Question by Mikko Heiniö:
This question can only be asked by a composer (because no one else cares), and it has been asked quite a lot: Is it worth writing an orchestral work at all, if even in the best case it is likely to have the archetypal three performances: the first one, the last one, the only one? Although audiences consider new works interesting at symphonic concerts alongside the old favourites, conductors and managers seem not to believe it. What would you do if you became an orchestra manager?
Response by Minna Leinonen:
Thank you for the question, Mikko. This is a topic that you, Kalevi Aho and Paavo Heininen have mulled over a lot, and it is relevant not only for composers but also at least for musicians, listeners, orchestra managers, festival managers and conductors.
Image. It is partly a question of image. Osmo Tapio Räihälä wrote a book shaking up the conventional wisdom that contemporary music is difficult and won the Finlandia Prize with it (Miksi nykymusiikki on niin vaikeaa, 2021). One of my composition students once remarked that not even Mozart is easy listening for everyone. Besides, at almost every concert featuring contemporary music I hear someone saying how refreshing it is to hear music created in our time. My most recent experience like this was at a concert by TampereRaw in September, featuring premieres of pieces by Maija Hynninen, Ilkka Hammo, Tomi Räisänen and Cecilia Damström. One listener told me that this was music that one will keep thinking about at home, because it takes a while to sink in.
It would help in banishing the negative image and in fostering attitude shifts if contemporary music were performed more, but we are looking at a Catch-22 here. However, I feel that the issue is broader than just one of image and exposure.
Communication channels. There are multiple external factors at play in the listening experience, including how the work and the composer are featured in various communication channels. Obviously, Brahms holds more meaning for audiences than a living composer. Therefore works by contemporary composers should be written up and talked up more in advance. Successful publicity could even lead to the contemporary work becoming the main attraction on the programme.
Local perspective. If I were an orchestra manager outside the major cities, I would feature local artists. Waltteri Torikka manages Hämeenkyrön festiwaalit, the pride of its community, which has featured things like challenging operas by local composer Paavo Korpijaakko and by Seppo Pohjola, the latter about Nobel Prize winning author F.E. Sillanpää, a native of Hämeenkyrö. The audience consisted of locals, summer residents and casual visitors. Local accessibility provides low-threshold opportunities for experiencing art.
Vision, plurality, effort and collaboration. Going with what one assumes audiences to want or what is being performed elsewhere is not the only possible approach. If I had programmed the 2024 Tampere Biennale festival with the proposals that I was given as is, this would have resulted for instance in five works by one particular composer being performed. That is not conducive to plurality. It is all too easy to pick low-hanging fruit. Finding rarely performed or completely unperformed works takes effort. Your vision must be strong.
Could it be that one reason for contemporary music not being performed all that much is that it is not all that well known? Orchestra managers do not necessarily have a background in music. If I were an orchestra manager, I would have a repertoire committee to assist me, and I would make sure that at least one of its members was a musician thoroughly familiar with contemporary music. I would tell the committee that my aim is to have at least one piece by a living composer in every concert. I would engage conductors with an interest in contemporary music who would also be interested in performing less prominent works and composers. I would also consult publishers. In my festival work, I received invaluable assistance from Kari Laitinen at Music Finland and Henna Salmela at Fennica Gehrman.
The role of arts education. According to philosopher Martin Buber, education is about listening to that which is growing. Contemporary music is changing and commenting. Audiences can be found when people learn how to listen to many kinds of music. Taidetestaajat [Arts Testers] are doing great work in taking eighth-graders out to experience art. A similar programme called Taidekaari [Art Arc] has existed in Tampere for a long time. Arts education is the foundation for all artistic endeavours, including making music and listening to music. Continuous development of and resourcing for arts education could help rid us of the notion that ‘contemporary music is not for me’ – and actually, such a notion should never emerge in the first place. Important advocacy for Finnish contemporary music is also done in conductor training, where students are required to rehearse contemporary pieces, and conductors who have become acquainted with Finnish music then take it out into the wider world.
What is interesting to me is the many different ways in which we hear music and how our listening experience can change even within a single concert. Some years ago, Anna-Maria Helsing conducted my work Kaarne in The Red Bricks Session series of the BBC Philharmonic. In this programme concept, Kaarne was performed at the beginning and again at the end. Music journalist Richard Bratby had written a description of the piece that progressed in real time and could be followed by audience members on their phones during the concert, the purpose being to draw their attention to details and to prompt mental images. In the interval, the orchestra manager interviewed Helsing and myself, and questions were invited from the audience. For the second performance of the work, the audience was left to listen without the commentary. The response was enthusiastic, and listeners reported how they began to hear different things in the music on the second time around. Contemporary music can benefit from unusual programming concepts. It could be presented more in public spaces and amidst urban art.
Minna Leinonen’s Kaarne (2017) on SoundCloud. Performed by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing.
Signs of our times. Great composers such as Beethoven, Stravinsky and Sibelius wrote music that was contemporary music in their time. For us, these works, their performances and how they were received reveal something to us about humanity, culture, social events and roots in past times. Art history helps us understand the world, ourselves and each other. Similarly, contemporary music is an image of us, of our times, of what we think and feel. These signs of our times will help future generations understand who we were.
The late Jouni Kaipainen once said that an artwork belongs to everyone. If a piece of music is not received, it does not exist in this world. In the best case, a piece can manifest itself in a thousand different ways if there are a thousand listeners in the hall, he explained. Many of the orchestral works written by our members have been given exactly one performance, and some none at all. One colleague wondered whether we should put up printed scores of unperformed pieces on the walls of concert halls, so that in some strange way the pieces would exist and could be noticed. I fear that this would result in walls of silent music. What would that say about our times?
Conclusion. If I were an orchestra manager, I would programme balanced concerts, and for me, ‘balance’ includes the sounds of our time. According to colleague and long-standing orchestra manager Tero-Pekka Henell, it is a relatively simple solution to programme contemporary works as opening numbers, thereby gradually piquing the curiosity of listeners. I would also highlight ambitious and extensive contemporary works. Is otherness experienced as a threat to one’s own existence? Is not otherness ultimately essential for life itself and its continuance?
We write music to be performed and to be heard. Let us hope that the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Society of Finnish Composers in 2025 brings added lustre to contemporary music and lets our music be heard in diverse voices around the country.
Translation: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
Featured photo: Ville Hautakangas
Originally published in Finnish in Kompositio, the member magazine of the Society of Finnish Composers
