>> From the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. ^M00:00:05 [ Silence ] ^M00:00:24 >> On behalf of the libraries music division, I'd like to say that we're very pleased to be partnering with The Choral Arts Society of Washington in presenting the special noontime conversation as part of an ongoing music talks series that features noteworthy composers, performers and other interesting musical thinkers slated for the library's websites. Today we introduced the Finnish composer, Ollie Kortekangas, an important figure on the international music scene with 10--commissions from 10 countries. His new works, Seven Songs for Planet Earth, for metso-soprano, baritone, symphonic chorus, children's chorus and orchestra is going to be premiered at the Kennedy Center on May 22nd. You may have heard about the Washington Post description of this concert as one of the five not to be missed events of this season and I think you'll understand why when you hear this conversation. Joining Mr. Kortekangas this morning is the founder and Artistic Director of the Washington Choral Arts Society, Norman Scribner. He's a long time friend of the library and has conceived and conducted many projects here in our Coolidge Auditorium. Please welcome, Ollie Kortekangas and Norman Scriber. ^M00:01:30 [ Applause ] ^M00:01:36 >> It's our real pleasure to be here with you this afternoon and have a casual conversation about this piece which I guarantee you it's destined to go into the permanent repertory, this is a fabulous piece of music. And Ollie, it's such an honor and joy for me to be a cautery of yours for this--for this project. This had been three or several years in the making. This conversation will involve mainly Ollie and all of us together but I would like to make a couple explanatory preliminary remarks if I might. The first is a general philosophical comment about the mission of the Choral Arts Society. The mission statement is that we pursue excellence in choral repertoire and performance always putting repertoire first because that's what the art really is. It's the music itself. We just bring it to life in terms of its sonic reality. We are deeply committed to music of the 20th Century. We are deeply committed to commissioning things, doing second performances which is I personally feel are just as important as commissions because they help move the works that are worthy of it into the permanent repertory and third and not least, the encouragement of young composers who are as yet unknown by commissioning them as well. And all of this commitment is encapsulated in our slogan or mantra, whatever you wanna call it which we publish on our brochures: Celebrating the Past-Embracing the Future. Classical Music has gotten a little bit of a bum rap in the 20th Century because a lot of the experimental activities of composers have put off some audiences. But all you have to do is look back at the flood of great master pieces that have emerged out of the 20th Century and now into the 21st Century to understand that this is one of the most fertile if not the most fertile creative period in all of the history of classical music. And Choral Arts is absolutely committed and dedicated to that goal for all time I hope. And Ollie Kortekangas' new piece is just a wonderful shining monument in that many ages of works that we have been privileged to premiere or introduce to Washington audiences. The second thing I'd like to talk about before inviting Ollie into the conversation is just a little bit of background of how this commission came about. Like most good things, it happens with one person talking to one other person at a party or something like that. Choral Arts has an Embassy Association with each of its Christmas concerts every year and two--three or four years ago, we had the Finnish Embassy for about the second or third time and we met a fascinating person, also a Finn, Pekka Hako who was at that time the Cultural Counselor of the Finnish Embassy and a renowned scholar and author and personal good friend of Ollie Kortekangas. And we huddled a little bit and talked about the possibility of maybe a commission and I was intrigue because I've always wanted to learn more about Scandinavian music, what a fertile, rich and wondrous area of the world in its musical heritage. And one thing led to another and low and behold, Ollie came to Washington for another premiere, one of his works, I think it was at the Philips Gallery and so Pekka threw a party at his wonderful George Town home with a huge big screen thing and we watched most of the--of Ollie's opera, Daddy's Girl and at that point, I became not only convinced but enthusiastic and very fervent about the fact that we must find a way to make this commission happen. And sure enough, we've been able to locate the founding--the funding, excuse me, for it and we also have located a co-sponsor, Tampere Philharmonic over in Finland who will be giving as a co-commissioner with the Choral Arts Society, the premiere in Finland won't be for a while. It will in June I think in 2013. And here we are on the eve of the world premiere itself and I won't bore you with all the stages in between, just how the pieces got put together but they have fallen together so beautifully and we were all set and ready to go now. The final thing that I'd like to comment on before we turn it over really to Ollie is how the concept of the piece developed. We knew from the outset that it wanted to be a work that celebrated our planet home Earth and where we live and to draw people's attention to the fact that we needed to take care of this island home, we need to protect it and save it and love it and cherish it and preserve it. And all kinds of thematic threads came out of this idea. We were talking about an analogy with trees and how they grow and when that was discussed as the main theme of the piece for a long time. And finally, we settled on the nature of the text and the most salient thing that I can say about it is of the seven movements, of the Seven Songs, four of them are to the poetry of the Great American Poet, Wendell Berry. You might have noticed in the food section of the Washington Post, by sheer coincidence, a big article about Wendell Berry last Wednesday. And Wendell Berry is a new poet to me. I am embarrassed to admit, I had not known his works before but what a glorious voice that is in defense of saving our planet. And I think it's remarkable that a Finnish composer who had very right to pick a Finnish poet, or Finnish sources would turn to an American poet in English and create and craft his work four out of the seven movements to the poetry of Wendell Berry. And with that, I think I'd like to turn this basic conversation over--it's not a conversation yet so far. It's just a little essay on my part. I'd like to pass the torch if I may to our very distinguished and wonderful guess Ollie Kortekangas to basically tell us anything he'd like to and I hope that it will be exhaustive and interest--I know it would interesting but you take all the time you want to tell us anything you'd like to about this wonderful new piece. And we'll jump in with little questions from time to time and maybe a little time for the audience to ask a question towards the end. >> Well thank you Norman. As always it's a pleasure to chat with you and also a pleasure to meet you all. I hope you'll enjoy our little conversation. Well I could start with this--with your remark about Wendell Berry, a composer is always looking--a composer of vocal music like--I mean, I'm mainly a composer of vocal music is always looking for texts. So when the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble commissioned a piece from me about 4 years ago, I wanted to find a text which will be in English and which would be about nature and when I was looking for this text for that piece, I just happened to find a book about poems and nature and in that book there were several poems by Wendell Berry so I wasn't familiar with his poetry either. But the moment I read the first one of them I became a fan and I've been a fan ever since. I think he is a wonderful poet. ^M00:10:04 >> He's also an environmentalist, [inaudible] he has written prose and what's very special about him is also that's he's one of the people who really lived the way they preach. So a very interesting man. I have never met him in person. We have correspondent. We have sent him a couple of letters and got very, very friendly answers but I've never met him in person. I hope--actually we have invited him to come to the concert. So I don't know if he's coming but that would be a wonderful surprise if he came. But nevertheless he's for me a very special poet. As I told you, I'm--I've concentrated on vocal choral music. I have written other things as well. But I guess that the main emphasis of my work would be on music with the voice, with the human voice. So in that sense, I guess you would say that human voice is my favorite instrument. And I've noticed that when you find a poet which you think is--whose poetry you think you--your music works with, I mean functions with them I mean sometimes it happens that you find a good text and still you can't make it work as music. That's also possible and I have also experienced that. But in the case of Wendell Berry, I think that his music, it has a sound which somehow it appeals to me and which I--which is easy for me to transform into music. So I've noticed that once you've found somebody whose poetry you wanna--sets and you return to this poet again and again. So that's what happened in this case and I wanted to have Wendell Berry, four poems of Wendell Berry so to speak as the corner stones of this new piece, so-- >> Ollie maybe you could--maybe you could tell us a little bit about your early thinking about the text. If you wanted to comment on the tree theme that we talked about through some months, you know, groping for texts that had to do with trees and by extension all of the glories of the physical world around us, you know, and things that grow and live and then move over to the human side of that. >> Yeah. >> Sometimes we separate environmental issues and ecological issues with human issues. The closing movement of this which is the fourth and final of the Berry poems being set forth is heart wrenching, for as short a promise it is and this is I think possibly both of our favorite text in the whole thing. And the musical setting is so overwhelming as to [inaudible] description but it brings it so much to home that this is not just a matter of external things, this is a subject of human interest of the first water, not just admiring trees and things but this is our home. This is an interaction. We live in tandem with our home all the time and the Earth is our home and it's very human, the dirt on the street is where we live, you know? It's all one thing. It's all interlinked with our humanity. >> Yeah, well about the tree, that was just something to build on, something to start with. But actually that--I never abandoned the idea of the tree but what is-- >> Well, you know-- >> It's finally focused on something else and-- >> I have to tell you that the very first movement is Wendell Berry poem and listen to the word that appears in the first line of that poem. I go among trees and sit still, all my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water, my tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep like cattle. That is a beautiful verse and so you have matter of fact-- >> So we have a tree there. >> The tree is right there from the get-go. >> Yeah. Because the tree is of course a symbol for--symbol for-- >> Eternal life. >> I mean, yeah, circle of life and so on. So, but this turned out to be--to have more in the dramatic sense, more ideas at that time and then [inaudible]. Another favorite thing of mine is totally different from what I was just saying. But I'd like to go back to this first meeting. Roman [phonetic] told you about this. I think that for me also, it was very special and I--that was not planned in any way. We just found this mutual understanding. There is very quickly and I think that we have that to be--this mutual understanding we have maintained throughout this process. And I am very looking forward to hearing the first rehearsal and my first rehearsal of the piece this evening. It's a bit exciting of course. But first rehearsals are always difficult for a composer but I'm sure it's gonna be fine. So-- >> Would you like to talk to us about the other three movements and where the textural foundations of this-- [ Simultaneous Talking ] >> Oh you mean-- >> The other three. Yeah. Because and before you do that, would you permit me just to inject here the last verse of the first poem and which is very touching and it shows various ability to intertwine our humanity with the natural world. After days of labor, mute in my consternations, I hear my song at last and I sing it. As we sing the day turns, the trees move. Isn't that a beautiful evocation of the harmony between our humanity and the natural world? I find it to be. And when you see that resolution of a distant chord into a consonant chord wavering back and forth and finally settling in consonance, you feel like you've arrived at some very special place that has been created equally, jointly by the poet and the composer. This is, I told Ollie the other day in a conversation that I have never seen a more effective combination equally between poet and music as this man. He--it's like he and Wendell Berry wrote this music together, the poetry and the music together in a room. It's just that intertwined. >> Yeah, well, about the three other moments. The second moment is based on the very famous poem by Saint Francis of Assisi. It's known--I used the name the Praise of the Creatures. But it's also known the Conticola Sola or the Canticle of the Sun. >> Canticle of the Sun. >> Canticle of the Sun which is written in Ambrein dialect which I don't speak. Nobody speaks it anymore. But it's very close to Italian of course with some Latin flavor in it. And I hope I'd be able to--I hope it's correctly--I've understood it correctly. You would have to correct that. So, but it's not--I'm using also the English translation so it's in two languages, parts of it in Ambrein and parts of it in translation by Matthew Arnold. This was actually Norman's wish that I would use the Arnold translation. You remember, I don't maybe. >> Yes, I do. It's the one that we're all familiar with here in this country. >> Yeah, yeah. >> Yes. >> But it's a bit old fashioned to my ear. >> Yeah. >> But it's beautiful and I think it's in perfect harmony with Saint Francis. So I am using, I'm not using the complete poem but big parts of it. And then the, again, the third moment is a very moment, the cause moment is again different 'cause I wanted to use texts from very different sources. Geographically in terms of--I mean I have some very old texts and some very new texts and I wanted to have this variety. ^M00:20:02 >> In that sense the fourth moment is called Yoik, The Yoik. I think you either spell it with the Y or the J. I used the Y. Y-O-I-K, Y-O-I-K. I don't know if you have, some of you may be familiar with this term but it's--the yoik is a traditional singing style of the Saami people in the north of Finland and Sweden, Norway, Lakeland which is the northernmost part of these Scandinavian countries. And there are some Saami people also in the north of Russia. So the yoik is their traditional singing style and there are many interesting things about the yoik but one of them is certainly, the basic idea of the yoik. It's not--the yoik is not--when someone yoiks so he or she doesn't yoik about something but he or yoiks something, that's the difference. Do you understand what I mean? So through this yoik the person who is singing is trying to somehow to illustrate the real being of this object. Not singing about it but really singing it, telling what it is about. So this is the basic idea with the yoik. And it's--one more thing it's very often without words or just some like I've some [mumbling], this kind of thing about the yoik, nonsense text. Very seldom they use real text in the yoik style. >> So sonically the music is sort of like, it's not yodeling but it's akin to yodeling where there is a call and response between the mezzo-soprano soloists and the various sections of the choir. And it sounds for all the world like it's just some kind of a free form call with a held note that then ends real quickly. And it's just very interesting sonically the way that you can really feel yourself in the Alps somewhere and not be over the Alps or--not in Finland but there are some high places I'm sure in Finland. But it's one of the most, it's the central movement, it's the fourth movement. And it's one of the most interesting things musically in the whole piece, I think. And then we're going to await your very specific instructions tonight about it just the way you want it. >> Well, I have to warn you, I am not a yoiker. [ Laughter ] >> So this is just my version of the traditional style. You know, I don't--I hope your expectations aren't too big but I'm trying to, I'm gonna do my best. >> Yeah, we're all waiting for wisdom that's for sure. [ Laughter ] >> And tell us about the children's movement now because that's gonna be the most, probably the most emotional of all of them, you know. >> Well, another idea that I had was to--because I, first of all, I wanted to have a children's chorus and piece so I always wanted to have a children's chorus. >> I have got to interrupt here and tell you that he is the composer and residence to the world's greatest children's chorus outside of Washington, of course. [ Laughter ] >> Yes, yes. >> Where John's children's chorus of Washington is equally fine but it's the Tapiola Choir in Finland. And you are all familiar with their recordings I'm sure. And this gentleman has written so much music for them that he's--they're joined at the hip, Ollie and Tapiola Choir and you should know that for years and years. So that's part of the genesis of your great love of children's voices I'm sure. >> Yes, the children's choirs it's, I mean, I very much like to write for children and also in my other pieces have parts for children's chorus. In several of my operas I have parts of children's chorus. And of course I wanted to have one here and I was told that--I was told about the children's chorus of Washington which is actually founded with the idea of the Tapiola sound in mind because [inaudible] is the new director of the Tapoila Choir, Erkki Pohjola, the late Erkki Pohjola. And wanted to and set that as an example and she founded the choir which is of course very flattering to us Finnish. Anyway, I heard about this choir and heard that it would be available for this piece so that made me want to include a children's chorus part in this piece even more. So another thing I wanted to do with the children was not only to just write them some parts, some lines, some notes. But I wanted to include them, involve them in the actual creative process of the piece. So that's why I last for, I think, September maybe October wrote to [inaudible] and asked her whether I could have the choristers to write some verse, some texts that I would then later use in this piece. She said it was okay and then sometime in late November I got an envelope with lots of sheets full of children's, full of texts from the kids. And of course I have said, I mean firstly I said I won't be able to use everything. So I'm just gonna take something from them and use that. Make a collage. And then I did and I think I got a nice text together using these texts by the kids. Another wonderful thing about the children's chorus of Washington and myself was they also placed a commission of their own for me. So two weeks ago that premiered, a piece called Three Studies which is completely separate from this so I don't know where I got the time to write that as well. But I've seen it. I've seen a video of this. I was not able to, unfortunately, not able to attend the premier. >> I was there and heard it. >> You were there. Yeah. Yeah, but I've seen the tape and it's a good performance. It's a wonderful performance. >> It's really stunning. Stunning work and stunning performance >> Yes. Anyway, so in the sixth movement of this piece we have the children singing and playing some percussion also. And then reciting and singing their own texts which is, I think, it's a nice idea because that means that they are really--I mean that's different from singing just something, right. So I hope it's gonna work. >> Oh it works beautifully and I've already rehearsed them and you'll get to hear them this evening and it's really stunning. The older I get I know the more entranced I am with young people. And they're the hope of the world and they already--right now it's no more than we'll ever know. [ Laughter ] >> And they have risen to the occasion, to this occasion just so magnificently and I'm sure all of you are gonna very pleased tonight with their work. And everyone will be deeply touched when you hear this sixth movement and the words of these children being spoken from the darkness around and playing esoteric percussion instruments like sand paper blocks being rubbed together and rain trees that it make it sound for all the world like the rain outside. And pebbles being struck singly by an individual and then in large groups and then at one point by everyone in the choir that has some pebbles in their pockets. Not little tiny pebbles like that but good-sized pebbles that will make a little cracking sound. And one young soul has to strike a tam tam at two different points and will probably be very nervous to make sure that these, that he or she is doing it at exactly the right time. But we'll work out some communication on that. So it's really quite an undertaking logistically, I have to tell you, getting all of these organized for the sixth movement because the children need to be where they could be heard. The percussion needs to be where they could be next to each other. Well, that's one of the things we're gonna have to work out tomorrow night when we have our first shot in the hall. >> You know, I really admire this organizational side of things which is really beyond me. There are so many elements in this theater as always and the kids and the big choir and the orchestra and its rehearsals and schedules and money and everything. [ Laughter ] >> I'm really grateful for all this happening. You know what? >> Well it's such a joy when something is this great, you know. It's nothing but joy, pure joy. I'd like to if I may interject here. I've made the point as emphatically as I can that this piece dealing with ecological things and environmental matters is really deeply and equally linked with our humanity. The third movement of this and it's very short is a Wendell Berry poem and I'd like to read it you in its entirety, it's very short and see how it specifically ties the earth to our human experience. ^M00:30:06 >> And it's a--it's a set of couplets. Sowing the seed, my hand is one with the earth. Wanting the seed to grow, my mind is one with the light. Hoeing the crop, my hands are one with the rain. Having cared for the plants, my mind is one with the air. Hungry and trusting, my mind is one with the earth. And finally, eating the fruit, my body is one with the earth. How is that for a set of dup--of couplets that is transcendent in its simplicity and beauty and just hammers home the union between our island home and our very humanity? What else would you like to say to us? >> Well, actually I'd like to say something about what art can say about the world or should say about the world. But this isn't--not only this time but also before I written pieces with some texts which clearly have a message. Well, environmental or issues have always interested me or have interested me for decades. So, what was for instance happening in the past few years in the world? Catastrophes and I'm not--this is not a reaction them really but it's more like a manifestation for world view. So this is an important--these issues are very important to me. But I would like to say that the--I mean it's not--I don't think it's the task or the function of the arts to really to say things that can be said otherwise. So now I actually like to quote Wendell Berry again. He has said something like people do not--people don't--sorry, I'll have to--I have to think about it. People need more than to understand their obligations to each other and to the earth. They also need the feelings for these obligations and I think this is what art, what the arts can and should do. They should give the feelings. They should--I mean of course when you write a piece with the text and then the thought of the intellectual level, poetic level. But there is also this emotional level which is I think there is a basic level, the most important thing of what you--and to take care of that and to make sure that that's where--that that's powerful enough and that's really what you should concentrate on. And I don't think that it's right or even possible to calculate the listeners' reactions when I write something. And I don't think that here are the audience should think that and here it should think this and so on and so on. But I rather want to speak of sharing experiences with my audience and hope that whatever I've created is strong enough to carry the message, the emotion to the--to my listeners. So that's my philosophy really. >> And that's a wonderful philosophy, Ollie. I mean I resonate with that so much I cannot tell you. I mean music is a lot of people will just think of music as constructs and just artifice, and it's so much more. In fact the finest definition of classical music I ever heard is by Martha Eastman [phonetic] and the county center at the party when she left the post as our artistic director there. And she said art across the music radar is entertainment but it is also so much more. And it's that added dimension and I think Ollie lives in this world where he understands that it's not just constructs but it's creating works with a matter in them that is connective tissue and relates directly to the humanity of another person. Your heart touches another heart. >> Yeah. >> And all the artifice in the world is just the bridge over which this communication takes place. And that's the greatest of any composer and this gentleman here has it in space as much as any person is walking on the planet today, I assure you. I think we're on holy ground to be in the same room with you really. You're a great creative artist. I--Ollie and I are both and anyone who reads his poetry are fascinated with it. But I can't let this session go by without reading you the final poem which for me is the greatest of the poems in there and is--and also for me is the most compelling of the--of the movements because of this so perfectly captured and--and always trial movement. What the poem does is it acknowledges the despair that many of us feel over what's happening to the planet. But then it also brings us to a quiet place and a restful place where we can contemplate that in the end it's going to be alright and he creates a scenario by which that point is made apparent in a very moving way. So, see if you don't react to this poem that same way. When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's life may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief--of grief, excuse me. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light, for a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. If that isn't a great summary poem of the message that Ollie is trying to deliver through this great marriage of text and music that he has achieved, I don't know what else is. I can scarcely you could tell like show [inaudible] at it. [ Noise ] >> I think we have uninvited questions but-- [ Simultaneous Talking ] [ Laughter ] >> This is the time. [ Laughter ] >> I think it's wonderful to have all this relationship between text and music. And I'm--I have to say coming out of tradition of incredible music making, it's gonna maybe and somewhat particular, there are many, many giants of composition. I think it--I think it would be wonderful to hear who influenced you in your musical development and what is your own expression of where--what it--the musical kinds of statements and contributions that you see your own writing going. I'm fascinated to hear that. >> Okay, that's a--that's a big question of course. But--I think that that--well, I grew up and studied in an atmosphere where the--in Finland anyway there were and maybe in European journals there was this big discussion about whether you are going on and what about--I mean a big discussion was that you are a modern store, traditional store what I--and there is nothing in between and there was this big, big debate going on in the European musical [inaudible]--music college at that time in the '70s, I mean 7--'70s and early '80s. And the--I always--I think I felt I was more--I belong to the modernists but I know we fell through the [inaudible] with this--this idea that you should be either or. And I think that what--what we are experiencing now or have experienced for--for several decades now is--is a liberation of hysterics in composition which is I think it's wonderful. This means that you can--you can learn from--from you can learn from [inaudible] and you're gonna learn from jazz and you're gonna learn from the traditionalist and the traditionalists and you can learn from the modernists and so on. So I think that this--this is--I mean this is obvious and I think you--I think you know this but I just wanted to mention so the--the atmosphere is totally different. And--if I think about my--my idols and my--and the composers that have been important to me, so there are--there are lots of them. But the first one I should mention here--or not should but I want to mention here is my teacher in [inaudible] who was--who was a well-known, very well--also in the states and he was a wonderful teacher and probably has influence--has had a lot to do--has had a lot to teach to me and I've--learned to lots from him. ^M00:40:33 >> So he's been a--he's been a--he's been a big figure. Sometimes people ask, this one is a Finnish composer, you get--often get this question about Sibelius or what's the meaning of Sibelius because he is so--he was so big, such a great composer and very special composer. So for me, Sibelius is a--I mean distant enough in terms of time, so I don't have this. He is not--not a bit of a problem for me anymore. He was a bit of a problem for the people who came after--right after him. But for my generation he's just--just a great composer with lot to learn from. For instance the Seventh Symphony which is--which is a great one moment art really is a--that's been held as--as a very important composition to Finnish composer by many. And I agree and that's been an important work for me too. But in general I'm--I think there are many--I've been influenced by many composers and my choral background, I used to be a choral singer, did a bit of conducting as well. And then now I came but beat. [Laughter] So, that has meant that I've--I want to know lots of vocal--choral composer for different ages and I think that many of them have influenced me. So, I'm--I think that the--you can really learn from somebody like Palestrina or you can learn from somebody like Bach. Oh, so it doesn't have to be contemporary music. So this was a terribly long answer to a very compact question. Sorry. [ Laughter ] >> We have a question back here. >> My lady friend has two dogs and we often kid about the fact that they have no forethought. And if I understand Wendell Berry's poem which you just read, Norman, being in the presence of this is actually a powerful thing. The opportunity to confront a culture unlike that of humans that does not have forethought of what could happen, the perils that lie ahead. >> Yeah, it's analogous to the words of Christ talking about why care when the sparrows in the field--in the sky don't worry about tomorrow, you know, it's--it's a certain highway and byway so to speak of freedom that we should all be able to retreat too at will when we--we do >> Yeah, but this is--yes, and how difficult it is for us, right?. >> Yeah, yeah. >> I think we are thinking too much. [ Laughter ] >> I have to work pretty hard. But you know, I'm just old enough that I have gotten the point where I can invoke that pretty much when I need to. You know, it's gonna be alright because I've been through as everyone has in their life a lot of stuff. And you still get up in the morning, you still have your cereal and your coffee and you know, and you were back on it and why was I so worried the day before about something. And so you--the time goes on and you realize that there are great lessons to be learned from the very point that you're emphasizing there and I certainly resonate with this our-- >> Yeah, but that's--that was [inaudible] just a little thing that I'd like to add just something that is very, very good and I--I think that the difficult thing in writing a piece like this for instance with an unyielding texts like that that which--I'm sure that Wendell Berry has done a bit of constructing as well [inaudible] he's not only lived those expertise--I mean he is also a great constructor I think. A [inaudible] artist and so this, this sort of this paradox that the--there is so much of technique and thinking and you have to do what's right. You have--you have to do a lot of--a lot of constructing and thinking and analyzing and so on and still try to maintain this freshness of ideas that's--there was a big issue and that's--that's--that's wonderful but it's difficult. Yeah. >> I'm a member of the course and I'd like to say that it's been a joy to go through the process of rehearsing and learning this work, growing and understanding and appreciation of it under Norman. And as a native of Kentucky and we're proud of the fact that [inaudible] comes from Kentucky. And it's a state where there's a lot of natural beauty and there's also a lot of abuse of nature but I hope in your travels that you may have a chance to see Kentucky and maybe meet [inaudible] there. >> Well, that is my hope as well, yes. >> Anyone else like to ask some questions? ^M00:45:56 [ Noise ] [ Inaudible Remark ] ^M00:46:04 >> Actually its part two to my other question where you came from but in terms musically where would you like to go that is unique to you? What kind of musical development or expression or contribution do you see your music creating? >> Well, I'm hoping--I'm--I feel that t I've always been interested in sort of things in music and I've just grown better all the time. So, that's--that's my first that I will be--become better and better as a composer. I mean, you know, ever since but I can't really answer the question because now I have written a number of huge works now in the last few years. This is one of them, big work. I've also written an opera, a piano concerto [inaudible] and the thing that I'm concentrated less on is really instrument on music as such and the music [inaudible] and that's probably the direction I would like to go to and try to--try to get better also in that field. So that--so that these are very concrete [inaudible]. Do you mean more in the intellectual and emotional sense of. [ Inaudible Remark ] >> Yeah, yeah. >> I know that it's been, you know, there's certain musical challenges in this score from when I hear from-- >> Oh yes indeed. >> --that it's not the easiest case to do it if there are multiple rhythms against each other. >> Yeah. >> And then he thinks that are challenging. >> Yeah. >> But to that, I'd like to like to say that I'm like every composer it's always trying to be as practical as possible but sometimes you just--you just do whatever you can and then sometimes it--sometimes the music is a bit difficult to perform but that's what rehearsals are for. [ Laughter ] >> Any other people who would like to inquire--make an inquiry of Mr. Kortekangas? This is Julia Veta [phonetic] who has helped us with our Italian pronunciation. >> You mentioned earlier that you collect these texts. Sometimes you have one that you love and can't get it to work with your music. I wonder what your process is for taking a text and having it lead you to music and how do you find the point where they mesh together? >> Oh yeah. That's interesting, yeah, yeah. I'm--because I really--what I do when I get a new poem--found a new poem, I, well, first of all it has to has--it has to be appeal to me somehow that I stop there, right, and I really stop to read it so through and through. So that's--that's the first thing. It has to have an appeal. It has to be something special but the second thing [inaudible] that I really make an analysis of the poem. I mean, I'm not a scholar in that sense but in my own way, I analyze the poem and try to--try to see if what was--how it was built and what the different images are and how they are connected. And one important thing is the rhythm. If it doesn't have a rhythm which doesn't--it doesn't mean that I should use the same rhythm when I said it but it should have something that--that it should have a rhythm of its own which my music would then relate to. So that's--so it's pretty analytical in the beginning or in the second phase ^M00:50:01 >> And then after that I just try to compose then and after all the screw up it's often, most often works, it functions. And when I find--when I'm trying to write a poem which I can make work and then I know that it's pretty soon. >> We can get someone in the back there. >> Yes sir [inaudible] about the great influences on your work particularly influences that might [inaudible]. >> Would you mean like a something connected with the nature maybe. >> Perhaps. >> Yeah. Yeah, I--when I was young I would have said no. There's nothing--I mean, nothing, you know, but I don't know nothing. But now that, but now that I'm growing old I think that, for instance, the [inaudible] landscape really is something which clearly has an influence on what I do. As for the Yoik there's a subtitle it says "Yoik: Chanting the Landscape" so I even have it there. So that's one thing and I, I'm--I have a country house where I spend more and more time and I just, you know, sit and look at the window [laughter] and I mean its clearly that the nature clearly is extremely important to my work and that's one thing. Of course, the other thing would be the language of course. I've written a lot to Finnish text and I think that the Finnish language which is a very special language is a good thing in language. It's one of the best. It's almost like Italian I think or Russian to me anyway. So the language clearly has influenced my music not only the vocal music but I think also the way in which use rhythm in my music and the proportion and so and so. So I would tell nature, language the big thing but I would say that they are meaningful. >> Thank you. And I'm very interested in that comparison that's suggestion that Finnish Russian comparison. >> Well, of course, I'd say it's a completely different language group but I mean the sound in a way, yeah. >> Is this work an oratorial in the traditional sense? Are the soloist characters there's a [inaudible] as a crowd that you agree or disagree I don't know. >> Well, not in that sense no, no. >> Maybe a cantata might be a-- >> Yes. >> A more generically correct. Would you think possibly? >> I would say so. It's--of course I'm an oratorial. It's a-- >> It's a story of some sort. [ Inaudible Remark ] >> Yes, yes, yeah. So I would say that I would agree with Norman this more like a large cantata, yeah. >> [Inaudible] it even really reaches symphonic proportion, you know, sometimes there is such a thing as a choral symphony like Phillip Glass's 5th Symphony or something like that, a cantata or symphony. >> You come from a musical family. >> Not really. No. I come from a family where the odds where practice and we--my father is priest and my mom is a--worked as a language teacher. So literature was actually that big thing in our home so we have lot of books and I always read a lot so that's actually we we're talking about text earlier. So that's one thing, one important. Another important thing that I've read a lot all the time since my childhood so, but music in my, I mean I started to play the piano when I was 6 but there's nothing, nothing special going on musical in our family. But more like generally, you know, culture of the arts. >> But the [inaudible] on literature [inaudible] that led you to go under direction of choral music. >> Absolutely and operas also yes, yes absolutely, yeah. >> So everything after, I mean everything happened-- >> I think was-- >> Everything is connected to something else, right? >> I think we're approaching the time where we need to let people get back to their desk at work or whatever and before we leave, however, I would like to acknowledge that this very day is Olli's birthday. [ Laughter ] >> So let's just say right big happy birthday. >> Thank you. [ Applause ] >> Well this--well this is a--it's a wonderful way of celebrating one's birthday, you know, celebrating with you so thank you very much for your attention and-- >> Well-- >> Thank you Norman. >> Very grateful to you to take your time to come in and let us get to know you a little bit and we hope we can all--I hope you all be there on Sunday to hear this piece. It's a 5'o'clock second half of the programs. We will be preceded by a little quick run through all four of the Scandinavian countries with some delightful music to get as in the mood for the masterpiece of the second half. So--let's wish each other all good luck and [inaudible] things as we depart the scene here and hope that our paths will cross again within the week. And without the--thanks to [inaudible] and the Library of Congress for this very distinguish series that you present here and all of your services. I'm proud to telling anyone who cares to hear it. It has the reason I live in Washington, D.C. as a Library of Congress. I've been here so many times to research for [inaudible] literature. It's resource that's just so incredible you [inaudible] description. So and thank you so much for you and all of that your colleagues offer to us for so many years. We're deeply indebted to you. And thank you always so very, very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you [ Applause ] >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.