FMQ - Keeping music criticism alive is also part of FMQ’s mission

Download

Last autumn, there was a great deal of discussion in the Finnish media about criticism, its status and its future. What the various statements seemed to share was the idea that criticism is in a state of change.

Some people in the debate wanted to actively shape this change. One of them was Erja Yläjärvi, editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat, who announced that the newspaper would launch a training program in cultural criticism. According to Yläjärvi, criticism needs to be renewed in order to break free from the exclusionary language that plagues cultural criticism. She emphasises that by publishing well over a thousand reviews each year, “Helsingin Sanomat has a great responsibility to ensure that Finnish-language criticism is preserved for future generations.”

Many writers participating in the public debate seem to view change as inevitable, whether or not it is desirable. This sense of inevitability is also emphasised in Heidi Backström’s thesis, which includes a survey and interviews with critics about the future of criticism. The critics who responded to the survey believed that by 2030 art criticism would be “shorter, more entertaining, more visual, more personalised, and more ‘social-media-like.’”

Critic and journalist Oskari Onninen raised an interesting perspective in a video (sic) in which he reflected on how the video format affects the content of criticism. According to Onninen, language easily becomes diluted when it moves from written to spoken form. Spoken language, he argues, often lacks the linguistic brilliance of written language: it is flatter and can never reach the nuances of writing. Even so, Onninen acknowledges that criticism needs new formats and new ways of working.

The Finnish Critics’ Association celebrated its 75th anniversary by publishing a series of ten essays on criticism. The series made for delightful reading. I was especially struck by an essay by Sara Harju, which functioned as a manifesto for the future of criticism. Harju’s attitude is positive: perhaps traditional criticism will not die after all, but something new will emerge alongside it, making cultural discussion ever more diverse.

From FMQ’s point of view, the previously mentioned thesis by Backström raises one particularly intriguing idea. The survey revealed optimism that in a digital environment criticism is easier to find and also has a longer lifespan. Indeed, the way criticism is used today differs from the print era, as even old articles can now be easily retrieved.

Last year FMQ reviewed a total of nineteen albums in six articles, one of which was published in collaboration with the Finnish Composers’ Association’s magazine Kompositio. Eight of the albums represented classical music, six jazz, and five folk. In addition, we published two concert reviews and one television series review.

Finnish Music Quarterly will continue its commendable work in music criticism this year as well. We are constantly making small adjustments to the format and considering its optimal form, but we will not abandon the core principle: FMQ’s reviews are carefully thought out by experts and written in an engaging way.