Give and take in the chamber music finals

Assisting in the chamber music finals being held today are violinists Annamarie Åström and Reeta Maalismaa and cellists Markus Hohti and Joel Laakso. Though it is the contestants themselves who really face the music [excuse the pun], the assistants don’t exactly have an easy time, since they have only a short while in which to assimilate each contestant’s style, view and way of communicating. They have had two rehearsals with each contestant: a 90-minute one on Saturday and an hour-long final rehearsal on the day of the performance. The strict timetable has not, according to cellist Markus Hohti, caused any problems, however: “The rehearsals have gone really well. It’s all fallen into place surprisingly smoothly. The first run-through is a time for getting used to one another. We begin by feeling our way round before getting down to brass tacks,” he says. All the contestants have, he reports, been more than ready to discuss things, which of course is vital in chamber music. But there isn’t time to talk through everything. “A schedule like this calls for more give-and-take than usual.”

One of the assistants’ main jobs is, according to Hohti, to make the contestants feel at ease. In a way the assistants will always have to make concessions to the contestants, even if they don’t fully agree. But this is no problem in the actual performance. “In most cases it’s possible to forget minor differences of opinion. If the contestant’s view were quite unlike my own, then I might have to play contrary to my own inclinations.”

Having to play the same work twice almost in succession with different contestants is another challenge. What if their interpretations are totally different? How do the assistants manage to get their minds round that? “It is indeed a challenge,” Hohti admits, “but it’s a help to take copies of the music and mark each contestant’s copy separately – things like tempos. But it still means relying a lot on memory.”

Hohti feels really elated after the first finals performance, the Ravel Trio with Marko Mustonen. The performance went well and there were no communication problems. “All the contestants have come along well prepared, which makes our job easier,” he comments.

Jukka Nykänen