AULIS SALLINEN
(born 1935 in Salmi, Finland)

Four Etudes, Op. 21 (1970)

I. -
II. -
III. -
IV. -


Aulis Sallinen is considered as one of the finest among the distinguished list of Finnish composers of the current era. Having just celebrated his 75th birthday, his early reputation was built on the successes of his operas such as Ratsumies ("The Horseman", 1974) and The Red Line (1978). Nonetheless, he is a prolific composer with eight symphonies and six operas to date, and with a rich and varied oeuvre, from large-scale operas to miniatures written for fairly standard instrumentation as well as for a wide range of less popular classical instruments, such as the accordion. His writing style is rather conservative and tonal although he did experiment with the twelve-tone system for a short period in his younger years.

Sallinen's early musical life began with violin and piano lessons; as a youngster, he was interested in both the classical and the jazz forms. He later attended the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki where he worked with Joonas Kokkonen and Aarre Merikanto. Upon graduating from the prestigious institution, he joined its faculty and took a position as an administrator with the Finnish Radio Orchestra. Sallinen has dedicated himself solely to composing since 1981, when the Finnish government appointed him Professor of Arts for life. He is the winner of numerous prestigious awards; most notable among them is the Wihuri International Sibelius Prize, given to him in 1983.

Sallinen wrote a handful for works for the violin, the most substantial of which is the Violin Concerto, written in 1968 - quite an early work. The Four Etudes date from two years later. Melodic and spiritual, there is an overall feel of nostalgia and romanticism. Each of the pieces is rather short, with the entire set only about 5 minutes. All emphasize repetition or a variant of an element.

The piano writing throughout is spare yet hauntingly beautiful. One sees elements of Shostakovich and Bartók in the pianistic style and use of texture. There is a general progression from transparency to thickness as the four etudes unfold.

The violin part calls attention to the relationship between pitches. The first emphasizes a somewhat chromatic scale, focusing on the three pitches of the four open strings of the violin: G, D, A. It is essentially a study of different ways of getting between two set pitches.

The second etude revolves around the same three pitches of the violin's open strings, as in the first, but this time in harmonics. Again, this is a lesson in exploring these pitches: Sallinen takes each of the three pitches as a focal point per section and presents the findings in different speeds of rhythm. Also noteworthy are the arpeggiated harmonics/chords played on the piano. Toward the end, the climactic note is reached on the remaining 4th pitch (E) of the violin's open strings.

In the third and shortest piece, a trill is added to the now-familiar idea. Here, the sonority is slightly chorale-like, setting the stage for the final section. The piano opens the fourth etude with soft, chime-like chords and keeps a dotted rhythm every other bar to preserve the direction of the music. The final etude has the violin entirely in octaves, and the sound is sheer haunting mystery. When the violin disappears into mist, the piano continues the chords, pulsing in this placement like a heartbeat over absolute silence.