Spruce and Juniper in the German Church in Helsinki, the 27th of April, 2019

Veli Pekka Bäckman’s chamber opera Kuusi ja kataja (Spruce and Juniper) is not a brand new opera, but it has an interesting history. Originally it was composed for a piano; the next version was with a bigger orchestra and the present version is with a string quartet accompaniment. The opera was supposed to be performed in Helsinki already last October in the Alexander Theatre, but it was cancelled due to poor sales of the tickets. Now it was performed on two consecutive nights in the German Church of Helsinki. At least Saturday’s performance was not overcrowded, there were literally a handful of people in the audience, which really was a pity, because the opera was very good.

The opera is based on two poems by Edvin Piira, so the evening started with a half-an-hour concert of songs to Piira’s poems (Ode to a season), where Markus Bäckman sang and V-P. Bäckman played the piano. I liked the songs a lot; the poems alone were interesting, but especially Bäckman’s interpretation of them, raised them above average. Excellent fragments of the changing seasons.

The opera itself is about the pain of creating. Toivo’s (Toivo is hope in English) muse Lempi (Lempi is an old-fashioned word for love in Finnish) has died and Toivo struggles with his composing. Usko (Usko is faith in English) comes to help and the creative work gets started. However, the result is a huge discord and the situation looks hopeless. But love saves the situation.

Bäckman’s music was riveting, occasionally like from a musical. The work has drama, pain but also humour, which can be heard in the music. I liked Camerata Amoroso’s (the string quartet) playing and the soloists also succeeded in their task. Pekka Haahti as Toivo was truly a suffering man and artist. Janne Hautsalo as Usko was from time to time exceedingly pompous man of reason and Tia Svanberg was ethereal Lempi. 

All in all, this chamber opera turned out to be a small gemstone, that I can warmly recommend to others, too. Those who can understand Finnish, I advise to follow Veli Pekka Bäckman’s web site www.virtamies.fi for any info on next possible performances. I can also tip that he produces lemonade, so of course, I had to buy a couple of bottles of strawberry lemonade!

Markus and Veli Pekka Bäckman

Spruce and Juniper soloists