Riikka Hänninen – Composer Waehnen

Path of a Composer Chapter VII: Wideplay – Überture

Welcome on a journey! I call it the Path of a Composer. The idea is to post key pieces of my music from along the years and hopefully put some light on how I have developed aesthetically, in my craftsmanship and of course also artistically — resulting in these days where I am finally ready to proudly launch myself as a composer of modern art music. It is time for Chapter VII.

Wideplay: Überture (taken from the album “Wideplay I”, 2021)

Chapter VI was about me joining Discordia again and completing what I consider my greatest piece of rock music, Grip!. Despite the great experience and artistically satisfying results, the process once again also made it clear to me that I would probably no longer create music in such a big group of people. The more people involved, the more there is also extra-musical elements to buzz around — that´s the law of music making, like it or not.

Nevertheless my second go with Discordia left me with a lot of musical material that had not been used. After various phases, Riikka and Sande from the band were willing to create an album with me around those songs and so Wideplay was formed. Sande and I also wrote a bunch of new songs together many of which were recorded as demos as we tried out different arrangements.

In hindsight something about the subconscious exhaustion I started to feel towards rock music and progressive rock can probably be seen in the fact that despite many great songs Wideplay created, in the end I didn´t feel motivated enough to properly start producing more than an EP (30 minutes) of Wideplay music. There was starting to be the element of certain repetition, doing rock for the sake of doing rock.

Anyway, I started to compose Überture only once Wideplay was formed. I also remember that the very beginning of the piece was an idea I toyed with thinking that if I ever wanted to create a traditional romantic piano concerto, my grand opening would be something like that, dramatic and pompous. It is a rather funny thought as I have never ever planned on composing a piano concerto. Anyway, from the very beginning the point of Überture was to be profoundly eclectic and free-spirited music that would not acknowledge the boundaries of genres at all. What better way to start such a piece than with an idea I had for a grand piano concerto? 😉

It just so happened that straight after starting to compose Überture all of a sudden one of my very best friends I had known for around 25 years passed away due to heavy substance use. It was a great shock to me. Of course I knew things were far from well but I had not realised just how bad things had gotten. Consequently Überture shifted it´s focus immediately and it became my way of dealing with the horror of such a fate, the loss and the grief.

As the title suggests, from the very beginning Überture was meant to be over the top. The title also suited the personality of my friend perfectly. He was over the top. I was ready to go wherever the music and the narrative took me — and indeed I was taken to places I had never been before. The most obvious examples are the two techno sections in the middle of the piece. I had never done techno before it and I haven´t done ever since. I don´t even listen to such music. But both the material and the narrative pushed me towards it and the whole point of the piece was to expand the aesthetic boundaries anyway. Once again I needed to free myself musically (indeed it seems that such a musical liberation process is something I regularly have to go through) and free myself I did.

When it comes to my path as a composer, Überture is important in many ways. Firstly it further solidified my skills in creating longer works in a smooth manner and being free with my material. Technically Überture was the best I had achieved so far: diverse yet coherent, all the material closely related and developed constantly. Secondly my skills in musical production took a significant leap forwards. Thirdly I faced my own boundaries of “good taste” which I think is something I had to do sooner or later. And I have to be honest: every time the techno sections kick in, it is kind of hard for me to accept. Then again that kind of cringy awkwardness was the goal as it is obvious when it comes to the narrative and lyrics we are not dealing with a healthy little party here but something compulsive, something over the top, something unhealthy, something scary.

I created a detailed score for the the piece. Überture is scored for flute, piccolo, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 tuba, timpani, drum set, percussion, electric drum set, piano, 4 electric guitars, bass guitar, synth bass, male and female vocals, a choir, 1st and 2nd violins, violas, cellos and double basses. The idea was that vocals would replace the sound of woodwinds, otherwise it would be a symphony orchestra combined with a rock band. Despite the eclectic solutions and the bold crossing of genre boundaries, I regard the work as a symphonic poem more than anything else.

I bought electric drums and played them on Überture although on Wideplay I there are acoustic drums elsewhere. I also played the electric bass and keyboards. Sande played many tracks of electric guitars. Riikka did marvellous job as the other vocalist, once again! I am especially proud of our choir sound. It also needs to be mentioned that although it took a long time to mix Überture, the sound engineer Seppo Santala did an amazing job. After being able to pull off something like the Überture mix, it was later obvious I could trust him even with something like my symphony.

For the record: In the youtube video I created for Überture there is a clown as the main character. Although my friend was one of the funniest people I have ever known (and the most social person I have ever known) and he was famous for his pranks, he was no fool, and neither was he “ridiculous”. But when it comes to artistic expression, bright colours, special emphasis and highlighting are often needed. With the clown character it is easier for the listener to grasp the narrative, I think.

Looking back at it all, completing Überture both as a composition and as a recording was crucial for my musical development. It resulted in giving me enough of the confidence needed to one day start believing I could pull of a symphony of my own. It is now also obvious that it is indeed Überture that finally pushed me over the cliff and forced me to accept that I would gain total artistic freedom and get to express myself to the fullest only in art music from them on. I wasn´t ready to accept it just yet but indeed it was inevitable.

Even after the Wideplay EP I recorded songs with people but something was missing. I found myself talking to people about music more than actually creating it. I was making things complicated out of subconscious frustration. Finally I realised that I had to leave progressive rock behind me and that a symphony of art music would be my way to finally achieve complete and uncompromising artistic freedom, something I had always craved. Something clicked, mental continents shifted and immense forces of nature started to flow. I freed myself also from the self-created (or society-implemented) social boundaries of music making and fully accepted that it does not make me a bad person if I want to be artistically uncompromising. That is the subject of the next chapter, my first symphony.

Path of a Composer Chapter VI: Discordia – Grip!

Discordia: Grip! (Taken from the album Season Changes, 2014)

Chapter V was about me getting symphonic for the first time with the Strive or Warp album. The exhausting task of doing so much of the work all by myself left me valuing collaboration and seeing it in a new light.

I cannot remember how I joined Discordia again. At least I cannot remember whether they asked me or I asked them. All I know is that whoever suggested it, we all thought very fast it was a good idea. Discordia had gone through some changes and they had a second guitarist Timo “Sande” Sandholm; Liisa the keyboard player had also left the band — so it was a turning point anyway when I rejoined.

We all wanted to create another album. Everyone agreed that I would be the musical leader of the band and produce the new album. In return I would make sure the musical interests of every member would be taken into account. In addition to lead vocals, I also started to play the keyboards which I think was a role that suited me. After some time also Riikka joined the band to share the lead vocals and sing some choirs with me.

Compared to the Utopia Perfection lineup, this new Discordia was different. With the new guitarist Sande the new material had gotten much heavier with sound. The rock playing of the band was tight and excellent. I got great kicks from the playing right away. With Sande there were all of a sudden 3 composing members in the band. Like before, it was fascinating to collaborate on the compositions. Most often I took the riffs of the guitarists, put them into some structure and created the vocal melodies and rhythms, along with new textures and polyphonic lines. The album Season Changes ended up having 7 songs: I collaborated on 3 songs with Antti Tolkki and 3 songs with Sande and 1 song was purely mine: Grip!

I remember starting to compose Grip! — which ended up being arguably my longest and greatest progressive rock piece. Yes, I was very thrilled with playing of the band and the idea of having two excellent guitarists was very inspiring. I already knew the playing of Petri and Otto (and the singing of Riikka and myself) so Grip! was all about creating something challenging, rewarding and awe-inspiring specifically for this very band.

So my starting point for the song was the dialogue of the two heavy guitars, separated in the stereo picture. I perceived them kind of the same way as two antiphonal string sections of the symphony orchestra. Add to the picture the melodic bass playing and my keyboards which included rock organ, strings and piano, and the vocal harmonies, and Otto´s versatile and high energy drum playing, there we had the basic ingredients. I felt that here was a band that could execute my wildest rock and roll and progressive rock dreams. So I went for it!

For Strive or Warp my focus and ambition was strongly related and attached to classical music. Season Changes album was my return to rock. So is the 13 minutes long Grip!. It was all about the pure enjoyment of rock playing, energy and sound. Think about the repeated build-up chord progression of the finale part: E minor, G major, B major and C major. No classical note leading, oh no! Just the pure enjoyment of lifting the chords up and up like blocks with raw distorted guitar arpeggios. And to have choirs on top of it eventually, mixed with trills… I love it!

Then again it is also obvious that the long form was heavily influenced by classical music. The work is set in a kind of mixture of the sonata and variation form — plus also the Sibelian “rotation form” introduced by James Hepokoski comes to mind. I perceive traits of all the 3 forms in the work. There are multiple elements I rotate into focus time and time again in a different light along the 13 minutes of the work. For example the main theme is first introduced on the guitars and later reintroduced as a choral canon for the middle section and in the end sung by the lead vocalists.

Another important element of Grip! is the lyrics. When I started to compose and write the piece, I had some health issues. At first it was not clear for me or the doctors what caused these strange sensations of the nervous system but it felt like I was loosing physical control of my body. It felt like sinking into sometimes total physical insecurity where I doubted the functioning of my body. The lyrics are about me trying to get a grip and also for the first time having to face my own mortality and trying to deal with it.

In the end a benign tumour was found and operated. I haven´t had a single panic attack or strange sensation since the operation. But the experience of the sensations in my nervous system was absolutely awful and I cannot really explain what it felt like. Something about the panic and the experience can indeed be heard in Grip!. I think these lyrics are amongst my best. I feel like I have expressed something existential both musically and lyrically.

Like in many of my works there are strongly contrasting elements and ambitions juxtaposed in Grip!. The pure joy and energy of rock is set against the anxiety and expression of the lyrics. It is a strange combination. It is creates a picture of an individual doing his absolute best in trying to figure out what is happening and to regain a control of his life.

Musically Season Changes is completely different from Utopia Perfection, I think. Utopia Perfection was more ironic and tongue in cheek 70´s glam prog rock. There was no glam in Season Changes, it was much heavier and it was way more serious. It is no wonder that some people highly prefer the first album and some people highly prefer the later album. I for one cannot decide and neither do I have to. But Grip! sure is my best rock song of all time. I am immensely proud of it. Also the band has always been proud of pulling it off and learning all the 107 pages of the complicated partiture — and they should be! It was a wonderful thing to achieve together and everybody´s work, skill and insight was needed and put to use.

Pretty much like the previous time, after finishing Season Changes I already had plans and material for the next album and I started to push for it. Musically I just couldn´t stop… Not everyone are hardwired that way. So inevitably after Season Changes the band rather soon disbanded all together. The recording was a great achievement and it was great fun but it was too much for people who eventually wanted more the fun and social part of it all (the others) than the musically immensely ambitious part of it (me). Nevertheless I continued the collaboration with Sande and Riikka for one more progressive rock album during which I already started to sense that maybe my times with progressive rock were about to be over. That is the subject of chapter VII.

Path of a Composer Chapter III: Discordia

Discordia: Foreseen — Interlude — Slave Planet II

Three songs from the progressive rock album Utopia Perfection (2007)

Like I wrote in Chapter II, eventually I dropped out of Sibelius Academy and changed to The University of Helsinki. That was also the time when I decided I do not want to be a professional musician. The idea of constantly trying to sell my work to everyone or applying for scholarships or stipends was just something that did not suit my temperament. Very crucial was also to realise that indeed I wanted to be a composer more than anything — not a pianist, not a singer, not a teacher… But a composer. And not just whatever composer but a truly independent and uncompromising composer who would be able to do what ever he wanted without the compulsive need to please other people. So I was on that road I had chosen for myself (I still am).

After Kilpilaulu I managed to in a small scale launch myself as a composer of western art music. In addition to student works, I had a few commissions and my works were performed in Finland. For example I composed a cantata for the 90th Year Celebration of The Library of Kallio (2002) to the also commissioned text by the Finnish poet Ilpo Tiihonen. I will also mention the song “Näin unta kesästä kerran” (2004) for soprano and alto which two famous Finnish singers Piia and Anu Komsi performed a couple of times in their concerts. (While I write this it is still possible that a recording of one of those performances could be found in the archives of Piia or Anu.)

Anyway, it just so happened that on the musicology mail list a progressive rock band announced they were looking for a new lead singer. I got interested and listened to the demos of the band and liked what I heard. The idea of getting to really hang out with musicians and create music together with other people appealed to me at the time. Also, I had been told before that some of my music was progressive rock. So I decided to audition for the band. I craved for powerful rock music as a contrast to the art music I was studying.

I got in Discordia. It was peculiar for me at first not the play the bass or the piano. I would have to be the lead singer. It certainly was a challenge. First I learned the old songs of Discordia and after a while I started to introduce my own ideas for the band. They seemed to like my music so they welcomed that I would be one of the new main composers of the ensemble. I also took my Bass Clarinet with a microphone to the studio a few times.

We did a 3 piece EP in 2005 where one of my songs were included. The EP got great feedback. It was a strange experience to really read reviews of my music. Encouraged, the band rather quickly started to plan a long play album. I contacted my friend and former fellow student from Sibelius academy, Riikka Hänninen, and asked her to become the other singer for the album, as vocal harmonies have always been very important to me. She came to a few rehearsals and finally agreed. There were also a couple of other changes in the band but eventually the core group was formed.

When it comes to the composition process, for the first time since my teenage grunge band, I took some riffs from the other members and forged them into complete songs. It has always been inspirational for me to do something like that. It was a great feeling to see and hear how the other members liked how I helped them forwards with their music. (Not that they always needed my help.) Anyway, the song Foreseen is the first song I co-wrote like that. The first two guitar riffs were by the guitarist Antti Tolkki and I created a song around them. With Foreseen I also for the first time abandoned chord sheets but put everything into the score. That has been my method ever since, allowing for more imaginative arrangements. Although some in the band didn´t read notes well, they had to learn — and learn they did!

The band was democratic. Every decision was made together. Nevertheless I practically became the executive branch — who lead the way and introduced the key points for the decision making. I was very serious about putting the 11 piece long play album together in a cohesive way. I wanted it to form a symphonic whole and have a logical and convincing arc to it. I think we succeeded in that. The three songs I selected for this chapter were part of the main dramatic narrative: Foreseen was the high energy first track, Interlude in the middle referred to both to the beginning and to the ending and Slave Planet II was the emotionally cathartic and story-wise high point of the album.

The sound of the Discordia band was very epic even before me. When Riikka joined, the music started to take the form of even operatic dimensions. The band never did love songs but their former lyrics were full of science fiction and philosophy instead. I have always read a lot of science fiction so as a lyricist I chose that path for the album. It is all high fantasy and science fiction, epic in character, out of this world. Just listen to Slave Planet II and hear for yourself just how intensively Riikka interprets her role as a psychic Queen.

As a visually impaired singer, Riikka´s perfect pitch and immensely powerful and present, here-and-now way of interpretation and stage presence became a crucial element of the Discordia experience. We called Riikka the Shaman. I was called The Visionary. Liisa (keyboards) who was a very eclectic educated musician was called The Sound Wizard. Otto (drums) with all his Rush influences was The Energy Generator. Petri (bass) in all his 70´s attitude was the Backbone of the Army. Antti (guitars) with his Marillion delays was The Hip. 😉

It was very interesting to have a look back at these songs musically. The influence of classical music can be heard everywhere, especially in my songs of course. For example the form of Foreseen is kind of like a huge development section, without clear verses or choruses. I have typically classical harmonies there. Also poly-rhythmics, some untypical scales and intervals. Interlude with all its repetition is obviously minimalist music, the middle section also highly polyphonic. Slave Planet II is in fact my first take on a longer progressive rock epos; it also has some harmonies, scales and intervals that some reviewers thought were out of tune! For example there is a minor 9th interval in the middle section. G# sharp on top of G major chord. Anyway, the influence of classical music is most obvious in the last section where I composed a somewhat baroque polyphonic section for the band. This recording is also the only testament to me playing the Bass Clarinet (Interlude and Slave Planet II). I also played some vibraphone for the first and last time in the beginning of Slave Planet II.

The album turned out to be a relatively great success in Finland — not so much commercially but critically as part of the progressive rock and rock scene. For some reason we also sold hundreds of copies to Japan! For me it was intoxicating to read reviews and get exciting feedback of our music. What is still mind-boggling to me is that in a major music magazine even I was said to be one of the best rock vocalists in Finland. I think that was an overstatement but I do agree that the vocals of Riikka and myself were a good match. Still it is a mystery to me why I wrote the higher part for myself in Interlude! That note is the absolute highest pitch I have ever reached, I think.

From my personal point of view, now that I am looking back, it is no wonder I got involved in progressive rock for many years. The feeling of performing such intensive, high energy and also sufficiently complicated music on stage was intoxicating. Also, the eclectic rock sound of Discordia still appeals to me. I really got to do in rock music what I had always wanted. Also, I really liked to get direct feedback. I liked the unformal contact with people. There is something about the formalities about classical music culture that has never appealed to me — but being in a progressive rock band had none of that.

It was so much fun to be in the band. We got along very well as people. But it needs to be admitted that I was a very ambitious band member. I was pushing forward all the time and I didn´t want to stop. In hindsight it´s clear it was too much for the band. I also found the democracy a very slow method. It took me years to understand and accept that if I want to execute my artistic vision to the maximum it needs to be stated out loud in the very beginning. The uncompromising attitude in itself is OK if made clear and it does not mean that I would be selfish as a person. For years I tried to balance between being a considerate fellow musician and at the same time uncompromising in my visions — and it didn´t work eventually through democracy at least. Yes, I cannot deny that I was a very strong-willed member of the band and it created quite a few clashes.

After Utopia Perfection and all the gigs we decided to take a break and I went to record my first solo EP ever. It balances between art music and rock music and is a great testament to the duality in me. Three Discordia members played on a few tracks, in fact. That will be the subject of Chapter IV.