• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Seeking the connection between feeling, words and music “I write the sort of music I’d like to hear. Isn’t that would every composer, if he’s honest, tries to do?” Thus Olli Kortekangas once crystallised his fundamental principle as a composer. Honesty has paid off, because many others also want to listen to his music. His choral works have found performers the world over, and his operas have spoken straight to the hearts of Finnish audiences. Olli Kortekangas is one of Finland’s leading contemporary composers. Kortekangas first made a name for himself in the late 1970s, when he co- founded the Korvat auki (Ears Open) group that shook Finnish musical life with its avant-garde. He nevertheless soon distanced himself from the strictures of modernism. His early works were often coloured by static, transparent textures and slow-moving layers of sound, close to a minimalist idiom. Then in the early 1980s, in such works as MAA (1985) and A (1988) for children’s choir, his expression began to expand, and in the 1990s it grew richer, more dramaturgically dynamic and emotionally powerful. The change in his musical thinking has, however, always been a gradual, evolutionary process, not a sharp new stylistic departure. Kortekangas has applied a wide range of compositional techniques, yet the material and underlying principle of each work has always been closely defined. It may, for example, operate at motif level, in which case a few notes may act as the nucleus for a whole work, or it may be some carefully-construed harmonic colour. Another defining characteristic of Kortekangas the composer is his close partnership with a few trusted musicians and artists active in other fields. “I gather a working community round me whenever I get the chance,” he says. 2 3 “I try to define man’s place in the universe” Vocal, and especially choral music occupies a focal position in Kortekangas’s More than music theatre usually has to offer output. He has applied all kinds of vocal devices, though special effects have come …Broad melodic lines, atmospheric descriptions, tonal to feature less with time. He pays great attention to his texts; life philosophies centres and perspectives, motivic connections and truly and worldviews are among the things that interest him most. To give an example: recognisable themes; some riveting, dramatic choral scenes, refined and from time to time ghostly sounds that his symphonic cantata Seven Songs for Planet Earth for soloists, mixed choir, really make one shiver; and even, astonishingly, a racy, children’s choir and orchestra (2011) addresses the relationship between man and humorous episode – all this alone amounts to more than nature. music theatre on average nowadays has to offer. “My vocal texts are fundamentally about understanding human existence. – Klassik Heute 10.8.2006 What is man’s place in the universe? In my mind I’m a seeker and a sceptic, but I’m also open to alternative explanations. I can handle doubt; the world can be explained in many ways.” One major category for Kortekangas is music for children’s choir. Heading the list here are MAA (1985), A (1988) and Ikikaiku (Eternal Echo, 1999); the radiophonic Memoria (1989) likewise explores the potential of a junior choir. His works in this genre have often been coloured by a workshop-style mode of composition collaborating closely with young singers, most notably with the world-renowned Tapiola Choir. Then there are the ambitious Verbum (1987), Shadows (2002) and the Mediterranean Sea cycle (2003) demanding much of their performers. The extensive Riemuvuoden juhlamessu (Mass for the Jubilee Year, 1999–2001) in turn represents a class of music composed for a specific purpose. Kortekangas has also written widely for solo voice. Some works, such as Amores (1989), have an orchestral accompaniment, others are in the nature of Lieder (Syvä ilo/Profound Joy, 1996) or chamber music. Foreign languages also interest him. “The language does affect the music,” he says emphatically. This is borne out in Vier Bilder aus dem Buch der Wandlungen (Four Images from The Book of Changes, 2001), using texts from the ancient Chinese Book of Changes in two languages. Another work, Pietà (2010) for soprano, viola da gamba and harpsichord, in turn represents the superimposition of many time planes: early period instruments, a contemporary idiom and poems by the anti-Stalinist Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Personal stories against a historical background Opera, a synthesis of diverse modes of expression, is a genre for which Kortekangas feels a natural affinity. He has so far composed seven operas, covering a variety of milieus and epochs and differing in their treatment. Yet they all, he says, have one communal theme: “The central idea in my operas is to view personal stories against a historical background.” Päivi Nisula and Hannu Niemelä in the opera Messenius and Lucia 4 5 Kortekangas’s first opera, the littleShort Story (1980), and the TV opera Grand he began to concentrate more on orchestral music. Rather than orchestral works Hotel (1985) represent his early experimental period and an alternative approach proper, he has nevertheless felt a pull towards concertos (Charms for piano to the genre. Joonan kirja (The Book of Jonah, 1995), based on the Biblical story, trio and orchestra, 1998, an Organ Concerto, 2009 and a Piano Concerto, 2011), marked a turn towards a more traditional kind of opera with a plot. Marian in which the things that meant most to him are drama, communication and rakkaus (Maria’s Love, 1999), examining 20th-century history overshadowed narrative. by war and dictatorship, was part of the operatic trilogy Aika ja uni (The Age of Over the past few years, Dreams) by three composers commissioned by the Savonlinna Opera Festival. Kortekangas has developed Messenius and Lucia (2005) describes the life of Johannes Messenius, a a special affection for true-life Swedish historian of the late 16th and early 17th century, but with the chamber music. “If addition of a modern dimension and debating the essence of historiography. opera is music’s cream The most highly-acclaimed of Kortekangas’s operas to date has been Isän cake, chamber music is tyttö (Daddy’s Girl, 2006) taking a look at recent, post-WWII Finnish history. its bread-and-butter. This opera has been staged both at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and the It is a licence and an Finnish National Opera. The libretto is by Kortekangas and Michael Baran, obligation to engage in and the individuals’ experiences and the historical context are, in characteristic musical craftsmanship Kortekangas manner, woven together as a single entity. Yhden yön juttu (One plain and simple. To me, Night Stand, 2010), spotlighting young people in a modern urban setting, is once communication, the inner again more experimental and his most modern in terms of treatment, and like dialogue of the music, is some of his choral works, it was composed along workshop lines. extremely important in Composing operas is, for Kortekangas, a major forum for collaborating with chamber music.” other artists. “I try to get together with the librettist as early as possible, and the Examples of this ongoing story begins to take shape as we talk it over. The libretto keeps changing right chamber music phase include Aveux up until the opera is finished.” Sometimes, however, his first collaborator on an for oboe and string quartet (2010) opera project may be someone other than the librettist. He formed the first ideas and a Cello Sonata (2012). Works for The Book of Jonah with Raija Malka, an artist who had done visualisations for period instruments are another for many of his works; not until later did the librettist join the team. interesting departure. The first fruit The composer of an opera is, according to Kortekangas, really a dramaturge. of this is Crossing the Five Rivers It is his job not only to mastermind the work as a whole but also to see that the (subtitled Hommage à Olivier characters have individual traits. Messiaen, 2008) for viola da gamba “In an opera, I create a personal musical world for the different characters, and organ. He has also written large a personal idiolect. This may, for example, be a leitmotif, but more often an solo works for the viol soloist Varpu instrumentation or harmony, or a phrasal construction. And the ensembles: they Haavisto. Another important category are the salt of the opera! There are far too few of these in contemporary opera.” since the early-2000s has been organ music written for Jan Lehtola and Kari Vuola – the weightiest example The drama of concertos and the bread-and-butter of chamber music of this being the Organ Sonata No. 2, Side by side with his vocal works, Kortekangas has composed a fair amount Stargazer, of 2005. of instrumental music. A major turn took place while he was composer-in- residence of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra in 1997–2007, for during that time, Kimmo Korhonen 6 7 LIST OF WORKS STAGE WORKS Grand Hotel (1985), 40’ Messenius ja Lucia Opera in one act (Messenius and Lucia) (2005), 1 h 55’ 7 soloists, spoken role, mixed choir, children’s Opera in one act choir, chamber ensemble: 1100/0100/02, 10 soloists, mixed choir, boys’ choir, 2 keyboards, strings 2222/2221/2/1, strings Text by Arto Melleri (in Finnish) Libretto by Juha Seppälä (in Finnish) Commissioned by the Finnish Broadcasting Commissioned by the City of Oulu for its Company/TV 1 400th anniversary in 2005 Fp (broadcast): Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Radio Fp: Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Oulu Chamber Choir, Ynnin Pojat Chamber Choir, SYK Choir, dir. Arto af Hällström, cond.

Load more

  21

Copy Link