Dog lover is discovered as lost composer
mainSusanna Mälkki at the Helsinki Philharmonic is urgently looking for lost women composers.
Her first retrieval is Siri Brander (1866–1934), known until now only as founder of Finland’s first dog sanctuary.
This is Siri’s Elegie.
HKO Screen – Siri Brander: Elegie from Helsinki Philharmonic on Vimeo.
Beautiful piece.
Aren’t there ‘lost men composers’? Or are they of the wrong kind?
You’re welcome to find them.
If the statement had been “Mälkki is looking for lost Finnish composers,” would you have said “aren’t there lost German composers?” I suspect not, as it would’ve been equally absurd.
But that is true – there must be lost composers everywhere, had not thought about that. The mind boggles…
Great headline!
This is beautiful, and beautifully played.
Where on earth does “urgently looking for lost women composers” come from?
From the Vimeo description: “Though Brander’s was one of the first works by a female composer to be played by the HPO, the contemporary (1894) critic R.S. preferred to focus on the piece itself rather than the gender of the composer.” (Note “one of the first works” – so there had been others earlier.)
R.S.’s sane attitude should be adopted today.
Irrespective of composer gender or any other classification, how about a new concerto for barking dog, or even double, triple, etc, concertos for barking dogs. It would truly be more interesting than more of the same conventional fare, including at least one such effort for a silent pooch.
On the internet do-one knows you’re a dog.