Photo: Pekka Mikael Laine Max Savikangas Suomeksi - In Finnish Born 1969 Violist, composer Max Savikangas goes on his own paths in the Finnish contemporary music. So far he has shown little interest in traditional forms of classical music. Similarly, he has questioned many common habits of concert life, whereas most young composers aspire to win acclaim in more usual ways. Firstly, composing is only a part of Savikangas's action. He is an acknowledged viola player as well. Secondly, he is not just another viola player, but without doubt the leading specialist in the contemporary viola music in Finland. In his compositions, he has constantly aimed at widening the expression scale of the viola. However, these new playing techniques are not the final goal, but a necessary method for the composer to achieve his own musical expression. There was a good reason to call Savikangas "the Hendrix of the viola" (Jukka Isopuro, Helsingin Sanomat). Furthermore, Savikangas is not only an instrumental composer. He began his proper composing work with electro-acoustic music, although he combined it very early with instrumental music. Savikangas is a multi-artistic composer. Especially his early works were connected to visual arts, and later he used recited texts as parts of his compositions. In the former, the outstanding works are often various electro-acoustic soundscapes and sound installations, such as Up or Down, which was set up in an elevator at the Sibelius Academy in 1995. In the latter, Savikangas has used texts written by the artist Teemu Mäki, for example in the Milk (1999), which is a melodrama for a reciter and a string quartet. So far Savikangas has not written traditional vocal music. A composition bug bit Savikangas in the late 1980's, while he was doing a studio study at the Helsinki University department of musicology. Suddenly, he was very enthusiastic about electronic working on sounds, and this quickly led to making his own electro-acoustic compositions. He started writing instrumental works in the 1990's. They were connected to two things: firstly, to his progress as a viola player, and secondly, to his beginning to study music theory and composing at the Sibelius Academy, first under Paavo Heininen and later under Anders Eliasson and Olli Kortekangas. Eliasson in particular had a vast effect in establishing instrumental composing as part of Savikangas's work. The border between electro-acoustic works and instrumental music is after all not very clear in Savikangas's music, because he has constantly combined the two. Savikangas has often used concrete sounds in his electro-acoustic works and soundscapes, but played, sung and synthetic sounds are also his sources. The starting point in his instrumental works is improvising. Savikangas improvises on the viola, and as often happens, some ideas survive and begin to live their own lives. Some of these end up in written compositions. The nucleus of his composing is the heard sound; larger musical forms are born from interesting sounds – if they are strong enough to survive. Improvisation has a special meaning to Savikangas as a performing musician as well. In the meantime, he has shown great interest in music that is notated in every detail. His viola repertoire includes a big number of technically difficult works by more and less well-known contemporary composers. Savikangas's output in instrumental works has, so far, focused on solo works and chamber music. A snapshot of the composer is made in the three solo viola works The Song of the Blissful (1994), Death at Work (1997) and Extraterrestrial (2001). They also tell a story about how Savikangas has progressed in his exploration on the viola. In Extraterrestrial in particular, the tension between pitched and non-pitched sounds has reached a remarkable level and strength of expression. It is no wonder that it was written to the first Nordic Viola Competition. In the field of solo works, Savikangas widened his interest to the cello in Kaliki (2003), written in close co-operation with Markus Hohti, the cellist, and it is one of Savikangas's major works despite its relatively short duration. In some of his works, Savikangas has used very odd line-ups, such as a bass trombone, triangles and two mandolins in The Swan Song (2000). In the background of the work, there is the etching of Hugo Simberg (1873-1917) by the same title. In the etching, there are small devil figures that play the instruments mentioned. A very rare line-up can also be found in L'Anus solaire (1999), where Savikangas uses a duck whistle, four violas and a reciter. Savikangas's line-ups are at their largest in Emergencies (2002), a work for a concert mixing jazz and contemporary style, and White Dwarf (2003). The former contains a lot of so-called directed improvising. The latter is a trio concertante and is something of a synthesis of Savikangas as a composer in general so far, as well as being his largest individual composition to date. The solo trio of White Dwarf consists of string trio that is electrically amplified and worked on. The acoustic chamber ensemble contains a wind quintet, piano and a string quintet. Each instrument has its own soloist moment. The solo trio parts contain a lot of improvisation. Works published by Uusinta Song of the Blissful (1994) For viola Nostalgia March (1993/99) For saxophone and piano Danza (1995/97) For viola and harp Death at Work (1997) For viola Extraterrestrial (2001) For viola Garden of Death (2001) Tape The First eRRe (2002) For violin and viola, improvising guidelines The Second eRRe (2002) For bass clarinet and viola, improvising guidelines Emergency Etude (2002) For viola, cello and double bass Max Savikangas list of works, updated in February 2006 Contact: Max Savikangas