ABSTRACT
Helsinki, March 1989. The city is full of musicians; the fifth biennale for new music has started. I sit in the smoke-filled bar at the Vakuna Hotel and wait for Magnus Lindberg whose piece for orchestra, Kinetics, has just been premiered. In Finland he is considered the big new name, and optimists call him Sibelius’ heir. At precisely the appointed time he emerges through the smoke and settles into one of the easy chairs. Lindberg has recently moved to Paris, and with his casual dress and constantly burning cigarette he looks more like a French intellectual than a Nordic composer Of course he is in Paris because that’s where IRCAM is, the composers’ workshop. That’s where his works are created. We come quickly to the topic of IRCAM, the composer, and especially his new work. Lindberg briefs me on the background to Kinetics.
