Pelimannit / The Fiddlers

The Fiddlers comprises five free fantasias on leaves from the musical notebook of an 18th century folk fiddler Samuel Rinda-Nickola. The work opens with the arrival of Närbö's famous fiddlers in grand procession. The second miniature depicts one Jonas who is playing alone in the midsummer night, accompanied by the murmuring forest. There is a tongue-in-cheek portrait of the village organist improvising on memories of Bach and wedding tunes, followed by a Devil's Schottische in which quite a lot is a-squew. The suite ends with the hurly-burly of a stamp-and-jump dance: "Their broad faces are as solemn as in the church, but a strange excitement lurks in their huge legs and hands..."