The Finnish Gateway to the West: Soviet Avant-Garde Composers Music in Finland, 1965-1985

• In Event: Musical Mediators, Contact Zones, and Networks during the Cold War

Abstract

Cold War Finland was a curious country: a democratic, free-market economy sharing a long border with the USSR. Having developed confidential relations, cultural exchange between the countries became lively, allowing Soviet visitors to travel more freely in Finland than in any other Western country. Many Soviet musicians, in particular, managed to visit Finland frequently, some of them building professional networks enabling cooperation with Finnish colleagues. Especially Finnish summer festivals became places where many Soviet musicians could meet not only Finns but also musicians from other Western countries in a relaxed yet professionally fruitful atmosphere. While the Soviet authorities aimed to control Soviet artists’ appearances in the West, they seemed to have had limited means or willingness to do so. Goskontsert appears to have had more interest in the salaries received by traveling musicians than their repertory and activities in Finland.
This presentation examines performances of three Soviet avant-garde composers in Finland: Schnittke, Gubaidulina, and Pärt. Schnittke’s work was first performed in Finland in 1966, Pärt's compositions were played on many occasions throughout the 1970s, and Gubaidulina was introduced to Finnish audiences in the early 1980s. However, none of the composers were able to visit Finland from the USSR before 1984. Instead, their music was promoted by visiting musicians, such as violinists Mark Lubotsky and Oleg Kagan, conductor Neeme Järvi, as well as by some Finnish modernist composers. The presentation will examine the conditions and pretext of these performances, as well as their significance in the promotion of these composers’ music.

Author

• Simo Mikkonen, U of Eastern Finland (Finland)