Saturday, August 21, 2021

Suomalainen elokuvamusiikki, Vol. 9 & Vol. 10: Suomi-Filmin elokuvamusiikkia 1933–1961 [Finnish Film Music Vol. 9 & Vol. 10: Film Music from the Suomi-Filmi Company 1933–1961] (2 cd)


Cd cover photo: Sirkka Sari (village teacher Ilona Ahlgren) and Tauno Palo (Aarne Niskavuori, master of the Niskavuori farm) in Niskavuoren naiset (The Women of Niskavuori, FI 1938, PC: Suomi-Filmi, D: Valentin Vaala, based on the play by Hella Wuolijoki), composer: Harry Bergström.

Suomalainen elokuvamusiikki, Vol. 9 + Vol. 10: Suomi-Filmin elokuvamusiikkia 1933–1961 [Finnish Film Music Vol. 9 + Vol. 10: Film Music from the Suomi-Filmi Company 1933–1961] (2 cd).
    Complete track list beyond the jump break.
    Sources: Suomen äänitearkisto ry ; Musiikkiarkisto, KAVI.
    Curated, sleeve notes by Juha Seitajärvi signed 5 June 2021. Restored by: Timo Wuori. Discography: Rainer Strömmer.
    AMCD 1056. Artie Music Oy, Turku, Finland, 2021.

The Suomalainen elokuvamusiikki cd series has grown into the most important publication of Finnish film music ever.

The first volume was published in 2010 and the latest ones, Vol. 9 and Vol. 10, this summer. They are among the weightiest in the series.

Sources include vintage shellac phonograph records, archival kantanauha tapes from the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation and actual soundtracks of the movies. Many songs are familiar, all takes rarities, many never published before.

I had planned to listen track by track, but ended up listening back to back. There are never before heard rarities starting from the first track ("Kaupunki illoin" / "City at Night" foxtrot from the lost Valentin Vaala / Teuvo Tulio cat burglar movie Sininen varjo / The Blue Shadow).

Cd Vol 9 is dedicated to Valentin Vaala, who had a profound musical sense even in his silents. His favourite director was Ernst Lubitsch, and The Blue Shadow has significant affinities with Trouble in Paradise, which was not released in Finland, but I entertain a hypothesis that Vaala, Tulio and Mika Waltari might have seen it at an industry viewing at the Paramount Finland screening room. Vaala never directed a musical, but many of his films emerged in the spirit of the musical comedy.

Major discoveries on the Valentin Vaala disc include Harry Bergström's love serenade from Niskavuoren naiset / The Women of Niskavuori and Einar Englund's compositions from Omena putoaa / When the Apple Falls. Vaala's penultimate film was a hit parade called Nuoruus vauhdissa / Swinging Youth, hopelessly out of touch, but with excellent singers such as Vieno Kekkonen ("Savukuva" / "Vision in Smoke") and Laila Kinnunen ("Andalusian neidot" / "The Girls of Andalusia").

Cd Vol 10 starts with tracks from the first real Finnish film musical, Meidän poikamme merellä / Our Sons at Sea, songs composed and performed by Georg Malmstén. These songs were included already in Cd Vol 1 in this series, but these are different takes, equally engrossing. The traditional folk song "Palapan Kille" has original lyrics that were not seen fit to print until the 1970s in Isojen poikien laulukirja / Adult Songbook, but based on it, a mainstream entertainment film was made, the lumberjack romance Kanavan laidalla, and the woman scorned became a woman worthy of love. In an arrangement by Ahti Sonninen, Kirsti Hurme, as Palapan Kille, plays it as her own theme song in an earthy intepretation with moments of atavistic resonance. For a moment, I am reminded of Fréhel and Ma Rainey.

Cd Vol 10 ends with an orchestral suite of 22 minutes from Pikku Pietarin piha composed and conducted by Simon Parmet (born Simon Pergament, 1897–1969), who was, among other things, a conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra and co-founder of the Jewish Song Society of Helsinki. In 1940 he composed for Bertolt Brecht the first score for Mutter Courage, and the years 1941–1948 he spent in American exile. His brother Moses Pergament moved to Sweden, became the music critic of Svenska Dagbladet and composed for instance Den judiska sången / The Jewish Song.

The suite from Pikku Pietarin piha is a treasure of Finnish film music.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: THE TRACK LISTING:

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Future of Industry: 15th International Alvar Aalto Symposium, 12–13 August 2021 Jyväskylä Finland and online


The Future of Industry poster has been designed for the international Alvar Aalto Symposium in Jyväskylä on 12–13 August 2021. The main themes of this 15th symposium are industrial buildings and architecture, industrial environments in the structure of society, and the role of industrial architecture as a developer of a region’s identity and values. The picture in the poster shows the Sunila industrial area, which Aalto designed. The posters are replicas printed on uncoated, high-quality paper made in Sweden from wood that meets EU Ecolabel standards. They are delivered in stylish and durable black poster tubes. Size: 50 x 70 cm. Paper: Munken Lynx 150g. Design: Tiina Ekosaari.


PROGRAM: WEDNESDAY 11 AUGUST 2021
12:00 Meeting at the Studio Aalto (venue: Tiilimäki 20, Helsinki)
13:30–14:30 Guided tour at the Aalto House (venue: Riihitie 20, Helsinki)
14:30–22:00 Bus transportation from Helsinki to Jyväskylä including
guided tour at the Muuratsalo Experimental House (18:30–20:00) and
guided tour and a buffet dinner at the Säynätsalo Town Hall (20:00-22:00).

PROGRAM: THURSDAY 12 AUGUST 2021

SESSION 1: RELIABLE PARTNER: A FACTORY BUILDING IN THE CITY

moderator architect, professor Antti Ahlava, Aalto University
11:30–12:00 Xu Tiantian, DnA Architects, Beijing, China: Tofu factory – a collective economic entity
12:00–12:30 Beniamino de Liguori Carino, Adriano Olivetti Foundation & Pippo Ciorra, MAXXI MUSEUM, Italia: Universo Olivetti community as a concrete utopia
12:30–14:00 Lunch break
14:00–14:30 Sebastian Hernandez, Stora Enso, Germany: Industrial Construction: new concepts with LVL, CLT and Glulam
14:30–15:00 Architect, Professor Juhani Pallasmaa moderates panel discussion: Alvar Aalto Symposium since 1979.
15:00–15:30 Coffee break
15:30–16:00 Antti Alanen, National Audiovisual Institute KAVI, Finland: Alvar Aalto and the Modern Times – how the Charles Chaplin aficionado became a pioneer of Finnish film culture
16:00–16:30 Thomas Bonde-Hansen, Gottlieb Paludan Architects: Green energy enclosed in a forest – CHP BIO4 project in Copenhagen
16:30–16:45 Closing of Day
18:00-21:00 ADDITIONAL PROGRAM, GET-TOGETHER, S/S SUOMI LAKE CRUISE

PROGRAM: FRIDAY 13 AUGUST 2021

SESSION 2: RESPONSIBLE ACTION

moderator Petteri Kummala, Museum of Finnish Architecture
10:30–11:00 Ute Schneider, KCAP Architects&Planners Rotterdam/Zürich/Shanghai: Adaptive Re-Use Waiting lands – seedbeds of urbanity
11:00–11:30 Ville Hietalahti, Stora Enso, Finland: Future of a community in the immediate vicinity of manufacturing industries
11:30–12:00 Pirjo Kääriäinen, Aalto University, Design and Materialities, Finland: Bio-based Materials for a Sustainable Future
12.00–12:30 Tuomas Kivinen, Virkkunen & Co Architects, Finland: Cases of contextually sensitive infrastructure

SESSION 3: BUILDING IDENTITY

moderator architect Tommi Lindh, CEO of Alvar Aalto Foundation
14:00–14:30 Samuli Paitsola, Council of Oulu region. The hydropower cultural heritage project VekuVaku, Finland: Works of architects Alvar Aalto and Aarne Ervi along the Oulujoki river
14:30–15:00 Charlotte Skene Catling, Skene Catling de la Peña & Adam Lowe, Factum Foundation, Spain: The AALTOSIILO, Oulu
15:00–15:30 Coffee break
15:30–16:30 Tommi Lindh, CEO of Alvar Aalto Foundation, moderates closing panel discussion

AA: I participated in the three sessions in Jyväskylä and in the S/S Suomi Lake Cruise of this wonderful symposium.