies, games, arts and standup comedy, to name a few. Jari started working with Unreality in spring 2017.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Composer Alan Menken
Words Stephen Schwartz
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

Soloist Matias Kylliäinen

‘This song is about Frollo’s feelings towards Esmeralda: he
lusts to own her, even though he knows that this is wrong. In
the song Frollo places the blame for his lust on Esmeralda
instead of himself. In his heart of hearts, he knows that this is
not true. In the movie this is visualized by a choir of priests
glad in dark red, singing “Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa” or
“my fault, completely my fault”. This is a very dark message
for a children’s movie by Disney, when the message of the song
is that “she will be mine or she will burn”.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Composer Hajime Wakai, Takeshi Hama
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

This melody became a recurring theme after Skyward Sword
and can be found in many of the Zelda games. The lyrics of the
song are in Hylian and are a prayer asking for light. As an
interesting fact it can be said that the main theme of this song,
when played backwards, is called Zelda’s Lullaby and is also
a recurring theme in the Zelda games.

Chrono Trigger
Composer Yasunori Mitsuda
Arrangement Tuomas Valtonen

Chrono Trigger is a JRPG by Square (that later became
Square Enix) from 1995. The plot of the game follows a group
of heroes who must save the world from destruction by
traveling through time. The heroes visit prehistorical
dinosaurs, medieval times and a post-apocalyptic future to find
information, new partners and gear. Many reviews have called
Chrono Trigger one of the best video games in the world and it
still has a loyal fan base even though it has been 25 years since
the game was published. The soundtrack at least has many fine
songs.

Hanamaru Kindergarten
Composer Minori Kojima
Words Natsumi Tadano
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

Soloist Timja Aunola

The sympathetic slice of life comedy tells about Anzu, a small girl
who goes to daycare with Koume and Hiiragi. Together they try to
attract the attention of the daycare manager Tsuchida, who
happens to be far more interested in the beautiful Yamada who is
in charge of the class next door. Every episode of this anime has a
different ending song and this one is from episode two. The
performance attempts to follow the childish quality of the original
singer, even though we don’t have child soloist on hand.

Made in Abyss
Composer Kevin Penkin
Words Takeshi Saito
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

Hanazeve Caradhina is the song that we hear when the two main
characters of the anime Made in Abyss, Riko and Reg, watch the
sun rise in Riko’s hometown, right on the edge of the Abyss. Made
in Abyss tells of the story of these two children as they journey
through the merciless Abyss towards its bottom. The Abyss is
indeed merciless to those who which to enter, but it also contains
many treasures. Filled with animals, each stranger than the next,
climbing up is made very hard, near impossible by the curse of the
Abyss. The superb world building of the graphics is aided by the
unusual soundtrack by Kevin Penkin. The original singer of
Hanazeve Caradhina is the contratenor Takeshi Saito who is able
to sing very high notes beautifully, but to save our tenors we have
left the melody to be sung by the higher voices.

Laputa Castle in the Sky
Composer Joe Hisaishi
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

Studio Ghibli released Laputa in 1986 and it was the first
Ghibli movie to show Totoro’s profile image at the start of the
movie, although Totoro itself would not be released for two
more years. Laputa by Hayao Miyazaki has won many awards
and is still one of the most popular Ghibli movies, according to
online questionnaires. Kimi Wo Nosete, composed by Joe
Hisaishi, is the end theme of the movie and the lyrics tell, in
the end, of longing.

Ghost in the Shell
Composer and lyrics Kenji Kawai
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

The movie Ghost in the Shell tells of a dystopic future where
cybernetic technology has progressed to the point where parts
of the human body can be improved or replaced with
cybernetic parts. One of the biggest advances is the casing
around the brain, a cyber brain, that allows a direct internet
link to the brain. The main character of the movie, major
Motoko Kusanagi, suffered an accident as a child and as a
result her entire body has been replaced with a cybernetic
prosthesis and only her consciousness remains within the cyber
brain.

The composer of Reincarnation, Kenji Kawai, sought the feel
of ancient Japanese wedding songs in the lyrics, while adding
elements of Bulgarian fold music in the harmonies. The end
result is one of the most recognizable pieces of anime music.

Assassin’s Creed II
Composer Jesper Kyd
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

The game series Assassin’s Creed follows the life of assassins
in different eras, and the series is known for having modeled
historical events and places very realistically. The second part
of the series takes place in Renaissance era Italy. The piece by
Jesper Kyd is the theme for the main character, Ezio Auditore
de Firenze. The theme was so popular that it became the de
facto theme for the whole series, and it has been heard in
every Assassin’s Creed game since, as well as in some other
games by Ubisoft.

Tsubasa Chronicle
Composer and lyrics Yuki Kajiura
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle is an anime where the princess
Sakura of the Clow kingdom has lost her memory. She departs
with the archeologist Syaoran to find her memories, which have
been sprinkled as feathers all over many worlds. They gain the
help of Kurogane and Fai D. Flowright as well as the small white
animal called Mokona, all of whom help along the journey. Clamp
created the Tsubasa series because they wanted to make a series
that would combine all of their previous series and it does include
several familiar characters from earlier works.

Ni no kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Composer Joe Hisaishi
Words Mamiko Suzuki
Arrangement Pauli Marttinen

The games of the series Ni no Kuni are known for their Ghibli like
animation and music. And no wonder as Studio Ghibli produced
parts of the game animation. The music of the game is produced
by Joe Hisaishi, who has also done a large part of the movie
soundtracks for Studio Ghibli.