About
"Klami writes rather delicate music that makes me think of Japan."
- Timo Korhonen, guitarist
"Within the realm of contemporary music for guitar, there’s a fascinating new score in town, namely a cycle of ten Etudes by Markku Klami.
As a whole, the Etudes constitutes an inspiring and insightful cycle of musical tableaux, delightfully adding up to the repertoire, in terms of pedagogue as well as concert programming.
The ten-piece set brings together several stylistic layers, reworked into a logical musical continuum of evocation and reflection."
- Jari Kallio, Adventures in Music
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"Markku Klami's Elegia to the poems by Katja Klami is a beautiful union of music and lyrics. Klami doesn't use very modernist techniques, which gives the text a lot of room. The textures are harmonious and full-bodied. Katja Klami's strong, expressive poems are timeless and topical, even heartbreaking."
- Kikka Holmberg, Kulttuuritoimitus
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"The character of Markku Klami's three-movement song cycle Elegia is balanced and bears a close relationship between the poems and music. At the end of the second song, the soprano solo takes on a depth of sacred music."
- Harri Hautala, Aamulehti
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"into the deep peace took off as if from thin, quivering air and the landscape was calmly built both horizontally and vertically – I saw both mountains and the horizon and mighty trees in front of me. The upper notes conjured up the night sky and the beautiful, stable fifths created the impression of peace."
- Tove Djupsjöbacka, Kuoromusiikin Kausikonsertit
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"Composing is, says Markku Klami, an endless voyage of discovery beyond horizons."
- Musica nova Helsinki Festival (from the artist biography)
"Markku is an elegant composer whose harmonies blend gently from one to another [––] he paints in long, broad arcs."
- Nils Schweckendiek, conductor (on the puppet opera Croak)
"The scarce gestures in Klami's aava created imaginative electric soundscapes."
- Jukka Isopuro, Helsingin Sanomat
"Klami does not use any text in his night signal: the succinct, clear and captivating miniature replaces words with vocal variations and changing overtones."
- Lauri Kilpiö, Suomen Kuvalehti
"Major part of contemporary art music is technically too advanced for educational use. This is something that Markku Klami also tried to remedy in his colorful and sensitive Värein, which offers a great deal of challenges that are still possible to meet."
- Mats Liljeroos, Hufvudstadsbladet
"Klami's red moon is characterized by abrupt sections mixed with atmospheric, motionless chords, but the dynamics and timbre results in an shimmering texture. There is momentary melodic phrases and figurative outbreak.
A heavy, solemn passage sets in and transforms gradually into a lighter, lyrical character that ends up in an ethereal sound. From the silent flickering of actions the piece ends in a crackling climax."
- Martin Nygaard Hansen-Chernetskiy, Seismograf
"Markku Klami's Cinque miniature presents itself as miniaturist musical genre paintings, as the name of the composition might suggest. The musical elements holding the miniatures together – pedal points, asymmetric rhythmics, extensive use of triplets, repetitive motifs – all these suggest that all these miniatures were painted in the same situation, as variations of the same atmosphere.
The cyclical unity of the composition is intensified further by the fact that each miniature opens with tones that end the preceding miniature, and also by the fact that the first and last tone of the composition are the same."
- Juha Torvinen (work commentary on Patrik Kleemola's debut album "Perchitarrasola")