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HIGHLIGHTS
1/2012
N E W S L E T T E R F RO M G E H R M A N S M U S I K F ร R L A G & F E NNIC A G E H R M A N
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NEWS Record year for Kalevi Aho
New commissions
The Lapland Chamber Orchestra has commissioned Lars Karlsson to write a song cycle that is to be performed by Gabriel Suovanen in Rovaniemi on 26 April. Entitled Sju sånger till text av Pär Lagerkvist (Seven Songs to text by Pär Lagerkvist), it travels from the anguish of the first movement to the transfiguration and light of the last. The words are taken from some of the most famous poems by Nobel Prize-winner Lagerkvist and reflect his life-long spiritual struggle with the major issues of existence.
The Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra is commissioning two new song cycles for the 2013-2014 season. Albert Schnelzer will compose a work for soprano Susanna Andersson scheduled to be premiered in the autumn 2013 and Benjamin Staern will set poems by Karin Boye for alto Anna Larsson for premiere in 2014. The Boye Songs will include Staern’s Grammy awarded The Night´s Deep Violoncello – here adapted from chamber ensemble to orchestra. Also the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Musik i Syd have jointly commissioned a work by Staern, a Concerto for Orchestra to be premiered in May 2013.
More films
9th Piano Concerto by Heiniö
There are new films available on Gehrmans YouTube channel. See Lisa Larsson in the premiere of the new soprano version of Rolf Martinsson´s Orchestral Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson. Listen to Karin Dornbusch in the premiere of Benjamin Staern´s clarinet concerto Worried Souls, or watch the composer portrait of Albert Schnelzer recorded during the Oxford Lieder Festival last autumn. You will find these three new films and many more at www.youtube.se/gehrmans.
The series of piano concertos by Mikko Heiniö continues with the premiere of his ninth, Nonno, at the Tampere Biennale on 21 April. Composed for the UMO Jazz Orchestra and pianist Kirmo Lintinen, it is scored for reinforced piano and big band and is the latest addition to Heiniö’s series of exciting concerto hybrids. One typical feature of these is their unusual line-ups.
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HIGHLIGHTS
Martinsson’s Airy Flight on tour
1/2012
NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN
Sound samples , video clips and other material are available at
Håkan Hardenberger is including Rolf Martinsson’s Airy Flight for trumpet and strings on his tour with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in March. All in all, there will be nine performances in Finland, Sweden and Denmark, including the world premiere in Helsinki Music Centre on 6 March. The tour will be rounded off with a concert at Cadogan Hall, London (see music.se). Airy Flight is a bossa nova and also Martinsson’s gift for Hardenberger on his 50th birthday.
H i ghl i ghts
1/2012
Photo: Marco Borggreve
www.gehrmans.se/highlights www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights Cover photo: Finnish National Opera/Tom Röllich (Puhdistus), Eva Rudling (Sven-David Sandström), Marco Borggreve (Håkan Hardenberger) Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf Translations: Susan Sinisalo and Robert Carroll Design: Göran Lind ISSN 1239-6850 Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2012
Photo: Annu Mikkonen
Lars Karlsson
commission for Rovaniemi
Lars Karlsson
Photo: Hui Sun
The present year looks like being a record one for Kalevi Aho, with premieres of no fewer than six orchestral works. Five of these are concertos, the first of which, for French horn, was heard in Lappeenranta in January. This will be followed this spring by the concerto for trombone (the Hague Philharmonic, sol. Jorgen van Rijen on 2 March), trumpet (the Antwerp Philharmonic, sol. Alain De Rudder on 30 March) and percussion (the London Philharmonic, sol. Colin Currie on 18 April). Later in the year there will be numerous other performances around the world; a list of these can be found on the Highlights page of the Fennica Gehrman website. BIS Records is also releasing several Aho discs. A recording of the Chamber Symphonies and a CD of chamber music are in the pipeline.
Håkan Hardenberger
P remieres Spring 2012 TOBIAS BROSTRÖM
La Danse
Helsingborg SO, cond. Andrew Manze 16.2. Helsingborg, Sweden
Notabene Productions, in cooperation with Musik i Syd and the Swedish Embassy in London, invites concertgoers to a festival with Swedish music in Cadogan Hall 10-12 May. At music.se one can hear, among other works, the premiere of Albert Schnelzer’s Violin Concerto – Coupled Airs, songs by Wilhelm Stenhammar, Dag Wirén’s Serenade for Strings and Rolf Martinsson’s Airy Flight. More information on www.music.se
BENJAMIN STAERN
photo: Angelica Ahlefeldt-Laurvig
Worried Souls – Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra
Haglund’s Cello Concerto on CD
Pingoud & Melartin:
revised materials A new score edited by Jani Kyllönen is now available of the Second Piano Concerto by Ernest Pingoud. The original score of 1921 was lost and all that remained was Pingoud’s rewritten score of the first movement. That of the other movements has been compiled from the orchestral parts. The Lahti Symphony Orchestra revived the concerto at a concert in December 2011, when the soloist was Roope Gröndahl. The Erkki Melartin Society organised the clean-copying of the Symphony No. 3 by Erkki Melartin, as a result of which new, edited orch estral parts are now available. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo is to use the new material for the first time for a performance at the Helsinki Music Centre on 27 April.
BIS Records is recording Tommie Haglund’s cello concerto Flaminis Aura. The Norwegian cellist Ernst Simon Glaser is the soloist together with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Afkham. Glaser is also giving two live performances of the concerto in the Gothenburg Concert Hall in September.
All-Swedish concert in New York John-Edward Kelly and Arcos Orchestra will give an all-Swedish concert at New York’s Temple Emanu-El on 14 March. The program entitled “Sensational Sweden” will include the US premieres of Jan Sandström’s Acintyas and Miklos Maros’ Sinfonia Concertante, along with Ein schneller Blick...ein kurzes Aufscheinen by Arcos’ Composer-in-Residence Anders Eliasson.
Norrköping SO, cond. Stefan Solyom, sol. Karin Dornbusch 16.2. Norrköping, Sweden
Olli Kortekangas
Toisin
Ilona Jokinen, soprano, Asta Onnila, piano 22.2. Helsinki, Finland
Kalevi Aho
Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra
Residentie Orkest Den Haag, cond. Santtu-Matias Rouvali, sol. Jorgen van Rijen 2.3. Hague, Netherlands Quasi una fantasia, for horn and organ
Petri Komulainen, horn, Jan Lehtola, organ 11.3. Helsinki, Finland
Concerto for Trumpet and Symphonic Wind Band
DeFilharmonie Antwerpen, cond. Martyn Brabbins, sol. Alain De Rudder 30.3. Antwerp, Netherlands Sieidi, Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra
London PhO, cond. Osmo Vänskä, sol. Colin Currie 18.4. London, UK
ROLF MARTINSSON
Airy Flight
Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, sol. Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet 6.3. Helsinki, Finland Lukaspassionen (St. Luke Passion)
Canzonetta, Uppsala Cathedral Singers, cond. Kettil Skarby, sol. Matilda Paulsson, Calle Lindén 31.3. Uppsala, Sweden
Mikko Heiniö
Maria Suite, for mixed choir
New St. Luke Passion Congregations and churches in no less than 13 episcopates have jointly commissioned a new Swedish passion with texts taken from the Gospel of St. Luke mixed with newly written texts by Göran Greider, and music by Rolf Martinsson. The work is approx. 90 minutes and is set for mixed choir, two vocal soloists and a small instrumental ensemble: flute, oboe, cello and organ (with ad lib double bass and drum). Parallel premieres in all 13 episcopates will take place during the Easter week. This unique commission was initiated by Gehrmans Musikförlag and the educational association Sensus.
Key Ensemble, cond. Teemu Honkanen 24.3. Parainen, Finland Nonno (Piano Concerto No. 9)
UMO Jazz Orchestra, cond. Kari Heinilä, sol. Kirmo Lintinen 21.4. Tampere, Finland
JYRI REINVERE
Purge (Puhdistus), opera
Finnish National Opera, cond. Paul Mägi, sol. Helena Juntunen, Johanna Rusanen-Kartano, Jaakko Kortekangas, Niina Keitel etc. 20.4. Helsinki, Finland
Lars Karlsson
Sju sånger till text av Pär Lagerkvist (Seven Songs)
Photo Fimic/Maarit Kytöharju
Fennica Gehrman takes on Ilkka Kuusisto’s operas Fennica Gehrman is to act as agent for the 17 operas by Ilkka Kuusisto, their hire and licensing. Kuusisto (b. 1933), who has left his mark on many fields of music in Finland, is a prolific composer. His popular operas include The Rib of a Man, Miss Julie, Come back, Gabriel, Prisoner of Freedom, A Woman like Frozen Champagne and Taipaleenjoki.
The Chamber Orchestra of Lapland cond. John Storgårds, sol. Gabriel Suovanen 26.4. Rovaniemi, Finland
ALBERT SCHNELZER
Violin Concerto – Coupled Airs
Orchestra of the Swan, cond. David Curtis, sol. Hugo Ticciati 10.5. London, UK
SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM
Dansa
Lena Willemark, soprano and violin, Cecilia Zilliacus, violin 14.5. Stockholm, Sweden H i ghl i ghts
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Women in the maelstrom of history The eagerly-awaited spring premiere Purge (Puhdistus) brings to the Finnish National Opera the story of the highly-acclaimed novel of the same name by Sofi Oksanen. An old woman faces her past and in doing so places the recent history of a whole nation open to inspection.
T he 1 9 3 0s, West Estonia. Two sisters fall in are mainly German and Russian. “It’s both odd love with the same man, but he has eyes for only and right,” he laughs, “that an opera saying how one of them. War breaks out and the country is dangerous it is to live next door to Russia should occupied. The unloved sister grasps at the oppor- follow the traditions of Russian opera.” tunity; she seeks revenge and betrays those closest As is so often the case in operas, the leadto her. Betrays her country. ing character in Purge is a suffering woman Decades later, Estonia is once and her development. The again free. A young woman apleading role is so immense pears at the aging Aliide’s door. that it is divided in two. The With her comes the past. young and the old Aliide are This is the setup in Sofi sung by two different sopranos. Oksanen’s Purge. The private “They both have huge parts to merges with the public, the fate play – a life story spanning deof the small human being with cades,” says Tiina Puumalainen that of the nation. Purge offers no the stage director. easy answers, Aliide is no mere The fact that the two Aliides traitor, nor is she merely a victim. are often on stage at the same Jüri Reinvere It is easy to see her as a wrong-doer, but just as easy time is, she feels, extremely interesting. Old and to understand why she did what she did. There young view the same situation via their own unwere few alternatives. derstanding. They can see each other, their past and Purge, a work of sweeping emotions and vast future selves, but they cannot change themselves. themes, lent itself readily to the language of opera, The irrevocability of history thus becomes consays librettist-composer Jüri Reinvere. The main crete; the fact that whatever happened has to be characters and events are the same as those in the accepted as it is. novel, but the chronology and weighting differ. “I am aware that Sofi had in mind the powerful People in crisis theme of the female status,” says Reinvere. “Whereas “The characters in Purge are people in crisis. They my emphasis is on the way the Estonians have come all have to make their choices without knowing to terms with the past. I argue that the only way to what the future will bring, and all the options are leave the past behind is to look it straight in the eye.” difficult or dangerous,” says Puumalainen. “ The Jüri Reinvere was born in Estonia but moved libretto has no mercy; it exposes human weakaway a couple of decades ago, first to Finland. He nesses and smallness. But on the other hand it has also lived for a while in Sweden, Poland, Berlin makes us understand very clearly just how difficult and elsewhere. making the right decision is.” “Purge has shocked Estonia in many ways. People War and oppression, as described in Purge, there are used to speaking about the past in a certain drive people to extreme acts. “They seek a little way. But Oksanen does not repeat the big and little happiness and big boots trample it underfoot. The lies the Estonians have been telling themselves.” greatest love leads to the worst iniquities.”
A split leading role Purge is, says the composer, a traditional opera. “I have not tried to set any records for modern experimentation.” The models for the dramaturgy H i ghl i ghts
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The relationship between the young Zara and the old Aliide also fascinates Tiina Puumalainen. “Both have found themselves in difficult, virtually impossible situations. Zara has become the victim of modern trafficking, Aliide of the most
ruthless era in a nightmarish regime. Life’s complexity is clearly visible in their encounter. The consequences of our actions affect many people for decades to come, and some crimes never grow old.”
Surging masses and intimate moments Both the composer and the stage director are excited about the potential afforded by the big National Opera stage. “The stage technology is the best in Finland and we can be confident that the plans will work in the best possible way,” Puumalainen enthuses. The choir, which transforms from wedding guests in the young Estonia to Soviet soldiers, forest brothers, interrogators and victims of sex trafficking, occupies a big role in the opera. Puumalainen reports that in creating the visual image she sought ideas from various sources, from Soviet propaganda to mass movements in the present day. “We’re building a story that takes in both intimate little moments and surging masses that fill the whole stage. The story shifts backwards and forwards in time and even strays far from its point of departure, but everything revolves around Aliide, in her memories and thoughts. She is surrounded by the might of a major power, by war and destruction, in which people have to make their choices.” Purge is Jüri Reinvere’s first full-length opera. It also marks his debut at the Finnish National Opera. Did he find such a challenge terrifying? “Terrifying? Well. After all, one of the themes of Purge is that you must not give way to fear. If you do, you will become what you fear.” J arm o Papinniemi
This article was originally published in Oopperasanomat 1/2012 Read Reinvere’s blog at http://puhdistusopera.wordpress.com
Photo: Martin Möller
There is a manuscript on our table: 360 handwritten pages, 77 movements, 2 hours and 15 minutes of music. It is the final work in Sven-David Sandström’s monumental project devoted to sacred music, a St. Matthew Passion. ”But now I’m done with the sacred works, I want to and must move on, otherwise I will become of depicter of piety”, says Sandström, who turns 70 in October.
Sven-David Sandström
It was when Sandström in 2008 came back to Sweden after 10 years as professor in composition at the University of Indiana Bloomington, USA, that he made the decision to realise his dream to – like Bach – compose for all the feast days of the ecclesiastical year. The result is about 75 works, mainly a cappella movements, but also cantatas with organ, and purely instrumental works. In addition to these, over the last few years he has composed a number of large-scale vocal works with religious content: the passion The Word, The Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat , Messiah, the opera Bathsheba, Missa Brevis, Requiem and The St. Matthew Passion.
Religious mysticism and historical references Why then has Sandström composed so much sacred music? – I wanted to explore what religiousness meant to me. I have vivid memories of the texts ever since my childhood as dreams, fantasies and desires, and as I call it, religious mysticism. I find it very inspiring. Sven-David Sandström admits that as the years go by it has become increasingly difficult to find the purely musical inspiration, and then the text has been very helpful. – I often say that I translate the text into music. Hearing the text is not always what is most important, it is my interpretation of it that is essential. He has also written six motets to the same texts as J. S. Bach used, likewise in the cantata Wachet auf and his just recently finished St. Matthew Passion. – I feel a kinship with the past when working with these texts, and they also convey a fascinating perspective of experience for the listener. Imagine that it sounds like this today when someone composes music to texts that Bach set 250 years ago! I don’t associate to Bach musically in any way, but on the other hand it does sound a little like Bach because it is the same text. Next year Gustaf Sjökvist will conduct the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish
Radio Choir and four vocal soloists in the premiere of Sandström’s Requiem. Here, too, one can find historical references: the traditional Italian text and a division of the work that corresponds to Verdi’s. It is palpably vocal, with a lot of accompaniment in the orchestra, big a cappella movements and different ensembles among the soloists. – I use two high sopranos and a baritone and a bass, who symbolise heaven’s eternal light and earth’s darkness, respectively. It has turned out to be a powerful work and really beautiful. 2014 will see the premiere of the monumental St. Matthew Passion at the hands of conductor Stefan Parkman. It is a gigantic work for nine solo ists, choir and orchestra. It should be noted that Sandström has divided up the Evangelist’s role into four soloists, and has thereby created a more multi-facetted character. So far five performances are planned in Germany, Sweden and the USA.
Sandström today But now Sandström feels that he has had enough of sacred music for a while. It is time to seek new challenges. – Above all, I want to write more chamber music. Preferably for strings that have a sound and an emotional quality that suits me. First in line is a commission for the Stenhammar Quartet. In May Dansa for voice and violin will have its premiere at the Stockholm Concert Hall, composed for singer and folk musician Lena Willemark and violinist Cecilia Zilliacus. – The work is based on a text by Maria Wine that has been a great inspiration for me, and around which I have tried to create a kind of mysticism. It is almost a little dramatic scene. How then does Sven-David Sandström sound in the year 2012? – My style has changed quite radically, from the highly structured formalistic music of the 1970s, when I built up large layers and sound phenomena, till today, when I write music that is quite easily accessible, with a palpable sentiment, almost sweet
at times, naïve and non-academic. The music can have a powerful drive, be rhythmically vigorous and forceful, and then go into a nostalgic world, full of sentimentality that I love to create.
A restless soul Sandström acknowledges that he is afraid to write music that is boring. One way of avoiding this is to divide up the work into shorter snippets, or Pieces as he calls them. Five Pieces for String Trio (2008), Seven Pieces for String Quartet (2010), and Six Pieces for Piano Trio and Orchestra (2010) are three relatively new works which he finds very enjoyable. – I want to surprise the listener. I want people to enter into different states without knowing exactly where they are, and when they feel secure they should be hurled onwards. No doubt this has to do with the fact that I am a rather anxious and restless soul. This restlessness also makes Sandström enormously creative. Already the day after the largescale St. Matthew Passion was finished he started on a new piece: Four Numbers, a counterpart to Beethoven’s Fourth, on commission from the Norr land Opera Symphony Orchestra. Other works in the pipeline include a Flute Concerto for Tobias Carron, a piece for solo violin and string orchestra for Music Vitae, and a new opera. But Sandström also has a dream project in progress. Three full evenings with six singers and a symphony orchestra, in which singers from different worlds meet and are paired together, a classical singer with a pop/musical singer. – But I’m not going to do what people expect. There won’t be any musicals. It is the confrontations and encounters between different spheres of interest that stimulate me. I have always wanted to do what is different, says Sven-David Sandström. K ristina F rykl ö f Visit Sandström’s website at www.svendavidsandstrom.com H i ghl i ghts
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R epert o ire tips
REVIEWS
Choral Highlights SATB a cappella This new Heiniö work commissioned by the Key Ensemble looks at the Virgin Mary from fascinatingly different perspectives. The first two of the five songs are about the Black Madonna. The third alludes to Luther and has the hymn Vom Himmel hoch embedded in it. The fourth is based on a 13th century Stabat mater hymn, and the last draws on Orthodox motifs. FG ISMN 9790550111059
Pekka Jalkanen Svjatyj Bozhe (Holy God) (2006)
SATB a cappella, Dur: 5’ This nostalgic, archaic-sounding work stylises its ethnic materials – the world of Russian bylyny and Ingrian laments – in the spirit of Orthodox church music. A little poem in Church Slavonic grows into a dusky choral fresco that stretches far and deep. FG ISMN 9790550095366
Olli Kortekangas The Way to the Woods (2007) SATB a cappella, Dur: 7’30” The words of this commission by the US Syracuse Vocal Ensemble and Robert Cowles are by Wendell Berry. Kortekangas is tho roughly familiar with his instrument, having sung in choirs throughout his youth, and knows how to write quality, sonorous music for it. He also has a knack of finding unusually beautiful texts for his works, as demonstrated by this profound poem by Berry. FG ISMN 9790550095779
Susanna Lindmark Songs of Hope (2010) SSAA a cappella (percussion in the second song) Susanna Lindmark leads the women’s choir Arctic Light (Choir of the Year 2010). Her pieces often conjure up the atmosphere of northern, cold and barren areas, as in the two Songs of Hope; In a Clear Cold Crystal Winter Night and Song of Hope. Her own texts have a religious, but also human, undertone. GE 11818
Einojuhani Rautavaara Unsere Liebe (1996/2010) SATB a cappella Settings of poems by Lassi Nummi translated into German, Unsere Liebe is both heart-warming and moving. Rautavaara experienced the poems as being extremely personal, acting as a source of inspiration for his music. Unsere Liebe is a version for mixed choir of a commission by the Hanover Girls’ Choir called Wenn sich die Welt auftut. The Helsinki Chamber Choir performed Unsere Liebe in 2010 with Nils Schweckendiek conducting. FG ISMN 9790550110205
Karin Rehnqvist I varje bit bröd/ The bread in my mouth (2009) SATB a cappella Karin Rehnqvist is professor in composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Here she has written a playful choral movement based on a poem by the famous poet Göran Sonnevi, where the cosmos is seen concentrated in a little piece of bread. Text in Swedish and English. GE 11905
Haya! En sång till dagens glädje/ Haya! Song to the Joy of the Day (2009) SATB a cappella, Dur: 4’ A powerful piece of music, crackling with energy, for the advanced choir. It is sung in “Hayan”, a language that Karin Rehnqvist invented just for this work. The piece also contains a few lines of Indian poetry in English. Haya! was written for SATB for the final of the Eric Ericsson Award 2009, and has subsequently been reworked into a version for double choir. GE 11918
Sven-David Sandström Hear the voice of the bard (2009) mezzo-soprano, male choir and organ, Dur: 10’ Text: William Blake. Movements 1 and 3 have a marked character of growing: from the deep pianissimo of the organ and second bass to the powerful, glaring fortissimo chords. The mezzo part is softer and more melodious and the choral movement, which is dominated by the harmonic development, also has sections that are more rhythmically pregnant. GE 11558
FREDRIK SIXTEN Magnificat (2009) SATB, brass septet (3 tpt, 3 tbn, 1 tba), organ Dur: 12’ A work in three movements, in which the first gives an energetic expression for the joy of praising. The second movement begins and ends more softly, but also contains a fugato section. The work concludes with a joyful Gloria patri. GE 11498 score, GE 11499 choral score
Imaginative and amusing Högberg The most fun on the disc, however, is Högberg‘s highly charged Dancing with Silent Purpose with its manic electronic beat. The Expressive Rage movement gives the ACO an opportunity to rock out as Fröst‘s fingers dance across the keys. Limelight Magazine 25.1. ‘Dancing with Silent Purpose’, a concerto for clarinet, tape and strings is to my mind a much more interesting and entertaining piece. The combination of the hyperactive clarinet writing and quirky use of tape is both imaginative and amusing, and it brings this imaginative showcase of Martin Fröst’s phenomenal talent to a brilliant conclusion. SA-CD.NET December 2011 Fredrik Högberg: Dancing with Silent Purpose
CD: Australian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Richard Tognetti, sol. Martin Fröst, clarinet (BIS-SACD-1863)
AGNETA SKÖLD Veni Sancte Spiritus (2011) SATB, organ Agneta Sköld´s works are often written for her own choirs in Västerås Cathedral (Central Sweden). In this work for mixed chorus and organ based on the text in the medieval Pentecost hymn, the music proceeds in a classical, strict texture with melodies reminiscent of Gregorian chant. The text is in Latin and Swedish. GE 11972
Veljo Tormis Nostalgia (Eight Favorite Estonian Songs) (1985) SATB a cappella The recently re-issued Nostalgia, a set of eight fairly easy and beautiful folk songs with English translations, is just one example of Tormis’s thought-provoking, hypnotic choral expression. The songs represent nostalgic childhood memories of the distant and happy times the composer was fortunate to experience. FG ISMN 9790550110434
Carl Unander-Scharin Spiritual Exercises – Motet No. 3 (2005) six-part mixed choir a cappella, Dur: 15’ The work can be performed with three groups placed in different quarters in order to exploit the possibilities of the space. The yearning for the Source of Life expressed in the poem by St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) is formulated musically in a quiet texture that, however, includes several modes of expression: structures with minimalist features are broken off by contrapuntal passages and declamatory sections. The composer states that “the entire piece should be sung meditatively and with feeling”. GE 11126
A refined aquarellist Nieminen is a lyric and a poet of the contemporary Finnish music scene…He could be compared to a musical aquarellist whose delicately balanced colour palette is pleasing to the ear without being sweet or sentimental…The musicians were clearly inspired by their task and presented an extraordinarily refined musical portrait. Hufvudstadsbladet 16.11. Kai Nieminen: Reflecting Landscapes, Notturno “Uccelli della notte”, In der Winterszeit, etc.
Trio La Rue, 16.11.2011 Helsinki, Finland H i ghl i ghts
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Photo: Esa-Juhani Posti
Mikko Heiniö Maria Suite (2011)
Meditation and full expression
Photo: Magdalena Prahl
Photo: Fimic/Saara Vuorjoki
Broström has a sure way of handling the orchestra, especially when it comes to the possibilities of varying its sound. His music is very inviting thanks to its sophisticated treatment of sonorities. It is also rhythmically alive with a minimalist drive. Helsingborgs Dagblad 8.2. Broström’s orchestral works is a kaleidoscope for both meditation and full expression.…pronounced rhythmic vitality…ingenious and versatile handling of the orchestra… Sydsvenska Dagbladet 1.2. Tobias Broström: Kaléidoscope – Orchestral works
CD: Gävle SO, cond. Johannes Gustavsson, sol. Per Tengstrand, piano, Karen Gomyo, violin, Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet (SSACD 1145)
Impressive hidden secret The carefully-considered entity in which the different works joined together in a way that was dramaturgically meaningful made a very great impression at the Koskelin profile concert…The very opening of X’seven for cello already bore witness to an unusually delicate power of expression…All was interpreted with fantastic skill, passion and intensity. Hufvudstadsbladet 19.1. Olli Koskelin: X’seven, Tintinnio, Six Haiku, etc.
Mysterious creative drive These works forge their way straight to the heart with their almost folk song-like approach…Simplicity and creativity that spring from the mysterious depths beneath the surface. Klassik Heute 19.12. Einojuhani Rautavaara: Works for Children’s Choir
CD: Tapiola Choir, cond. Pasi Hyökki (Ondine ODE 1169-2)
Mikael Helasvuo, flute, Sami Mäkelä, cello, Tuomas Mali, piano, 17.1.2011 Helsinki, Finland
Inspired reading of Bergman
An enchanted horn journey
The cantata Bardo Thödol was the main work on the programme…The choir, soloists, narrator and orchestra wove together an experience nothing short of physical out of the subject of the work, the Buddhist transitional state between death and rebirth. Rubaiyat was just as full of vitality. Helsingin Sanomat 27.11. Erik Bergman: Bardo Thödol, Rubaiyat
The listener could not help but be drawn into Aho’s enchanted world …The mirror-clear reflections in places became almost ritual, shamanistic sequences, only to subside again… In addition to producing a traditional heroic French horn texture, Salminen let her instrument uninhibitedly growl and bellow. Etelä-Saimaa 28.1. Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Horn and Orchestra
Finnish Radio SO, YL Male Voice Choir, Dominante, etc., cond. Sakari Oramo, 25.11.2011 Helsinki, Finland (Bergman 100 years)
World premiere: Lappeenranta CO, cond. Tibor Bogányi, sol. Annu Salminen, 26.1.2012 Lappeenranta, Finland
A concerto full of fantasy Photo: Hans Lindén
It was heartening to hear a contemporary work being greeted so warmly – deservedly so. The attentiongrabbing opening featured dazzling bravura passages for Fröst. Imagine if Gershwin had transcribed The Flight of the Bumblebee for Benny Goodman and you’ll get the idea. The concerto’s five sections are full of fantasy and contrasts, from a passage where Fröst plays a single tone for a minute without a break to a lush romantic melody worthy of Korngold at his Hollywood ripest. Birmingham Post 2.12. Rolf Martinsson: Concert Fantastique
Marvellous sounds
UK premiere: City of Birmingham SO, cond. Edward Gardner, sol. Martin Fröst, clarinet, 24.11.2011 Birmingham, UK Lisa Larsson in Västerås Concert Hall
The soprano version is superb for the themes of the cycle of poems: love, nature and life. Lisa Larsson lifts the often simple but existent ially vital content with lyrical clarity and spiritual fervour. Vestmanlands Läns Tidning 23.1. Rolf Martinsson: Orchestral Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson (new soprano version)
World premiere: Västerås and Jönköping Sinfonietta, cond. Hannu Koivula, sol. Lisa Larsson, soprano, 21.1.2012 Västerås, Sweden
Sinfonia del mare – a potential classic We should not let Gösta Nystroem’s symphonies get out of earshot. They are the expressionistic and lyrical alibi of Swedish modernism during the interwar period. Sinfonia del mare, with its undulating swells and the quiet voice part, with Ebba Lindqvist’s poem “The Only One”, has the potential to become a classic. Sydsvenska Dagbladet 5.12. Gösta Nystroem: Sinfonia del mare
CD: Malmö SO, cond. Christoph König, sol. Malena Ernman, mezzo-soprano (BIS-CD-1682)
Photo: Margareta Andersson
A great lyrical experience
I cannot recall any Swedish orchestral music that has given me such a strong feeling of floating... After a virtuoso fugal section inspired by the pleading Pink Floyd quote “rearrange me ‘till I’m sane”, it is time for the farewell... An achingly beautiful melancholy song for the cello that, after it finally ceases to play, still seems to continue sounding. Dagens Nyheter 3.12. Albert Schnelzer: Cello Concerto – Crazy Diamond
World premiere: Gothenburg SO, cond. Nikolaj Znaider, sol. Claes Gunnarsson, 1.12.2011 Gothenburg, Sweden
Forgotten quality The Pingoud concerto is a quality work, a cleverlywritten concerto that gives the soloist a chance to show off in style. Helsingin Sanomat 10.12. Ernest Pingoud: Piano Concerto No. 2
Lahti SO, cond. Okko Kamu, sol. Roope Gröndahl, 8.12.2011 Lahti, Finland H i ghl i ghts
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new p u b licati o ns
NEW CDs
C H OR A L
Kalevi Aho
Solo X for French horn (2010)
Pelle Olofson
Marie-Luise Neunecker, horn
Hosianna
BIS-SACD-1859
for SATB and organ (Swe) GE 11972
Tobias Broström
Piano Concerto No. 1 “Belle époque”, Transit Underground, Kaléidoscope, Violin Concerto, Lucernaris – Concerto for Trumpet, Live-Electronics and Orchestra
Karin RehnQvist
I varje bit bröd (The Bread in My Mouth)
Gävle SO, cond. Johannes Gustavsson, sol. Per Tengstrand, piano, Karen Gomyo, violin, Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet
for SATB a cappella (Swe/Eng)) Text: Göran Sonnevi English version: Jonathan Mair
SSACD 1145
GE 11905
Giv oss din frid (Give Us Your Peace)
Einojuhani Rautavaara
for SATB a cappella (Swe/Eng)
Cello Concerto No. 2 “Towards the Horizon”, Modificata, Percussion Concerto “Incantations”
GE 11902
Helsinki PO, cond. John Storgårds, sol. Truls Mørk, cello, Colin Currie, percussion
AGNETA SKÖLD
Veni Sancte Spiritus
ODE 1178-2
for SATB and organ (Lat/Swe) GE 11972
C H A M B E R & IN S T R U M E N T A L
S COR E S
DANIEL BÖRTZ
TOBIAS BROSTRÖM
Speglande Medea (Reflecting Medea)
Buxtehude Remixed
for orchestra
for recorder solo
GE 11308
GE 11976
Piano Concerto No. 1 – Belle époque
László Rossa – Géza Szilvay
GE 11825 GE 11976
Sonatini
for violin and chamber orchestra
for violin and piano This publication paves the way for intimate chamber music and recital playing. The melodies of the violin part are taken from the early volumes of the Colourstrings Violin ABC.
ALBERT SCHNELZER
Duettini
SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM
Lullaby for the Newborn Child GE 11985
violin part FG ISMN 979-0-55011-102-8 piano accompaniment 979-0-55011-103-5
Cello Concerto – Crazy Diamond
for two violins In these miniature duos, the easy first violin part is taken from the A volume of the Violin ABC. To aid the child’s reading it appears with childfriendly coloured notation.
GE 11827 (version for symphony orchestra) GE 12020 (version for chamber orchestra)
BENJAMIN STAERN
ISMN 979-0-55011-101-1
Celebrate
Fanfare for symphony orchestra
EDUARD TUBIN
Complete Works Volume XX Works for Violin and Piano
GE 11212
• Three Pieces • Capriccio No. 1 • Meditation • Ballade • Suite on Estonian Dance Tunes • Prelude • Capriccio No. 2 • Cock’s Dance Suite on Estonian Dance Pieces (violin solo)
GE 11978
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