Pertti Jalava (born 1960) is Finnish composer who has written numerous works for various

chamber ensemble Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

s choral groups and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, including five symphonies and a piano concerto. He wrote music for

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

line-ups. Stylistically he keeps these

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

s separate, he does allow influences to travel between the two.

Career

Jalava studied composition almost entirely on his own. In 1993, having already created an extensive repertoire influenced by jazz and classical music for his

jazz ensemble A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a ho ...

s, he studied theatre composition with the American

Craig Bohmler Craig Bohmler (born April 7, 1956)Hansen, Niels-Henning."En tilgang til den klassiske Musik" NielsHenning.dk. p. 145. Retrieved August 12, 2019. is an American composer who specializes in opera and musical theater. His musicals include ''Gunmetal B ...

on a six-month course run by the Finnish Music Theatre Association. As his final assignment he composed a chamber opera called Paradise. Having completed this course, a turning point in his career, Jalava embarked on an intensive course of private study and attended composition laboratories held by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and the

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

in 1994, 1996 and 1998. Pertti Jalava won a number of prizes in Finnish and international composition competitions with works for string orchestra,

wind orchestra A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

, chamber ensemble, jazz ensemble and big band. Works by him have been performed by many orchestras and ensembles in Finland and abroad. He has been a full-time composer since 2001. A Finnish record label Alba released "In The Wind" with four of Jalava's works for string orchestra and soloists (

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

and flute) to positive reviews.

Themes

Jalava lists his primary objectives as emotional and narrative expression. He uses strong contrasts, thereby achieving dramatic effects and aesthetic accents. He uses distorted

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

, sharp

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...

s and aggressive rhythms. Rhythm occupies a major role in Jalava's music. It is often motor-like and frequently asymmetric.Music Finland Despite drawing mainly on twelve-note techniques, most of Jalava's classical works create a feeling of

tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is ca ...

. In his later compositions he often lets their nature determine the music or employs other methods of his own devising, assigning row technique only a secondary role.

References

External links

Official site

Jazz Finland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jalava, Pertti 1960 births Living people Musicians from Turku Finnish male composers Finnish jazz composers Finnish opera composers Male opera composers Male jazz composers

Career

Themes

See also

References

External links