ABSTRACT
The first item on the programme when you visit Erik Bergman in his home in Helsinki is aguided tour of his instrument collection. Quite naturally, almost like a ritual, everyone who visits has to see the collection before embarking on the topic of the composer’s music. Titicaca, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Macedonia, Africa, Peru —you name it—he’s been there. And he’s not been there for nothing: an impressive treasure trove of instruments from across the globe hangs from the walls as well as covering the top of everything in the apartment. Erik Bergman and his wife, Solveig von Schoultz, began to travel around the world at the beginning of the 1970s gathering instruments. Their collection has become exceptional—so rare and comprehensive that it is the subject of a musicological dissertation (Anne Bergman, ‘Bergman’s Instrumental Collection’, Abo Academy, 1979). These strange instruments from so-called primitive cultures don’t just lie around and gather dust—they are used in numerous instrumental works and have inspired musical rarities like micro-intervals or new tuning systems. And this is not a recent development either. The composer’s interest in the sound world of the Orient can be traced back to the ground-breaking work, Rubaiyat for baritone, male choir and orchestra, from 1953.
