Osmo Tapio Räihälä

"Musical evolution is not linear. Musical styles do not change all at once, and music does not develop – let alone ‘progress’ – in any single direction. Musical evolution is also spherical; we are living in a continuous Big Bang that is endlessly expanding our musical universe in all directions," writes composer Osmo Tapio Räihälä. This column is part of the series where composers and musicians write about their music.

Violinist Maria Puusaari writes to the FMQ readers about music that is significant for her, and about the role of music in her life during important turning points and times of crisis.

"The takeaway from this album is its enormous range of tonal colour and mood. This is remarkable, considering that it was created entirely without electronics. Kumela can produce an astonishing variety of bumps, scrapes, squeaks, creaks and pitched sounds from his guitar."

In 1980, the Nordic Music Days were held in Helsinki but with some non-Nordic guests at the party: a deputation of composers from Great Britain. It has taken us Brits nearly four decades to return the favour, but in September 2017 we will do so in some style as the entire four-day festiva is transplanted to London.

"Foreigners like me once had the idea that Finland was a difficult country in which to be a composer; so strong was Sibelius’s legacy and so dominant those famous names who succeeded him. But that idea now seems outdated," writes Andrew Mellor in his column on the Day of Finnish Music.

"...it’s another cross-country ramble, concerned more with the detail of the surrounding vistas than any ultimate goal, but even as it takes its time to unfold, its casual strength, flaring up as unpredictably as coastal weather, holds the interest."

Guitarists are unusually keen to commission new compositions. The guitarist, composer and audience all benefit, because the guitar, being a popular instrument, lowers the threshold to listening to new music. Finnish guitarists Petri Kumela, Otto Tolonen and Patrik Kleemola rank among the most active champions of new guitar repertoire.