Dies composer Erik Bergman, 94

Composer Erik Bergman (b. 1911) died last night (April 24) at the age of 94.

Erik Bergman was one of the best-known Finnish composers abroad. His long creative career lasted more than 60 years: he started in the 1930s, and he wrote his last work ("Fantasia per tromba e orchestra"), in 2003.

A pioneering Finnish modernist

In the 1950s, Erik Bergman was one of the leaders of Finnish modernism in his use of dodecaphony and later, in a few works, serialism.

He is, however, best known for the fantastic style – rich in colour and often making use of limited aleatory – which he arrived at in the first half of the 1970s. He has served as a model for many Finnish modernists of subsequent generations, though admittedly more as a tireless musical explorer than as the advocate of a particular style; for that the music of Bergman seems too self-reliant and individualistic.

Bergman travelled widely in his art, both in time and space. In time he journeyed back to, for example, ancient Egypt, old Finnish incantations and medieval church music. In place he roamed from Lapland to the Mediterranean and from Europe to the Far East, drawing on a myriad cultures to create an idiolect ranging from delicate, fragile lyricism to primitive force, and from Oriental death mysticism to liberating humour.

Vocal music, especially for choir, occupied a central position in Bergman’s prolific output. With a long career as a choir leader behind him, he knew just how far the limits of vocal expression can be stretched. His thirst for adventure is, however, just as strong in his orchestral, chamber and solo instrumental works. The culmination of his entire output is the opera 'Det sjungande trädet' (The Singing Tree, 1986–88).

Aarne Toivonen/Fimic
24 April, 2006