Elisa Rumici A Performer’s Perspective on the Piano Works of Einojuhani Rautavaara

     The scientific jury is composed of:

• Alfonso GOMEZ, professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany)
• Anne KAUPPALA, professor of musicology at the Sibelius Academy and the University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland)
• Natasha LOGES, professor of musicology at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany)
• Arabella PARE, professor of musicology at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (Germany)
• Hardy RITTNER, professor of piano and artistic research at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany) - chairman

    The artistic jury is composed of:

• Alfonso GOMEZ, professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany)
• Michèle RENOUL, professeur of piano à la Haute école des arts du Rhin Strasbourg (France)
• Natasha LOGES, professor of musicology at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany)
• Laurens PATZLAFF, professeur of musicology, piano improvisation and applied piano performance at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany)
• Hardy RITTNER, professeur of pianoand artistic research at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany) - chairman

     This study examines my engagement as a pianist with the solo piano music of Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016), offering performance and pedagogical insights through historical, analytical, and practice-based research. Focusing on Rautavaara’s complete published solo piano output, with particular attention to the Etudes Op. 42, it investigates the performance and pedagogical challenges embedded in these works and considers Rautavaara’s identity as a pianist-composer, his relationship with the instrument, established pianistic traditions, and virtuosity, examining the role assumed by performers of this music.

     The study examines how Rautavaara’s treatment of various contextual factors is reflected in his evolving relationship with the piano and, how this, in turn, shapes the performer’s approach to interpretation. The study argues that the process of engaging with Rautavaara’s piano writing can empower performers, placing them at the centre of the musical experience. Moreover, Rautavaara’s understanding of himself as a medium for music challenges conventional notions of composer authority, opening a space for performers as collaborators and foregrounding their creative agency. Because of the connections Rautavaara’s piano writing establishes between tradition and modernism, the study examines the potential of this repertoire to function as a bridge towards unfamiliar musical territories in performance and teaching contexts, exploring how such encounters can be mediated by highlighting its relationship with the established canon.

     By integrating performance with pedagogy and musicological research, the study situates this repertoire between the established canon and the avant-garde experimentation of Rautavaara’s time, while showing the potential of heterogeneous methodologies for investigating his piano music in real-world contexts. Following an initial examination of the biographical aspects most relevant to Rautavaara’s relationship with the piano, the study situates his piano output within his aesthetic development and the Finnish historical and artistic context of his time. It investigates the strategies adopted to promote his piano music and how these shaped its reception, before examining the role of virtuosity and the position of the pianist within this repertoire. Finally, it surveys Rautavaara’s published solo piano works through performance-oriented considerations and, in the case of the Etudes, pedagogical ones. The study’s outcomes include applied performance and pedagogical resources, ranging from interpretation commentaries to recordings and tutorials.