Composer Magnus Gautestad - interviewed before the Harmonia Classica concert on June 15
A translation from the Viennese Newspaper for Harmonious Music (Zeitung für Harmonische Musik, Number 119, May 2024)
Editor: When did you start composing and what was your musical career like?
Magnus Gautestad: In 2013, when I was still a long-haired rocker, I made my first collaborative attempt at songwriting with another electric guitarist. Up until that point, I had played in rock and metal bands in Norway for 10 years, but creativity in music did not come naturally to me. It was a mechanical attempt where I carried out exercises from my guitar teacher, and I was ashamed of the result when it was put on a collaborative CD.
But after a semester of studying music in San Francisco, everything was about to change. There I got to know the best of Western music history, combined with ear training, and I can still remember waking up to this wonderful world of beautiful classical music. I began to change myself and my perspective on life. I now noticed the beauty around me, the architecture, the richness of the paintings, and the music had a new depth, but I was disappointed when I went to the concert halls and found so little of that beauty.
So where did I go? I went to a local church that was full of classical music, hymns and psalms. I didn’t understand the truth of the sermon, but I experienced a window to the divine through beauty, especially when the superb works of J.S. Bach were played. By attending church alone Sunday after Sunday, I learned to understand my sinfulness and that God loves me even though I still lived a very sinful lifestyle. By knowing Jesus Christ and believing the gospel, I repented and trusted in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and believed in Him as my Lord.
Shortly after, I began to receive clear melodic lines in my head for the first time, and improvising and composing took a new turn. To this day, I am convinced that I am called to music ministry, and I do whatever it takes to be faithful to that mission. First, I started giving concerts in churches, improvising solos together with organ and violin. In the evenings at my guitar school, which I was running at the time, I began to write down the music that came to mind. I also started a treasure hunt for the most beautiful melodies in history and rearranged them. Since then, I have composed many pieces, experimenting back and forth with my Serbian producer and co-writer Sean Milijasevic. We tried different crossover variations, hired musicians to test the ideas, tried different forms and orchestrations, and now, in 2024, after several years of prayer and work, we are starting to perform and record the music in Vienna.
Editor: What is particularly important to you when composing?
Magnus Gautestad: When I compose, the most important thing is to start with an inspired idea. Since these ideas come from outside ourselves, they can wake us up from being lost in the world, a key to a vital spiritual life. When I hear new music in my head, I immediately record it with my voice and almost run to my phone and try to capture the motifs as accurately as possible. Then I write the music roughly in musical notation and give it the first title that comes to mind, before shaping the ideas into a complete piece. Then I listen to the ideas over and over again and see what other melodic lines come to mind, before humming the ideas in everyday life, which further perfects them. When the flow of ideas stops, I hand them over to my co-writer Sean, who has greater theoretical and technical skills than I do.
Editor: What effect do you want the listener to have?
Magnus Gautestad: For my listeners, I mainly want to either facilitate the healing of the heart or convey a sense of encouragement and hope. In times of historic depression records in the Western world, it is time for artists to turn on the light as much as possible!
The beauty of the Baroque period, as well as the power of melodic heavy metal music of the 1980s, is full of uplifting power, and I hope to bring the best of it into new forms to be a gap filler for the needs of people today. In addition, as a Christian, I always hope that God will use my music to bring people closer to Him.
Editor: How did you get in touch with Harmonia Classica?
Magnus Gautestad: I started an initiative called “Together for Beauty” in 2023, and Alexander Blechinger was recommended by a friend to be a speaker at the online summit. I also watched Blechinger’s interview in the classical-philosophical program “Cave of Apelles” and we immediately bonded over shared values. We are now team members in the organization “Composers For Beauty” that I founded this year, an organization that, among many other initiatives, also offers mentoring services at the Academy as a springboard for classical composers to reach a wider audience on a deeper level.
Editor: What do you particularly like about Harmonia Classica?
Magnus Gautestad: I particularly like that Harmonia Classica boldly and clearly declares its values and lays a foundation for a community of like-minded people who respect and like beautiful melodic music. This is very important for composers who otherwise face a lot of resistance and oppression from the modernist establishment or neglect from churches that have reduced their mission to not really understanding the importance of arts and the artist in the overall mission of God.
Editor: Is there a funny anecdote from your work that you can tell us?
Magnus Gautestad: I find it funny that for most of my life, I didn’t know I could compose. There are so many gifts that come from courage, hope, and faith. We can all help accelerate the revival of beauty that is now taking place in the West. One powerful way is to do what Harmonia Classica is doing: to make new beautiful music possible!
Editor: Thank you for the interview.
Get tickets for the Harmonia Classica concert on June 15, 2024, by clicking here.
To learn more about Composers for Beauty and stay updated with releases of Gautestad’s music, visit www.composersforbeauty.org
