Teose ühisautorsus ja selle mängulised elemendid heliloojate põlvkondliku mõttekaasluse peegeldajana Malera Kasuku klaveritrios (1977)

Abstract

Collaborative authorship of compositions is a rare phenomenon in classical music. An intriguing example of this from Estonian music history is a piano trio – a neoclassical piece consisting of three movements for violin, cello and piano – jointly composed in 1977 by three young composers, Mati Kuulberg (1947–2001), Lepo Sumera (1950–2000) and Raimo Kangro (1949–2001). They attributed the work to the pseudonym Malera Kasuku, formed from the initial syllables of their own names, which is still used in promotional materials for the composition. The article focuses on the creation, presentation, performances and reception of Malera Kasuku’s Piano Trio, illustrating the uniqueness of this multi-authored collaboration. The discussion reveals a certain generational creative like-mindedness among the three composers in the 1970s, while also exposing some aspects of the organisation of the Composers’ Union as the central institution of Soviet professional composers. From a theoretical standpoint, the thematic approach is based mostly on the idea of postmodernist playfulness, which manifests itself through all the above-mentioned facets of the work and reveals the composers’ humorous attitude towards their piano trio. The work’s descriptions and reviews in various media outlets published since its creation serve as the study’s main sources.