Come da lontano

Dedicated to and premiered by Petri Kumela, Pehr Henrik Nordgren's (1944-2008) Come da lontano for guitar (2003) carries ideas from Nordgren's previous work, Amor - desesperada op. 120 based on the youthful 20 poemas de amor y una cancion desesperada (1924) by Pablo Neruda. Scored for soprano, baritone, koto, shakuachi, and double bass, it was completed a few months before the work for solo guitar. Neruda came from Chile, and his language was Spanish. For the Japanese koto, a relative of the zither, Come da lontano has passages imitating a guitar. In the piece for solo guitar these passages have now returned home - from afar.