The composer Erik Bergman has always built up his own paradise close to nature. There masterpiece. Its subtle timbres and rich spec- an Book of the Dead. Before Bergman created presented a radical profile. He is the inquisitive he can sit in a steaming sauna and look out of trum of emotions present two aspects of Berg- his visions of Bardo, a state between death and and rebellious type who refuses to accept re- the window and watch the antics of the sea- man’s creative spirit which, more than every rebirth, he spent years studying Buddhist phi- gulls. There, among the many wooden huts, he technical experiment, constitute the essence of losophy and also undertook numerous journeys stricting norms – the “odd man out” who goes has his own composer’s workshop. And there his artistry. to drink in the Buddhist atmosphere – among against the current. And for a long time this he cultivates his rock garden, he nurtures the other things he spent a longer period with Ti- image of the composer as the wild Ostro- plants with loving care, he wanders along the Seeking the Origin betan lamas in Nepal. The musical material of paths and he listens. the forty-minute work, as well as Bergman’s bothnian, the provocative innovator, the “eter- The morning landscape, with its sounds of While keeping his eye firmly on the future, own choice of poems (taken from a German nally youngest” of the Finnish composers, has awakening, frequently recurs in Eric Bergman’s Erik Bergman has also explored the past, translation of the Book of the Dead) is based searching for the very roots of the deepest been built up by the press like a cult. sound world. His early orchestral works in- on detailed studies of religious rituals and mu- clude Aubade (Op. 48, 1959) which, according existential issues. In the 1950s he studied sical formulas. This is a remarkable achieve- to the composer, was inspired by the morning Gregorian chant at the Vatican and he was also ment in itself, an impressive result from a mist in Istanbul, and he christened his first fascinated by ancient Mediterranean cultures. highly receptive composer with equal focus on concerto (the flute concerto which has already And long before it became fashionable to ad- intellect and intuition. The scale of the work become a classic) Birds in the morning. For here to Eastern cultures and religions he saw and the large number of performers – narrator, Bergman birds are a metaphor for freedom and the value of their wisdom. He realised that we mezzo-soprano, baritone, mixed choir and or- ERIK BERGMAN – have a lot to learn from ancient cultures, where flight. He himself has always wanted to be (and chestra – as well as the thematic material, often has been) the leader of the flock, a respect for the intuitive has survived to a far which is perhaps both strange and demanding Surrounded by Magical Sounds musical explorer. Birds are a feature of several greater extent than in the Western world’s for Western ears, has unfortunately prevented of his compositions, in particular the master- rational way of thought. this masterpiece from gaining its rightful piece for male choir Svanbild (The Swan) and Basically Bergman has always been search- position, not only in Finnish musical life but in Fåglarna (The Birds) for baritone, five soloists, ing for the common origin of different cul- the music history of the world. Today, when he can look back on a last movements of most of his major works, with different timbres. Since Bergman is tures, after an original music. He set out on ninety-year-long life and a sixty-year-long an explosive rhythmic catharsis which almost constantly on the lookout for new performance male choir, percussion and celesta. Both com- The fascinating sound world of Bardo positions are settings of poems by Solveig von that path as early as the 1950s in Rubaiyat (for Thödol is created with the help of a number of career as a composer – his opus list amounts to takes one’s breath away. And now, after his techniques, musical imagination is encouraged baritone, male choir and orchestra) in which he some hundred and fifty works – he is, if pos- great synthesis, the opera The Singing Tree and the musicians’ demands for technical Schoultz, who was the composer’s wife for Tibetan temple instruments – a damaru (rattle- more than thirty-five years. evokes his own musical vision of Omar Khay- drum), a dung-dkar trumpet (conch) and a sible, even more ecstatic than ever. One of his (composed 1986–1988, premiered 1995) he challenges are fulfilled many times over. yam’s poems and at the same time displays a most recent works, which he has actually called has finally composed a ballet, Le Voyage, Furthermore, Bergman’s collaboration with Nocturnal visions are also expressed in fantastic cymbal – part of his impressive private strong terms in Bergman’s music. The four- profound knowledge of Arabic and Persian mu- collection of folk instruments from the whole L’extase pour un guitariste (Op. 144, 1999), is a which was first performed in a concert versi- committed musicians soon resulted in a large sical traditions. In the same way he has also colourful, humorous étude, in which the gui- on in the autumn of 2000. A stage premiere is number of chamber music works for various movement choral work Nox is fabulously effec- world, souvenirs from his extensive travels. The tive. Four poets, writing in four different lan- sought out the very marrow of every cultural composer keeps the instruments in his own tar-player is given full freedom to improvise; to planned for the autumn of 2001, Bergman’s constellations. area that he has become acquainted with – and expand the intimate sound world of his in- anniversary year. One of the most noticeable features of Erik guages, have provided inspiration for totally home, hung on the wall or displayed on shelves divergent moods: the setting of Quasimodo’s there have been a good many of them over the and tables in his living-room. With inex- strument with singing, whistling and percus- Le Voyage is a thrilling documentation of Bergman’s compositions is the manifestation of years. sive elements, albeit within a clearly controlled a Western modernist’s fascination with Poly- an ear that is hypersensitive to sounds. First of poem is tranquil and meditative, Hans Arp’s is haustible enthusiasm he willingly demonstrates bizarre, Eluard’s is elegiac while the setting of His perhaps most personal work, Bardo the instruments for visitors. “Listen to this!” he formal framework. nesian rhythms, tangos from Buenos Aires, all he stretched vocal expression to the limit in Thödol (Op. 74, 1974) is a setting of the Tibet- To Bergman the present is all-important. samba and orgiastic South African rhythms. all manner of whispers, drones, smacking Eliot’s poem is completely ecstatic. Nox is a says, jumping out of his chair and striking two And the future. This was already the case in the The experiences of a month spent in the sounds and incantations. He was the first Finn- cymbals against each other. The sound is deep mid-fifties, when he was the first composer to southern hemisphere, filtered through the ish composer to experiment with speech choir, and penetrating. Full of atmosphere. Ancient introduce the twelve-tone technique in Fin- composer’s own identity, are presented in six inspired by his studies with Wladimir Vogel in spiritual culture. land. During the feverish rebuilding period movements, and the result is highly personal Switzerland. His settings of Christian Morgen- Burlesque and ecstatic. A master of colours. after the war, at a time when the musical life of world music. Erik Bergman’s ballet takes the stern’s poems Drei Galgenlieder for male choir Certainly, but all this is overshadowed by Erik Finland was still relatively isolated from the rest form of a cavalcade; the composer himself and Vier Galgenlieder for mixed choir and, at a Bergman’s vision. It is the inner life, the inner of the world, he was one of the most active calls it a dance poem for dancers, singers, later date, Bim Bam Bum for tenor, narrator, sound that counts, that which can’t be seen or pioneers of new music. At that time Bartók instrumentalists, chorus and orchestra. A male choir and instrumental ensemble have touched. That is the only thing that matters. stood out as one of the leading figures and radical never completely changes his skin and become valuable classics. Bergman has a mis- Lena von Bonsdorff Bergman regarded him as a synthesis of the Erik Bergman has consistently refused to chievous sense of humour that not infrequently opposites Schoenberg and Stravinsky: Bartók think in purely symphonic terms. breaks out in a peal of burlesque laughter. was the composer who liberated European art For many years it was also believed that music from the constraints of stiff, symmetrical the solo concerto was not his genre, but with Rich Spectrum of Sounds Erik Bergman will be 90 on 24 November 2001. rhythms. the orchestral work Colori ed improvvisazioni Music by him will receive an exceptionally wide But at the same time he is extremely aware of hearing this year, and numerous concerts are to (Op. 72, 1973) Bergman firmly adopted a be held around his birthday. These will include a The Sensualism of Rhythm colouristic-aleatoric tonal language. Shortly the microscopic sounds in his surroundings gala concert by the Helsinki Philharmonic Or- afterwards, inspired by skilled musicians and and nature has always been a significant part of chestra at which a new Bergman commission will Rhythm has always been a focal ingredient in their need for rewarding pieces, he tackled Bergman’s inner landscape.