Finn Arnestad


Finn Arnestad was a Norwegian contemporary composer and musician.

Career

Arnestad studied violin at the Music Conservatory in Oslo, and also studied in France, Germany, Holland and Belgium. In addition to conventional compositional studies, Arnestad also studied African and Oriental music styles.
Arnestad’s compositional output is characterized by strong expressionistic traits with works that feature fragments of neo-classical ideals as well as serialism. His primary compositional focus was acoustics and exploration of harmonic structure and polarity. Studying acoustic theory, Arnestad developed a tonal system based on interference notes. Within this system, tones that are part of an interference-timbre are considered as consonant harmony, and those that are not are viewed as dissonant. The interference-timbre sound serves as structured, solid harmonies, as points of rest and calm in polyphonic development, while the dissonant harmonies are treated as dependent and disquieting.
Orchestral works constitute a considerable portion of Arnestad's compositional output. Arnestad was also active as an orchestrator, and his treatment of timbre in the pivotal work INRI has been characterized as almost brutally expressionistic. One of Arnestad’s most widely recognized orchestral works is Aria Appassionata, a work in which interference-tonality is combined with twelve-tone technique to form an emotionally-charged tonal language. Additional key works in Arnestad’s output includes his violin concerto from 1962, and "Suite i gamle danserytmer", which is based on "The Blacksmith and the Baker" for baritone and chamber orchestra, with libretto by Johan Herman Wessel. Arnestad has also composed works for chamber orchestra, voice and piano.
Arnestad served as a member of the Norwegian Society of Composers’ advisory board from 1974 to 1979 and was a member of the same organisation’s scholarship committee from 1971 to 1981.

Production

Selected works