Category Archives: Analysis

Sibelius, Bartók, and the “Anxiety of Influence” in Post World War II Finnish Music

Posted on 03/26/2006 by Ilkka Oramo

1. In his memoirs, Yehudi Menuhin tells about a meeting with Sibelius in the early 1950s. They were discussing music, and suddenly Sibelius asked him who, in his opinion, was the greatest composer of the twentieth century. Thus challenged by … Continue reading →

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‘Chaconne principle’ and form in the music of Magnus Lindberg

Posted on 08/12/2004 by Ilkka Oramo

ABSTRACT: In the mid-1980s, Magnus Lindberg began to use pitch-class set theory in designing the harmonic reservoir of his compositions. In UR (1986), the pool consists of twelve symmetrical 12-note chords made of a hexachord and its transposed inversion. The … Continue reading →

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Some Aspects of Bartók’s Notation

Posted on 03/01/1996 by Ilkka Oramo

Schoenberg’s annotations from June 26, 1923, include two machine-typed sheets entitled ’Zur Notenschrift’ (On Notation). The composer here sketches his ideas about a new notation for atonal music and remarks in passing: Bartók’s and Krenek’s procedures are inadequate and pedantic. … Continue reading →

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The Symphonic Poems: Formal Strategies

Posted on 08/01/1990 by Ilkka Oramo

Formal strategies in the symphonic poems of Sibelius are many (it is, in fact, surprising how different his works belonging to this vast category are between themselves). Instead of trying to draw a comprehensive map of methods and procedures that … Continue reading →

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