2017

MUSIC MAKERS #FINLAND100 OUT OF THE BOX AND INTO THE FUTURE SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND EXPANDING HORIZONS IN MUSIC EDUCATION 3

EDITORIALBY Anu Ahola

Musical vistas in the year 2017

www.fmq.fi During 2017, the FMQ has looked at the music culture of Finland, celebrating the centenary of her independence, in • Find more three thematic modules. One of these modules presents a cluster of music makers – articles, special original voices from a Finnish music scene that is more diverse and multicultural today than it has ever been. features, Creative and performing musicians from different back- grounds and working with different materials combine columns and familiar elements to create new things. Their work offers new approaches not just to sound and its myriad forms but reviews – new also to the world and to the human condition in general. A good example of how varied the job profile of a European items every week composer today can be is given by Sebastian Fagerlund. Secondly, we look at how some musical traditions show and all free of up today. In Finland, the kantele, the accordion, the Kale- vala and the fiddler tradition have for a long time been not charge only part of the national soundscape but also inexhaustible sources of musical innovation. But how can they continue to inspire and influence musicians today? And whose tradition • Explore our ever- is it that we are talking about, anyway? Thirdly, we look at the future from the perspective of growing selection music education. Society is changing, pupils are becom- ing more diverse and technology is advancing at an of articles from increasingly rapid pace, and those are only some of the challenges and opportunities that music education is the archives facing. What could – or should – the role of the music educator be in the society of tomorrow? In addition to these themes, we would like to revisit • Subscribe to and underline a key topic: equality and diversity. This has been an emerging subject of debate in the our monthly field of Finnish music as elsewhere. For music culture to continue to flourish, it must be able newsletter to engage people more broadly, irrespective of background, age or gender. There is plenty of diversity in artistic content; we just need to bring it out and transfer it to the struc- tures. As the year 2017 draws to a close, we wish our readers a happy exploration of new and inspiring ways of broadening horizons and eye-opening collisions. • Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi 4 5

31 SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND – PORTRAIT OF A COMPOSER FROM EUROPE IN 2017 CONTENTS 33 Autumn Sonata and other excursions between the real 3 Editorial and the unreal By Anu Ahola SEBASTIAN by Merja Hottinen 37 Soundscapes on the lanes of FAGERLUND Amsterdam by Biella Luttmer 6 MUSIC MAKERS #FINLAND100 8 Magnifying musical details page 31 Paola Livorsi by Merja Hottinen 40 Helsinki’s high-tech G Livelab: 10 The many shades of noise Sound first by Wif Stenger Lauri Kilpiö by Anna Pulkkis 12 Roots of rhythm 42 EXPANDING HORIZONS IN MUSIC MAKERS Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble EXPANDING HORIZONS IN MUSIC EDUCATION by Wif Stenger #FINLAND100 page 6 MUSIC EDUCATION 44 Composing is for everyone 14 Special touch by Anu Ahola Iro Haarla by Petri Silas page 42 46 Multiple modes of music education in Nepal 16 The bourgeois modernist by Lari Aaltonen Väinö Raitio by Hanna Isolammi 50 Happy birthday to Finnish music education! by Heidi Partti 18 OUT OF THE BOX AND INTO THE FUTURE 20 The ever-expanding Kantele 52 by Tove Djupsjöbacka Recordings of the year 60 24 Free the Kalevala from Finnishness Live performances of the year by Kimmo Hakola 66 Notable numbers 26 Innovative noise box OUT OF THE BOX AND by Amanda Kauranne INTO THE FUTURE page 18 28 Pelimanni meets pixels by Amanda Kauranne

Editor-in-Chief Anu Ahola, anu. [email protected] | Editor Hanna Isolammi, [email protected] | Proofreading David Threasher | Graphic Design and Illustrations Minna Luoma | Printing Premedia Helsinki Oy | Financial coordination [email protected] | Editorial address FMQ (Finnish Music Quarterly) c/o Music Finland, Urho Kekkosen katu 2C, FI-00100 Helsinki, Finland, [email protected], tel. +358 ( 0 )20 730 2230, fax +358 ( 0 )20 730 2231 www.fmq.fi | ISSN 0782-1069 | Publisher Music Finland | Partners Finnish Musicians’ Union, The Sibelius Academy, The Society of Finnish Composers | Editorial Board Kimmo Hakola (chair), Hanna Juutilainen, Lauri Kilpiö, Matti Nives, Elina Roms, Aarne Toivonen, Johanna Viksten | Subscriptions One year (1 issue) EU € 15 (+VAT 24%), other countries € 18. Subscriptions, inquiries and changes of address: [email protected] | Publication schedule December 2018 | Cover illustration Maija Kauhanen by Antti Kokkola 6 7

MUSIC MAKERS #FINLAND100

Independent Finland is 100 years old and today has a music scene that is diverse and multicultural. Paola Livorsi, Lauri Kilpiö, Iro Haarla and the Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble are examples of very different, original voices in an increasingly pluralist body of music-makers. Jyri Pitkänen Jyri 8 FMQ FEATURE: Music Makers #Finland100 9

The idea of the video resonates well with Paola Livor- ence, so that it has a human and social aspect to it,” Livorsi si’s conceptions about music. She finds inspiration in whis- points out. pers, in the phonetic differences between languages, in the plurality of phonemes and other tiny, scarcely perceptible details of sound that, thanks to microphones and electron- Multiple means of expression MAGNIFYING ics, can be expanded into musical material. These details Livorsi has accumulated plenty of experience in multi-­ of sound build a musical landscape where even time itself disciplinary projects in the course of her composing career. transforms, opening up another dimension. “I believe that classical music is part of a broader field of art. “I’m often interested in details,” Livorsi confirms. “There’s Artists may have similar goals, even if they express them something that you don’t even notice, and you can expand it, with different means, materials and tools.” like putting it under a microscope. This was the origin of my Because the human voice is an important element in MUSICAL interest in electronics and in the nature of sound itself.” many of Livorsi’s works, the texts set are also important. The texts in The End of No Ending are English transla- tions of the traditional and anonymous poetry of Afghan Voices and spaces women, landay. This is a concise metre of 22 syllables that Written for two singers, percussion, ensemble and elec- is employed as a means of expression by women in a culture tronics, The End of No Ending was premiered at Livorsi’s where they are forbidden to express their feelings in public. doctoral recital at the Sibelius Academy of Uniarts Helsinki Livorsi discovered landay by accident but was so fasci- DETAILS on 20 October 2017. The recital coincided nicely with her nated by it that she has used the poetry in two of her works BY Merja Hottinen 50th birthday and is a sort of retrospective. to date. “What’s interesting about it is that it’s intimate and The theme of the concert was Voices and Spaces, which secret yet also expressive,” says Livorsi. “And there’s the encapsulates Livorsi’s long-standing interests and the key feminine aspect, too. It’s easy to identify with. The third focus points of her artistic research. thing is that it’s so very concise. Even the name of the genre, “I’ve always been interested in the human voice and its landay, is interesting: in the Pashtu language, the word potential for expression and communication,” says Livorsi. means a short, poisonous snake.” Space became an important element when she began to The second movement of The End of No Ending points to study electronic music. “Sound would not exist without the a very different part of the world, the Balkan region. The space in which it resonates, and space affects the quality of material for this movement is a Macedonian folk song that sound very much indeed.” was important for Livorsi’s recently deceased composer The human voice has a presence in the works in the colleague and friend Jovanka Trbojević. “We were both recital not only as actual singing but also as a more abstract woman composers who had migrated to Finland from south- element in instrumental works. For instance, Livorsi’s ern Europe, so we had a lot in common,” Livorsi recalls. (See second string quartet Onde (2009–10) is underpinned by an In memoriam written by Lotta Wennäkoski at fmq.fi.) analysis of the human voice. In The End of No Ending, the The performers of this work at the recital include Uusinta interface between voice and instruments is sought through Ensemble and Kurdish musician Ahoora Hosseini, who resonance. “Sometimes the vocalists speak or sing to the plays the daf and the tombak. There are two vocal soloists: percussion instruments, making them resonate,” explains Tuuli Lindeberg, who has performed several of Livorsi’s Livorsi. earlier works, and Anni Elif Egecioglu, better known as a The movement of sound in space is also important in the jazz singer and experimental musician, who improvises on new work. “The audience will perceive the music as coming the basis of the aforementioned Macedonian folk song. “In not just from the stage in front of them but from all around this work, Tuuli and Anni represent two sides of the same the hall. This music is not just for experiencing passively; it personality.” • Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi can expand the listener’s perception of sound,” says Livorsi. This is a notion with which Livorsi had already experi- mented in Imaginary Spaces (2016), her previous doctoral Saara Vuorjoki / Music Finland recital, an interactive concert installation where the audi- ence could freely move around amid the sounds. The spatial PAOLA LIVORSI element is also apparent in the older works in the present • Born in Italy in 1967, resident in Finland since 2001. recital, as the placement of instruments on the stage is an • Studied composition in Turin, Lyon, Paris and Helsinki Voice and space are intertwining themes in the music Composer Paola Livorsi’s new work The End of No Ending essential feature in them. with Kaija Saariaho and Jean-Baptiste Barrière. of composer Paola Livorsi. In her most recent work, includes a video component that depicts details of organic For this recital, Juan de Diós Magdaleno created the • Her music has been performed in Finland, France, The End of No Ending, sound moves in space, human matter blown up to a large size. “Macro photography reveals spatial design for the string quartet Suonno (2003–4) and Italy and Japan among others, by ensembles such as voices resonate with Persian percussion instruments, tiny details that turn into abstract landscapes as they are The End of No Ending. In Between (2007) prompts a more Klangforum Wien and the Arditti Quartet. slowly magnified. Then you begin to identify shapes and philosophical contemplation of space, as its title is derived • Founding member and chair of the Catalysti and two singers perform the secret poetry of Afghan figures in them,” says Livorsi, describing the video created from a concept developed by Hannah Arendt. “A space Association of Transcultural Artists since 2015. women and improvise on a Macedonian folk song. by visual artist Marek Pluciennik. can be defined as being ‘in between’ performers and audi- 10 FMQ FEATURE: Music Makers #Finland100 11

(2009) and its sibling work for guitar, Chants de joie, fureur music, inevitably because of Paavo Heininen’s extended et danger (2016), employ a variety of imaginative noise tenure as a composition teacher and eventually Professor at effects instead of traditional techniques. On the other hand, the Sibelius Academy. his orchestral work Sinfoninen kuva [Symphonic image, “I have no problem with emphasising my links to tradi- 2017] shows Impressionist influences, while the third move- tion – I just referred to Beethoven in connection with my ment of his piano concerto is virtuoso writing with proper piano concerto – whereas for an avant-gardist it might be notes only. anathema. Cultivating a relationship with tradition feels “Noise music is just one aspect of my work, not the only natural in the Finnish context. If our music history were one and not even the most important one; but it’s something loaded with an overwhelming burden of tradition, as in the I’ve wanted to pursue.” German-speaking countries, for instance, there might be In the piano concerto, the soloist produces noises for a greater need for breaking free of it.” Kilpiö further notes: instance by rubbing a glass bottle across the piano strings “Before you pigeonhole me as a modernist, I should note and by knocking on the frame of the instrument at vari- that I don’t unreservedly understand the ideological sort of THE ous locations. The highly detailed score comes with specific belief in progress in the arts. I have certain doubts as to the MANY instructions explaining what are known as extended tech- theories of the avant-garde and modernism, but I can take niques. Kilpiö, himself a pianist, regards experiment- what feels appropriate from both approaches.” ing with ideas in practice as an important part of his work process. He commends musicians who have embraced the challenges of noise music. “Joonas Ahonen, for instance, is Teaching to keep up with the times open-minded and really good.” Kilpiö also teaches composition at the Sibelius Academy. OF What does working with students bring to his work as a SHADES composer? Avant-garde and modernism “If you demand certain qualities from your students, you Many things that have initially seemed alien and difficult must demand them of yourself too. With someone begin- to musicians and listeners alike have become more famil- ning their studies, I have to think about what is essential iar and accepted over time. Does Kilpiö agree that music is about composition technique and what it is that they want constantly evolving? to convey in their music. I actually find myself questioning NOISE “Music will continue to evolve as long as there are people my own views and habits. With advanced students, the chal- seriously engaged with it. But this progress does not neces- lenge is to help them go forwards, to support their personal sarily go forwards, it can also go deeper. I don’t pretend that development and, of course, to keep up with them.” Kilpiö BY Anna Pulkkis my music is better than that of Bach or Beethoven, it’s just says he learns much from his students and also gets ideas that composers today have a broader palette of expression from them. to work with.” Kilpiö’s next project is a chamber opera. “My intention

Maarit Kytöharju / Music Finland Music / Kytöharju Maarit Approaches in contemporary music that breach bound- is to write something other than bel canto for the human aries and explore new dimensions are often described as voice. Extended techniques will also be involved somehow.” avant-garde. What is Kilpiö’s take on this concept? • Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi “The avant-garde is a historical phenomenon; after all, “Somehow there has to be something new, and Music festival in Viitasaari in summer 2013. Kilpiö notes it has already been a century since Marcel Duchamp’s somehow the composer has to challenge himself. that the solo part was completed up to the end of the third famous pissoir. The avant-garde has generated interesting But employing completely new means of expression movement at that time, but it was not until this year that works and forced us to reassess the concept of art, but I’m LAURI KILPIÖ or playing around with the concept of art are not he wrote the orchestral part to the third movement and the not sure whether the idea of a radical regeneration of art is entire fourth movement, based on his original plan for the possible any more in the sense that historical avant-garde • Born in 1974. in themselves necessary for creating meaningful work. movements conceived of it.” • Studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki art.” So says composer Lauri Kilpiö, whose new piano Kilpiö feels that there is relatively little that is avant- under the guidance of Paavo Heininen and others. concerto Shades of Light traces a broad arc from garde in Finnish music today. He finds some traces of it in • Is currently teaching composition and music theory, Beethoven vs. noise tradition to the present day, acknowledging both the very youngest generation and also mentions compos- and working on his doctorate at the Sibelius Academy. • His output includes works for solo instruments, vocal, Beethoven and the aesthetics of noise. Motifs and their interconnections play an important role ers Ville Raasakka and Antti Auvinen. Is breaking in Shades of Light. In the first movement, the motifs consist the mould a prerequisite for creating art of a high cali- chamber and orchestral music. solely of unpitched noises. Their profile stems from other bre? “Somehow there has to be something new, and some- • His music has been performed both in Finland and Composer Lauri Kilpiö achieved closure to an exten- variables such as rhythm, colour and height of tone, and how the composer has to challenge himself. But employing abroad, at festivals such as Nordic Music Days, sive work process on 3 November when his piano concerto when they recur in the second and fourth movements they completely new means of expression or playing around with Ultraschall in Berlin, ISCM, Musica nova Helsinki, Shades of Light was premiered by pianist Joonas Ahonen are converted into definite pitches. Kilpiö shows in the score the concept of art are not in themselves necessary for creat- Time of Music and Tampere Biennale. and the Tapiola Sinfonietta at the PianoEspoo festival. how the noise motifs of the first movement build up into ing meaningful art.” • Has collaborated for example with Avanti! Chamber The first movement of the concerto was completed as far phrases and larger units. “This is pretty much Beethoven!” Kilpiö describes modernism as being more familiar to Orchestra, Uusinta Ensemble, Tampere Filharmonia ago as spring 2012, and Ahonen performed the first two This is not the first time that Kilpiö has written noise him among artistic traditions than the avant-garde. He and Tapiola Sinfonietta. movements with the Uusinta Ensemble at the Time of music. His clavichord piece Poème de jeux acoustiques notes that modernism has had a strong presence in Finnish 12 FMQ FEATURE: Music Makers #Finland100 13

After a year in Montana and another in the army, he Lots of pepper moved to Helsinki, where he discovered the records of Nige- “When Noël became my teacher in 2009, we had no inten- rian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and his son Femi Kuti. tion of forming a band,” recalls Halonen. “We listened to a “The appealing thing about Fela’s and Femi’s big bands is lot of records and my recordings from voodoo ceremonies, OF this village horn sound, very raw. You can hear the lower and discussed them.” ROOTS register horn sounds, baritone sax and trombone, very Back in Finland, Halonen began composing based on clearly in the mix because everybody plays as loud as they what he’d learned, for the first time writing based on rhyth- can. That’s also part of the attraction of Beninese brass mic cycles or claves. “Since then I’ve tried to write melodies music: they play loud and never get tired. Long shows and and harmonies that lock into that rhythmic centre, or work street parades… you have to make yourself heard because of against it,” he says. all the noise on the street.” Saïzonou, too, was working on new material, and in 2012 RHYTHM Halonen credits Beninese jazz guitarist Lionel Loueke Halonen returned to Benin with two other Finnish musi- BY Wif Stenger with introducing him to the country’s music. cians for a month and a half. The result was HCE’s debut “I loved his work with Herbie Hancock and Terence album, Beaucoup de Piment! [Lots of Pepper!]. That was Blanchard, and when I found out he’s from Benin, I followed two years later by Fire, Sweat & Pastis, ranked as thought I should go there and see what kind of mushrooms Folk Music Album of the Year in Finland and near the top of he’d been eating!” the European World Music Chart. Halonen lined up a stay at Villa Karo – but first visited In 2015 the band toured Benin and Europe and the his old bandmate, pianist Joona Toivanen in Gothenburg, following year Canada, including the Montreal Jazz Festi- just as Loueke was in town playing with Hancock. Halonen val, earning different kinds of adulation. In late 2016 the contacted the guitarist, who invited him to his hotel and put tour-seasoned band released a live album, The Road is Long. the Finn in touch with musicians in Benin. It captures energetic, reinvented versions of earlier tracks, “Lionel gave me lot of tips on how to approach their music. showing off their wide range of musical affinities. The key to understanding it is traditional drumming, which comes from the voodoo religion – Benin is the capital of voodoo. Like the religion, it’s very structured and deter- Fusion in a broad sense mined. There are layers that you can study, peeling back the Besides half a dozen Finns, the band includes Tanza- layers. Lionel advised me to record whatever music I could, nian drummer Menard Mponda, a former Sibelius Acad- to figure out what’s going on, where’s the down-beat and so emy Global Master based in Tampere. Various horn play- on – and to ask somebody to help me out.” ers join for tours and recording sessions, including Benin’s That someone became Saïzonou. Ahouandjinou brothers. “It’s not that we Finns are trying to replicate what the African guys are doing,” says Halonen. “It’s a carefully Benin is rhythm selected bunch of people who’re all very good friends and “Before I started to collaborate with Finnish musicians, I was come from different tastes and backgrounds. It’s a fusion more covering traditional Beninese music, trying to develop band in a sense, even though that’s not a very trendy word.” it and add something new that could interest people outside Their distinctive sound spurs a range of reactions.

Jyri Pitkänen Jyri the country,” says Saïzonou. “With Helsinki-­Cotonou “When we play in Benin, audiences really watch with great Ensemble, we bring this to the next étape with many influ- attention and appreciation,” observes Saïzonou. “They’re ences like pop, funk and soul from around the world.” not used to applauding really loudly, but that doesn’t mean Benin’s brass band tradition dates back to its days as they don’t like it. I like the big applause though – it gives you a French colony. But the backbone of the nation’s music power and energy.” Serving up a one-of-a-kind cocktail of West African Cotonou Ensemble. The band’s roots go back to 2009, stretches back millennia. “Our concerts in Benin are more meditational,” agrees rhythms, jazz, funk and rock, Helsinki-Cotonou when Halonen was an artist-in-residence at Villa Karo, the “Benin is rhythm,” says Saïzonou. “Our conservatory Halonen. “People can understand lyrics, which include a lot Ensemble is winning fans with irresistible, high- Finnish-­African cultural centre in Benin. It’s located in here is rhythm, that’s what you get your master’s diploma of social awareness and life lessons that draw on the Bible or Grand Popo, a coastal village 80 km from the biggest city, in! I have a dream of building a conservatory in Grand voodoo, as well as politics in an indirect way. Elsewhere it’s energy shows across several continents. Cotonou. Popo which will focus on rhythm, all the voodoo rhythms. more of a party.” Because today many younger musicians are going away from In April 2017 Halonen and Saïzonou sat down in Grand July 2015: a cold, wet afternoon at Pori Jazz Festival. Seek- that; they don’t know the tradition. Popo to write songs for the group’s third studio album, to ing shelter from the rain, festival-goers stumble into a tent From Helsinki to Cotonou “When I play with Beninese musicians, we work with be released in 2018 through a small label rather than DIY, as where Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble is setting musical Halonen’s own musical roots go back to plucking Beatles many different rhythms from different regions. We combine its predecessors. As always, their new songs will be honed fire to the stage. With a riotous horn section, blazing guitar and Rolling Stones songs on the guitar in fifth grade. His them to see how it goes, to develop the local music. With on the road, with spring and summer gigs ranging from solos and African drums, this band is an instant party. Soon first contact with African music wasPeter Gabriel’s 1994 Finnish musicians, the difference is the harmony side. We’re German clubs to a big Finnish rock festival. • the place is packed with dancing people wearing broad grins. Secret World Live album featuring Youssou N’Dour and not used to playing European-style jazz chords, modern Charismatic vocalist-percussionist Noël Saïzonou and Papa Wemba. “I went absolutely crazy over that record and chords and so on. The way we sing here, the scales we use, guitarist Janne Halonen are at the heart of Helsinki-­ video,” he says. are different.” 14 FMQ FEATURE: Music Makers #Finland100 15

Life and music with Eetu During her long and winding career, Haarla has rein- In hindsight, and at least through the satisfaction-­ vented herself many times over. She has rolled with the progression hypothesis, the next step was only logical. A punches and beat all odds to become one of the most orig- new gateway to an even freer realm was opened in the inal and soulful composers in Nordic jazz. One particularly late 1970s as Haarla caught the eye and ear of drummer, enjoyable aspect of her musical life is her ongoing collabora- SPECIAL composer and bandleader Edward Vesala. tion with Juhani Aaltonen. “Eetu got me looking at free expression from totally new “We first worked together on Junnu’s album Springbird angles and we soon became a good match both profession- in 1977 and our most current release is the 2015 duo album ally and personally. I was happy.” Kirkastus [Transfiguration]. It feels unreal that this dear The couple married, had two daughters and worked friendship already spans four decades. We are also most intensely through groundbreaking albums such as Lumi fortunate to have the Finnish label TUM Records releasing TOUCH (1987) and Ode to the Death of Jazz (1990) up to Vesala’s our music. Not a given in this day and age.” BY Petri Silas death in 1999. “Even though Eetu was such a demanding and dominating person, it was a wonderful life – apart from the last couple Sense of space of years. I learned a great deal by arranging his music for After the taxing and intimately very meaningful large many ensembles, mainly Sound & Fury, and collaborating work Ante Lucem, commissioned by the Swedish Norr- with saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, trumpeter Tomasz lands Operans Symfoniorkester for jazz quintet and Stanko, bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark and others.” symphony orchestra and released by ECM last year, Haarla has concentrated on smaller-scale projects: the duo with Aaltonen being one, her new trio with Krokfors and drum- Reinventing herself mer Markku Ounaskari another. But it is still possible to Having put her ambitions as a composer on hold for close go smaller and perhaps by the same token also revisit one’s to two decades, Haarla began building her own career at younger self alone at the keyboard, learning the ropes of the turn of the millennium with formative albums such as music. Yarra yarra (a duet with saxophonist Pepa Päivinen) and “As I was recently preparing to perform a solo concert in The Heart of a Bird (a duet with her husband-to-be, bassist Germany, it felt a little like getting back to the beginning. I Ulf Krokfors). realised that my original way of approaching the piano like She continued working with Vesala alumni such as saxo- an orchestra has never disappeared. I still hear brass and phonists Jorma Tapio and Tapani Rinne, but soon also strings in my head when playing. Always. This might actu- founded her own band of top Finnish and Norwegian impro- ally be the intrinsic reason behind the sense of space my visers including saxophonist Trygve Seim and drummer music has.” Jon Christensen. The albums Northbound (2005) and It may also explain why Manfred Eicher once said Iro During her long and winding career, Iro Haarla has Vespers (2011) came out through the legendary ECM label Haarla has a special touch at the piano. But was it in any way reinvented herself many times over. She has rolled and shows were reviewed favourably. daunting to go on stage alone after having worked in the with the punches and beat all odds to become one of “Manfred Eicher from ECM and Trygve helped me get the group format so long? the most original and soulful composers in Nordic jazz. band going and we soon found a home in the open, slow and “My stage fright disappeared after quite a harrowing expe- spacey style I was familiar with. It’s almost anti-jazz in the rience in the 1980s. I was to perform Vesala’s music as a duo way that sounds, moods, melodies and ideas are given room with saxophonist Jan Garbarek, the hall was the massive Perhaps it was written in the stars that Iro Haarla to develop and breathe naturally.” House of Culture in Helsinki and it was my first time ever (b. 1956) would become a composer and performing musi- playing the harp in front of an audience! Even though feel- cian. After all, both her mother and maternal grandmother ing very nervous I knew deep inside that if I can pull that were opera singers and her father a second-generation thea- off, nothing will ever faze me again. So even though it’s now tre actor and director. IRO HAARLA been more than a decade since my last solo show, I feel very No one knows conclusively whether blood obligated or • Born in 1956. confident improvising on my own pieces.”• not, but Haarla did commence studying at the prestigious • Studied the piano with Izumi Tateno and composing Sibelius Academy in Helsinki at the age of ten. with Einar Englund and Kari Tikka at the Sibelius “Music has always been a very important part of my life, a Academy, and jazz improvisation with Heikki Sarmanto. sanctuary and a source of force,” Haarla reminisces today. • Collaborated with drummer – and her late husband – “My earliest memory of a truly inspiring teacher is Izumi Edward Vesala for two decades playing piano, various Tateno, but it wasn’t until I attended Heikki Sarmanto’s synthesisers and harp, as well as co-composing and More music makers #Finland100: jazz studios at the Academy that I knew where I wanted arranging all the music of Vesala. to head. As he and Kaj Backlund taught me all I yearned Maija Kauhanen, Adina Dumitrescu (pp. 20–23) • Leads her own group since 2000, performing her Antti Paalanen, Veli Kujala (pp. 26–27) to learn about the style and tradition of piano giants like compositions. Sebastian Fagerlund (pp. 31–39) Bill Evans, I was swept away by the endless possibilities of Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman, Ville Raasakka,

Maarit Kytöharju / Music Finland Music / Kytöharju Maarit improvisation.” Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Kari Ikonen (fmq.fi) 16 17

Väinö Raitio (1891–1945), Aarre premiered in 1921 – a Scriabin- he spent his time at home with Merikanto (1893–1958) and VÄINÖ RAITIO influenced piece that lacks a clear his wife and his cats. The Finnish The bourgeois Ernest Pingoud (1887–1942) were • 1891–1945 feel of tonality – mostly met with a language, Häme in the summer, the misunderstood and neglected • Studied with Erkki Melartin and positive reception. religion, literature and music appear pioneers of Finnish musical Erik Furuhjelm at the Helsinki Music The premiere of the tripartite to have been important to him. modernism. It is a good story, and Institute (now Sibelius Academy). orchestral work Antigone in 1922 Such bourgeois interests are modernist BY Hanna Isolammi Finnish music historians have • Is considered one of the pioneers proved to be a turning point in the difficult to reconcile with the enjoyed repeating the narrative of of Finnish musical modernism. reception of Raitio’s music. His style modernist-martyr narrative, but uncompromising forerunners who • Composed colourful orchestral was now denounced as “cacophonic, perhaps such narratives are a thing of emerged in the cosmopolitan 1920s music that was considered modern that is, evil-sounding”. It was deemed the past. Certainly it would be nice if and were politely smothered in the at the time. inaccessible even for professional Raitio’s music were performed more nationalist 1930s. Under the pressure • Tone poems for symphony musicians and “to the untrained ear, often in concerts, but he can hardly of external circumstances, Merikanto orchestra: Joutsenet [The Swans, little short of torture”. With Antigone, be described as neglected. • became a stylistic turncoat, while 1919], Fantasia estatica (1921), Raitio seems to have cemented Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi Pingoud became a depressed Antigone (1922), Kuutamo his reputation as a barbed-wire petty civil servant and eventually Jupiterissa [Moonlight on Jupiter, modernist. committed suicide by throwing 1923], Fantasia poetica (1923). himself under a steam locomotive. • Operas: Jeftan tytär [Jephthah’s And what about Raitio? He survived, daughter, 1929], Prinsessa Cecilia Artistic progress albeit poor and sickly, and true to [Princess Cecilia, 1933], Kaksi vs. bourgeois interests his calling he wrote colourful music kuningatarta [Two queens, 1940]. Raitio is often mentioned as having that never saw the light of day. In remained faithful to his own the modernist-pioneer narrative, modernist style as the 1930s came Moonlight on Jupiter Raitio comes across as a noble along and Finland’s “windows • Väinö Raitio loved cats and and uncompromising martyr who to hear works by composers such as towards Europe” were again closed. even dedicated one of his finest shunned an easy life and dedicated Scriabin and Debussy in Helsinki as However, upholding nationalism and orchestral works, Kuutamo himself to the service of art. Raitio’s early as the 1910s. declaring cosmopolitan modernism Jupiterissa [Moonlight on Jupiter], fate as a neglected composer was However, there was a strong social musica non grata was a trend not to his cat: “I dedicate this tone established as early as in his demand for National Romanticism unique to Finland, as we well know. poem to my cat, who came from obituaries, which declared that the that persisted beyond independence, Not very much is known about Korso. I sent him to Jupiter in value of his work would only be truly well into the 1920s. The elements that Raitio’s private life or opinions. Some October 1922.” This dedication understood in the future. had come to be identified as “Finnish” details of his personality and thinking has been read as misanthropic in the early works of Sibelius had laid may be found in his correspondence disdain towards the people around a firm foundation for the construction with his wife Hildur and later with him or a declaration of eccentric Rich soil but wrong climate of national identity, and these his nephew Janne. Raitio discussed independence. Raitio himself, Raitio received a thorough and diverse elements were applied to music by his music very little. In 1931 he wrote however, said he simply wished to training as a composer. He studied other composers besides Sibelius. of his opera Jeftan tytär [Jephthah’s honour the memory of a beloved with Erkki Melartin and Erik The time was simply not ripe for Daughter] and his ballet Vesipatsas family member. Furuhjelm at the Helsinki Music cosmopolitan modernism. [Water Column]: • To his wife Hildur, Raitio explained Institute (now the Sibelius Academy) “My opera and ballet were probably that Kuutamo Jupiterissa was based from 1911 to 1914. The syllabus was performed only twice. In some ways on a strange dream in which he had remarkably broad even in the 1910s, Evil-sounding cacophony I am happy, for it means that they are travelled in space and seen three of and Melartin in particular is known Raitio was inspired by Scriabin’s truly good and valuable. After all, only the moons of Jupiter. Hildur Raitio to have been a widely educated and mixture of Impressionism and rubbish sells well these days. I can also recalled that the work was broad-minded teacher. Raitio and his Expressionism. His own musical only marvel at the uneducated taste Raitio’s favourite in his output. Väinö Raitio was a modernist Finnish composer contemporaries had fertile ground in language first began to emerge in of our audiences and critics. But never which to grow. the orchestral work Joutsenet [The mind!” Watch Raitio’s Kuutamo Jupiterissa whose works were received with considerable Musicians in Finland were well Swans], premiered in 1920. The This quote supports the conception performed by the Finnish Radio reservations in his lifetime. Today, Raitio’s music aware of recent trends, because there piece was unanimously praised in of Raitio as a trailblazer who curried Symphony Orchestra and Dima is interesting both because of the period in which was a lively traffic in letters, scores reviews, and indeed many of Raitio’s no favour with critics or listeners. Slobodeniouk in March 2017 at it was written and because of its artistic quality. and people between Finland and early works were favourably received However, although Raitio’s music yle.fi/areena. Pluralism has rehabilitated Raitio, and music the musical metropolises of central by critics and audiences alike; he was undeniably modern for his time, Europe. Although the repertoire was regarded as a promising young he appears to have been rather a historians no longer need to adhere to the dramatic of the Helsinki Philharmonic composer, and his orchestration conventional person, at least judging See also Hanna Isolammi’s article Discords martyrdom conventionally ascribed to him. Orchestra was heavy on Sibelius skills in particular were admired. by his correspondence. Instead of in the national melody and review Princess and Beethoven, it was also possible Even a work such as Fantasia estatica, living the Bohemian life of an artist, Cecilia – charmingly eclectic at fmq.fi. 18 19 OUT OF THE BOX

AND INTO In Finland, the kantele, the accordion, the Kalevala and the fiddler tradition have for a long time been THE not only part of the national soundscape but also inexhaustible sources of musical innovation. But how can they continue to inspire and influence

FUTURE Koikkalainen Hanna musicians today? 20 FMQ FEATURE: Out of the box and into the future 21

In our national epic, the Kalevala, Väinämöinen the wizard THE KANTELE AS builds the first kantele from the jawbone of a pike and charms all the people and the animals of the forest. But is AN INSTRUMENT IS FAR the kantele exclusively Finnish? THE “The kantele as an instrument is far older than the nation! OLDER THAN THE NATION! EVER- The very concept of nations is quite young,” says Timo Väänänen D.Mus., who has studied the kantele family in THE VERY CONCEPT OF depth. “To this day, Finns have a very strong image of what the kantele is and means, and national identity is part of the NATIONS IS QUITE YOUNG. picture. This is neither a good thing nor a bad thing in itself, but we need to be aware of it.” – TIMO VÄÄNÄNEN EXPANDING “Kanteles are the instruments of heroes in many lands. In Russia, the gusli is associated with heroic tales, such as the tale of Sadko, and tales of music that makes all nature stop and listen, like Väinämöinen’s music. I feel this is a descrip- “There was a drive to standardise kantele models in the tion of a shamanistic experience.” 1980s. Before that, training was also not commonly availa- The official status of kanteles varies from one country to ble. It would be very difficult for composers and arrangers another. In the Baltic states, these instruments (the kannel if they never knew what kind of kantele a musician would KANTELE in Estonia, the kokles in Latvia and the kanklės in Lithuania) be playing.” BY Tove Djupsjöbacka have a firm official status. Music played on them is a living In the 19th century, the kantele was firmly attached to the tradition to this day, and there is training available. Väänä- building of the Finnish national identity. This meant prac- nen makes particular reference to the thriving instrument-­ tically ignoring its use by minorities. building tradition in Estonia. “Virtually no kanteles were collected in Finland’s “In Poland, by contrast, the situation is very different. An Swedish-­speaking areas, because no one went looking for ancient lyre-kantele, hundreds of years old, was discovered them there. But what was the language spoken by the people in an archaeological dig around Gdańsk. It predates the who originally made the instruments or played them? And Polish nation. Therefore it is by no means a symbol of the did the Roma or the Jews in Finland ever play the kantele, Polish people, it has no official status, and there are fewer perhaps? Do we not know because they never did? Or than a dozen people who play it. Of course, this is very liber- because no one ever asked them?” ating for the musician, since no one knows how the instru- Väänänen has studied several kanteles in museums ment used to be played in its day.” in Finland and abroad and points out that even museum collections were originally assembled on the basis of the nationalist ideal. From tradition to pop The kantele is a very popular instrument in Finland today. It is used in music playschool and of course for folk music, but Building instruments is important classical music is also played on the kantele, and contem- Museum instruments are frequently copied nowadays, and porary classical music has been written for the instrument. there is much to learn from them. The kantele is equally adaptable to Michael Jackson and “By studying the instruments themselves, we can recover to basso continuo playing. However, it is still principally some of the knowledge, even if the tradition died out at some perceived as a folk instrument. point. There is a lot of information in these artefacts.” “You can call it a folk instrument if you want to emphasise Väänänen mentions an example: the groove on the reverse the historical or traditional aspect,” says Timo Väänänen. of the blade of a wing kantele is there for the purpose of “But what about just calling it an instrument? And then projecting the sound. If it is omitted, the instrument will talking about the tradition as a separate thing?” not work. This is the kind of insight that can be rediscovered The kantele family includes an exceptional number of by close examination of instruments. Finns never fail to point out that the kantele is instruments that are very different from one another. In There are professional instrument builders in Finland, Finland’s national instrument. But there are kantele- Finland, the kantele has not been developed into an entire and kantele players have the luxury of being able to call a like instruments elsewhere too, and it is only recently range of instruments for orchestral use as in Russia or Lith- builder directly and commission exactly the sort of instru- uania, for instance. The Finnish variants of the kantele – ment they want. that they have begun to be studied more thoroughly. the five-string hollowed-out instrument, the 10-string and “Instrument building is crucial for kantele culture as In Finland the kantele today inspires composers and 15-string small kanteles, the Saarijärvi kantele, the home a whole. When I visited the Mari region [in Russia], for performers across genre boundaries, and thinking kantele, the concert kantele and the electric kantele – are instance, I found kantele teaching and players but no instru- very different from one another. Although this diversity is a ment builders. Musicians in the Mari region use factory-­ Timo Väänänen & Rauno Nieminen Rauno & Väänänen Timo outside the box is no longer a rarity. strength, Timo Väänänen also considers it a good thing that made instruments from the 1980s. Also, these instruments not every individual instrument is of a unique design. are usually owned by schools; there is no way of getting an 22 FMQ FEATURE: Out of the box and into the future 23 instrument of your own. This means that musicians only The kantele is only a part of Maija Kauhanen’s solo Today, very diverse kantele players emerge from the Sibe- make music in institutions, as there is no scope for forming performer palette, but she describes her music as being lius Academy, each choosing their own path. Maija Kauha- independent ensembles, for instance.” firmly rooted in the sound of the kantele. nen has delved into a lot of repertoire originally written for Timo Väänänen counts himself lucky, because instru- “Long arcs, riffs, diatonic elements... the nuances of the other instruments and found inspiration therein. Rhythm ments have been available in Finland both when he was kantele feed into my singing, and you can actually play the music has also entered the kantele repertoire permanently, studying and when he began his professional career. He did Saarijärvi kantele quite loudly. I also have to be in good thanks to pioneers such as Anna-Karin Korhonen and not originally plan to explore instruments of other cultures shape so that I don’t run out of breath when playing and Ida Elina, the latter known for instance for her Michael related to the kantele, but life chose otherwise: Väänänen singing at the same time. Playing with a stick is quite a phys- Jackson covers. has gone on ten field trips to kantele-playing peoples, has ical technique compared with playing with the fingers.” written two books and is working on a third. He eagerly Maija Kauhanen’s father is an amateur kantele builder awaits his next trip, which should take him to a Tatar village and customises instruments for his daughter. Folk instrument and contemporary in the Volga region where there is still a living tradition of “I’ve learned so much through that. I test all the instru- Composer Adina Dumitrescu is active in writing contem- playing the göslä – yet another kantele. ments, and by now I know what an instrument sounds like porary music for various kantele ensembles. when new, a week later and months later. The sound can be “I’ve always been interested in traditions in music; in quite raw to begin with, but as the instrument is broken Romania I taught analysis of Romanian folk music,” says A one-woman orchestra in, it changes, becoming deeper and more settled. Replac- Dumitrescu. “Pekka Jalkanen was the one who first Maija Kauhanen is a young musician with roots in folk ing the strings has a profound effect on the sound, and new encouraged me to compose something for kantele, which I Adina Dumitrescu music. Her solo album Raivopyörä, released this year, has strings must also be broken in.” saw was considered a folk instrument, but composers of our floored the critics. Kauhanen is a one-woman orchestra time were also interested in it.” in Tuned to the Real World for kantele trio. In an ensemble, performing her own music: she plays the kantele with her Dumitrescu, born in Romania, has been living in Finland such differing tunings open up interesting vistas. hands and percussion with her feet, and she also sings. Joining the band since 2003. She takes an unprejudiced yet respectful “I’ve learned a lot about how much you can tune and what A musician whose principal instrument is the kantele can In addition to her solo performances, Maija Kauhanen plays approach to the kantele. the dangers are. If the pitch is too flat, it is not so accurate. do all sorts of things. with several well-known ensembles such as Okra Play- “I had listened to the kantele and knew that if I wrote If the pitch is too sharp, the string can break. And it is not “You have to master a dozen basic techniques: picking, ground, Rönsy, Folk’Avant and Mari Kalkun & Runo- something it would be something completely different... I only about the pitch but also about the colour: if you modify chords, various sizes of kantele tuned this way and that way, run. thought about it as a very Finnish instrument and wondered too much, the colour will be different, and I want to keep the the stick, the plectrum and a number of fingerings,” says The kantele has a soft tone, which often causes balance whether this is something I dare to do. But actually, I’ve colour of the instrument itself,” she explains. Kauhanen. issues in ensemble playing. In recent years, amplification been active in the Finnish-Romanian Association here, and The support and enthusiasm of musicians is crucial for Kauhanen prefers the Saarijärvi kantele. It is often played technology has improved, and today the kantele can be used many Finnish people are really in love with the Romanian the composition process, and Dumitrescu often writes her with a stick, which brings an edge and rhythm to the music on an equal footing with any other instruments. tradition! When I saw these people, how they wanted to works in collaboration with them. Elisa Kerola was the that cannot be achieved by picking with the fingers. This “When I began my studies at the Sibelius Academy, we get closer to my own country, I thought I didn’t have to be first Finnish kantele player to take the initiative to commis- style of playing used to be common in central Finland but were always expected to play in acoustically balanced afraid to compose for the kantele either.” sion Dumitrescu to write a piece for kantele. Subsequently, came perilously close to becoming extinct. The Saarijärvi ensembles. I had to play my fingers to the bone to be heard Her first commission came from the Association of Dumitrescu has collaborated closely with prominent kantele has enjoyed something of a renaissance over the at all! Miking is much better today, and kantele players are Kantele Teachers. Intended for students at the music insti- kantele performers Eva Alkula and Jenny Vartiainen. past decade, thanks principally to the efforts of Pauliina even encouraged to use amplification,” Kauhanen says. tute level, the piece was entitled Neljä hengitystä kanteleelle At the moment, she is planning a work for three kantele Syrjälä, a musician who has inspired many others. Another perceptible change occurred in the posture of [Four breaths for kantele] (2005). It was later set as a players and six kanteles, each tuned differently, and a work kantele players: they used to sit at a table looking down, but compulsory piece in a kantele competition, allowing the for 15 small kanteles. now there are desks at which the player can stand and which composer to hear multiple interpretations. “Earlier, I always wrote for the big concert kantele; maybe are tilted slightly towards the audience so that the hands I felt closer to this advanced instrument with its big reso- can be seen. nance cavity. But the simple instument has its simplicity, “When you play at a desk standing up, the music goes into Tuning with a twist and now I’d like to treat that as well.” • Translation: Jaakko Mänty- your body in a wholly different way, and you’re not hiding In a later job substituting for a music teacher, Dumitrescu järvi behind your instrument. You can also use your personal had the opportunity to write for a small ensemble featur- vibe, whether that means standing still or moving around.” ing the instruments that pupils at the school were playing at that time. The result was interesting. ADINA DUMITRESCU MAIJA KAUHANEN “One student played the kantele but wasn’t able to tune • Was born in Romania and lives in Finland since 2003. her instrument, because usually the teacher does it until • Studied composition at the National University of • Specialises in the Finnish Saarijärvi kantele, sings they learn to do it themselves. This was the time I got the Music in Bucharest. and plays percussion instruments, among others. idea of writing something for a different tuning. Compared • Received a 5-year scholarship for composition from • Released her first solo album Raivopyörä in 2017 to many other instruments, the kantele frees the musician the Arts Council of Finland for a project featuring and has toured solo in several European countries, from the temptation of ‘correcting’ the ‘untuned’ notes. an ensemble of works dedicated to different ways of China and Japan. Each string can offer only one pitch once tuned,” she recalls. treating the human voice. • Performed in the official selection of WOMEX 2017 Adina Dumitrescu has experimented with various tuning • Her works for kantele have been released on the album in Poland. systems since them, sometimes dividing a fourth into three Chamber Music Works for Kantele. • Received the Newcomer of the Year award in steps and a minor third into two steps, as in Ua hoi! for Finland’s first Ethnogala. two kanteles or in Acrilic damunt tela for kantele and four

Maija Kauhanen Antti Kokkola gongs, and sometimes dividing an octave into 31 pitches, as Videos of Maija Kauhanen and Adina Dumitrescu’s works at fmq.fi. 24 FMQ FEATURE: Out of the box and into the future 25

artworks based on the Kalevala have hand, multiculturalism in what we scarcely entered the core repertoire: now call Finland began way back in Free the Kalevala they are only performed when there the Ice Age, as lost wanderers from is cause to celebrate – to celebrate all sorts of places have always found Finnishness, that is. Why is the very their way to this chilly cul-de-sac. firstKalevala opera, Die Kalewainen in Accordingly, a single-tribe mythology from Finnishness Pochjola by Karl Müller-Berghaus, does not ring true in all segments of BY Kimmo Hakola being premiered in 2017, 127 years the population. after it was written? Was the work The Kalevala is, among the myths neglected because it was written by a of the world, a uniquely compelling German composer? I think not. cavalcade of narratives that explore the gamut of human nature. As drama, :: the Kalevala can offer more than any human as a social being could possibly The Kalevala myth was a genuine In 2008 the Kalevala Society launched wish for in his brief lifetime. As a source of inspiration for the a project named the Artists’ Kalevala. composer, I believe that if Richard fledgling Finnish nation in The idea was to bring together visual Wagner had been born further north, search of an identity. But has it artists and composers to create new he would have incorporated the works based on Kalevala stories. Kalevala into his operas. managed to maintain this status, This resulted in a major collection of The Kalevala must detach itself really, since the Second World pictures and compositions where the from Finnishness and celebrations of War? collaborating artists and composers the Finnish nation. It must establish managed to capture something fresh itself as a myth among myths in its Finland is a young culture, we like to and significant. The project was own right. The Kalevala has already say. But we do have the Kalevala, we documented in an impressive book been translated into more than 60 then remember. The myth in whose accompanied by a recording of the languages, so accessibility is not epic and dramatic energy our nation musical works. an issue. The Kalevala is a grand found the strength to achieve political As far as I know, these compositions mythology and compares well with its independence, found a cultural have never been performed in public brethren worldwide. identity to defend fiercely in the face since the project, not even broadcast Let the Kalevala be a source of war, and found its place as a nation on radio, and the physical artworks of inspiration with no particular among nations, a mystical people lead a quiet existence on the walls celebration as catalyst and, above all, of the North. A myth whose mental of private collectors. The book did without cultural policy forcing the landscape conjures forth the stormy not sell very well. Later, the Artists’ issue. • Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi forces of creativity. Kalevala format was continued by Väinämöinen and Maid Finland, inviting international artists to create in their various incarnations, have new works based on the poetry of the been the self-evident emblems of Kalevala. our national-cum-ethnic existence So here’s my bold question: is the throughout Finland’s independence. Kalevala a true source of inspiration And when the time comes to any more for artists of the current celebrate, artists are the heroes of generation? Any professional artist the nation: it is from them that the will get creative if the price is right, of nation commissions something to course, albeit with varying degrees of build the future and to reinforce our enthusiasm. Patrons always get what conception of ourselves. We are a they ask for. But it is rare for Finnish nation with a story. And that does not creative energies to delve into the pass for nothing in today’s marketing- Kalevala at their own initiative. strategy world. The Kalevala myth was a genuine :: source of inspiration for the fledgling Finnish nation in search of an identity. What the Kalevala has to offer our But has it managed to maintain nation is a sort of “mirror stage” that this status, really, since the Second provides us with a fuzzy and myopic World War? Sometimes I doubt it. view of the ur-source of our national See also Lari Aaltonen’s column Why? First, because our multitude of collective consciousness. On the other Representing ethnicity in music at fmq.fi. 26 FMQ FEATURE: Out of the box and into the future 27

In the historical continuum “Improvisation and jazz harmonies first began to intrigue “You can say that accordion high jinks had begun in earnest me in high school, and they have followed me ever since. The by the time of the 1900s “rillumarei”-style accordion- fascinating thing about improvisation is the uniqueness of ists, entertainers who toured around the country, combin- each moment. It is a good pathway to both contemporary ing music with funny stories to captivate their audiences,” and Baroque music,” he muses. explains Antti Paalanen, who focuses on diatonic accordi- In August 2017 Kujala toured Central Europe together ons, which arrived in Finland in the 1800s. “Their reper- with pianist Jarkko Riihimäki, violinist Benjamin toire kept the old traditions alive up until the arrival of the Schmid and tuba player Andreas Hofmeir. Kujala is also folk revival. It wasn’t until the 1980s that diatonic accor- actively involved with other ensembles, including Pipoka, dion repertoire began to find its own direction.” Kalle Kalima K-18 and his jazz combo Gourmet. Paalanen’s doctoral degree, entitled Bursting bellows – Bisonoric accordion’s bellows rhythmics in composition, focused on creating new music for bisonoric accordions and Musician with many voices finding new ways for the instrument to evolve further. Antti Paalanen wanted to find a fresh angle on his medita- As a child, Paalanen learned traditional pelimanni music tive playing and ended up discovering his inner alter ego, by ear at his local community college. He continued at the an aggressive heavy-metalhead from his teenage years, Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department, where his stud- whose music can be heard on his solo albums Breathbox and ies culminated in an artistic doctorate. Meluta. The latter was nominated for both the Teosto Prize “I wanted to discover the primal force of the instru- and the Nordic Council Music Prize in 2016. ment and the effect that the accordion had on people when Now Paalanen wants to play music that is cheerful and the ‘mechanical noise box’ was first introduced into the danceable. “But being a gloomy Ostrobothnian male, the INNOVATIVE traditional music scene with fiddles and clarinets,” Paala- moments of unearthing that cheerfulness are few and far nen laughs. “Today, I work with sound designer Samuel between, and it tends to be awfully hard work to produce Volanto to achieve a similar effect through experiment- any music out of it!” he grins. His new album will be ing with different sound techniques.” In addition, Paalanen released next spring and its first single track, “Child in You”, has developed a new three-row accordion, with an original complete with a music video, were pre-released last May, in keyboard layout and range, in order to achieve a stronger collaboration with vocalist Haaven and Tsuumi Dance NOISE BOX sound. Theatre. “Accordionists used to play the ‘hit’ songs of their time. “I always want to build something new around the accor- BY Amanda Kauranne Now I try to figure out how to use bisonoric accordions dion. This is central to my composition work, too. Compos- to perform music in a way that resonates across differ- ing often starts with either harmony or melody, but in my ent eras. On the other hand, my involvement with perfor- case the process is becoming very instrument-led: what mance art has inspired me to abandon any instrument-spe- kind of music can the accordion bellows produce if you just cific traditions. I play around with these concepts in my let them sound?” music, whether I’m playing traditional pelimanni music with Kiharakolmio, performing my own soloistic music, Pull or push? Diatonic or microtonal? Traditional or playing a prepared accordion in a performance titled Micro-steps towards something new bear-hunting celebration or reflections on the Karhunpeijaiset (traditional bear-hunting celebration), Veli Kujala’s composition process is the polar opposite to cosmos? Antti Paalanen and Veli Kujala prove that initiated by shaman violinist Tuomas Rounakari.” Paalanen’s: “Instead of using the instrument to compose, I the accordion can do it all. stick with pen and paper. My aim is to avoid starting from the elements that come naturally to the instrument, to try Musical chameleon to develop my ideas beyond that.” Finland certainly produces very unique accordionists! Veli Kujala wanted to learn the piano but his music school In 2016 his album HyperOrganism was nominated for Where else could an accordion player perform with an suggested another instrument instead: “I ended up with the Classical Emma Award as well as the Album of the Year invisible duet partner, as recently seen in Johanna Juho- the accordion by accident!” After graduating from the clas- by YLE (the Finnish Broadcasting Company). The album la’s concert Imaginary Friends? Or create an organ accor- sical music performance programme at the Sibelius Acad- featured his own compositions, Hyperchromatic Counter- dion out of church organ sound samples, as Kimmo Pohjo- emy, Kujala continued his studies in the doctoral degree point for microtonal accordion and multitrack tape and nen has done? programme, focusing on new Finnish music for the accor- CybOrgan for organ, orchestra and live electronics which Antti Paalanen and Veli Kujala also have a place in dion and commissioning compositions for both solo accor- were programmed by Kujala and operated by infrared this group of specialist accordionists. Paalanen, who has a dion and ensemble. sensors. folk music background, teases poetry out of his three-row The microtonal accordion and works written specifically “There is a lot of interesting experimentation going on accordion when he is not whipping his “devil’s lungs” into for the instrument gradually became a part of his degree. around the accordion, both in Finland and abroad. I hope heavy metal action. Kujala uses five-row and microtonal Kujala’s written thesis is an accordion instrumentation discovering new things and being innovative will always be accordions to create tonal works the size of the cosmos, handbook for composers. Not interested in being exclu- part of the process,” Kujala says. • Translation: Hanna-Mari Latham which are balanced by contrasting activities such as merry sively a classical performer, Kujala is known as an active

Jacob CrawfurdJacob jazz romps with the ensemble Gourmet. composer and a master of many different styles. Videos of Antti Paalanen and Veli Kujala’s works at fmq.fi. 28 29

of folk music. As she continued her studies at the Centria University of Pelimanni Applied Sciences and the Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department, singing gave way to her new passion, the nyckelharpa. Tolvanen now works meets as a composer and sound designer for video games and role-playing games, BY Amanda Kauranne as well as leading the GameDev Lab team, a part of the City of Helsinki’s communal Digitalents scheme, which enables young gaming professionals to learn their trade through working on their own projects. Video-game sounds have taken a pieces keep evolving as the playing “I was wondering what it would on a journey in order to learn from quantum leap from the tinny MIDI goes on, and a part of the Finnish sound like to play pelimanni music other players as well, so that the Folk music and video game music are poles apart – or beeping of the Nintendo GameBoy of folk music culture is based on the with 8-bit sounds and I presented boy can eventually compete for the are they? Composer and sound designer Anni Tolvanen Tolvanen’s childhood. idea of ‘long-term aesthetics’ where that idea to my bandmate Antti title of Master Pelimanni. Friiti and Jimmy Träskelin, creator of the Pelimanni 8bit “The whole game had to be a short kantele melody, for example, Janka-Murros, a die-hard Nintendo advances from one level to another, game, talk about the encounters between pelimanni compressed into a space which would can be played for hours through new enthusiast. We soon realised that it encountering a new pelimanni not even be big enough for one mp3 and interesting variations. This fits would be even more fun to have the player and a new tune on each players and the world of pixels. file. Today’s computer games include today’s gaming world where dialogue music playing in a video game. I began level. He acquires each new tune massive sound works where a whole is often layered over music. This to find out whether I could create such as part of his repertoire when he In old Finnish, the word “peli” [game] There are many similar skills that are symphony orchestra fires away, just means that music cannot steal too a game and now, a few months later, manages to outplay each pelimanni. also referred to an instrument, required in both disciplines,” says like in a film score. Different gaming much attention but at the same time this game is available to download for Friiti advances towards a folk- whereas “leikari” [musician] comes Anni Tolvanen. “Through my past genres have different aesthetic it needs to be functional. So in a way, free from the App Store and Google music festival where he meets a from the Swedish word “leka”, which experiences, I now have a good under- requirements. An indie game dealing folk music has been preparing me for Play.” character bearing a resemblance to means to play. Anni Tolvanen standing of an artistic endeavour as a with depression, for example, needs a the world of video-game composing.” Janka-Murros’s handiwork is the late Emeritus Professor Erkki discovered this connection in 2014, bigger picture. In my gaming projects, completely different sound design to heard in the Nintendo-influenced Ala-Könni, who will ultimately when folk music students from I can use my music expertise to deter- an action-packed score written for the arrangements of traditional tunes, bestow on Friiti the title of Master Scandinavia and the Baltic came mine what kind of soundscape would ninja samurai. Tradition rich in nuances which are sure to stick with you after Pelimanni. together in Rauland, Norway, for the best suit the project and create the Different sound effects are also The function of game music is to playing the game for a while. This is “Each level is based on a traditional annual Nordtrad conference. kind of interaction that is needed.” important. Sometimes it’s difficult complement the different worlds one of the ideas behind the game: tune: in Pirunpolska [Devil’s polska], “During a jam session the penny to distinguish effects from music, created for the game. “This project combined my work Friiti’s enemy is the devil himself. And suddenly dropped when I felt a especially when contemporary “Folk and world music represent a at the Folk Music Institute, which because platform games must include strange familiarity with the general Gamer draws from tradition gaming music keeps regenerating veritable treasure trove for finding published the game, as well as my an underwater level, I borrowed vibe. For years, I had been going to In addition to playing the piano and itself: the soundscapes change to different sounds that can guide the own passion for creating entertaining a character from ancient Central similar international gatherings singing in a choir, Tolvanen grew up reflect the gamer’s actions, with the player’s imagination in a desired folk-music arrangements that are Finnish mythology: Räpylä-Niiranen, through my gaming interest. These as a computer nerd, gamer and board- computer ‘improvising’ through direction. This has already been approachable but also serve and who is capable of moving both on two communities are very alike: a game enthusiast. Through role play various themes inputted by the explored to a large extent. Although I represent the folk-music genre,” land and underwater. The violin is group of people who meet in order to and LARP (live action role-playing), composer. Here’s another similarity think it’s natural for a living culture to Träskelin says. the most common instrument in the build a large, creative work together. Tolvanen also discovered the world to folk music: in folk music jams, keep evolving, I like to be careful not game, played by Friiti as well as most to be guilty of cultural appropriation. of his enemies, but Räpylä-Niiranen I stick with those musical arenas in Master pelimanni contest plays a kantele built out of pike bone, which I have a deep knowledge and a Jimmy Träskelin’s expertise in whereas the water spirit, Näkki, plays personal cultural connection.” roots music, deep knowledge of a comb, which refers to the Finnish A game which draws inspiration tradition and long-time video- mythology where the water spirit is from our own tradition is the mobile gaming involvement, which began often presented as a woman combing game Pelimanni 8bit, created by with a Commodore 64 computer, is her long hair,” Träskelin explains. the folk-music polymath, multi- all reflected in the aesthetic world of “Mixing mythological elements with instrumentalist and graphic designer Pelimanni 8bit. the more modern fiddling traditions Jimmy Träskelin. This Mario The game begins in an imaginary felt tantalising and appropriate, as Bros-inspired platform game was historical setting where the little all gaming clichés are also present competing for the Phenomenon of pelimanni boy Friiti has already in the mythology. Everything can the Year award in Finland’s inaugural learnt all the tunes his father knows. be found there, in the folk tradition.” Ethnogala in November 2017. The father encourages Friiti to go • Translation: Hanna-Mari Latham 30 31

PORTRAIT OF A COMPOSER FROM EUROPE IN 2017 SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND

A composer residency in Amsterdam, a critically acclaimed opera premiere in Helsinki, commissions all over the world. An exploration of the work and music of Sebastian Fagerlund paints a portrait of a

Jussi Puikkonen Jussi composer in Europe 2017. 32 FMQ FEATURE: Sebastian Fagerlund 33

Sakari Viika/The Finnish National Opera National Finnish Viika/The Sakari AUTUMN SONATA

AND OTHER EXCURSIONS BETWEEN THE REAL AND THE UNREAL

BY Merja Hottinen

Composer Sebastian Fagerlund’s new opera “It was suggested to me by Lilli Paasikivi, Artistic Direc- Höstsonaten [Autumn Sonata] had its premiere at tor of the Finnish National Opera, when she asked whether the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. Based on I would be interested in writing an opera for them. I read through the screenplay several times, and the next morning the eponymous film by Ingmar Bergman and with I phoned her and said that it was a brilliant idea. I realised a star-studded production team, the opera is poised that this narrative had all the potential for a great drama,” to take the themes of the story to a new level. says Fagerlund. The initial meeting in late 2012 launched a process that has included two and a half years of writing music and an Composer Sebastian Fagerlund saw many years of work extended administrative wrangle to secure the required come to fruition when his new opera Höstsonaten [Autumn permissions. Librettist Gunilla Hemming came on board Sonata] was given its world premiere at the Finnish National early on, and director and set designer Stéphane Braun- Opera and Ballet in September. The production promises to schweig soon followed. be rather more fantastic than the Scandinavian realism of “I met Stéphane Braunschweig in Paris a few times while I film directorIngmar Bergman, presenting Fagerlund’s was still writing the opera. He was hugely excited and fasci- musical idiom in a new context. nated by our decision to give the chorus such a prominent But there are world premieres beyond the opera for Fager- role. The end result is rather more fantastic than the origi- lund. His composer residency in Amsterdam has proved to nal film, not as realistic at all.” be fertile ground for new opportunities that are rapidly fill- The director did not get involved in the composition ing up his calendar, such as the premiere of his String Quar- process or try to sell his ideas to Fagerlund, who commends tet no. 2 in October and a major orchestral work in spring him for taking such a restrained approach to commenting 2018. in mid-stream. “It’s a very delicate phase when you’re living with the characters, so to speak,” Fagerlund explains. The principal role of the opera, that of Charlotte, was Autumn Sonata dream team taken by Swedish star soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, and The opera Höstsonaten is based on the screenplay for the her daughter was also played by a Swedish singer, Erika Anne Sofie von Otter and Erika eponymous film by Ingmar Bergman, released in 1978. Who Sunnegårdh. The intense drama also had roles for Tommi Sunnegårdh in Autumn Sonata. had the idea of turning this screenplay into an opera? Hakala, Helena Juntunen and Nicholas Söderlund. 34 FMQ FEATURE: Sebastian Fagerlund 35

described as ‘Scandinavian’. There may be strong emotions, but one also has to dare to keep some distance.” The story begins when Charlotte, a concert pianist, played by Anne Sofie von Otter, comes to visit her daugh- ter at a remote rectory. The daughter’s husband is also there along with Charlotte’s younger daughter, who is ill. In the opera version, Charlotte’s dead lover Leonardo also appears on stage. This encounter releases repressed emotions that Sakari Viika/The Finnish National Opera Viika/The National Sakari Finnish the mother and daughter find themselves addressing for the Opera Viika/The National Sakari Finnish first time in their lives. “It’s a character drama with lots of emotion, set in an extremely confined space – if not actually inside the heads of the characters, then within the rectory. I had a lot of trou- ble figuring out how to resolve this musically. But when the pieces of the puzzle came together, the confined space no longer felt like a restriction. “When you talk about the human mind and about power- ful emotions that people display on the one hand and try to conceal on the other, and then there are things that are said and that are left unsaid – what a huge and complicated world this is, after all!” says Fagerlund. Fagerlund is known for fast, energetic orchestral works, and this sort of psychological set-up seems like something completely different. Has he added something to his musi- cal palette with Höstsonaten? “I’ve used the elements that I’m used to working with. The opera reflects things that I’ve always been interested in, such as the no man’s land between the real and the unreal; borderlands. I just placed them in a new context here,” Fagerlund explains. THE OPERA REFLECTS THINGS “For me, this is a dream team. They are wonderful soloists “One of the structural decisions was that the world of audience is ultimately terribly self-centred, just like the each with a fabulous vocal quality of their own, and they’re the rectory is very slow and static, practically unchanging. mother. That’s an important, a crucial part of the drama- THAT I’VE ALWAYS BEEN all so good on stage. Anne Sofie von Otter is so adaptable and When Charlotte arrives for a visit, she brings part of her own turgy.” can do many different things with her voice. It will be really world with her, the world of concerts and the outside world These dramaturgical emphases lend new facets to the INTERESTED IN, SUCH AS THE interesting,” says Fagerlund excitedly. in general. That world is on the move all the time, and Char- relationships and meanings that exist between the char- lotte is a very nervous character, though she tries to main- acters. The internal dynamics of the family, with conflict- NO MAN’S LAND BETWEEN tain a calm façade. So you have a static setting contrasting ing emotions and contradictory memories, create a rich Emotions with Scandinavian distance with powerful energy. And that’s something that’s always network of meanings. THE REAL AND THE UNREAL; Opera and cinema are very different forms of expression, been there in my music.” “It is interesting to consider how differently people and in fact the original screenplay underwent a considera- remember the same events and how people reconstruct BORDERLANDS. ble transformation en route to becoming a libretto. Fager- memories for themselves. How is it possible to experience lund is full of praise for Gunilla Hemming about how well Change in ourselves, change in others the same thing in such different ways? This touches on the – SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND the libretto turned out. “The main thing with an opera In addition to soloists and a large orchestra, Höstsonaten idea of forgiveness: are you able to forgive, and what does it libretto is that it must not have too much text, so that there also employs the chorus in a substantial role, representing mean to do so?” muses Fagerlund. is room for the music to convey events and emotions,” says Charlotte’s audience. Fagerlund describes its role as similar “If I needed to summarise why I became so very interested Fagerlund. to that of the chorus commenting on the action in Ancient in this story, it’s because it seems so relevant today. Ulti- The film itself had only a tangential influence on the Greek drama. mately, it’s about us, as human beings, wishing to achieve composition process: Fagerlund reports that he was unable “Charlotte is utterly dependent on being the centre of change – in ourselves or in the people around us. And yet to watch the film at all while writing. “I saw it about 20 years attention all the time, and all her emotions are reflected it’s hugely difficult for us to change ourselves, and in fact it ago and decided once I had started writing that there was no against how the audience reacts. When the mother and rarely happens.” way I could watch it again just then. I watched it when the daughter really start ripping each other apart, figuratively opera was finished and had been sent to the publishers,” he speaking, the other characters gradually begin to see the says with amusement. chorus too. It becomes such a powerful presence that the The Amsterdam works But did Bergman’s style influence the opera at all? older daughter actually begins to converse with it. What Fagerlund has on the drawing board now is an orches- “Perhaps there’s a sort of austere simplicity there at times, “The audience’s role is hugely important. It wants to be tral work jointly commissioned by the Concertgebouw, like in Bergman’s films. I don’t know whether it could be entertained, to experience new things all the time. The the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Finnish Radio 36 FMQ FEATURE: Sebastian Fagerlund 37

It’s in the ground itself: if you dig a hole in Amsterdam, it’ll ULTIMATELY, IT’S ABOUT immediately fill up with water. The continuous interaction and relationship between this natural element and human US, AS HUMAN BEINGS, constructions may be considered to have an abstract pres- ence in this work.” WISHING TO ACHIEVE The residency extended Fagerlund’s already wide network of musical contacts in the Netherlands, and many CHANGE – IN OURSELVES of his trusted friends appeared as guest artists at Fager- lund’s RUSK festival in Pietarsaari November 2016 (Read OR IN THE PEOPLE more on the FMQ website: Festivals with a personal touch by Merja Hottinen). AROUND US. Fagerlund is pleased by the extremely positive attitude – SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND that the Dutch bring to collaboration. “In the Netherlands, people start off at full speed, and if you hit an obstacle, only then do you take a step back. There’s just no fear of failure. SOUND That’s been very refreshing and liberating to note during the past year.” Despite this international networking, however, the new string quartet was written for a Finnish ensemble, the Kamus Quartet, which Fagerlund favours with high praise. “The Dutch are also excited that I’m bringing something SCAPES Symphony Orchestra. Its world premiere is scheduled to Finnish to Amsterdam and not just working with local be held in Amsterdam on 21 April 2018. Earlier this summer, orchestras.” he completed his String Quartet no. 2, which the Kamus ON THE LANES OF AMSTERDAM Quartet premiered at the Concertgebouw on 11 October. BY Biella Luttmer Fagerlund’s octet Autumn Equinox will be performed at the Platform for the future Concertgebouw on 6 December. The Amsterdam residency has resulted in multiple oppor- These works are the result of Fagerlund’s one-year resi- tunities for Fagerlund that extend beyond the Netherlands dency at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, during which and even beyond Europe. he spent extended periods of time in the city. Although the “I didn’t go there just to see Amsterdam. My time there residency kept him busy with various things, he had plenty has laid the groundwork for many other things. Even the of time to write; he had studios both in his apartment and at Concertgebouw wants to see the residency generate new the Concertgebouw. ideas and new projects and establish new contacts. At the “I think that the most important thing was not the moment, I’m planning a cello concerto for star cellist Nico- pre-planned activities but being able to meet musicians and las Altstaedt, and I have an international project with the to explore the city by spending time there.” Asko|Schönberg Ensemble. And contacts and requests The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam appointed The idea for the commissions connected with the resi- keep coming.” Sebastian Fagerlund their composer-in-residence, dency is that the works should somehow reflect the influ- So Fagerlund must have his calendar booked solid well resulting in a string of exciting works, new departures ence of Amsterdam. So how is this happening? into the future? “I’ve taken liberties with that notion. I don’t write “Yes, but I’ve always tried to keep a little bit of slack in and enriching encounters. programme music, and for the past ten years I’ve been using my timetables. That’s something that I learned from Aulis pretty much the same building blocks; those blocks won’t Sallinen and Kalevi Aho. My principle is that a work has On a café terrace opposite Waterlooplein, where the Dutch change overnight. to be finished six months before it’s due to be sent to the National Opera and Ballet is located, Sebastian Fager- “Having said that, I should note that the string quartet is publisher. That gives me a margin to play with in case some- lund orders his cappuccino and sandwich in Dutch. subtitled From the Ground for two reasons. First, it incor- thing unexpected happens.” “‘Please’, isn’t that ‘graag’ in Dutch? But do you pronounce it porates elements from my earlier works. Secondly, I lived Is Fagerlund at the top of his career now, or does he still with a hard ‘g’, in the back of the throat? Sometimes I hear it beside a canal in the city centre of Amsterdam, and I read have things on his bucket list? differently, more towards the front of the mouth. Are there that it was in those city blocks that many of the things that “I feel very fortunate to be able to choose what to do next rules for that?” define the city originated: trade, art and so on. The idea and with whom. But I always feel that there’s so much Fagerlund is an attentive listener, paying close attention of something germinating, growing and spreading out is more still to do. I mean in terms of composing and musical not only to the sounds of language but also to the sounds of expressed in the subtitle. So you could say that Amsterdam growth. With every new work, I set my sights higher. Hunger the city and, which he likes even better, the sounds of the did have an influence on this sort of abstract level, though grows while eating, to quote a Finnish proverb.” • Translation: birds and the rustle of trees and waves. He likes Amster- not aesthetically or stylistically. Jaakko Mäntyjärvi dam, especially the old part, where he works as composer- “In the orchestral work too, I’ve explored the notion in-­residence at the Royal Concertgebouw. And yet: “One of of circular expansion and the omnipresence of water in A video from the rehearsal of Autumn Sonata and Sebastian Fagerlund the great things is that all it takes is a 20-minute bicycle ride

Amsterdam. Try as you might, you cannot get away from it. playlist at fmq.fi. Puikkonen Jussi to be out of the city and in the midst of nature.” 38 FMQ FEATURE: Sebastian Fagerlund 39

At his temporary home on Kloveniersburgwal, he shows extent, fixed. I can hear how Fagerlund tries to reinvigor- us where he works. At the centre of it all is a desk, covered in ate that tradition and that sound, such as at the beginning of the manuscript paper that he is using to pencil his Second his Violin Concerto. You hear a very low pitch, with timpani, Jussi Puikkonen Jussi String Quartet. An eraser is within easy reach, next to the and something that he refers to as ‘throbbing’, which comes SEBASTIAN FAGERLUND computer. The keyboard is only used for listening back to from deep-toned brass instruments. A fabulous innovation.” the final version. The real composing has actually been Together with the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, • Born in 1972. done much earlier – entirely in Fagerlund’s head. the Conservatorium van Amsterdam is a breeding ground • Studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in He is now in the final stage of the quartet, a composition for composers, not only from the Netherlands but also Helsinki under the guidance of Erkki Jokinen and scheduled to premiere at the Royal Concertgebouw in Octo- from many other countries. Ever since the 1970s, it has received his diploma in composition in 2004. ber, where it will be performed by the Kamus Quartet been considered good practice to introduce composition • His output spans opera to chamber and solo works, from Finland. He has almost finished entering everything students to big names from their field, a practice which the most significant pieces being his concertos and into the Finale software programme he works with. What has brought fame to the Netherlands’ music world. In The works for orchestra. strikes you when you compare the rough drafts to the final Hague, students have had the opportunity to work with • Works by Fagerlund have been commissioned version is the confident precision with which he composes. Dallapiccola, Stockhausen, Messiaen, Cage, Kagel, and performed by numerous major orchestras, The themes that appear as gestures in the rough drafts Reich, Ligeti, Kurtág and Goebbels. conductors and musicians all over the world. perfectly match the detailed notes in the final version. The Hague School, known for its clarity of structure and • In 2011, Fagerlund was awarded Finland’s renowned made famous by the iconic Louis Andriessen, is still a Teosto Prize for his orchestral work Ignite. The same household name today. The Conservatorium van Amster- work was also selected as a recommended work at Reinvigorating tradition dam has a different approach, focusing on individual the International Rostrum of Composers 2011 in A few days earlier, Fagerlund talked to a group of about 20 student development rather than adhering to any specific Vienna. composition students at the Conservatorium van Amster- school or movement. • In the 2016/17 season Fagerlund was appointed dam. The students hung on his every word as he told them composer-in-residence at the Royal Concertgebouw about his piece, entitled Stonework. “He works differently in Amsterdam, Holland. to the composers we have seen here so far,” remarks a boy A slight change for the better • Since 2013 he has been artistic director of the RUSK from Brazil. “John Adams and George Benjamin have The new millennium saw a cultural sea change in the Neth- Chamber Music Festival in Pietarsaari, Finland. also come here as guest instructors, but I can tell there is erlands, with the rise of governments that regarded art as • Fagerlund’s music is available on record label BIS. something intuitive, something less cerebral that Sebastian merely a hobby for the wealthy. The steady stream of govern- Fagerlund adds in his work. It is a quality I recognise. It feels ment funding, which up to that time had flowed generously, like a force of nature. I hope to achieve it in my own compo- was cut back to barely a trickle. sitions as well.” The result was that orchestras were forced to merge or Willem Jeths, a composer who teaches composition at dissolve and musical education practically disappeared the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, feels a kinship with from schools. Nor were composers spared, as the security An ambassador between cultures Fagerlund. “We are both symphonists,” he says, “mean- provided by a well-established system of multi-year grants After Huang Ruo, Sebastian Fagerlund is only the second ideal material to work with. That is what I’m looking for, ing that we are conscious of our historical roots. After all, was whisked away in one fell swoop. composer to have been invited. He visited practically all someone who sees an ideal in this. But there is more. Sebas- the symphony orchestra is a nineteenth-century construct, Nonetheless, a slight change for the better seems to be the museums in Amsterdam and was introduced to the tian Fagerlund is here for a long-term stay and we hope that with an instrumental combination that is, to a certain taking place. Orchestra members who had lost their jobs phenomenon of “schuilkerken”, secret churches that were his familiarity with our country and our musical life will formed their own orchestra, named Ludwig – a flexible hidden in private houses during the seventeenth century. result in new opportunities for Dutch culture abroad. He ensemble, entirely consisting of freelance musicians. The He learned all about the Dutch concept of tolerance, which goes to lots of concerts here, and we invite him to premieres. Royal Conservatory of The Hague is working on a project for for him raised the question: why was it necessary to hide If it all works out well, we will have gained a new ambassa- the 2019 Holland Festival. Students are preparing for Karl- the churches if there was such tolerance here? As a natural dor.” • Translation: Overtaal B.V. heinz Stockhausen’s magnum opus Licht, a large selection phenomenon he is also fascinated by the sea and its chang- of which will be presented in Amsterdam as part of a new ing tides. HE SEEKS HUGE CONTRASTS, production entitled Aus Licht. Kees Vlaardingerbroek, artistic director of the Zater- In Amsterdam, the Royal Concertgebouw, the new music dagMatinee series, is a member of the committee that FROM DREAMLIKE ensemble Asko|Schönberg and the NTR ZaterdagMati- selects the composers. Last year, on the advice of conduc- nee, the much-lauded concert series on Radio 4 which is tor Osmo Vänskä, he programmed Fagerlund’s orchestral SEQUENCES TO RHYTHMIC recorded at the Concertgebouw, have joined forces. With work Ignite, which was an immediate success with the audi- the support of an anonymous sponsor, they have worked ence. The press also had high praise for Fagerlund and for PASSAGES THAT ALMOST out a plan in which a foreign composer is not only invited to the performance by Vänskä and the Netherlands Radio become composer-in-residence at the Concertgebouw but Philharmonic Orchestra. RESEMBLE HARD ROCK, AND is also immersed in Dutch culture beforehand. As Vlaardingerbroek relates over the phone: “For the The Chinese composer Huang Ruo explored the coun- coming season I asked Fagerlund to write a new symphonic EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN. try with a landscape architect and also met famed architect work. He seeks huge contrasts, from dreamlike sequences Rem Koolhaas. The impact that these experiences had on to rhythmic passages that almost resemble hard rock, and – KEES VLAARDINGERBROEK the composer can be heard in the compositions he wrote everything in between. The sense you get is that the vast Read bassoonist Bram van Sambeek’s tribute to Sebastian Fagerlund while in the Netherlands in 2015–16. possibilities of the symphony orchestra provide him with at fmq.fi. 40 41

for gigs,” she says. “We’re figuring city into the club in a silent, discreet “For all live culture, our common out what nights to have what kinds way: embedded beneath the clear enemy is everything that you can Helsinki’s of music. I think we’ve found a good laminated floor are real tram tracks do from your couch at home,” she midway point.” and a manhole cover, as well as bits says. “People don’t readily leave the Douglass says the club has “no of musical memorabilia such as a sofa. They can listen to music with genre boundaries” but that it tries to trumpet mouthpiece and a cassette, good audio quality through their high-tech balance styles of music, including a plus cigarette butts and chewing headphones, but our live sound beats couple of classical events a month. gum to give it an edgy, urban feel – that any day of the week!” “We wanted to make it more without the odour or stickiness. The approachable, so you don’t have to stage itself is made of glass, while the G Livelab: dress up and so on,” she explains. wall behind it is of recycled bricks, Great vibes! “Plus, the sound is awesome! The protruding in a way that both looks Janski Arnimaa, a DJ who often stage is surprisingly big; we’ve had a and sounds impressive. attends jazz shows at G Livelab, calls Sound first choir of over 20 people on stage with Besides the audio and design it “a welcome addition to the Helsinki a jazz trio, and UMO Jazz Orchestra innovations, the club has developed club scene with quality programming BY Wif Stenger will be here soon.” its own mobile app, which makes across the board, a great interior, bar it easy to buy tickets as well as and, most of all, the sound.” beverages. Drinks, including many According to pianist Iiro Rantala, Brutally honest sound from small Finnish breweries and “playing G Livelab is like playing any G Livelab teamed up early on with distilleries, can be ordered and other place, except that the sound acoustics design firm Akukon and delivered silently directly to your is better – much better. They really high-end speaker firm Genelec. Its table – which is covered in leather invested in the hi-fi sound. The Fazioli speakers are used as brutally honest to minimise the sound of glasses. piano is fantastic too.” studio monitors around the world. Every detail here has been carefully For Rantala, “the general vibe of the “We have about 70 Genelec considered. venue is what counts. At G Livelab, the speakers installed in and around the Between sets, DJs from Radio vibe is great. People listen intensively A cutting-edge new venue in relatively small venue. Basically, it’s Helsinki spin discs and introduce and that’s the most important thing. Helsinki focuses on music, its studio reference-quality audio for a the bands, who are often interviewed I hope that other musicians’ unions live audience,” says Douglass. “That on-air earlier in the day. The station around Europe will pick up on the listeners and its creators. means that anything musicians do hosts movie nights and other events idea of G Livelab and open similar onstage can be heard – for better or at the club, including pop-up lunches clubs around the continent, which “G Livelab is designed to give the worse. It also means they can play on Fridays. There are also plans to would help create jobs for touring audience the highest-quality music more subtle, quieter things that don’t enable guests to order in food from musicians.” experience possible with today’s usually work live,” says Douglass. restaurants in the neighbourhood. In the meantime, Douglass says technology. No compromises, period,” “Metal, punk or hip hop acts can be It’s all part of an effort to create that Livelaboratorio and Genelec are says Tanja Douglass, who runs the challenging, because they usually the ultimate live experience, says busily planning another music venue G Livelab club. want it really loud for the impact, but Douglass. in central Tampere. • She is CEO of Livelaboratorio, which the point is it doesn’t have to be quite owns the club and Radio Helsinki, as loud here.” located upstairs in a music-dominated She explains that there are building on Yrjönkatu in central actually three sound systems, a THE FINNISH MUSICIANS’ UNION AT 100 Helsinki. The firm is owned by the tightly built delay line system, a Finnish Musicians’ Union. virtual ambience system and a 5.1 • The Finnish Musicians’ Union, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, A year after its opening, G Livelab surround system. is a trade organisation representing about 3,400 professional musicians. is quietly cementing a reputation “As a result,” she says, “there’s not • Most of its members work in the jazz, rock, entertainment and restaurant sectors, among music lovers and creators. The a bad spot in the house, even in the while one third are orchestral musicians, singers and conductors. 180-seat venue hosts several concerts corners or in the bathrooms.” • The Finnish National Opera’s ballet dancers are also members of the Musicians’ a week in genres ranging from hip Union. hop to classical, metal to world music • The union’s centenary programme included a club series at G Livelab and a tour and jazz, mostly showcasing Finnish Bringing the city inside – quietly featuring vocalist Johanna Försti with the Turku Jazz Orchestra. artists. This breadth of offerings A double wall of thick glass – with • The union also commissioned a new orchestral work from Uljas Pulkkis, which was has been a challenge in terms of plants growing inside it – keeps performed by six orchestras around Finland during the autumn of 2017. These marketing and finding audiences, sound in and out, so that trams roll concerts were organised together with Gramex, Copyright Society of Performing admits Douglass. soundlessly right past the venue. Artists and Phonogram Producers in Finland, this year celebrating its 50th “We want all audiences from kids to Architect Marco Casagrande anniversary.

Tero Ahonen / G Livelab G / Ahonen Tero older people, so there are no age limits strove to bring the surrounding 42 43 EXPANDING HORIZONS

The socio-cultural, economic and political changes fostered by globalisation and technology bring new challenges everywhere, and music education is no exception. The focus in music teacher training is inevitably shifting, or at least expanding, from music teaching towards issues of social and moral

Veikko Somerpuro Veikko responsibility.

IN MUSIC EDUCATION 44 FMQ FEATURE: Expanding horizons in music education 45

Why is it important to compose music? sive experience in teaching composition to children and Composing as part of music education has become a topic adolescents, is the prime mover of the project. of broader discussion in books as well as in the press. This The project was launched with pedagogical training for discussion has highlighted the multiple opportunities that composers in spring 2017, and in the autumn 20 composers composing music offers not only for self-expression but were posted to music institutes for the academic year. The also for interaction. Academic studies have criticised the project will also involve compiling an open materials data- COMPOSING conventions of music education where children are seen base on composition teaching as the project progresses. only as performers and listeners, never as creators. “Our aim is to establish permanent composition teaching Indeed, composing is increasingly viewed as an activity at music institutes and to provide the tools needed for doing IS FOR that is or at least should be accessible to anyone and whose so,” says Leinonen. positive impacts extend far beyond the composer and music itself, to society at large. Petri Aarnio, headmaster of the Central Helsinki Music High hopes and ambitions Institute, is a member of the working group revising basic So what is the ultimate goal of teaching composition to chil- education in the arts. His institution introduced composi- dren and adolescents? tion as a workshop subject in 2000. Subsequently, compos- Composition studies enhance students’ musical knowl- ers such as Jovanka Trbojević, Lotta Wennäkoski edge and skills in a variety of ways, and – most importantly – EVERYONE and Minna Leinonen have taught composition there, provide an excellent channel for self-expression. Composi- and composing has established itself as one of the main tion teaching is considered also to promote gender equality BY Anu Ahola elements of basic music theory teaching. Aarnio considers in the long run, since introducing students to composition it very good that in the future students will be required to at music institutes at an early age is hoped to attract more create music of their own. girls to composing and thereby gradually to even out the “The tradition of teaching Western music is very heavily gender distribution in the profession. based on printed music. Not that there is anything wrong Teachers are in a key role in this reform, as they are in with playing music from a score, but as learning to perform a position to guide the orientation of composition in any music has been rendered into an academic pursuit, we seem number of ways. Minna Leinonen says of the duty of a to have forgotten that reproducing a score is not the only composition teacher: way to make music. Improvisation and learning by ear are In teaching composition to children and adolescents, the also important skills,” says Aarnio. teacher’s primary task is not to offer alternatives, because “Improvisation and composition are about personal crea- that in itself would restrict the student’s thinking. The tivity, and the more personal a child or adolescent feels teacher’s job is to assist and to pose questions, not to make music to be, the easier it is for him or her to relate it to other aesthetic value judgements or guide the student in a particu- experiences heard and seen.” lar direction or pursue his or her own artistic ambitions. So do music institute teachers in Finland today have the Erno Aalto, who teaches basic music theory at the capacity and the tools for coaching students in composi- Central Helsinki Music Institute, discussed composition tion? Aarnio has no doubt: as a working method in teaching basic music theory in his “I believe that the groundwork for teaching composition is master’s thesis in 2015. He encourages teachers in the field already in place, and many institutes consider this reform to engage in a serious discussion of values among them- to be implementing something blindingly obvious. Some selves and with their composition students. Veikko Somerpuro Veikko teachers with no experience at all in teaching composition “Although composition is now being introduced as part may feel that this is an alien area requiring further train- of basic education in the arts, we must remember that ing. The teaching we provide to teachers will be crucial in composing is very much an individual pursuit, different for the future.” each student. Some may find it feasible to write an étude for Composing is acquiring an important role at Finland’s their own instrument, while others may want to explore the the revised National Core Curriculum for Basic Educa- potential of a virtual instrument on their smartphone. It is music institutes and schools. In the revised curricula, tion, adopted in 2016, composing is highlighted as an essen- Composer guides important that all kinds of making music are acknowledged composing is identified as an activity that is – or at tial part of music teaching at schools, and composing and With this new approach, composition pedagogy has become and facilitated in composition teaching at music insti- least should be – accessible to everyone and whose improvisation are expected to join singing, playing instru- a key development point in music teacher training and in tutes – even those that some may not consider to be music at positive impacts extend far beyond the realm of music ments and listening to music as everyday activities in music continuing education for teachers. all, or those that have not been invented yet,” says Aalto. • lessons. Also responding to these new needs is the Ääneni äärelle Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi itself. Composing is also about to be given official status in the [Finding my voice] project of the Society of Finnish Compos- curricula of music institutes, as the National Core Curric- ers, which focuses on teacher training for composers and During the 2010s, children and adolescents in Finland have ulum for Basic Education in the Arts will enter into force the development of introductory composition teaching. been encouraged to compose music in a variety of projects, in August 2018. In the drafts for this document, compos- The project is also intended to coach music institute teach- but so far very few schools or music institutes have provided ing and improvisation are entered as a target area in its own ers in how to instruct and assist students in the early steps actual composition teaching. This is about to change. In right for the first time. of composition. Composer Minna Leinonen, who has exten- This article was jointly commissioned by Rondo magazine and the FMQ. 46 FMQ FEATURE: Expanding horizons in music education 47

How does one organise arts education in a multi- end of the social scale, and there is scarcely any systematic ethnic society? Whose culture should be taught? teaching in the various traditional genres of music. Musical What should be considered in drawing up a national competence is transferred from generation to generation curriculum for music? The Finnish-Nepalese-Israeli through the master-and-apprentice model rather than at official institutions. project Global Visions Through Mobilizing Networks Having said that, we should note that there was already MULTIPLE is contributing to the development of music education music education in place in the country: music is a subject in Nepal. at the two universities in Nepal. However, the teaching there mainly focuses on Hindustani music and a smattering of local traditions, generally that of the Newar, who have a Sandwiched between two Asian giants, China and India, strong presence in the Kathmandu valley. In addition to the Nepal is a country with more than 100 ethnic groups, each universities, there are hundreds of private music schools with its own language and culture. Nepal is multicultural that mainly teach popular music; but there is no national MODES with a vengeance, and this is apparent in all branches of the music education system with progression in skill levels. arts in the country – music, dance, visual arts and crafts. This is not to say that Nepal is a stagnated cultural back- Finns have been involved in developing education in water, even though concern is often voiced about the OF MUSIC EDUCATION Nepal for a long time, both through government efforts and survival of local cultures amid the pressures of the modern through various NGOs. So far, arts education in Nepal has era. been largely up to the initiative of individual interested The cultural focus of Nepal is the Kathmandu valley, teachers or else available as elective subjects for a fee. where many kinds of music may be heard. Popular music is In autumn 2013, a small group of Finns found themselves generally doing very well: there is a thriving local rock and at the airport waiting for a flight to Kathmandu. The Nepa- pop industry. Music is on the radio all the time and is also lese Ministry of Education had just added music to the used in the myriad of cultural rituals celebrated through- national core curriculum but then had realised that, in the out the country. IN NEPAL absence of a music teacher training programme, there were Nepal is a melting pot for interesting and original musi- no qualified music teachers in the entire country. cal fusion styles as musicians mix and match everything The Nepal Music Centre, a private music institute with a they have heard and learned, just as in any other place in fresh mandate from the Ministry of Education for setting the world. BY Lari Aaltonen up just such a training programme, had contacted music educators at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. They had accepted the challenge, had been Global visions for cultural diversity in music granted funding out of the cultural exchange programme education of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and were now After this first trip, the Sibelius Academy working group en route to view the situation on the ground. The group on distilled a more concrete approach to cooperation for the this first trip comprisedHeidi Westerlund, Professor of purpose of improving music education in Nepal, as their Music Education at the Sibelius Academy; researcher Heidi understanding of the context and the needs of music teacher Partti; lecturers Soili Perkiö and Vilma Timonen; and training in the country grew. The project soon expanded the present writer. into a research project that acquired the title Global Visions Through Mobilizing Networks and was provided funding by the Academy of Finland for the period 2015–2019. The Challenges in multi-ethnic music education project was joined by Israel, which has its own specific The purpose of this first trip was to survey the current situa- cultural issues in music teacher training. tion of music teaching in Nepal, to assess available partners The Global Visions project is about developing multi- and to outline potential future cooperation. Workshops cultural music education between the Sibelius Acad- were held with the teachers and students at the Nepal Music emy in Finland, the Nepal Music Centre and the Levinsky Centre, and meetings were organised with local music College of Education in Israel. The project involves a dozen professionals to gain an overview of the operating environ- researchers and includes research cooperation, network ment. At the workshops, we met teachers and engaged them building, enabling of dialogue and development of music in practical exercises to gauge their capabilities for adopt- education with a global perspective. The project focuses ing various pedagogical methods in common use in Finnish on peer learning and the understanding and leveraging of music teacher training, and we explored local music educa- musical diversity in music teacher training. tion goals. Nepal, with its recently defined goal of creating a music It became clear to the Finns during this trip that in the teacher training system, is a key component in the project. multi-ethnic context of Nepalese society the development A broader goal is generally to train music teachers capable of music education and music teacher training would be of operating in increasingly multicultural environments

Lari AaltonenLari challenging. Music is traditionally an activity at the lower worldwide. 48 FMQ FEATURE: Expanding horizons in music education 49

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT AaltonenLari AaltonenLari ABOUT FINNS GOING AROUND PASTING THEIR OWN SYSTEM ON TOP OF LOCAL CUSTOMS; EVERYTHING IS DONE IN COOPERATION AND

MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING Setting targets together I interviewed Heidi Partti, a researcher in the Global Visions WITH LOCAL MUSIC project, during the Cultural Diversity in Music Education conference in Kathmandu in April 2017. PROFESSIONALS. It was initially difficult to find common ground between the Finnish and Nepalese conceptions of teaching. “Finland has a strong ‘researching teacher’ tradition. The idea is that the teacher does not simply reproduce the curriculum as given but is an independent expert who is able to refine his or her teaching by reflection and by reviewing research in the field,” says Partti. How the project works on the ground in Nepal is that Nepal, on the other hand, is a more hierarchical society, researchers build local and international networks by where learning has largely relied on repetition and imitat- immersing themselves on the local music scene and in local ing the teacher. Also, teachers are not high on the social music education, helping to build up infrastructure and to ladder, similar to musicians. Nevertheless, musicians and create a vision of the future of music education in the coun- music teachers there are competent professionals in their try and seeking ways to attain it. Pedagogical solutions are respective fields, although the quality of their pedagogical sought through joint efforts and research data are collected skills varies. ies through teaching, guidance and advice, ranging from The “Housewives Choir” from Manamaija village performing at the while analysing and exploring the challenges encoun- “The strength of the Finnish system is teacher auton- language assistance to theoretical issues and how to intro- Cultural Diversity in Music Education (CDIME) conference 2017 in tered in the training and how to improve it. All of the data omy. Teachers are trusted. The weakest learning results are duce pedagogical methods into their practical work. Kathmandu. collected will be exploited on a global scale for developing recorded in countries with authoritarian systems where no music teacher training. such trust exists,” says Partti. The Global Visions project Diversity in music education does not mean just musi- aims not only to gain a wide body of research data but also Diversity is a strength cal diversity, which could be easily addressed by adding a to help local teachers demonstrate their professional exper- So how could the research data gained in Nepal be applied few courses in “world music” to the music teacher training tise and to offer pedagogical tools for use in teaching. in the Finnish context, or indeed globally? Heidi Partti curriculum. “There are different kinds of learners, students However, it is important to note that this is not about notes that one of the principal goals of the project was to from different cultural backgrounds, representatives of Lari AaltonenLari Finns going around pasting their own system on top of local prompt discussion about diversity in education and to help various religions and sexual orientations, diversity in all customs; everything is done in cooperation and mutual people react to changing contexts worldwide. More stud- shapes and sizes, and a music teacher must be able to deal understanding with local music professionals. The project ies in intercultural skills are being added to Finnish music with all of this,” says Partti. has involved bringing teachers together to think about what teacher training in the current curriculum reform (see also As an example of developments growing out of the Global should be done about music education in Nepal and how the the FMQ article Composing is for everyone), and an interna- Visions project, we may mention a network established by desired targets could be attained. tional project such as this one has the potential to collect Nepalese women teachers at their own initiative. This testi- Four musician-teachers from Nepal – Kushal Karki, valuable experiences and good practices applicable in such fies not only to empowerment and self-awareness of profes- Iman Shah, Rizu Tuladhar and John Shreshtha – have studies. sional competence and the ambition to improve themselves been studying music education at the Sibelius Academy, and There are shared issues in music education in Nepal and but also to an erosion of social hierarchies. their studies have involved exploring how to develop music in Finland, such as where to draw the line between preserv- Multiculturalism is a fact of life, and the challenge is how curricula in Nepal. This is an important vehicle for outlin- ing and renewing tradition, and which of the two should be to deal with it and take it into account in teaching. ing the aforementioned targets, and researchers in the given more weight. Another major question is whose music “Diversity is not a problem to be solved. It’s a huge Global Visions project are providing support for these stud- should be taught in the classroom and who decides this. strength!” concludes Partti. • Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi 50 51

The year 2017 not only marks the Ellen Urho, who joined the Sibelius Current music education students are centenary of Finland’s independ- Academy as Head of the School Music expected to gain extensive general Happy birthday ence but is also an anniversary year Department in 1970, is also a major knowledge of music, to master music- figure in the history of Finnish music related subjects taught at schools and for Finnish music education. education. Under her leadership, the also to develop a personal pedagogical department underwent its most approach. to Finnish music The founding of the School Music profound reform to date, building on The socio-cultural, economic Department (now the Music her vision of music teachers as multi- and political changes fostered by Education study programme) at the skilled and flexible professionals. Her globalisation and technology have Sibelius Academy in 1957 was a major visionary thinking is why today’s challenged music educators in education! milestone on the road towards a high- music teachers are educated in a Finland to a constant re-evaluation quality music education system in master’s-level degree programme of their core values and everyday BY Heidi Partti post-war Finland. The primary role with a wealth of studies in music, practices, and will continue to do so. of the department was to provide didactics, pedagogy and research. The requirement for music teacher students with the knowledge and A look back at the history of training to prepare students for living skills needed for teaching music in Finnish music education reminds and working in a rapidly changing schools in particular. us how visionary thinking can make and complex world is one of the basic Music had of course been part of a difference. Rather than aiming to tenets of the new curriculum that will the Finnish school curriculum for merely preserve the past or allowing be applied in the Music Education decades, mostly in the form of singing. the challenges of today to determine study programme at the Sibelius But by the 1950s, a need for reform of the course for the future, visionaries Academy in the coming academic music teaching in schools and hence such as Cygnaeus and Urho were year. Efforts to equip future music of teacher training had emerged due inspired by their conception of what teachers with skills and attitudes that to broader societal changes, a new the future could be. they need to work as change agents understanding of child psychology We are now reaping the harvest of in communities include focusing and learning, and novel imported seeds sown long before today’s music on lifelong learning, intercultural ideas. The journey from singing education students were even born, in competencies and skills for using hymns and patriotic songs to a diverse the form of a broad music education technology in creative and flexible and versatile music education had available to every child in Finland. ways. begun. Professor Marja-Leena Juntunen, in her inaugural lecture Visions for the future in October 2017, envisioned the music Lessons from the past The Music Education study teacher training of tomorrow as Birthdays are a unique opportunity programme at the Sibelius Academy taking its cue from social phenomena both to look back and to envision the has aged well. Its capacity to adapt such as cultural diversity, various future. While we celebrate music to a world in a state of flux has been ways of learning and inequalities teacher training as it is today, we tested multiple times over the past between families. The focus in music should also look at history and see 60 years. Music teacher training teacher training is inevitably shifting, what we can learn from the past. has also expanded in both volume or at least expanding, from music Consider Uno Cygnaeus and Ellen and content. In addition to the teaching towards issues of social and Urho, for instance. Sibelius Academy, music teachers moral responsibility. Cygnaeus was a clergyman are now trained at the University of Celebrating past achievements appointed to develop a folk school Jyväskylä and the University of Oulu, should not prevent us from moving system in Finland in the 1850s. His those programmes also focusing on forwards. The challenge we face is plan was a radical one, and as such musicianship, pedagogical thinking similar to those faced by Cygnaeus probably shaped the future of the and research. Graduates of all these and Urho: to discover new visions nation: free education for every boy programmes find varied employment of what is possible. Pedagogical and girl regardless of social class; in the field of music as teachers flexibility, the ability to reinvent high-quality teacher training; and at primary, secondary and upper ourselves and the capacity to learn the inclusion of arts and crafts as secondary schools, as instrument or with and from others may be more mandatory subjects in the school voice teachers at music institutes, or important now than ever before. • curriculum. Cygnaeus understood in other positions requiring expertise the importance of giving every citizen in music education. the opportunity not only to acquire The days when a music teacher academic and practical skills but also needed to do nothing but teach to gain aesthetic experiences. musical repertoire are long gone. 52 Recordings of the year 53

Autumn 2017 saw a positive surge of albums featuring Finnish music — especially contemporary art music. The following text is compiled and abbreviated from the reviews published on the FMQ website.

Contemporary and classical albums 2017 Distinctive voices One of the most awaited profile albums is Romer’s Gap, dedicated to music by Olli Virtaperko. Juha Torvinen describes Virtaperko’s music as “a missing third dimension of an abstract painting. His great sense of timbre is exemplified in this recording of concertos for unusual solo instruments.” According to Torvinen, the title work, Romer’s Gap, is the one that stands out: “Classical and rock influences, embodied by the amplified cello, blend seamlessly. The soloist Perttu Kivilaakso’s Recordings cadenza is ravishing. One wants Virtaperko: Romer’s Gap Tarkiainen: Beyond Poems to hear this work again.” About Perttu Kivilaakso, Joonatan Rautiola, Jonte Knif, Kamus Quartet, Lauri Sallinen, Maria Multikolor Torvinen writes: “One Jyväskylä Sinfonia, cond. Ville Matvejeff Puusaari, Tuuli Lindeberg, Emil Holmström, Ondine ODE 1305-2 Markus Hohti, Veli Kujala hears earthy roars, touching weeps, Alba ABCD 415 and multiphonics on static sound- fields. Joonatan Rautiola shows of the year the versatility of baritone saxophone with great skill. [- -] Nostalgically composer. Andrew Mellor notes the VIRTAPERKO’S MUSIC futuristic Ambrosian Delights kinship of Tarkiainen’s music with showcases the soloist Jonte Knif’s Alban Berg: “It might be a general IS LIKE A MISSING self-made analogue synthesiser sense of rooted longing more than THIRD DIMENSION knifonium. [- -] This is a joyous mixed- anything technical that unites both media composition that manages composers. [- -] Tarkiainen has long OF AN ABSTRACT to maintain listeners’ attention since learned the lessons of her PAINTING. HIS GREAT throughout. [- -] The work of the chosen poets: to be true to oneself. Jyväskylä Sinfonia and Ville That results in outstanding music SENSE OF TIMBRE Matvejeff is impeccable.” of meticulous clarity and frequent Beyond Poems is the second album emotional strain. It needs heartfelt IS EXEMPLIFIED IN featuring Outi Tarkiainen’s music. and considered performances, and THIS RECORDING OF Where the first one, Into the Woodland gets them here,” he writes. Silence (2013) travels somewhere “Whittall’s combination of influ- CONCERTOS FOR between jazz and contemporary ences is unique, and composition-­ UNUSUAL SOLO music, Beyond Poems focuses more technically he is, without doubt, an on the contemporary side of the exceptionally skilled music-maker,” INSTRUMENTS. 54 Recordings of the year 55

two concertos is a 19-minute song- tions, but on his eighth album he SALONEN’S cycle from 2003 for mezzo, strings rather surprisingly opts for standard and harp. [- -] The performances of repertoire,” notes Mats Liljeroos. HOMUNCULUS Henri Sigfridsson, Monica Groop “Marin’s performance points up the and the Ostrobothnian Chamber intricate voice-leading and ensures IS PRIMITIVE AND Orchestra conducted by Juha that everything is heard, lucid and RUGGED, AS BEFITS Kangas are first-rate.” emotionally vivid. Indeed, emotional flow might be described as the scarlet A WORK INSPIRED BY thread of this entire album. [- -] THE THEORIES OF THE Magical compilations, For Marin technique is a tool in his luxurious beauty mission to lay bare the innermost ALCHEMISTS OF THE “The distinguished Meta4 string dramaturgy and emotional substance quartet has recorded two volumes of the music. [- -] An impressive ANCIENT WORLD. Matthew Whittall: Northlands Nordgren: Storm – Fear of chamber works for strings for achievement, in short.” Songs of Solitude Tommi Hyytinen, FRSO, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Henri Sigfridsson, Monica Groop, Ostrobothnian Ondine’s series of Kaija Saariaho’s Another superb piano album Tarkiainen – Messiaen – Reich – Berio – Donatoni Tapiola Sinfonietta, cond. Nils Schweckendiek Chamber Orchestra, cond. Juha Kangas music: the first was released in 2013 of this year is Joonas Ahonen’s Lauri Sallinen Alba ABCD 416 Alba ABCD 399 and the second in late 2016,” writes Charles Ives recording, also Alba ABCD 413 Anna Pulkkis. “At the heart of the featuring Pekka Kuusisto and second volume are two larger works: Sharon Bezaly. Martin Anderson ...de la Terre (1991) for violin and elec- writes: “Ives’s Concord Sonata (1916– writes Juha Torvinen about North- gloomier views. But we need fantasies tronics and Terra Memoria (2006) for 19) often requires its performer to Quartet, as a disc full of sonorous aesthetics of contemporary music, lands, an album featuring Matthew and idealised models, too.” string quartet. Originally the third despatch inhuman quantities of notes string music. “Salonen’s Homunculus in both sound and expression. The Whittall’s music. “Northlands is a “Pehr Henrik Nordgren’s movement of the dance work Maa, at superhuman speed, but Ahonen is primitive and rugged, as befits a composers featured here share an series, an album, of musical visions music often has a ritual, pictorial ...de la Terre involves a fascinating scoops them up like a kid building work inspired by the theories of the uncompromising modernist idiom, guided by the solo horn. Choral work quality that generates a powerfully combination of recorded sounds and sandcastles, with no loss of clarity or alchemists of the ancient world. [- -] though with enriching excursions ad puram annihilationem meam disturbing sense of atmosphere, of Minna Pensola’s violin. The impres- of dynamic or rhythmic control. Even Ligeti and Britten, by contrast, call in various directions,” writes Mats adopts a tad more archaic hues. foreboding, as these three works sive Terra Memoria, glowing with more importantly, the Concord Sonata on the quartet to translate micro- Liljeroos. “Not an easy-listening Although Arctic in inspiration, the perfectly illustrate,” writes Martin earthy colours, is dedicated ‘for those can sometimes seem a ragbag of level actions into grand transitions. disc by any means, but a magical amalgamations of choir and orchestra Anderson. “The Second Piano departed’, who live in the memories different impulses, for long stretches The quartet performs with dazzling compilation that grows on you with in The Return of Light can bring to Concerto (2001) has something of that can undergo transformations.” enthusiastically modernist and then and furious passion; every moment of repeated listening, not least because mind a rainforest as well. Whittall’s the character of a ceremonial, a kind The album also features soprano veering briefly into the sweetest every piece is solid and meaningful. of the superb performance given by works long for a world that does not of initiation rite. [- -] The Left-Hand Pia Freund, whose voice Pulkkis of tonal recollections, but Ahonen This calls for serious alertness on the Trio Aristos.” exist. They depict nature as a realm Concerto, written for Izumi Tateno describes as luxuriously beautiful. projects it as a coherent whole – a part of the listener.” of romanticised and mystified beauty. in 2002 after he had lost the use of his “Risto-Matti Marin has so far wildly impetuous one, perhaps, but “The BIS release Nordsending Obviously, today’s natural environ- right hand, is a symphonic poem in all preferred recording little-known one which nonetheless hangs together [- -] showcases Trio Aristos as a ment could evoke also somewhat but name. [- -] Sitting between these works, arrangements and transcrip- here as a powerful and moving versatile vehicle for interpreting the statement, and over a 47-minute duration at that.” “Here’s a bold idea, and a bold choice of repertoire, and it largely works – although I found it more rewarding to concentrate on one work at a time rather than listen through in a single session,” writes Martin Anderson about Lauri Sallinen’s new album Songs of Solitude. According to him, all the works on the album have an improvisational character: “there’s no harmonic undertow to suggest a sense of direction.” Anderson says one can hear the influence of Finnish Lapland in the opening piece, Sans paroles by Outi Tarkiainen: “a single voice Saariaho: Chamber Works for Strings Vol. 2 Gateways Charles Ives Sonatas Homunculus Nordsending – Nordic String Trios Meta4, Pia Freund, Marko Myöhänen Bach-Liszt – Schubert – Liszt Pekka Kuusisto, Sharon Bezaly, echoing out over an empty landscape.” Britten – Ligeti – Salonen Hellstenius – Nørgård – Saariaho – Sørensen Ondine ODE 1242-2 Risto-Matti Marin Joonas Ahonen Jaani Länsiö describes Homunculus, Kamus Quartet Trio Aristos Alba ABCD 398 BIS-2249 the new album by the Kamus Alba ABCD 409 BIS-2269 56 Recordings of the year 57

Emotionally and expressively IN KORTEKANGAS’S cian from the past instead of rely- powerful music ing exclusively on verbal descriptions. Olli Kortekangas’s Migrations was MUSIC THERE’S A SENSE Such a moment has now come in the a commission for a concert series OF SCALE BEHIND THE case of Armas Järnefelt (1869– in Minnesota which, according to 1958), a celebrated Finnish conductor the programme booklet, had to be AUTUMNAL COLOURS, of the early twentieth century. In late programmable with Sibelius’s AND AN ANGUISH WHICH November 2016, a box-set of ten CDs Kullervo. Martin Anderson writes: containing the complete surviving “Migrations, 25 minutes long, is OCCASIONALLY BREAKS recordings of his performances was cast in four movements for voice(s) released by Fuga in Helsinki,” writes and orchestra (mostly: in one the THROUGH THE ELEGIAC Kimmo Korhonen in his extensive chorus sings a cappella) linked by SURFACE, RISING TO A review of the album collection, which three orchestral interludes, with spans almost half a century. “Releas- concertante roles for clarinet, horn THRILLING CLIMAX IN Armas Järnefelt Edition ing Järnefelt’s complete recordings Finnish Violin Music Sibelius: Tapiola; En Saga; Eight Songs All preserved recordings 1904–1950 Leiviskä – Melartin – Raitio Orhestrated by Aulis Sallinen and cello – instruments with a singing THE CLOSING BARS. FUGA9391 is an act of cultural importance in its Annemarie Åström, Tiina Karakorpi, Atte Anne Sofie von Otter, FRSO, cond. Hannu Lintu nature, as Kortekangas points out. own right, but this box-set is more Kilpeläinen, Tomas Nuñez-Garcés, KAAÅS Trio Ondine ODE 1289-5 That’s in line with the predominantly than just an exercise in bringing Alba ABCD 410 lyrical character of the work as a The other concerto on the album, Artistic Director and now Honorary history to life: it is also a thoroughly whole. [- -] Kortekangas’s music Noēsis, is a double concerto for Conductor Juha Kangas, it is enjoyable artistic experience,” says also hints at the epochal shift that clarinet and violin (2005), here obviously going to be a collection Korhonen. comes with a permanent change performed by Sundqvist and Pekka of emotionally and expressively Another fascinating recording – of country: there’s a sense of scale Kuusisto. “Both works are in powerful and excellent music – pieces although of much smaller scope – is SALLINEN’S chamber-like textures of the songs, in behind the autumnal colours, and an the ternary fast-slow-fast shape tailor-made for the orchestra’s deep- a Finnish violin music album by Lintu’s highly charged Tapiola and in anguish which occasionally breaks of the classical concerto, though rooted sound and intense music- violinist Annemarie Åström. The ORCHESTRATIONS an account of En Saga which makes through the elegiac surface, rising to a they play continuously, and both making. [- -] The disc comes across as album presents seldom-heard works effective use of the textural contrasts.” thrilling climax in the closing bars.” demonstrate Tüür’s ability to suggest a classic progression from darkness by Helvi Leiviskä (1902–82), Erkki ARE A MIRACLE OF With the new album April, Alba Martin Anderson also writes about huge tectonic forces at work under to light,” writes Mats Liljeroos about Melartin (1875–1937), and Väinö RESTRAINT, SOMEHOW has now released all the piano Ondine’s album featuring music by dancing or drifting textures in higher Dedicated to, the newest recording of Raitio (1891–1945). The works are concertos by Finnish music history’s Erkki-Sven Tüür. Christoffer instrumental registers,” writes the chamber orchestra. mostly from the 1920s, and vary MANAGING TO number one piano composer, Sundkvist premiered the Clarinet Anderson. greatly in their styles. According to SOUND ENTIRELY Selim Palmgren. “Though under- Concerto Peregrinus Ecstaticus “When the Ostrobothnian Hanna Isolammi, Raitio’s solo violin appreciated among Palmgren’s in Musiikkitalo, Helsinki, in 2013, Chamber Orchestra brings From history works – although not as modern as APPROPRIATE WITHOUT concertos, the Fifth is fresh and with the forces on this recording, together some of the works that “It is always a remarkable experience his orchestral compositions – are the invigorating, striking a fascinating the Finnish Radio Symphony over the years have been dedicated to have the opportunity to actually most innovative ones on this album. MIMICKING SIBELIUS’S balance between low-key National Orchestra and Hannu Lintu. to the orchestra’s long-standing listen to the achievements of a musi- Leiviskä’s Piano Trio is beautifully OWN STYLE. Romanticism and neoclassical melodic in an airy way, and Erkki tendencies. By contrast, the Melartin’s Trio for Violin, Viola and atmospherically and structurally Cello – though a bit fragmentary – curious Piano Concerto no. 4, April displays some nicely integrated folk (1927), combines late Romantic tones melodies. with Impressionist leanings in an According to Martin Anderson, exciting way, and its transparent the chief interest of Ondine’s sonorities and harmonies at times new Sibelius album are Aulis show flashes of a boldness that Sallinen’s orchestrations of eight demonstrates that Palmgren was songs. “The programme as a whole well in tune with contemporary has an intriguing form, opening international trends,” writes Mats with one of Sibelius’s last orchestral Liljeroos, comparing the two works and proceeding to one of his concertos on the album. “Janne earliest before going on to the song Mertanen is utterly comfortable orchestrations themselves. [- -] with this aesthetic. He plays with Sallinen’s orchestrations are a miracle finesse, elegance and – when Sibelius, Kortekangas Erkki-Sven Tüür Dedicated to of restraint, somehow managing to Selim Palmgren: April required – temperament.” Translations: Lilli Paasikivi, Tommi Hakala, YL Male Voice Christoffer Sundqvist, Pekka Kuusisto, FRSO, Aho – Narbutaitè – Salmenhaara – sound entirely appropriate without Janne Mertanen, Pori Sinfonietta, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi Choir, Minnesota Orchestra, cond. Osmo Vänskä cond. Hannu Lintu Rautavaara – Vasks cond. Jan Söderblom BIS-9048 Ondine ODE 1287-2 Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, mimicking Sibelius’s own style. The Alba ABCD 400 cond. Juha Kangas FRSO musicians under Hannu Lintu The full reviews can be found at Alba ABCD 414 contribute outstanding playing, in the fmq.fi/reviews 58 Recordings of the year 59

Folk albums 2017 Jazz albums 2017

One of the most eagerly awaited (accordion, keyboards and guitars). One of the big events of 2017 was moods to roughly humorous country folk-music debut albums this year “Each of the eight tracks on the album trumpeter Verneri Pohjola’s song improvisations and harrowing was definitelyMaija Kauhanen’s is a world of its own, yet they all go tribute to his father Pekka Pohjola anguished sounds of the Indian Raivopyörä Raivopyörä [The Whirl of Rage], “an together well – this album will knock (1952–2008) – “one of the revered nagaswaram. “The trio is one of Pekka Maija Kauhanen impressive musical journey”, as the your socks off!” icons of the 1970s European prog- Finland’s most versatile, appealing Verneri Pohjola Group Nordic Notes NN085 / NN085LP FMQ reviewer Riikka Hiltunen calls it. Ulla Pirttijärvi is one of today’s rock scene,” as reviewer Petri Silas free jazz outfits,” states Stenger. Edition Kauhanen plays all the instruments leading Sámi artists. According calls him. The album Pekka was one of The pioneer of Finnish modern jazz (kanteles and percussion) on the to Tove Djupsjöbacka’s review, the most heavily anticipated albums Heikki Sarmanto’s discography album herself, and is an impressively her second album, Roijk, with the by Finnish jazz, rock and prog-rock of over 50 albums is impressive. versatile singer as well, Hiltunen says. Ulda trio (Marko Jouste, lute scenes alike. Silas writes that with Sarmanto’s solo-piano album Open Despite their experimental sound and mandolin; Mikko Vanhasalo, Verneri Pohjola Group, a band Skies is a collection of 22 standards, world, the catchy and fascinating wind instruments; Ari Isotalo, tailored to this particular project, recorded live in 2011–12. Though, compositions are deeply rooted in percussion) is a well-balanced whole the trumpeter interprets his father’s as Jan-Erik Holmberg writes in his tradition. “This could be a future that embodies contrasts between tunes highly idiosyncratically without review, it can take a while before classic in Finnish folk music,” writes urban landscapes and the Sámi yoik becoming a slave to the original you realise that they are standards: Midsummer May Monday Hiltunen. tradition. “Pirttijärvi expresses a readings. “The stakes were high but “Sarmanto doesn’t necessarily state Dizzy Jukka Perko Tritone Karen Tweed & Timo Alakotila Also eagerly awaited was Midsum- wide range of feelings with her voice Verneri pulled the performances off the melody in the beginning, but Åkerö CD018 We Jazz WJCD01 mer May Monday, the third album alone, besides exploring a wealth with flying colours,” exclaims Silas in delves often deep into the music, by accordionist Karen Tweed and of colours and techniques,” writes his review. improvising over and beyond the pianist-composer-arranger Timo Djupsjöbacka. “The themes extend Jukka Perko Tritone’s album original changes. Sometimes the Alakotila. “Both musicians are from reindeers and fell landscapes Dizzy is a tribute as well. Saxophonist theme is only stated at the end of the supreme lyrical performers who have to high-rise buildings and visa Jukka Perko toured with The Dizzy song. [- -] Distinctive for Sarmanto is a true gift for uncovering the spirit applications, but however modern Gillespie Big Band in the 1980s, the peculiar juxtaposition of major and text of the tunes they play, and the subject, the roots of the yoik are and now, in Gillespie’s centenary, and minor. His touch is vibrant and both have a remarkable knack for always firmly present.” Perko’s trio pay their tribute to the confident.” creating textures that complement There is also a strong connection to legendary trumpeter – but according Jukka Eskola Soul Trio – saxo- each other’s sound,” writes Fiona nature in Maria Kalaniemi’s new to Jan-Erik Holmberg’s review, not phonist Eskola, Mikko Helevä on Mn Bo To BaranBand Talkington in her review. Some of album, Svalan. On the album, which in an overly nostalgic way. “Perko, Hammond organ and Teppo Mäky- Branches Global Music Centre GMCD1730 the album’s tunes are the duo’s own spent five months in the top ten on bassist Antti Lötjönen and nen on drums, with some featured Black Motor compositions, and some are rework- the World Music Charts Europe, drummer Teppo Mäkynen move the guests – released a 10-song album, We Jazz WJLP04/WJC502 ings of favourite melodies from across the versatile accordionist sings in onetime fierce music to somewhat partly from previously released EPs their years of performing together. her mother tongue, Swedish. “She gentler realms, still not losing the and partly new recordings. “The Talkington calls the recording “an has a pure and lyrically expressive original ideas and logics of the songs,” music is straightforward, stylish and exquisite album, which is a hymn of voice, and the accordion sounds as is Holmberg’s analysis. “The playing groovy Soul Jazz, almost directly praise to midsummer and to music fresh, emotional and lively as ever,” is impeccable and the trio gets a lot from the ’60s. However, the discern- itself.” writes Djupsjöbacka. On Svalan at out of the material. A 23-page booklet ing listener will find details with a Although a very different album, Kalaniemi’s side is the harmonium in English, with pictures and Perko’s more recent timestamp. The tunes – Roijk Mn Bo To by BaranBand is also a player Eero Grundström. “Both recollections of his days in Gillespie’s seven written by Eskola & Mäkynen Ulla Pirttijärvi & Ulda tribute to international collaboration. share a strong intensity in their Orchestra, is included.” and three old ones – are catchy and Open Skies Tuupa Records TREC-037 “Emotions run high and are freely music-making and the instruments “Since 2005, Black Motor (Jouni give nice solo opportunities, which Heikki Sarmanto on display – and expression is no are an interesting match – alike but ‘Tane’ Kannisto, saxophone; are well used,” writes Holmberg. • Svart problem when there is a voice like still different,” explains Djupsjöbacka. Ville Rauhala, double bass; Simo Translations: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi this on hand”, enthuses Amanda Laihonen, drums) has been a proudly Kauranne over the Helsinki-based local Tampere institution, making world music band’s album. The its own idiosyncratic way apart BaranBand consists of the Majidi from the orthodox Helsinki scene,” brothers Gian (vocals) and Marouf writes Wif Stenger. According to him, (string instrument tar), and Simo their tenth album Branches shows Svalan Kärki (bass), Lotta-Maria Pitkä­ the group’s astonishing expressive Maria Kalaniemi & Eero Grundström nen (violin), Ricardo Padilla breadth; it includes tunes ranging The full reviews can be found at Jukka Eskola Soul Trio Åkerö CD017 (percussion) and Esko Grundström from tender and edgily romantic fmq.fi/reviews Timmion Records TRCD 12004 60 Live performances of the year 61

The year 2017 was a year with wealth of premieres, celebrations and adventurous events in Finland.

A proliferation of premieres There were eagerly expected opera Composers were premiered around Björkenheim eCsTaSy, Gourmet, premieres such as Neljäntienristeys the country in a project titled Tenors of Kalma, VIRTA, Aki [Crossroads] by Tapio Tuomela at Sibeliuksen seuraajat [Successors Rissanen Trio and the Verneri the Oulu City Theatre and the opera of Sibelius], run by the Society Pohjola Group. event of the year, Autumn Sonata together with the Association of The distinguished EJN Award by Sebastian Fagerlund at the Finnish Symphony Orchestras and for Adventurous Programming Finnish National Opera (see also the Sibelius Fund. The commis- was awarded to the Tampere Jazz pp. 31–36). In February, the first ever sioned composers included Sampo Happening, which provided unique opera based on the Kalevala was Haapamäki, Kimmo Hakola, concert experiences once again premiered in Turku: Die Kalewainen Pauliina Isomäki, Kimmo in November. Verneri Pohjola in Pochjola, written by Karl Müller- Kuokkala, Kirmo Lintinen, Pasi received the Yrjö Award of the Berghaus in 1890. Lyytikäinen, Kai Nieminen, Finnish Jazz Federation at the In February, the Présences Mikko Nisula, Juhani Nuorvala festival. In the autumn, the Timo Festival explored cosmopolitanism and Ville Raasakka. Lassy Band celebrated its 10th in contemporary music with Kaija anniversary with a 12-stop domestic Saariaho as the featured composer. tour. Among the premieres at the festival Folk and jazz: festivals, In popular music in Finland, one was the world premiere of Ophelia/ celebrations and tours name outshone all others in 2017: Tiefsee by Finnish composer Juha T. Folk musicians were also in a singer-songwriter Alma (see the Live Koskinen. celebratory mood. The Kaustinen article Finland is finally pop at fmq.fi). The BBC commissioned Lotta Folk Music Festival celebrated its Wennäkoski to write the opening 50th anniversary in July to a huge number for the Last Night of the success and with record attendance. Proms. Wennäkoski’s Flounce, Finland’s first Ethno Gala was held in described critically as “deft and November, with awards given to the performances surprising”, was performed by the best artists in world music, folk music BBC Symphony Orchestra under and folk dance. Sakari Oramo. Ultra Organ by Kimmo Pohjonen, The Finnish Radio Symphony commissioned by the Cologne Orchestra celebrated its 90th Philharmonic, was premiered anniversary in the autumn. During in March. In this work, Pohjonen of the year the year, the orchestra premiered extended his already broad palette works by Magnus Lindberg, Olli yet further with an instrument Virtaperko, Antti Auvinen, of his invention, the ‘organ- Lotta Wennäkoski and Matthew accordion’. Multi-instrumentalist Whittall among others. The Maija Kauhanen ascended into Helsinki Philharmonic the elite of Finnish folk musicians commissioned new works from with her official showcase at the Jukka Tiensuu and Veli-Matti Womex world music expo in October. Puumala. The “Nordgrass” folk group Frigg The Finnish Musicians’ Union, continued to make waves abroad, which celebrates its 100th anniver- touring the UK twice in one year. sary this year, commissioned a new Finnish jazz was prominently orchestral work from Uljas Pulkkis. featured at Jazzahead! 2017, the The following pages contain highlights of Luonnontiede [Natural Science] was international jazz expo and showcase reviews of classical and contemporary event performed by eight orchestras around festival held in April in Bremen, reviews published on the FMQ website in the course of the year. Finland during the autumn 2017. Germany. The “Finnish evening” Also a total of 15 works commis- at this festival featured Kari Read the full reviews and find more reviews sioned by the Society of Finnish Ikonen Trio, Dalindèo, Raoul of live performances at fmq.fi/reviews. 62 Live performances of the year 63

Spaces for inspiration Blowing and popping bubbles

Finland’s largest contemporary music event, Musica nova Kytöharju Maarit In summer 2017, the Time of Music festival in Viitasaari took a broad- Helsinki, took place in February under the label Open Space. based look at the theme of Art & Autonomy. There was also discussion about social bubbles within the contemporary music culture. Maarit Kytöharju Maarit

Foreign composers on the programme included Michel van der Aa (photo), Qasim Naqvi and Lukas Ligeti. Andrew Norman was also present for the performance of his work Play, a recent recipient of the Grawemeyer Prize and one of the most striking new works performed at the festival. Uusinta Ensemble Talea Ensemble

Balancing the international Making concerts attractive was one of the many things in which The Time of Music festival focused The theme and title of the Time of ve re repertoire, the majority of g this year’s festival, planned by German conductor André not only on young Finnish composers Music festival this year was Art & g r the performers at the festival o de Ridder, was particularly successful. The programming but on young musicians in general Autonomy. In aesthetics, “autonomy” B

o

c

were Finnish. [- -] The focus r was diverse and inspiring, offering points of interest to this year. The courses offered refers to the independence of art a

was on a younger generation of M listeners from diverse backgrounds – strict central European included composition, improvisation from external norms. In the context composers, beginning with Sauli modernism on the one hand, but inputs from other branches of and conducting courses, for which a of this festival, autonomy emerged Zinovjev and Sebastian Hilli the arts, popular culture and electronic music on the other. record number of applications was as a synonym for the freedom “at the opening concert. Antti ” “received. of expression of art and artists, Auvinen’s work for UMO Jazz although the seminar discussions Orchestra and Moog virtuoso ranged far and wide, from the role

Kari Ikonen was an impressive Mattila Ville of art in society to autonomy of achievement, though performed funding and from the intrinsic value in the noisy environment of The principal featured of art to audience numbers, and The composer guests at a shopping centre, and Veli Finnish composer at the also the language used to discuss the Time of Music festival Kujala’s recital in the tiny festival this year was art. Autonomy was addressed in this year were Mark Kamppi Chapel was one of the Sebastian Hilli, the equally diverse ways in the festival Applebaum and James most atmospheric moments of entire Friday night concert programme planned by Johan Dillon (photo). Although the entire festival. Yet the most being dedicated to his chamber Tallgren, celebrating the freedom of very different in the music perplexing and hence most ensemble works. Hilli has gained art but also showing how layered and they write, they share a interesting world premiere fame recently“ particularly with his how dependent on history and society striving for creation on was Voices Out There for piano, orchestral work Reachings, and the contemporary music is. their own terms. electronics and video by Perttu energy, dynamism and carefully Haapanen, performed by crafted details of that work have Paavali Jumppanen. become established as hallmarks of his style, being apparent in these new • By Merja Hottinen. Translation: Jaakko chamber works too. Yet for all that • By Merja Hottinen. Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. The full review at fmq.fi he has an identifiable style, he does Mäntyjärvi. The full review at fmq.fi not repeat himself. Each of the works ” MUSICA NOVA HELSINKI (1–12 February, Helsinki) heard in Viitasaari was a musical TIME OF MUSIC (3–9 July, Viitasaari) defunensemble journey unto itself. 64 Live performances of the year 65

Terrorist threats Mäki Teemu Gatecrashing the Nordic Music Days and wry humour There was no intimate huddle of Nordic folk at the Southbank Centre. Instead, we experienced an esoteric new music conference gatecrashed by thousands In Riikka Talvitie’s opera Tuomarin of people every hour – from babies and pensioners to hip hop dancers and Despite London’s frenetic din, the vaimo [The Judge’s Wife, 2014], the traditional orchestral music lovers. That might have made networking almost feeling that nature continues to drama emerges from the everyday impossible. But the huge tide of humanity that almost overwhelmed the 2017 inform the work of Nordic composers conversations of the Judge’s family NMD was also its triumph: a characteristic gift from London, European capital to an extraordinary degree was but expands in the viewer’s mind – of creative curiosity and of the big crowd. “difficult to escape. thanks in no small part to Talvitie’s powerful music, reflecting horrors in its shrieking noises, dissonances and

“nightmarish repetitions. Through Padoan Paola ” the use of electronics, Talvitie incorporates concrete sounds from actual demonstrations.

Spiced with video and spoken voice, and stage-managed to perfection, the performance was riveting and “anxiety-inducing. ” • By Harri Kuusisaari. Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. The full review at fmq.fi

The Judge’s Wife – Chamber opera in two “This has been a beginning for us with There was similar focus in all manner In the piece, which set a text in the acts (19 March, Helsinki) Music: Riikka Talvitie Nordic music,” said artistic director of works, by composers as varied as southern Sámi language (the title Text/Libretto: Caryl Churchill Saara Kiiveri as the Maid of The Riot Ensemble, Aaron Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir, Per roughly translates as “towards the Holloway-Nahum, during a short Nørgård, Ðuro živković and more. mountains”), the Finchley children break in the ensemble’s Floral Night But perhaps it was most obvious in skilfully negotiated the semitones of Episode concert, describing how he Madeleine Isaksson’s Várije, where Isaksson’s main musical paragraphs Space travel and silent opera and his players had become aware of the vision in question was one of two while the Krishna group joiked in ““an idea, a unified vision in each piece elements meeting: the choirs of the counterpoint, swinging their arms One of the most anticipated events The Helsinki summer season culminated with the Helsinki Festival, and each composer.” Finchley Children’s Music Group with their Sámi mentors by their of the Helsinki Festival was the a long-standing multi-arts festival attracting a fairly established and of the Krishna Avanti Primary side. It was a simple enough piece Finnish premiere of Esa-Pekka culture-loving crowd. The festival was not short of works School. with a straightforward binary design, Salonen’s Cello Concerto. to support his thesis. Nor would it be sung in the Royal Festival Hall’s Premiered in Chicago earlier this The concert of the recorder quartet In Vixen, the Silent Opera’s helpful to make a full list of all those main bar amid the comings and spring, the concerto sounded Bravade included the premiere adaptation of Leoš Janáček’s that did. It’s enough to make special goings of a Sunday morning. With surprisingly Romantic at its Finnish of Antti Auvinen’s Air (Ayre) opera The Cunning Little Vixen, the mention of the inherent tightness and Anna ThorvaldsdÓttir’s Aeriality, “National Opera performance. for recorder quartet, video and audiences got to identify with the clarity in Kaija Saariaho’s Terrestre although for entirely different reasons, “electronics. The cross-artistic” work street-walking Vixen by inhabiting and Adam Vilagi’s Flame, the latter Padoan Paola it was probably the most resonant connected music with contributions her world. Silent Opera managed drilling deep into a single idea and performance of the whole event. from rope artist Tinttu to incorporate the strong visceral exceptionally performed by flautist Henttonen and cinematographer experience of a popular music concert Kate Walter, who worked as hard as Jarmo Kiuru. The end result into an operatic event: the music any musician over the course of the

Ville Paul Paasimaa resembled a screening of a dance streaming from the headphones event. film, with the live film music rising was splendidly combined with to the spotlight. With its ominous the interpretations of the singers and occasionally even violent sound performing in the midst of their ” world, the dark Air brought to mind audiences. the concept of danger music. • By Andrew Mellor, the full review at fmq.fi

HELSINKI FESTIVAL • By Sini Mononen. Translation: Hanna-Mari NORDIC MUSIC DAYS Bravade (17 August – 3 September) (28 September – 1 October, London) Latham. The full review at fmq.fi ” 66

#KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA NOTABLE NUMBERS

The total value of Finland’s music sector in 2016 was EUR 905.4 million.

Live music events played an increasingly important role, Live music 464 million accounting for more than half of Recordings 59.1 million the total. Copyright royalties were also up, rising by more than 11% Copyright royalties 95.5 million during 2016. Since the previous financial survey of the music Grants 24.7 million FESTIVAL AT HELSINKI industry in 2014, the industry has MUSIC CENTRE expanded by about 5.4%. Music education 270 million 27 JAN. TO 3 FEB. 2018

SIBAFEST.FI

The preliminary report on Jobs in the Finnish music sector by gender gender distribution in jobs and elected posts in the music sector, commissioned by Music Finland Female Male in autumn 2017, shows that in the Finnish music sector the majority 32.4 67.6 Enterprises of board members and senior 47.5 52.5 NGOs #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA #KANSALAISRAUHA managers in enterprises and NGOs are men. The survey covered 1,914 40 60 Orchestras jobs and elected posts in NGOs, 43.2 56.8 Higher education enterprises, orchestras, festival 59 41 Festivals organisations and institutions of higher education in the music 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% sector. Freelancers and small enterprises were excluded from Jobs in the Finnish music sector by job description and gender the survey.

Jobs in the Finnish music sector G LIVELAB 40.4 59.6 27.3 72.7 Board members 11.1. 19:00 PERKO / LA Board chairs 15.6 84.4 12.1. 20:00 Iiro Rantala Super Trio Managing directors, 35.5 64.5 executive directors and managers feat. Morten Lund and Dan Berglund 11.8 88.2 Artistic directors 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% 1.2. 19:00 Petteri Sariola 6.2. 20:00 G Livelab Jam Session

Members in Finnish associations of creative and performing musicians by gender 8.2. 19:00 Wimme & Rinne 15.2. 20:00 Mopo

The Society of Finnish Composers The Finnish Society of Composers The Finnish Musicians’ Union 1.3. 19:00 Maria Ylipää & Ystävät (art music) and Lyricists

9.6 90.4 15.7 84.3 29 71 2006 2016 www.glivelab.fi 9.8 90.2 21.7 78.3 34.6 65.4 Yrjönkatu 3 HKI NORDIC MUSIC HELSINKI • 7.–10.11.2018 DAYS HELSINKI PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA • UUSINTA ENSEMBLE NORDICMUSICDAYS.ORG AVANTI! • DEFUNENSEMBLE • HELSINKI CHAMBER CHOIR,...

Nordic diversity creates nordic unity with