Music Matters

Finland Special

Saturday 17 March 2007 12:15-13:00 (Radio 3)

Tom Service takes a musical journey through Finland and discovers the state of Finnish classical music as the country celebrates not only its 90th year of independence but also marks the 50th anniversary of Sibelius's death.

From discussing Sibelius's legacy at Ainola to attending the Musica Nova Helsinki new music festival, Tom finds out what drives Finland's classical music scene and what we can learn from its impressive music education system.

He speaks to composer Magnus Lindberg, conductor Suzanna Malkki and managing director of the Association of Finnish Music Schools Timo Klemettinen as well as other prominent Finns on the front line of Finnish music making.

Duration:

45 minutes

In this programme

Finland
No country's identity is as bound up with classical music as Finland's - symbolised by the composer Jean Sibelius. His music inspires images of frozen landscapes, of dark forests, of midnight sun. He was the catalyst for a musical culture that has produced an array of great composers and performers. Tom travelled to Helsinki to get to the heart of what drives the extraordinary Finnish music scene.


Sibelius at home
In the 50^th Anniversary year of Sibelius' death, Tom visits the spiritual and literal birthplace of music in Finland: Ainola, - home to Sibelius and his family for over 50 years. In the company of the director of the Ainola Museum, Hilkka Helminen, and the Editor-in-Chief of the complete Sibelius Edition, Timo Virtanen, Tom discovers the radiogram that Sibelius used to listen to broadcasts of his music and the workroom where he wrote his 8^th Symphony and then burnt it in a green fire place.
After Sibelius
To follow in Sibelius' footsteps was an onerous task, but one he inspired subsequent generations of composers to take on. In the shadow of the magnificent Sibelius monument in Helsinki, Tom talked to York University senior lecturer, Tim Howell, whose recent book on the subject of post-Sibelius composers reveals how they turned against tonality and looked to serialism and modernism to find a new voice.
Tim Howell: After Sibelius. Studies in Finnish Music. Pub. Ashgate. h/b £60.


Magnus Lindberg
One of the leading Finnish composers today, Magnus Lindberg feels a deep connection with the music of Sibelius. Initially, he and his contemporaries in the Ears Open society rebelled against the traditional musical forms, with strong views on the shape of music to come. Gradually Lindberg has found a balance in his music, influenced not only by Sibelius, but by a sense of Finnish identity. He tells Tom how he considers music to be at the core of cultural activity and a means to reaching out to the rest of the world.
Susanna Malkki
A product of the powerful Finnish education system, conductor Susanna Malkki is now the Artistic Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris. Tom caught up with her at the airport just as she was about to head back to Paris and asked her about her own experience of music education and why she's leaving Finland.



Music Education
To see what is happening at the grass roots level of education, Tom visits Kaisaniemi Comprehensive School in the middle of Helsinki and talks with music teachers and pupils there about their enthusiasm for a lifelong musical experience. Timo Klemettinen, Managing Director of the Association of Finnish Music Schools and Secretary General of The Finnish Music Council explains the way the system of music education has changed and how investment in culture is the means to a bright economical future.
To finish his journey, Tom catches up with Heikki Valsta, director of the Musica Nova festival and Reijo Kiilunen, founder of Ondine records, to look into the future for Finnish musical culture.

Music Matters

Episode and Playlist Information

• 24 March 2007
• 17 Mar 07 Finland Special
• 10 March 2007
• 3 March 2007
• 17 February 2007
• 4 February 2007
• 21 January 2007

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