The Nature of Nordic Music explores two distinctive yet complementary understandings of the term nature: the inherent features, characters and qualities of contemporary Nordic music, and how the elemental forces of nature, the phenomena of the physical world (landscape, climate, environment), inspire and condition creativity here.
Within a broader debate about the meaning of Nordicness, 12 case studies challenge our assumptions about a Nordic tone to reveal a creative energy that is diverse and cosmopolitan in outlook. Each of the three parts of the book Identities, Images and Environments accommodates an eclectic array of musical genres (classical, popular, jazz, folk, electronic).
This book will appeal to anyone interested in Nordic music and culture, especially students and researchers.
Part I: IDENTITIES
1. Nordicness in Scandinavian music: A complex question Michael Fjeldsųe &
Sanne Krogh Groth
2. Escaping Nordic musical exoticism? Hans Weisethaunet
3. In search of the Nordic electroacoustic Andrew Bentley & James Andean
4. Starting from scratch: Nation-building and the creation of an Icelandic
choral tradition Įrni Heimir Ingólfsson
Part II: IMAGES
5. Not Nordic Enough? 'Nordic Cool' as a Janus-headed strategy for artistic
inclusion and expulsion Henrik Marstal
6. And Björk of course the image of Icelandic music Margrét Sigrśn
Siguršardóttir
7. Cold commodities: Discourses of decay and purity in a globalised jazz
world Haftor Medboe
8. Folk and popular music in the Nordic countries Tor Dybo
Part III: ENVIRONMENTS
9. Ecocriticism and the Anthropocene in the Water Soundscape Composition
Contest Meri Kytö
10. Nordic drone: Pedal points and static textures as musical imagery of the
northerly environment Juha Torvinen & Susanna Välimäki
11. Telling the time: Communication and temporality in Nordic new music Tim
Howell & Richard Powell
12. Sigur Rós: Talking timbre Michael Rofe
Tim Howell is Professor of Music at the University of York, UK, where he specialises in the analysis of new music. As an internationally recognised authority on the music of Sibelius, his research has now broadened to encompass contemporary Finnish music. His major publications include After Sibelius: Studies in Finnish Music and Kaija Saariaho: Visions, Narratives, Dialogues.
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