Taonta by Ilari Kaila published on 2017-06-02T08:52:38Z TAONTA for piano, performed by Emil Holmström. I. Sarabande, 00:00—3:07 II. Rosary, 3:07—5:21 III. Xianwei: Tail-Biting Fish, 5:21—7:24 IV. Taonta, 7:24—11:00 V. Caudal Fin, 11:00—14:28 “Taonta” (noun) is Finnish for “hammering” or “forging”, and describes the percussive martellando music of the fourth, central movement. As the title of a suite of character pieces, it can also be read as a pun on the ambiguous old Greek phrase “ta onta”, translated variously as “beings”, “existents”, “objects”, “truths”. Xianwei is named after a technique in classical Chinese music whereby each melodic phrase begins on the final note of the previous phrase; or, literally, each fish bites the tail of the next one. The suite finishes with a Caudal Fin of its own, on a concluding note that brings the cycle of successive, tail-biting movements back to the initial C of the Sarabande.