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HIGHLIGHTS
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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 Ö R L A G & F E NNIC A G E H R M A N
Paavo Heininen CR E AT ION – VA RI AT ION – S I M U L AT ION
Jörgen Dafgård – music gives colour to life
NEWS In the February issue of Gramophone David Fanning wrote that Kalevi Aho has a strong claim to the title of greatest living symphonist. “This is music that takes wings and flies....it is eager for adventures and discoveries of its own. It can be warmly emotional or blistering.” Aho has written 15 symphonies so far , the most recent a commission from the BBC and Lahti Symphony Orchestra. He has also been active in writing other orchestral works. His Gejia receives its world premiere in China on 17 March – a commission from the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing.
Maurice Karkoff in memoriam Composer Maurice Karkoff passed away on 20 January, at the age of 85. His composing was rich and varied: he wrote lyrical songs, choral works, chamber music and symphonic works. Significant are the large number of smallscale works, always composed with a strong personal imprint and warm fervour. Having written 12 symphonies, he is also reckoned among the great Swedish symphonists.
Tonhalle Orchester Zürich is the main party in a commission of a new song cycle by Rolf Martinsson for soprano Lisa Larsson, to be premiered in January 2015 under the direction of John Storgårds. The joint commissioners include The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra London, The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and all will feature the songs on their programmes during the 2015/2016 season.
Victor Chestopal is giving a recital at the National Library of Finland on 20 March. The programme consists of piano works by cellist-composer Victoria Yagling, his mother, and will include the premiere of her last composition, the Sonatina for Piano No. 4 (2011). There will also be a small exhibition of Yagling´s manuscripts, letters and recordings that have been donated to the National Library.
Lisa Larsson
Umeå to be European Cultural Capital 2014 The city of Umeå is promoting newly written music for the Norr landsoperan Symphony Orchestra in 2014, the year it will take over as the European Capital of Culture. Mirjam Tally has composed a large-scale work for choir and orchestra, From Darkness to Light, set to poems by the Samian poet Paulus Utsis, to be premiered on 28 nordic
Linjama to the fore this year
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NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN
Sound samples , video clips and other material are available at
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Photo: Saara Vuorjoki/Fimic
www.gehrmans.se/highlights www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights Cover photo: Music Finland/Saara Vuorjoki (Paavo Heininen), Bilbo Lantto (Jörgen Dafgård) Background photo: Animation from Fredrik Högberg´s Ice Concerto Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf Translations: Susan Sinisalo and Robert Carroll Design: Göran Lind ISSN 2000-2742 (Print), ISSN 2000-2750 (Online) Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2013
February next year. The project “Beethoven and Beyond” includes the performances of Beethoven´s nine symphonies, at the same time as our time will be reflected through nine short recently written orchestral works by nine different composers, among them Fredrik Högberg, Sven-David Sandström, Tobias Broström and Mirjam Tally.
Music by Jyrki Linjama will be very much to the fore this year. His Vanitas for choir and orchestra is scheduled for performance at the Helsinki Music Centre on 24 April and will be followed on 29 June by his Finnish Stabat Mater at the Lohtaja Church Music Festival. Essi Luttinen and Ilmo Ranta will perform his song cycle Mechthild-Lieder in Kemiö Church in July; Linjama is Composer-in-Residence at the Kemiö Music Festival this summer. His church opera Die Geburt des Täufers can be heard in a concertante performance both at the Organ Night and Aria festival in Espoo and in Kemiö in July.
Photo: Andrea Diglas
Major Martinsson commission
Chestopal plays piano works by Yagling
HIGHLIGHTS
Photo: Peter Kislinger
Gramophone praises Aho as the greatest living symphonist
P r emie r es Spring 2013
The Norwegian National Opera has commissioned a new opera from Jüri Reinvere. The new interpretation of Peer Gynt, one of Norway’s national epics, is scheduled to be premiered in autumn 2014, and Reinvere will write his own libretto based on Ibsen’s play. His scored success in Helsinki in opera Purge spring 2012. The new opera will be performed in Norwegian, while the original work will be written in German. Read more at http://www. peergynt-opera.net
Photo: Finnish National Gallery/Yehia Eweis
Reinvere writes an Ibsen opera
Jorma Hynninen in Akseli
Kimmo Hakola
Akseli, monologue opera
Schnelzer and Tally to ISCM WMD 2014
Avanti! & Finnish Chamber Opera/Ville Matvejeff, sol. Jorma Hynninen 28.2. Helsinki, Finland
Photo: Repin Media
Albert Schnelzer’s cello concerto Crazy Diamond and Mirjam Tally’s Animalistic Hymn for mixed choir a cappella have been chosen to represent Sweden and Estonia, respectively, at the ISCM World Music Days in Wroclaw, Poland in 2014.
Veli-Matti Puumala
Tear, for chamber orchestra
Tapiola Sinfonietta/Hannu Lintu 1.3. Espoo, Finland
Kalevi Aho
Three Songs to the Texts by Mawlana Rumi
Helsinki Chamber Choir/Nils Schweckendiek 4.3. Helsinki, Finland (Klang concert series) Gejia, Chinese Images for Orchestra
Concert of music by Lars Karlsson
Sandström’s premiere in Berlin Sven-David Sandström’s monumental St. Matthew Passion will receive its world premiere in Berliner Philharmonie on 16 February 2014 with the Philharmonischer Chor Berlin and Staatskapelle Halle under Stefan Parkman. Further performances will take place in Uppsala and Stockholm in April (Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir/Gävle SO), and the Notre Dame School of Music will give the US premiere in June 2014.
New acquisitions Gehrmans Musikförlag AB has acquired the serious music sections in the catalogues Elkan & Schildknecht and Hans Busch from Universal Music Publishing AB. This includes works by composers such as Bo Linde, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Ture Rangström, Leif Segerstam and Lillebror Söderlundh. The music is now available for purchase and hire.
NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra/Kristjan Järvi 17.3. Beijing, China
SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM
New Composers – Tally and Valfridsson Gehrmans is happy to announce the new collaboration with composers Mirjam Tally (b. 1976) and Jonas Valfridsson (b. 1980). Tally, who hails from Estonia, has lived and worked in Sweden since 2006. Sounds and timbres are central in her music, which abounds with playful contrasts. Her breakthrough came during the ISCM World Music Days in 2008 with the orchestral work , which was later performed at the Turbulence Venice Biennial and also awarded the Little Christ Johnson Prize. During her period as Composer-inResidence with the Swedish Radio P2 (2009/2010) she composed the orchestral work Density. Jonas Valfridsson has been highly acclaimed for his music for orchestra, which is esteemed for its elaborate treatment of sonorities and innovative orchestration. He received the 2007 Toru Takemitsu Composition Award for In Killing Fields Sweet Butterfly Ascend, which was premiered by The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. He also won the 2010 Uppsala Composition Competition with The Only Thing that You Keep . Changing is Your Name
Photo: Cato Lein
Requiem
Photo: Mattias Ahlm
Finnish composer Lars Karlsson was 60 on 24 January. Music by him can be heard at a concert at the Sibelius Academy on 8 November, when Gabriel Suovanen will give the first full perfor mance of his Seven Songs to Texts by Pär Lagerkvist. There will also be other works by him on the programme, along with the Wegelius String Orchestra conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing.
Swedish Radio SO & Swedish Radio Choir/ Gustaf Sjökvist, sol. Elin Rombo, Katija Dragojevic, Olle Persson, Matthew Rose 23.3. Stockholm, Sweden
Tapio Tuomela
Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra ”Swap”
Joensuu City Orchestra/Sasha Mäkilä, sol. Joonatan Rautiola 10.4. Joensuu, Finland
Paavo Heininen
Kun ja jos - Vakavia lauluja (Two Songs for Soprano and Orchestra)
Saimaa Sinfonietta/Tibor Bogányi, sol. Jenni Lättilä 19.4. Lappeenranta, Finland
FREDRIK HÖGBERG
Konzert für zwei Posaunen (version for chamber orchestra)
Västerås Sinfonietta/cond. and sol. Christian Lindberg and Nils Landgren 20.4. Västerås, Sweden
JÖRGEN DAFGÅRD
Clarinet Concerto No. 1
Swedish Radio SO/Christian Eggen, sol. Andreas Sundén 4.5. Stockholm, Sweden
ROLF MARTINSSON
Tour de Force
Gothenburg SO/Nikolaj Znaider 15.5. Gothenburg, Sweden
BENJAMIN STAERN
Godai – Concerto for Orchestra
Malmö SO/Marc Soustrot 23.5. Malmö, Sweden
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Heininen sees new possibilities everywhere and compares composing to casting a net into the sea. His output includes surprising combinations of instruments and entire families of pieces. In recent years his adventures with ‘simulations’ of composer identities have begun to trickle into his own output.
PA AV O H E ININ E N : CR E AT ION – V A RI AT ION – S I M U L AT ION Paavo Heininen (b. 1938), the most significant living Finnish modernist composer, cannot be described as a retiree in any sense of the word. But these days he likes to describe himself as a ‘metamodernist’ as distinct from the historical modernist period: the search for all things new is not over. He is producing new works at a brisk pace and persists in discovering new possibilities in areas where no one has gone before. He comes up with new, surprising genres and categories, combinations of instruments and entire concert programmes of an unprecedented nature. Heininen’s recent output includes not only symphonies , concertos and sonatas but also completely surprising items such as 90 minutes of music for the four bells in the church of the composer’s home town of Järvenpää; a full-length concert based on sine waves entitled Sinikosketus (The Blue Exposure, 1995/2001); the organ-piano duo Quincunx duplex op. 88bis (2002–03) written together with composer colleague Jouko Linjama using the exquisite corpse technique; a hymn-tune mass for congregational use entitled Sunnuntain laulukirja op. 110 (Sunday Song Book, 2009); and a quartet for the unlikely ensemble of harp, guitar, mandolin and harpsichord entitled Lakkamaalauksia (Lacquer Paintings, 2012). He also has plans to use virtual instruments that exist only on a computer, e.g. a microtonal vibraphone to be paired up with virtuoso pianist Paavali Jumppanen.
‘Simulations’ of composer identities Paavo Heininen has also played around with the identities of other composers: inspired by various reconstruction projects, he ‘re-imagined’ the lost Third Violin Concerto of his composition teacher Aarre Merikanto (1893–1958) (Tuuminki / A Notion, 1993). He has augmented the history of Finnish music by writing the hitherto non-existent string quartet output of Leevi Madetoja (1887– 1947) (Quartet No. 1 in F major, 1999; Quartet ‘The French’, 1999). “Nobody composed these works, but I have written them,” Heininen says in response to puzzled inquiries. In recent years, Heininen’s adventures with ‘simulations’ of composer identities have begun to H i ghl i ghts
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Photo: Music Finland/SaAra Vuorjoki
trickle into his own output. In Paralleeliaktio op. 97bis (2008), the piano styles of Aarre Merikanto and Selim Palmgren (1878–1951) are filtered through Heininen’s own style. The flute concerto Autrefois (2008/2010) began life through a meditation on the fact that there are no Finnish Romantic concertos for woodwind instruments, but despite its tonal material, this brainchild grew into such a modern structure in terms of dynamics and process that it emerged as an exciting stylistic paradox. Who composed this piece? The very question is a typical Heininen issue. In his creative work, as in his career as a composition teacher, Heininen sees new possibilities everywhere. He compares composing to casting a net into the sea. This will never produce a finished work, though; the catch has to be selected and organised. “The so-called organic approach is nothing more than this. If you ask cells how they live, the answer would be the same!” Heininen’s verbal images and parables provide a lot of food for thought. For him, they are a tool for attaining maximum accuracy in discussing music.
Ideas are germinating When Heininen’s colleague created genuine contemporary music out of fragments of Finnish tangos, Heininen saw an idea for going in the opposite direction: the result was a 36-minute collection entitled Mazurki op. 79 (2000–01), where the musical details are real, incisive Heininen, while in their overall shape the pieces are undoubtedly mazurkas. “The challenge here is to use the rhythmic modes of old dances without getting too close to them in the details.” Heininen continued with ‘summer waltzes’ in Pianotansseja op. 97 (Piano Dances, 2009/11), eventually writing a tango himself. Sometimes an entire family of pieces may emerge ‘at once’, as was the case with the sonatas for wind instrument and piano, Vaskisonaatit op. 117 (Brass Sonatas, 2010): the basic idea in these is
that the piano part is adapted to each solo instrument so that it is possible to guess the solo instrument as soon as the piano part begins. The works were written in parallel, mutually exclusively. Heininen has been a pioneer among Finnish composers in adopting new technology. In 1984, while the libretto of his opera Veitsi (The Knife, 1985–88) was in preparation, one of the first musical notation programs came on the market. In a bold leap, Heininen decided to write his opera using that software. Before this, he had already written a program in the BASIC programming language to create his own brand of space-time notation for a piece based on stochastic principles. He developed the logic behind this (after an early version on an Apple II) first at IRCAM and then with Mikael Laurson. This was the origin of Patchwork, the embryonic form of the OpenMusic program, which today is popular worldwide. Heininen speaks of ‘pots’ on his computer where ideas are germinating. He looks in every now and again ‘in passing’ to see if anything is growing. One day, one of these pots began to show such promise that the Sixth Symphony, being written for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (2012–14), began to emerge. He is also currently working on a one-hour Organ Concerto for Jan Lehtola and two orchestral solo songs – and these are further germinating new ideas. The most recent Heininen-recordings include Jan Lehtola’s double-album Complete Organ Works 1966–2006, and a forthcoming CD with the flute concerto Autrefois on Alba Records. J a r k k o H a r ti k a inen This is an abridged version of an article published in Finnish Music Quarterly 1/2013 entitled “The Constant Variation of Creation” (translation Jaakko Mäntyjärvi).
“Sometimes the morning mist lies like an airy blanket over meadows and woodland glades. Then a slight breeze comes, transforming the mist into “veils”. They say that the fairies are dancing…” (from Veils programme note)
Imagination is important to Jörgen Dafgård, who wants to rouse people with his music, and spur them to think in new ways. He is also this year’s “Composer of Spring” with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.
Photo: Bilbo Lantto
Jörgen Dafgård –
music gives colour to life
In 1995 Jörgen Dafgård was admitted to the composition program at the Malmö Academy of Music. He received his diploma in 1999. Already his first large-scale orchestral piece, Veils , caught people’s attention: premiered by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, it won first prize in Berwaldhallen’s composition competition in the year 2000. In 2003 Veils reached a vast audience, when it was singled out as one of the top ten among a thousand entries in the international Masterprize competition. It cleared the way for Dafgård’s career, and he is nowadays a well-established composer receiving commissions on a regular basis.
How do the commissions influence your catalogue of works?
– The commissions that I have received have been works that I wanted to write anyway. On the other hand, the commissions have of course made it possible for certain pieces to actually get composed. I have been lucky enough to be able to work together with competent musicians and ensembles, and to do this full time without taking odd jobs. At the same time, I have had sufficient time for every commission to achieve satisfactory results.
How did music enter your life?
– It was there from the very beginning. My mother sang and my father was a church musician. Besides the piano and violin that I played, singing was a natural gateway to music. I dabbled in art as well, but when I decided on music I was still intent on becoming a singer.
But you moved to Stockholm and then on to Malmö to study composition. Among your teachers, who has taught you the most?
– My first teacher of composition was Anders Nilsson, at Birkagården in Stockholm. He had high artistic demands. Then came Johan Hammerth and unleashed my creativity.
For a while I studied musicology and aesthetics. My Master´s Thesis “Principles for an Intuitive Listening” had its point of departure in Debussy´s “La Mer”. Analysing music was instructive and it enticed me into composing all the more. In Malmö I made contact with musicians and it was possible to try out ideas. It could be anything from percussion projects to projects for orchestra. With Hans Gefors I studied the different aspects of opera, with Kent Olofsson it was electroacoustic music. And Rolf Martinsson gave me a great deal of support.
instrumentalists than when it was premiered by the Nordic Chamber Ensemble last autumn. It starts out playfully, but gradually the course of events becomes more adventurous, full of tension and drama. In the end it arrives at a euphoric conclusion. Sinfonia No. 1 from 2004 contributes gravitas and density to the May programme at Berwaldhallen. It is a structurally well-wrought, serious work with in some places a rather harsh expression, at the same time that the varying tempi and the orchestral texture provide a variety that arouses our curiosity as to the continued progression of the music.
The big event for Jörgen Dafgård in 2013 is that he has been appointed “Composer of Spring” at the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm. Already on 15 and 16 February Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducted the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in the energetic string orchestral piece Volo. The same orchestra will perform Veils on 12 and 13 April under the direction of Manfred Honeck; and the climax will follow on 4 May: a portrait concert with Christian Eggen as conductor. – I am presently in the process of finishing a threemovement Clarinet Concerto that will receive its premiere then. My clarinet quintet Whims and Wizardry , which was premiered in July of last year, came to function as a preliminary study. In the concerto I could proceed with a tone language that is both cantabile and rhythmically vigorous. The instrumentation is also moderately airy with much interplay between the various groups of the orchestra.
What does being selected as Composer of Spring mean to you just now and what can your audiences expect in the near future?
We listen to an early sample and encounter a motorically erratic piece. It seems to offer forward drive as well as playfulness, and it is hardly going to give the soloist, Andreas Sundén, a single moment’s peace in the fast sections. Esprit is another lively work included in the portrait concert, 25 minutes of rapid music throughout. It will now be played with a larger group of
– This feels very encouraging of course! At present I am working on the orchestration of my Sinfonia No. 2. It develops ideas that emerged in connection with the composition of the concert opening piece Through Fire and Water for large orchestra, commissioned by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, which had a much acclaimed premiere in 2011. A composition for the saxophone quartet Rollin’ Phones is also in the pipeline, it is due to be ready in September!
And finally, the unavoidable question: what do you want to achieve with your music?
– Of course I want to rouse people. I want to get the listeners to realise how important imagination is in our lives. We have a richer inner life than we are actually conscious of. It is a matter of eliciting these sides to come forth. Giving people impulses to think in new ways, that is the point. It is my experience that music vitalises us. When I listen to music my feelings take on colour. Without music our existence is only black and white. C a r lh å k a n L a r s é n More information on jorgendafgard.com
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Repe r t o i r e tips
REVIEWS
Cello concertos – classics & more unusual ones (1998) Dur: 15’
0001(I=c.fag)/0000/str, bullroarer This intensive Bergman concerto is a product of his late period. Its breath-taking progress is interrupted by a magical interlude for bullroarer – possibly an instrument he picked up on his travel in 1998 around the world. The contrabassoon is also assigned a big role and adds contrast to the cello’s magnetic, expressive force.
Tobias Broström Cello Concerto No. 1 (2011) Dur: 21’
2222/2200/10/str Composed for conducting solo cellist, the concerto opens suggestively and slowly with repetitive chords in the orchestra, forming the harmonic basis that is expanded gradually. The solo cello’s pentatonic motif develops from out of the orchestra’s carpet of sound, a motif that recurs throughout the entire work. Brisk sections with more temperament and rhythmic accents alternate with parts that are linked to the harmonies and motif of the beginning. The end is a slow diminuendo that fades away far off in the distance.
Sofia Gubaidulina Aus dem Stundenbuch (The Book of Hours) (1991) Dur: 58’
4243/4242/14/2hp, zither, egtr, e-bgtr, cel. amp-hpd.pf/str, baritone, narrator, male chorus This cello concerto is scored for an unusual combination; it also has a narrator, a baritone soloist and a male chorus. The text is borrowed from Rainer Maria Rilke and well reflects Gubaidulina’s musical credo: Ich kreise um Gott, um den uralten Turm, und ich kreise jahrtausendelang; und ich weiß noch nicht: bin ich ein Falke, ein Sturm oder ein großer Gesang. (I circle around God, around the most ancient tower, and I circle for a thousand years; and yet I still don‘t know: am I a falcon, a storm, or a much larger song?)
Tommie Haglund Flaminis Aura (2000) Dur: 37’
3222/4231/13/pf/str Tommie Haglund has a sound world all his own. In the Cello Concerto the fervent cantabile solo part rests against almost unearthly sonorities. The music expresses both pain and hope, but here is also an implicit dimension, a cosmic perspective. In the final section of the concerto the cello is left alone against a sound background of solar winds and electromagnetic fields (registered by the American space bureau NASA), and “the harmony of the spheres” arises.
Joonas Kokkonen Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1969) Dur: 25’
2232/4220/timp.2perc/hp/str Kokkonen’s concerto has been a firm favourite with cellists for decades now. It has brilliance, natural solo writing and a touch of both the playful and the heart-rending. The orchestration is light and airy, so that it never drowns the soloist. A work in five movements dedicated to Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, it is woven around a wistful Adagio movement and is a fine demonstration of Kokkonen’s musical architecture.
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Rolf Martinsson Cello Concerto No. 1 (2005) Dur: 26’
2222/4330/12/hp/pf/cel/strings A concerto that fires the imagination. Martinsson brings out all the cello’s possibilities of expression, from lyrical cantabile to violent frenzy. The romantic features alternate with highly dramatic sections. Add to that a refined orchestral texture and a concluding rapid and rhythmically driving race between cello and orchestra.
Herman Rechberger Kahraba (Yellow Amber) (1996) Dur: 19’
1111/0000/00/str, darabuka Kahraba (the Arabic word for electricity) was commissioned by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. Its main features are superimposed oriental rhythms, maqâm-scale material and the soloistic dialogue of a Western and an oriental instrument. However, it only uses scales that are playable without micro-intervals or non-tempered tuning.
Sven-David Sandström Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1988) Dur: 28’
2222/2220/11/str Sandström has called his cello concerto “an autobiographical diary”. The form is somewhat rhapsodic and consists of thirteen short sections, “emotional pages of my life”, in which we find both sentimentality and playfulness. He lets the romanticism burst into full blossom, but combines this with modernistic outbursts. The concerto concludes with a long drawn-out, varied allusion to the hymn `Nearer, My God, to Thee´.
Albert Schnelzer Cello Concerto – Crazy Diamond (2011) Dur: 23’
2222/4321/12/pf/cel/str (version for orchestra) 2222/2200/11/pf/cel/str (version for chamber orchestra) Schnelzer reawakens the feelings of melancholy and loss that Pink Floyd’s music evoked when he listened to them as a teenager. The music is full of wondrous sonorities and lyrical, lengthy melodic lines, as well as Schnelzer’s unmistakable rhythmic, dance-like motives. It is dramatic and expressive. The concerto concludes with an achingly beautiful song for the cello that lingers on after the music has fallen silent.
Lindberg captures Pettersson’s painful mixture of tragedy and majesty so well…The all-conquering lyrical element that winged the Seventh to fame is there in the Sixth…A repeated groaning ostinato cell […] propels the music mournfully and sometimes jaggedly forward under the melody. It’s a simple device yet very effective…The final balm-like four minutes are a calming benison to troubled souls…Precious music. Rob Barnett/Music Web International January 2013 Allan Pettersson: Symphony No. 6
CD: Norrköping SO/Christian Lindberg (BIS-SACD-1980)
Sublimely beautiful A. S. in Memoriam …it’s a tribute to the hyper-Romanticism of Schönberg but it works very well in its own right, with some ultra-lush harmonies…it’s harmonically extremely rich but instrumentally fairly transparent, and some of the chording, especially towards the end, is sublimely beautiful. Seen and Heard International 27.1 Rolf Martinsson: A. S. in Memoriam
Scottish ChO/Andrew Manze, 25.1.2013 Glasgow Scotland, UK
Two new excellent concerti The soloist has almost a narrative role and the melodic writing [in Martinsson’s Double Bass Concerto] is a great vehicle for Styffe’s exceptionally lyrical and expressive tone…the scoring throughout is exceptional and gently supports the soloist… It [Högberg’s Hitting the First Base] is intensely rhythmic, angular and propelling… The bass writing is highly effective and idiosyncratic. It is virtuosic yet exactly right for the instrument. Styffe plays it with bril liance and mastery, and the piece fits him like a glove. Bass World January 2013 Rolf Martinsson: Double Bass Concerto, Fredrik Högberg: Hitting the First Base
CD: Oslo PhO/Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Tromsö ChO/Kolbjörn Holte, sol. Dan Styffe, (Simax PSC1302 “Perspectives”), (Simax PSC 1325 “Secret Memories”) Dan Styffe
Victoria Yagling Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 (1975) Dur: 22’ 3223/4231/11/hp/str
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 2
(1984) Dur: 23’
3222/4231/11/hp/str Yagling’s cello concertos are works of virtuosic brilliance and violent outbursts but also of a melancholy emotional charge that strikes straight to the heart. The slow movements of both well reflect the lyrical side of her music. The beauty is often tinged with a certain mournfulness and a striving towards unfamiliar paths reaching out into new realms. Yagling has written three concertos in all; the third is entitled the Symphonic Concerto for Cello and Orchestra.
Photo: Louise Martinsson
Erik Bergman Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Pettersson’s precious 6th
Enigmatic Lucernaris
Unique combination of puppet theatre and opera
Broström took his soloist on a journey that started with an arching flugelhorn solo, became far more strident and urgent, passed through an oasis of otherworldly calm, and ended enigmatically with Hardenberger floating elegiac echoes from the back of the hall. The Times 3.2. The electronics blend prerecorded effects with sampling, and when these sounds accompany the players at full blast one feels enclosed in a space which is at once virtual and intensely physical. The music is by turns jazzy, sharply percussive, and sonorously Nordic-romantic…It all worked a treat. The Independent 4.2. Tobias Broström: Lucernaris
Musicatreize, cond. Roland Hayrabedian, 2.12.2012 Helsinki, Finland
An Organ Symphony that defies gravity
Tobias Broström
Sixten’s radiating Christmas Oratorio Even though Ylva Eggehorn’s texts to the chorales do not shy away from the darkness, a beauteous light radiates from Fredrik Sixten’s Christmas Oratorio… full of ideas, but coherent nonetheless, and strongly influenced by Swedish folk music. Svenska Dagbladet 27.11 Fredrik Sixten: A Swedish Christmas Oratorio
The red line running through Aho’s gravity-defying Organ Symphony Alles Vergängliche binds together tradition and innovation… The result is more than just excellent. Rondo Classic 11/2012 Kalevi Aho: Organ Music
CD: Jan Lehtola, organ (BIS-CD-1946)
Spectacular Högberg There was brilliant piano playing by Niclas Sivelöv and the symphony orchestra performed with gusto during a spectacular concert evening… Here there were eruptive cascades, rhythmical long, intensive lines and alternating rippling interplay that would certainly impress the most discriminating of listeners. A formidable success… Västerbottens Kuriren 23.11 An experience for all senses… suggestive scenery in perfect harmony with Högberg’s rhythmically intricate sound world. Folkbladet 23.11 Fredrik Högberg: Ice Concerto
World premiere: Norrlandsoperan SO/Rumon Gamba, sol. Niklas Sivelöv, 22.11.2012 Umeå, Sweden
CD: Sofia Vocal Ensemble, Capella Nordica/Bengt Ollén, sol. Helena Ek, soprano (Footprint Records FRCD 069)
Colourful, sumptuous Violin Concerto Hakola’s Concerto is a substantial work written in sumptuous, late Romantic language that Sibelius would recognise, but with a fearsome technical virtuosity he possibly wouldn’t. The Guardian 3.2. ... Storgårds proved no less heroic, finding all the virtuosity necessary for its formidable technical demands. Rather than setting soloist and orchestra in the traditional opposition, Hakola has them running in parallel but in strikingly different modes: while the orchestra sets up a tidal ebb-and-flow like some gigantic accordion, the soloist delivers jagged pyrotechnics. The Independent 4.3.
Inner sensitivity from Heininen Joie de vivre and energy bubble beneath the complex surface, and as often with Heininen, [the music has] an inner sensitivity to the text, its rhythm and meaning. The result is something of fabulous beauty, full of peace, and meaningful. Hufvudstadsbladet 13.1. Paavo Heininen: Kaukametsä, Musta kehtolaulu (Black Lullaby)
World premiere: Finnish RSO & Tapiola Chamber Choir/Anna-Maria Helsing, sol. Kaisa Ranta, Niina Keitel, Mati Turi, Rolf Broman, 11.1.2013 Helsinki, Finland
John Storgårds and Kimmo Hakola in Manchester
A fun work that entertains and at times even amuses with a certain surrealistic craziness… When Hakola does ‘beautiful’, it really can be beautiful. The slow movement had magical timbres and sensitive dialogue between the soloist and the winds. Helsingin Sanomat 20.1. & 8.2.
Niklas Sivelöv
Experimental masterpiece Taon is an experimental masterpiece in which Puumala places the orchestra round the hall and seeks out unconventional sounds in the double bass…The audience got really carried away by the ritual and the tremendous cadenza. Helsingin Sanomat 16.2. Veli-Matti Puumala: Taon (Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra)
Tapiola Sinfonietta/Magnus Lindberg, sol. Panu Pärssinen, 14.2.2013 Espoo, Finland
Eloquent songs on CD Hakola’s arrangements for orchestra give Kuula’s South-Ostrobothnian Folk Songs a fine golden edge. His own Kivi Songs are many times more tender, unashamedly romantic and nothing short of eloquent. Helsingin Sanomat 28.11. Kimmo Hakola: South-Ostrobothnian Folk Songs (arr.), Kivi Songs
Kai Nieminen YouTube hit live The Lieder recital began with the three-movement Landscapes cycle by Kai Nieminen. The previous time it was performed by Wärnfeldt in Vienna, the experts were ecstatic about Nieminen’s way of writing music without grasping at any ism. The songs linger on the moment and stillness. Pohjolan Sanomat 13.1. Kai Nieminen: Landscapes, for soprano and piano
Elisabeth Wärnfeldt, soprano, Annaleena Porttikivi, piano, 11.1.2013 Keminmaa, Finland
Kimmo Hakola: Violin Concerto World premiere: WRD SO Köln/Jukka-Pekka Saraste, sol. John Storgårds, 18.1.2013 Cologne, Germany (further performances in Manchester/BBC PhO and Helsinki/Helsinki PhO)
Elisabeth Wärnfeldt
CD: Ostrobothnian ChO/Juha Kangas, sol. Jorma Hynninen, baritone (Alba ABCD 348 “On The Fields of Tapiola”)
H i ghl i ghts
1/2013
Photo: Marco Borggreve
Photo: Magdalena Prahl Broström
UK premiere: BBC PhO/ John Storgårds, sol. Håkan Hardenberger, 1.2.2013 Manchester, UK
The symbiosis and encounter of Finnish and French culture was quite unique! Antti Puuhaara is built on an exciting concept: a combination of puppet theatre and opera. An amusing creation, interesting and the only one of its kind. All Francophiles should get to know it. Hufvudstadsbladet 4.12. Tapio Tuomela: Antti Puuhaara
new p u b lic a ti o ns C H OR A L
Robert Sund
Sven-David Sandström
Musik för kyrkoåret (Music for the Ecclesiastical Year)
Mårten Jansson
Som stjärnan uppå himmelen (The Star in Heaven)
for various choral ensembles and instruments. Nearly 70 works for the Sundays and holidays of the church year. All works also available separately.
Herren är min herde/ Der Herr ist mein Hirte
for female choir Text: Psalm 23 (Swe/Ger)
Arrangement for solo voice and mixed choir a cappella Text in Swedish
GE 12173
GE 12173
GE 12225
Emil Sundberg
Johan-Magnus Sjöberg
Olle Lindberg
Sju Haikudikter (Seven Haiku Poems)
Folkvisa (Folk Song)
for mixed choir a cappella Text: Hjalmar Gullberg (Swe)
Stjärnorna ( The Stars)
Text: Karin Boye (Swe)
for female choir Text: Tomas Tranströmer (Swe)
GE 12073
GE 12224
GE 12195
N E W C D s & DVDs
C H A M B E R / IN S T R U M E N T A L / V OC A L
Kalevi Aho
Flute Cadenzas for W. A. Mozart’s works
Sonatina No. 1
FG 55009-671-4
CG 4481
Works for the Oboe (Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra, Solo IX, Sonata for Oboe and Piano) Lahti SO/Martyn Brabbins, sol. Piet Van Bockstal, Yutaka Oya, piano BIS-SCD 1876
Paavo Heininen
Works for Organ 1966-2006
Jan Lehtola, organ, Risto Pulkamo, baritone, Annikka Konttori-Gustafsson, piano
Leevi Madetoja
Symphony No. 2, Kullervo, Elegy
Helsinki PhO/John Storgårds Ondine ODE 1212-2
Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major (KV 314),
DAG WIRÉN
FG 55009-672-1
Andante in C Major (KV 315), FG 55009-670-7 Rondo in D Major (K. Anh. 184), FG 55009-673-8
various performers
SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM
Ondine ODE 1186-2Q/4 CD
Three Pieces for Violin and Cello
BENJAMIN STAERN
GE 12186
Carina Vinke, alto, Hanna Shybayeva, piano
for soprano and four percussionists Text: four Haiku poems by Tomas Tranströmer (Swe)
Tranströmer Songs
Håll ut näktergal!
8 717953 095701 (Silent Echoes)
GE 12193 (score)
Pilfink Records JJVCD-114
for piano
Flute Concerto No. 1 in G Major (KV 313),
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Choral Works
GUNNAR DE FRUMERIE
Kalevi Aho
Sonatina
Kai Nieminen
Landscapes
for voice and piano Text: Emily Dickinson (Eng) FG 55011-130-1
for piano CG 4484
From Mölna Elegy
for soprano and piano trio Text: Gunnar Ekelöf/transl. M. Rukeyser & L. Sjöberg (Eng)
Uuno Klami
Landscape (Works for piano and piano & violin)
GE 12240 (score), GE 12241 (parts)
Esa Ylönen, piano, Sirkku Mantere, violin Alba ABCD 352
S COR E S TOBIAS BROSTRÖM
Cello Concerto GE 11946 (score) GE 11947 (solo part)
JÖRGEN DAFGÅRD
Esprit
for chamber ensemble GE 12142 (score)
ROLF MARTINSSON
Airy Flight
for solo instrument and strings,
The Life of Eduard Tubin I - II
Estonian Public Broadcasting ERR © Liivi Muuseum
GE 12070 (score)
for solo instrument and brass quintet, GE 12168 (score)
Solo part in Bb or C, GE 12169
Kai Nieminen
Through Shadows I Can Hear Ancient Voices… Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra FG 55011-133-2 (score)
Vicoli in ombra
for orchestra
FG 55011-132-5 (score)
Fredrik Pacius
The Complete Works of Musical Drama, Vol. 2: Prinsessan af Cypern FG 55011-128-8 (score)
WILHELM STENHAMMAR
Fylgia
for medium voice and orchestra Orch: Adolf Wiklund Text: Gustaf Fröding (Swe) GE 12223 (score)
For further information about our works or representatives worldwide check our web sites or contact us at: Gehrmans Musikförlag AB
Box 42026, SE-126 12 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. +46 8 610 06 00 • Fax +46 8 610 06 27 www.gehrmans.se • info@gehrmans.se Hire: hire@gehrmans.se Web shop: www.gehrmans.se Sales: sales@gehrmans.se
Fennica Gehrman Oy Ab
PO Box 158, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland Tel. +358 10 3871 220 • Fax +358 10 3871 221 www.fennicagehrman.fi • info@fennicagehrman.fi Hire: hire@fennicagehrman.fi Web shop: www.fennicagehrman.fi Sales: kvtilaus@kirjavalitys.fi (dealers)