Fuga Indiana

Arto Koskinen is a Finnish composer, pianist and harpsichordist who has devoted his musical life to the dialogue between Asian, European and Afro-American traditions. He developed a passion for jazz in the 1970s and subsequently studied Indian vocal music at a music and dance school in New Delhi. He also immersed himself in the study of polyphonic techniques from the Baroque period and attempted to harmonize these with the melodic principles of Eastern music. The result is this "Indian fugue", composed between 1987 and 2000, whose main sources are classical North Indian music, traditional Western polyphony and Afro-American improvisation. His compatriot Joonas Ahonen, a versatile pianist who has already recorded Le Monde selon George Antheil with Patricia Kopatchinskaja (jpc 10897272), is a passionate advocate of Koskinen's music. This monograph finally focuses on the music of a composer with a very original style.