Playlist: Interfaces with early music in FMQ
Tuuli Lindeberg: “I often feel that with early music repertoire in particular I can sense something universally human, sincere and essential about voice production, breathing, ensemble work, expression and corporeality.”
Aino Peltomaa: “I try to let go of everything and just be in the moment with my instrument, be it the voice, the harp, or percussion.”
Olli Virtaperko: “Our initial intention was to create performance arrangements of Frank Zappa’s instrumental music, which we had to transcribe from albums as there was no sheet music readily available. Notating his intricate melodies, difficult rhythms and complex harmonies by ear effectively provided good preparation for my future career as a composer.”
Ilkka Heinonen: “Jouhikko is originally an instrument designed to accompany dancing. But what if a Karelian jouhikko player was spiritual and incorporated Orthodox religious songs into their playing?”
The Helsinki Baroque Orchestra has continued its activities since the release of the archival article in this special issue. In 2023, they were the first in the world to record the Finnish-born Bernhard Henrik Crusell’s (1775–1838)Viking-themed opera in Swedish, The Last Warrior (Den sista kämpen), the composer’s last large-scale composition.
Auli Särkiö-Pitkänen: “‘Kaamos’ refers to the sunless period of winter, yet here, its darkness already bears the seeds of summer’s endless daylight. The purity typical of 20th-century modernism meets a sombre free jazz feeling, intertwined with hints of Finnish mythology and woodland melancholy. The result is rough and pure, poetic and enthralling.”
Krishna Nagaraja’s Norwegian Suite for Hardanger fiddle on the album was inspired by the valley’s rammeslåtter (‘powerful tunes’). Nagaraja: “These were notoriously associated with spells and hypnotic, suggestive powers. As a very rational but also spiritual person, this captivated me,” says Nagaraja.
Olli Virtaperko: “Although my musical language has changed quite significantly since composing Kuru 15 years ago, some traces of the orchestral aesthetics of the piece are still present in my subsequent work, for example in the second movement of my electric cello concerto Romer’s Gap (2015) written for cellist Perttu Kivilaakso, that operates through colour, power and mass.”
Aino Peltomaa on Ensemble Gamut!: “On the previous album, we collaborated with the rap artist Paleface AKA Karri Miettinen.”
Krishna Nagaraja: “I started listening to these weird springar tunes, which sound in a way like polskas but they’re a bit deranged, very rhythmic. Sometimes you can’t really figure out the meter.
On Ensemble Gamut!: “For Aino Peltomaa, all music exists on the same plane, allowing influences to circulate freely, sometimes resulting in a complete merging of melodies from different sources, as heard on the opening track of Ensemble Gamut!’s debut album, UT.”