Browsing by Subject "electroacoustic music"
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(Electroacoustic Music Studies Network, 2014)In this paper, I explore different examples of how the new means of performing music in concert and happening settings manifested in the early years of electroacoustic music in Finland. No single point when electroacoustic music arrived in Finland can be pointed out. The development was slow and the central-European trends never landed in Finland in their pure form. Experimental concert performances of the radical young generation of musicians played a significant role in the emergence of the electronic medium in the Finnish music scene. The young composers and artists absorbed influences quite freely. Although their work can be seen even as a conscious protest against tradition, influences from the works of Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage, for example, were strong. This paper focuses on the works that expanded the traditional organization of a concert performance, introduced new means to perform electroacoustic music or applied electronic music technology beyond a music concert setting. These include, for example, film music, art exhibitions, happenings and even poem reading events. The examples are gathered from the works of composers Henrik Otto Donner (1939–2013) and Erkki Salmenhaara (1941–2002), avant-garde artist Mauri Antero Numminen (b. 1940), experimental film maker Eino Ruutsalo (1921–2001), as well as their close collaborator, electronic musical instrument designer Erkki Kurenniemi (b. 1941).
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(Electroacoustic Music Studies Network, 2012)Erkki Kurenniemi was a central figure in the Finnish experimental and avant-garde scene during the 1960s and early 1970s. He collaborated with several Finnish and Swedish composers and artists, designed a series of unique electronic instruments and founded the first electronic music studio in Finland in 1962. Kurenniemi’s technologically oriented approach to the composition process challenges the traditional idea of the realization of a musical work – and blurs the definition and meaning of the work-concept. Kurenniemi’s compositions can be roughly divided into two categories: “official” pre-planned works and material tapes. Kurenniemi produced a large amount of electroacoustic material to be used in compositions by him or other composers. Some of this material ended up on audio releases as such and gained the status of a musical work. The use of raw, unedited and unprocessed material gives an interesting starting point in analysing the definition and meaning of the work-concept in electroacoustic music. Here, an overview of Kurenniemi’s electroacoustic music is presented with special interest in material tapes and instrument demonstrations that either have so far remained as such or that have been considered as musical works. Recently, there has been a growing international interest in Kurenniemi’s work, both in the form of art exhibition exposure, audio releases, academic research as well as a film documentary by Mika Taanila. The transformation process of material tapes into pieces of art still continues due to audio releases of previously unpublished material.
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(National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 2014)The University of Helsinki Music Research Laboratory and Electronic Music Studio is one of the oldest studios and research facilities of its kind in the Nordic countries. Originally named "Ääniteknillinen laboratorio" (Laboratory of sound technology), the studio was the leading electronic music facility in Finland from the early 1960s to the late 1970s. Built and maintained by Erkki Kurenniemi, the studio served also as an important center for the development of electronic musical instruments. In the mid-1980s, the focus of the studio shifted toward research, first in the form of computer music software development and later in various fields of research. In the fall of 2012, the studio celebrated its 50th anniversary. In the same year, the studio moved from its long-time location at Vironkatu 1 to the Topelia building in the historic center of Helsinki. Lately, the studio has gained new interest in the Finnish media, especially through the pioneering work of Kurenniemi. This studio report describes both recent activities and the early history of the studio.
