As a consumer of music, Leevi Räsänen (b. 1997, Enonkoski) is equally at home in the pounding of sticky-floored nightclubs, listening to contemporary music whispers in concert halls as well as enjoying Broadway musicals. The diversity of influences and starting points is dominant in their work. Räsänen’s works are created to cater to their unique contexts with ever-changing methods. His works encompass his values, personal experiences, as well as several phenomena and quotations from popular culture. They often build them around internal experiences of the mind, such as memories, relationships, emotions, and experiences of time and place.

maailma ympärilläni käy yhä nopeammalla vaihteella, ja minä

for clarinet in A, soprano saxophone and cello

Having just moved to Glasgow in January 2022, I wrote this piece for the AEKI Ensemble in a relatively short time. In the title, the important word is ’vaihde’ — gear. Or turn, between periods of time? It refers to an individual (=ME!!) feeling as if the world surrounding them was running at increasingly faster gears, whereas the individual... is in a slow place, going at a slow pace. Wondering, observing, still. But it’s ok.