Flute Concerto Palomar

In this one-movement concerto the flute is a highly adaptable soloist: at times a whispering breath on a starry sky, at others an arctic bird soaring above a winter landscape, taking startled flight on spotting a human figure. The idea for this work came to Nieminen in Rome when he was kept awake by persistent birdsong in the heat of the night. The title alludes to the last novel, Palomar, by Italo Calvino.