à la Kujala
DURATION
10'
YEAR COMPOSED
2025
COMMISSIONER
The Chicago Flute Club in honor of Walfrid Kujala.
ORDERING SCORES
Inkjar Publishing Company
$20 • full score & piccolo part • PDFs with perpetual performance license
To purchase:
• Click on the link to email Inkjar Publishing Company.
• An invoice will be sent to you via PayPal.
• Once payment is received, you will be emailed the licensed performance materials will be sent as PDFs within three business days (excluding weekends and holidays).
PROGRAM NOTES
Mr. Walfrid Kujala (1925-2024) was a giant in the flute world. He performed on the flute and piccolo with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1954 to 2001, while simultaneously serving as professor of flute at Northwestern University from 1962 to 2012. Additionally, he wrote flute and piccolo pedagogy books, as well as articles for several woodwind publications. Walfrid was one of the founding board members of the National Flute Association and served many roles within the organization. By all accounts, Walfrid (or Wally, as known by his family and friends) was a very kind and gentle person who greeted everyone with a warm smile, and whose thoughtfulness, strong work ethic, and dedication to the flute and piccolo permeated all aspects of his personal and professional life.
à la Kujala contains three movements, each highlighting a different aspect of Walfrid’s life and work. In movement 1, “Vade Mecum,” I selected short snippets from four exercises in Walfrid’s pedagogy book The Flutist’s Vade Mecum and worked them into my own material; these snippets are from his exercises on scales, triads in open position, inverted 6ths, and his own “la Scala Kujala.” “Stage Music,” the second movement, incorporates three piccolo excerpts that Walfrid included in his book Orchestral Techniques for Flute and Piccolo: An Inside Look at Symphonic Performance Traditions; these excerpts are from Rossini’s Semiramide Overture, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony. “With Each Passing Moment,” the third movement, features my own arrangement of the Finnish hymn "Päivä vain ja hetki kerrallansa” and speaks to Walfrid’s humble and kind nature, his deep spiritual beliefs, and his love for his Finnish heritage. If a person’s life is but a moment in time in the long history of civilization, then how fortuitous we are that Walfrid spent his passing moments as he did, with his family, friends, and the music world.
The Chicago Flute Club commissioned à la Kujala in honor of Walfrid Kujala. While the title à la Kujala was first used in the article “À la Kujala” by Kathleen Goll-Wilson in Flute Talk (October 1989) about Walfrid’s son, I found it perfectly fitting as a tribute to Wally and his legacy.
-S.G.
10'
YEAR COMPOSED
2025
COMMISSIONER
The Chicago Flute Club in honor of Walfrid Kujala.
ORDERING SCORES
Inkjar Publishing Company
$20 • full score & piccolo part • PDFs with perpetual performance license
To purchase:
• Click on the link to email Inkjar Publishing Company.
• An invoice will be sent to you via PayPal.
• Once payment is received, you will be emailed the licensed performance materials will be sent as PDFs within three business days (excluding weekends and holidays).
PROGRAM NOTES
Mr. Walfrid Kujala (1925-2024) was a giant in the flute world. He performed on the flute and piccolo with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1954 to 2001, while simultaneously serving as professor of flute at Northwestern University from 1962 to 2012. Additionally, he wrote flute and piccolo pedagogy books, as well as articles for several woodwind publications. Walfrid was one of the founding board members of the National Flute Association and served many roles within the organization. By all accounts, Walfrid (or Wally, as known by his family and friends) was a very kind and gentle person who greeted everyone with a warm smile, and whose thoughtfulness, strong work ethic, and dedication to the flute and piccolo permeated all aspects of his personal and professional life.
à la Kujala contains three movements, each highlighting a different aspect of Walfrid’s life and work. In movement 1, “Vade Mecum,” I selected short snippets from four exercises in Walfrid’s pedagogy book The Flutist’s Vade Mecum and worked them into my own material; these snippets are from his exercises on scales, triads in open position, inverted 6ths, and his own “la Scala Kujala.” “Stage Music,” the second movement, incorporates three piccolo excerpts that Walfrid included in his book Orchestral Techniques for Flute and Piccolo: An Inside Look at Symphonic Performance Traditions; these excerpts are from Rossini’s Semiramide Overture, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony. “With Each Passing Moment,” the third movement, features my own arrangement of the Finnish hymn "Päivä vain ja hetki kerrallansa” and speaks to Walfrid’s humble and kind nature, his deep spiritual beliefs, and his love for his Finnish heritage. If a person’s life is but a moment in time in the long history of civilization, then how fortuitous we are that Walfrid spent his passing moments as he did, with his family, friends, and the music world.
The Chicago Flute Club commissioned à la Kujala in honor of Walfrid Kujala. While the title à la Kujala was first used in the article “À la Kujala” by Kathleen Goll-Wilson in Flute Talk (October 1989) about Walfrid’s son, I found it perfectly fitting as a tribute to Wally and his legacy.
-S.G.
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HELIOS • 4’30” • 2 tpts/flugelhorns, hn, tbn, tba
PROGRAM NOTES
In Greek mythology, Helios was the god of the sun. His head wreathed in light, he daily drove a chariot drawn by four horses (in some tales, the horses are winged; in others, they are made of fire) across the sky. At the end of each day’s journey, he slept in a golden boat that carried him on the Okeanos River (a fresh water stream that encircled the flat earth) back to his rising place. The cyclic journey of Helios is depicted in this short work for brass quintet. The first half is fast-paced and very energetic, while the second half is slow and serene, representing day and night.
-S.G.