Nordic Highlights 2 2012

NORDIC

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2012

NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Focus on Kalevi Aho’s concertos Seven questions for Benjamin Staern

NEWS A course for instrumental teachers will be held in London on 29 July–3 August 2012. The string course will form the first part of the three-phase education program to become a certified Colourstrings teacher, and following this there will be an advanced “Phase 2 course”. Read more at www.colourstrings.co.uk

US premiere for Sixten’s Requiem 8 June will see the US premiere of Fredrik Sixten’s Requiem. Scored for soprano, bass-baritone, mixed choir and chamber orchestra, the work will be performed by the Sonos Chamber Orchestra, choir and soloists, under Erich Ochsner in S:t Peter’s Church New York.

Dan Styffe

Double bass concertos on CD Double bass player Dan Styffe’s recording of Fredrik Högberg’s concerto Hitting the First Bass (2008) will be released on the Simax label at a concert featuring the Tromsø Chamber Orchestra on 1 June. Simax will also release Rolf Martinsson’s Double Bass Concerto (2011) with Styffe and the Oslo Philharmonic under Jukka-Pekka Saraste, in connection with the convention BASS 2012, in Copenhagen this August.

Photo: Louise Martinsson

Colourstrings training in London

A Dream Play in Weimar Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar, under the direction of Stefan Solyom, will put on Ingvar Lidholm’s opera A Dream Play in the 2013 season, with the premiere on 20 April. The opera, which is based on August Strindberg’s famous theatre play, had its world premiere at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1992, and has later been performed with great success in Bern, Magdeburg and Santa Fe.

Toivo Kuula Singing Competition

Photo: Anders Eliasson

Summer 2013 will mark the 130th anniversary of the birth of Toivo Kuula. The jubilee celebrations will begin already in 2012 with a national Toivo Kuula Singing Competition in Alavus, the town where he was born, on 11–18 August, the aim being to highlight and find new interpreters of his music.

Samuelsson collaboration 2/2012

NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Sound samples , video clips and other material are available at www.gehrmans.se/highlights Cover photo: Helena Juntunen in Jüri Reinvere’s opera Purge (Stefan Bremer/Finnish National Opera) Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf Translations: Susan Sinisalo and Robert Carroll Design: Tenhelp Oy/Tenho Järvinen ISSN 2000-2742 (Print), ISSN 2000-2750 (Online) Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2012

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2012

Some new chamber works by Kai Nieminen can be heard on YouTube: Reflecting Landscapes premiered by the Trio La Rue in November, and Nocturnal Mindscapes (Lily-Marlene Puusepp, harp, Malla Vivolin, alto flute, Linda Hedlund, violin, Jussi Aalto, viola and Seeli Toivio, cello). Tommi Kärkkäinen’s Duo for silent guitar and harp is also on YouTube, performed by Janne Malinen and Puusepp. There are links at www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra have jointly commissioned a 20-minute orchestral work by Marie Samuelsson. The premiere is scheduled for 2014.

Gehrmans has increased the collaboration with Samuelsson which now also covers her chamber music repertoire. The following works have been added: Ö (Island) for violin solo, I vargens öga (In the Eye of the Wolf ) for saxophone and CD, Improvisation – Composition for two saxophones, Alive for violin solo, Skuggspel (Shadow Play) for oboe and percussion, and Elvahundratjugo grader (Elevenhundred and twenty degrees) for cello and CD.

Photo: Mats Bäcker

NORDIC

HIGHLIGHTS

New chamber music on YouTube

Dancing to Nuorvala A dance work called Morpho was performed in May to the music of String Quartet No. 2 by Juhani Nuorvala. The musicians were students at the Turku Music Academy and the dancers in the choreography by Tuomo Railo were future professionals now training at the Turku Conservatory. There were four performances in all at Turku’s Sigyn Hall in May. Nuorvala also produced some electronic music for the performance.

Broström’s Lucernaris

Paavo Heininen Brass Quintet “Vaskikaari”

Tampere Philharmonic Brass, cond. Tuomas Turriago 21.3. Tampere, Finland Wind Quintet “Sykerre”

In the upcoming season Håkan Hardenberger will perform Tobias Broström’s trumpet concerto Lucernaris with four different orchestras: the Kristiansand SO/Johannes Gustavsson, the BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds, the Helsingborg SO/Andrew Manze and the Oulu SO/Johannes Gustavsson. Under the baton of Ari Rasilainen the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen gave the Swiss premiere in May. It was also the first performance by another trumpet player, the Australian Gregory Flynn.

Arktinen Hysteria, 21.4. Tampere Biennale, Finland

Olli Kortekangas Offertorium, for gamba solo

Varpu Haavisto, 7.4. Hetta Music Festival, Finland

Jüri Reinvere Norilsk, The Daffodils

Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä & Kuopio SO, cond. Atso Almila 25.4. Jyväskylä, Finland

Albert Schnelzer Photo: Timo Seppäläinen

Violin Concerto – Coupled Airs

New works by Martinsson Rolf Martinsson is presently working on a soprano saxophone concerto for soloist Anders Paulsson entitled Golden Harmony, which will be premiered by the Norrland Opera Symphony Orchestra on 6 September. The title gives associations to interplay, melodiousness, harmony and mutual understanding. There will be a great deal of slow, beautiful, jazzy music, but also music related to the soft-fast as a contrast. Two shorter concert-opening pieces for spring 2013 await after the concerto; a commission for the inauguration of the new concert hall in Reutlingen (Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen/ Ola Rudner), which will be followed by a piece for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra entitled Tour de Force.

PREMIERES

Kimmo Hakola in the news The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra has commissioned Kimmo Hakola to write a song cycle – his own interpretation of the 12 South Ostrobothnian Folk Songs by Toivo Kuula. It is designed for a forthcoming CD, to be coupled with Hakola’s Aleksis Kivi Songs. The soloist will be Jorma Hynninen.

Another big event for Hakola this summer is the world premiere of his opera La Fenice at the Savonlinna Opera Festival on 6 July. This opera buffa is a tragicomic tale of the fire at the Venice Opera House. In October, Hakola will be the focus composer at a festival of contemporary music in Oulu.

BBC Philharmonic at Luosto and other festival highlights The BBC Philharmonic, the main guest at the Luosto Classic festival, has been entrusted with the Finnish premiere of Kalevi Aho’s percussion concerto Sieidi on 12 August. The open-air concert will be conducted by John Storgårds and the soloist is Colin Currie. Also on the programme will be Aho’s mighty Luosto Symphony.

Lieksa Brass Week in July has also scheduled in some Aho: his Horn Concerto, played by the Jyväskylä Sinfonietta with Annu Salminen as the soloist.

Veli-Matti Puumala’s Mure commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain can be heard in its first Finnish performance at Avanti!’s Summer Sounds festival on 29 June.

Ilkka Kuusisto’s chamber opera Gabriel, tule takaisin! (Gabriel, come back!) is on the programme for Opera Archipelago in five performances at Parainen on 3–11 August. His opera Miss Julie will receive its Austrian premiere at the Feldkirch Festival, which has Finland and Norway in focus. The program contains also works by Kimmo Hakola and Einojuhani Rautavaara.

Chamber music by Mikko Heiniö can be heard at a concert during the Turku Music Festival to be given in Heiniö’s own home on 11 August by members of the Turku Ensemble.

Orchestra of the Swan, cond. David Curtis, sol. Hugo Ticciati 10.5. London, UK

Sven-David Sandström Dansa (Dance)

Lena Willemark, soprano and violin, Cecilia Zilliacus, violin 14.5. Stockholm, Sweden

Anders Eliasson Karolinas sömn (Carolina’s Slumber)

Opera in one act Royal Swedish Opera, Lena Hoel, soprano 4.6. Stockholm, Sweden

Einojuhani Rautavaara Cantus arcticus, version for piano and tape

Laura Mikkola, 14.6. Iitti Music Festival, Finland

Rolf Martinsson Golden Harmony – Soprano Saxophone Concerto No. 1

Norrland Opera SO, cond. Christoph Altstaedt, sol. Anders Paulsson 6.9. Umeå, Sweden

Veli-Matti Puumala A new work for orchestra

Finnish RSO, cond. Hannu Lintu, 7.9. Helsinki, Finland

Concertos by Kalevi Aho

released on Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra coupled with Symphony No.14 ‘Rituals’ etc Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic, viola / Chamber Orchestra of Lapland / John Storgårds (BIS-CD-1686)

Concertos for Tuba and for Contrabassoon Øystein Baadsvik, tuba / Norrköping SO / Mats Rondin Lewis Lipnick, contrabassoon / Bergen PO / Andrew Litton (BIS-CD-1574)

Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra (Piano Concerto No.2) coupled with Symphony No. 13 “Sinfonisia luonnekuvia” Antti Siirala, piano / Lahti SO / Osmo Vänskä (BIS-CD-1316)

In the BIS catalogue can also be found recordings of Aho’s Concertos for Flute, Clarinet, Violin and Cello, as well as other orchestral works and chamber music

For further information, please visit www.bis.se

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2012

Seven questions for

Benjamin Staern

Photo: Tobias Brostöm

Benjamin Staern has a couple eventful years with commissions, premieres and awards behind him and now, in his early 30s, he has definitely established himself as one of the most sought-after Swedish composers.

1. Since 2010 you have been Composer-inResidence with the New European Ensemble based in The Hague. What has this collaboration meant to you?

A great deal! When the leader of the ensemble, Christian Karlsen, took the initiative I did not hesitate for a second. The ensemble consists of fantastically talented young musicians from all over Europe. They play with integrity, devotion and love, and perform contemporary music with the same energy and power as music from the standard repertoire. Collaboration with them means that I can develop my musicality in a way that I never thought possible and attain to a spiritual virtuosity.

2. The first work that you wrote for the ensemble was a song cycle set to texts by Nobel Prize laureate Tomas Tranströmer. Next year at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, they will include the songs in a program with a Schoenberg theme. What connection do the Tranströmer Songs have with Arnold Schoenberg?

The song cycle revolves around a certain work, Schoenberg’s Serenade, which is scored, like my work, for clarinet, bass clarinet, mandolin, guitar, violin, viola and cello, as well as for a low voice (in this case a contralto). The sound world has its origin in Niccoló Paganini’s Sinfonia concertante, which gives the work an Italian ambience. And the texts, which are taken from Tranströmer’s The Sorrow Gondola, contain everything from tenderness, sorrow, pain and lyrical states till dramatic outbursts.

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2012

3. Last autumn you were awarded the Swedish Music Publishers’ Prize for your chamber symphony Bells and Waves , which you also wrote for the ensemble. Can you say a few words about the work?

before. After the performance in Linköping an older couple came up to me during the intermission and said, “It was wonderful! But next time the work is performed tell the people in advance to bring their handkerchiefs!”

It is about my childhood memories, playing with bells and my passion for water. My point of departure for the work was the physical phenomenon “standing wave”, which is formed by two wave motions that move in opposite directions.

As always when composing it was a journey, in which I could not imagine the final outcome until getting to hear the music that I had in my head over a long period of time, performed in reality. It is always a daring venture!

6. Stefan Solyom, who conducted the premiere, and who has also conducted a number of your earlier works, speaks of a very interesting and positive development in your composing, more meditative and lyrical. Do you feel that you have found your “style” now?

4. Waves recur again and again in your music.

A year ago your concert opener Wave Movements had its world premiere in Koblenz, Germany, a work that was commissioned by conductor Daniel Raiskin and the Rheinische Philharmonie. Do waves have a special meaning for you?

Apparently, ha-ha. From a purely musical viewpoint the waves in this work are above all melodic elements in a significant focus that either control the harmony or go their own way as a contrapuntal contrast. Then I have build up an aura around this.

5. Your latest orchestral work, the clarinet concerto Worried Souls , which was premiered

by Karin Dornbusch and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in February, aroused strong emotions in the audience. What was it in the music, do you think, that affected people so powerfully?

Now, after some time for reflection, I believe that the audience was deeply moved by both the melancholy and the brighter sections, the sudden flashes of wit, the gestures and the great variety of the music. My father, the conductor Gunnar Staern, passed away just as I begun working on the piece, and this affected my composing. The work took another direction; in some places it became more heart-rending and expressive than

For every composer there is a secret garden to which no one else has access, and this is where I belong. I believe that since my debut in 2001 with The Threat of War, and later with works such as Jubilate, I have tended toward a more ascetic tone of expression. What has most often been said about my style is that there are a lot of gestures, sudden flashes of wit, abrupt changes and dynamic and kinetic energy. That is still there but nowadays I have tried to tone down these means of expression in favour of a more tranquil, secret and searching state.

7. There are many orchestras and musicians who want to commission works from you. Can you tell us about what you are presently working on?

Right now I am at work on a Concerto for Orchestra for the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, which is scheduled to be premiered in spring 2013. It will be followed by a new song cycle set to texts by Karin Boye for contralto Anna Larsson and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.

Then I just found out about a new commission for the New European Ensemble, a large-scale work including video projections and electronics, which will be premiered at the NorrlandsOpera during Umeå’s year as European Capital of Culture in 2014.

But now I must go on writing before my inspiration for the day runs dry!

More information on www.benjaminstaern.se Kristina Fryklöf

Concertos for all orchestral instruments Kalevi Aho has up to now written nineteen solo concertos and more are on the way.

K

alevi Aho is not only Finland´s most prominent living composer of symphonies, but also Finland´s most productive composer of solo concertos with currently nineteen works on his opus list. Actually there are even more, as the borderlines between the different genres sometimes are blurred. This is the case with Symphony No. 3 for violin and orchestra , No. 8 for organ and orchestra, No. 9 for trombone and orchestra and No. 11 for percussion and orchestra. The Third Chamber Symphony is an alto saxophone concerto in disguise.

Aho started out on his career as a symphonist in 1969, and twelve years later composed his first solo concerto for his own instrument, the violin. It is one of the peaks of the Finnish violin literature after Sibelius. Here, as with Sibelius, the stunning technical demands never become ends-in-themselves but proceed logically from the existing musical and dramaturgical context.

The postmodern, pluralistic aesthetics that Aho had then adopted were also manifest in the highly expressive Cello Concerto and in the massive First Piano Concerto from 1989.

Relaxed ideal of beauty During the 90s Aho concentrated primarily on opera, symphonies, chamber music as well as instrumental solo pieces, and his concerto production was not resumed until the beginning of the new millennium with the elegiac and cantabile Tuba Concerto. It was also at this time that the absolutely unique idea of composing a series of concertos for every instrument in the symphony orchestra was born.

In 2002 followed one of the key works in Aho´s production, the lyrical and melodious Flute Concerto, written for Sharon Bezaly.

It is his most frequently performed concerto and one of the first in an afterwards growing number of easily accessible and spontaneously communicating works in which the complexity yields to a more relaxed emotional tone with a surprisingly shameless ideal of beauty in focus.

Every individual concerto represents a unique emotional and stylistic world. It is no coincidence that the Second Piano Concerto in which the symphony orchestra is replaced by the string orchestra, constitutes the greatest possible contrast in its neo-classicism with considerably sharper contours. After a Concerto for Two Cellos and Orchestra, exemplarily concentrated in expression as well as form, follows an exciting expedition that explores the lowest registers.

The multifaceted Bassoon Concerto brilliantly enriches the genre, while the Contrabassoon Concerto is the second ever for the instrument. The Double Bass Concerto is the second Finnish work in the genre after Einojuhani Rautavaara´s and fruitfully explores the instrument´s playing techniques.

New aesthetic dimension In 2005 Aho completed his Clarinet Concerto.

Once again he had the advantage of collaborating with one of the world´s most talented artists in the field, Martin Fröst. The solo part, extremely technically demanding, is convincingly integrated into the emotionally and dramatically constructive and contrastive whole. After the mostly sombre and expressive Viola Concerto, written for the Lapland Chamber Orchestra as a link in Aho´s – to say the least – original project of composing an entire concert programme for orchestra, we come to the second key work, the Oboe Concerto. Here Aho takes the decisive step into a new aesthetic dimension by means of an exceptionally personal way of integrating ethnic and oriental elements. Aho´s rhythm, in the manner of percussion and coloured by ostinato, has already appeared in his musical vocabulary

and now the Arabian darbuka and the West African djembe are incorporated into his musical tool box. The oboe often utilizes quarter tones and spices the work with melismas of an Arabian fragrance.

The same means of expression also recur in the Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra, written for the Raschèr Quartet, subtitled Bells (the suggestive bell sounds have their origin in the ringing of the bells at the funeral of his friend and colleague Pehr Henrik Nordgren), as well as in the absurdly demanding Trombone Concerto premiered in 2012.

However, the skilfully applied ethnic influences in Aho´s music never feel like pasted-on effects but rather like a naturally integrated part of the musical mosaic. This is true in the highest degree for the irresistibly swinging Percussion Concerto “Sieidi” (Lappish for holy sacrificial rock), written for Colin Currie, in which Aho clearly stresses the fact that the percussion are primarily rhythm instruments and only in the second place melody and timbre instruments.

Two other recent Aho concertos, very different from one another, include the Concerto for French Horn and Chamber Orchestra in which the soloist´s movements in space are utilised, and the Concerto for Trumpet and Symphonic Wind Orchestra which evinces fresh influences from jazz. A new concerto for theremin is to be premiered in October 2012 – yet another valuable addition to the series of concertos for unusual instruments. Over the years Kalevi Aho has created his own musical universe, in which extrovert virtuosity and profound introspection are effortlessly combined within the framework of an expressive and extraordinarily elastic synthesis.

Today, of the orchestral instruments, only the harp lacks its own concerto. Before that concertos for violin and soprano saxophone are waiting in line, and BIS Records continues loyally to save Aho´s music for posterity.

Mats Liljeroos

Photo: Marco Borggreve

REVIEWS

REPERTOIRE TIPS

21st century string quartets TOMMIE HAGLUND Il regno degli spiriti (Land of Souls) (2001) 23’ We can listen to sounds never heard before, integrated into the well known, when Tommie Haglund lets chords proceed according to a logic that at first amazes us but afterwards seems quite natural.

This is nocturnal music with all that that implies. Commissioned by the Medici Quartet for their 30th anniversary and premiered at the Cambridge Music Festival in 2001.

FREDRIK HÖGBERG More is More (2006) 10’ An energetic and lively work the title of which is a play on the concept “less is more”, but just the opposite. There are a great many tones and a whole lot of energy contained in this quartet. It is also a homage to Maurice (More is) Ravel whose only string quartet has been a major source of inspiration for Högberg throughout the years. Commissioned by the Weber Quartet.

JUHA T. KOSKINEN String Quartet No. 1 (2005) 15’ A work premiered at the Takefu International Music Festival in Japan in 2005, when Toshio Hosokawa gave Koskinen a chance to write it for the Diotima Quartet. The main rhythmical material comes from a poem by the 13th century Italian poet Iacopone da Todi. There are also two musical flashbacks from Koskinen’s opera Madame de Sade. The intensity and charge of the quartet are relieved in the Oceanico Epilogue built on hypnotic triplets.

KIMMO KUITUNEN Leino meets StrQ (2000/2008) 12’ This three-movement quartet could be described as vocal music for strings. It is based on Kuitunen’s Erotessa for choir. The original text by the Finnish poet Eino Leino can be projected onto a screen in the background, as was done at the performance by the Zagros quartet. The work represents homogeneous dodecaphony in the spirit of the second cantata by Anton Webern. It also has lyricism and vigorous rhythmic elements.

PEHR HENRIK NORDGREN (2008) 21‘ String Quartet No. 11 Nordgren’s last quartet is introspective and devout in tone. Its distinctive soundscape is the result of the abnormal tuning, which returns to normal in the lively Rondo and is “as if a light were shining from a very confined space”. The Lamentoso interlude is an excruciatingly beautiful meditation on a chorale theme, and the short closing Pietoso epilogue is like a flash of another reality. Commissioned by the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and premiered by the Tempera Quartet.

SVENDAVID SANDSTRÖM Seven Pieces for String Quartet (String Quartet No 4) (2009) 16’ Seven short pieces of varying character where the listener can never feel really sure of what comes next. Sandström is continually full of surprises. Commissioned by the Weber Quartet.

ALBERT SCHNELZER String Quartet No 2 – Emperor (2009) 12’ Akbar Inspired by a novel by Salman Rushdie in which Emperor Akbar is one of the main characters.

He has a very complex personality, and this is also reflected in the music. The string quartet starts out literally with the emperor decapitating a young rebel. After that, rhythmical and violent passages alternate with more contemplative scenes.

A commission from the Nordland Music Festival for the Brodsky Quartet.

FREDRIK SIXTEN (2007) 6’ Chaconne With the first eight bars the basic harmonic structure of the whole work is laid out. There is a kind of pulse, but where the variations fluctuate between the passionate, the melancholy, the sublime and the fervent. The conclusion is surprising but yet so still. Commissioned by the Forza Quartet.

HARRI VUORI String Quartet No. 2 (2005) 20’ In typical Vuori style, the quartet represents delicate, readily-accessible modernism with microtones, spectral timbres and glittering glissandos that create a dream-like atmosphere. The heart of this three-movement quartet is the middle Pastorale; its cantus firmus is a song by Otto Kotilainen. The last movement has a big cello cadenza. Premiered by the Avanti! Quartet in London.

VICTORIA YAGLING String Quartet No. 2 (2001) 18’ Yagling was herself a cellist, and this work demonstrates her vast knowledge of string instruments’ potential. The quartet opens with a melancholy Adagio and continues with a vivid and lyrical Moderato con moto. The Scherzo is a highly efficient virtuoso movement charged with drama and temperament, and in the finale the violin melodies soar in Russian mood, striking straight to the depths of the heart.

Colin Currie

Aho’s concertos in London Big and bold, Aho’s Sieidi arrived with some thunderous drumming…Its music is a ride on the big dipper of extreme contrasts – macho punch-ups with belligerent rhythms (a soundtrack for the next Bond film?), long melodies that float over a barren landscape and simple passages for solo drums like shamanistic ritual. …There is an energy about his concerto that holds the attention. It is a lively, virtuoso piece and Currie made the most of it.

Financial Times 21.4.

The skill with which the soloist’s material is amplified and transformed through the orchestra adds to a sense of wonder that grows steadily over nearly 40 minutes.

The Guardian 19.4.

Kalevi Aho: Sieidi (Concerto for Solo Percussion and Orchestra) World premiere: London PO, cond. Osmo Vänskä, sol Colin Currie, 18.4. 2012 London, UK

The music calls on the soloist occasionally to sing while playing – not as alien an effect as you might think – and creates a subtle balance between fast and slow, tension and relaxation within a longer continuum: very Sibelian, not least in the first movement’s alone-in-nature cadenza. The most distinctive ideas come in the second movement, a scherzo, in which the soloist shimmies his way through an increasingly heated, jazz-infused drum-dance.

Financial Times 13.5.

Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra UK premiere: BBC SO, cond. Alexander Vedernikov, sol Jörgen van Rijen, 10.5. 2012 London, UK

Heart-rending; beautiful Suovanen could savour dramatic swells, powerfully resonant high notes and delicate pianissimos completely at will, and the result was simply delicious.

Lapin Kansa 28.4.

Lars Karlsson: Sju sånger till text av Pär Lagerkvist (Seven Songs to texts of Pär Lagerkvist) World premiere: Lapland ChO, cond. John Storgårds, sol. Gabriel Suovanen, baritone, 26.4.2012 Rovaniemi, Finland

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2012

Heiniö’s work most fascinating …The climax proved to be the premiere of Mikko Heiniö’s new Piano Concerto…Most of all I was fascinated by the exquisite orchestration, the use of big-band sound and the dramatic arch, especially in the first movement of the concerto. The piano part is virtuosic and spins along, and was performed in sovereign manner by Kirmo Lintinen. Towards the end is a humorous allusion to the Ride of the Valkyries.

Hufvudstadsbladet 23.4.

Mikko Heiniö: Nonno (Piano Concerto No. 9) World premiere: UMO Jazz Orchestra, cond. Kari Heinilä, sol. Kirmo Lintinen, 21.4. 2012 Tampere, Finland

John Storgårds and the Helsinki PO give exemplary support in the big-boned textures of both concertos but also shine on their own in Modificata. This is an immensely noteworthy issue, not as a potential epitaph for Rautavaara the concerto-composer but for the quality of the music.

Gramophone April 2012 Einojuhani Rautavaara: Modificata, Incantations, Towards the Horizon CD: Helsinki PO, cond. John Storgårds, sol. Colin Currie, percussion, Truls Mørk, cello (Ondine ODE 1178-2)

Purge probably belongs among the most important operas ever premiered at the Finnish National Opera.

Hufvudstadsbladet 22.4.

Coupled Airs

A Purge worthy of homage…Reinvere contrasts the sensitive and subtle with brutality…The chorus, which makes an impressive contribution during

Acclaim for new Rautavaara disc

Schnelzer based this violin concerto around the rippling octatonic scale to give the piece a fluid feel.

Hugo’s engaging performance is true to the nautical theme of the arrangement and he comfortably carries the attention of the driving melody.

Time and Leisure 14.5.

Albert Schnelzer: Coupled Airs World premiere: Orchestra of the Swan, cond. David Curtis, sol. Hugo Ticciati, violin, 10.5.2012 London, UK

Incredibly effective and suggestive.

Västerbottenkuriren 3.4.

Both melodious and irresistibly enchanting.

Sydsvenska Dagbladet 3.4.

Well composed Fantasia Marie Samuelsson’s new Fantasia in a Circle is her second work for the ensemble [peärls before swïne experience]. It is soft, calm without a pulse, we get a glimpse of an organ point and at the same time there are bright figurations. It is terse, well composed and above all personal.

Nutida Musik 1 2012 Marie Samuelsson: Fantasia in a Circle World premiere: peärls before swïne experience, 18.10.2012 Stockholm, Sweden

Martinsson’s much longed-for Passion

There were distinct features of the baroque in the phrasing and harmony at times…a mighty concluding chord in the major shed a bright, positive light over this much longed-for work.

Uppsala Nya Tidning 2.4

the evening with shushing, fluttering consonants, places a row of burning candles Jüri Reinvere along the front of the stage and bows in homage. And so do I. Svenska Dagbladet 26.4.

Purge is a tour de force of music theatre. Reinvere has, as composer and librettist, heightened and brightened Sofi Oksanen’s novel as poetic theatre in a landscape of sound.

Aamulehti 20.4.

Jüri Reinvere: Purge, opera in two acts World premiere: Finnish National Opera, cond. Paul Mägi, sol. Johanna Rusanen-Kartano, Helena Juntunen etc, 20.4. 2012 Helsinki, Finland

Ingenious Broström Broström uses the full capacity of the orchestra.

Sometimes he spreads out thick layers of paint with his brushes, sometimes he uses the most delicate hues. I was completely captivated by his ingenuity, not least by the effective ending with the gently clicking sound from the 13 kalimbas.

Helsingborgs Dagblad 17.2.

Tobias Broström: La danse World premiere: Helsingborgs SO, cond. Andrew Manze, 16.2.2012 Helsingborg, Sweden

Daniel Börtz

Rolf Martinsson: St. Luke Passion World premieres: Canzonetta and Uppsala Cathedral Singers, Petri Sångare, Umeå Oratorio Choir, soloists and musicians, 31.3–1.4.2012 Uppsala, Malmö and Umeå, Sweden

“Worried Souls” was soft and imaginative…The so-called scrap-percussion gave contours to Staern’s suggestive sonorities and played along. Clarinet and orchestra conversed and inspired one another.

Corren 18.2.

This piece is brimming over with ideas… Staern moves lithely through the colours, allows himself excursions into jazz and sarcasm reminiscent of the Austrian H.K. Gruber’s tone language, only to in the next moment fling himself into an expressive seriousness that calls to mind the modernism of the 1970s.

Dagens Nyheter 18.2.

Benjamin Staern: Clarinet Concerto – Worried Souls World premiere: Norrköping SO, cond. Stefan Solyom, sol. Karin Dornbusch, clarinet, 16.2.2012 Norrköping, Sweden

Photo: Georg Oddner

Clarinet in suggestive surroundings

Karin Dornbusch

Photo: Toni Härkönen

Purge – a tour de force of music theatre Sofi Oksanen’s novel Purge contains all the right elements for the big stage: love, jealousy, betrayal, violence, memory, regret…Jüri Reinvere makes no attempt to set the book to music; his Purge is much more a musical reflection on Oksanen’s characters.

By putting us inside a mind that shuts off in selfdefence at the onset of brutality, Jüri Reinvere tells us more than any amount of thrusting orchestral violence ever could.

Financial Times 23.4.

Arresting and expressionistic Daniel Börtz’s compelling Songs and Dances provides an impressive display of Hardenberger’s wide range: the arresting and dramatic opening, Energico, takes the soloist to stratospheric heights, only to plummet in the following Lento misterioso, where low notes are coloured with glissandi and flutter-tongue effects.

With Hardenberger as its champion, this expressionistic concerto deserves to enter the concert repertoire.

Classical-Music.com 13.5.

Daniel Börtz: Trumpet Concerto – Songs and Dances CD: Malmö SO, cond. Gilbert Varga, sol. Håkan Hardenberger (BIS-CD-1021)

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2012

NEW PUBLICATIONS

NEW CDs

CHORAL

CHAMBER/INSTRUMENTAL

FREDRIK SIXTEN

LARSERIK LARSSON

Three Haiku Poems

Preludium & Postludium

for SATB a cappella Text: Japanese 18th century: Kanna, Kurako, Kin´ei (Jap), GE 12111

for organ Recently discovered work by the famous Swedish composer

Three Haiku Poems

Ge 12114

Blandad kör/ Mixed choir a cappella

LINDA ALEXANDERSSON

Lars-Erik Larsson

Preludium & Postludium

BO NILSSON Déjà connu – déjà entendu

Fantasia in a Circle

for six part mixed choir a cappella Text: Tomas Tranströmer (Nobel Prize Laureate 2011) (Swe) First performed at the Nobel Prize lecture on literature, GE 12066

for flute violin, cello and piano Marie Samuelsson

Der Herr ist mein Hirte SSAA a cappella

for clarinet solo GE 12052

KARIN REHNQVIST

FREDRIK SIXTEN

Der Herr ist mein Hirte/ Herren är min herde

Passacaglia

for female choir SSAA a cappella

for organ

GE 11901 (German version) GE 11835 (Swedish version)

GE 12115

PERHENNING OLSSON

Manskör Manskör

Marionetterna (The Marionetts)

Pilfink Records JJVCD-104

GE 12050 (score and parts)

Somebody is Learning how to Fly

För TTBB

Marionetterna

for male choir TTBB a cappella Text: Bo Bergman (Swe), GE 12037

Per-Henning Olsson

Somebody is Learning How to Fly ª ȱ § ȱ ȱĚ¢ Ȃ ȱ ȱ¥ȱ

F O R S O L O C L A R I N E T I N BD

Norrköping SO, cond. Alexander Hansson Naxos CD 8.572339 (Nordic Classical Favourites 2)

USKO MERILÄINEN Timeline/Aikaviiva

GE 11945

Tampere PO, cond. Hannu Lintu Alba ABCD 342 (”notkeatonline”)

JOHAN ULLÉN The Deadly Sins GE 12090 (study score) GE 11955 (score and parts)

Swedish Royal Court CD

LARSERIK LARSSON, HILDING ROSENBERG

for violin and guitar

for piano trio

Royal Stockholm PhO, Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir, cond.

Gustaf Sjökvist, sol. Hillevi Martinpelto, soprano, KarlMagnus Fredriksson, baritone, Björn Granath, narrator

A Winter’s Tale, Orpheus in Town

Five Episodes

ROBERT SUND

LARSERIK LARSSON Förklädd gud/A God Disguised

BENJAMIN STAERN

Juninatt (June Night) for male choir TTBB a cappella Text: Anders Österling (Swe), GE 12112

Quartet, Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano, Sonata for Two Accordions) Osmo Vänskä, clarinet, Veli & Susanna Kujala, accordion etc.

(Harri Wessman, Lasse Eerola, Arttu Sipilä, Tuomas Turriago) Jouko Harjanne, trumpet, Tuomas Turriago, piano

MARIE SAMUELSSON

SVENDAVID SANDSTRÖM

Chamber works (Quintet for Clarinet and String

FINNISH TRUMPET SONATAS

NMS 10341 (set of parts)

Långsam musik (Slow Music)

BIS-SACD-1126

BIS-CD-1886

for wind quintet

Hommage a Arvo Pärt for SATB a cappella (Lat), GE 12075

SVENDAVID SANDSTRÖM Five Pieces for String Trio Johan Ullén

The Deadly Sins

Trio ZilliacusPerssonRaitinen Phono Suecia PSCD 189

seven tangos for piano trio

SCORES

AL B U MS & TU TOR S

JÖRGEN DAFGÅRD

ERKKI MELARTIN

Sinfonia No 1

Päivänpaisteessa/A Place in the Sun

GE 11085

ȱ ã

FREDRIK HÖGBERG

A collection of piano gems by Melartin (Book & CD) FG 979-0-55011-104-2

Hitting the First Base Concerto for Double Bass and Strings

Ĵ ȱ ȱ ȱ Concerto for Double Bass and Strings

LÁSZLO ROSSA  JAANA LAASONEN

GE 11174 PA R T I T U R /S C O R E

INGVAR LIDHOLM Poesis for orchestra GE 12044 (conductor’s score) GE 12046 (study score)

Tapiola Sinfonietta, cond. Jean-Jacques Kantorow & Stefan Asbury, sol. John-Edward Kelly

FÖR ORGEL

Three Songs from the Dominican Breviary

KALEVI AHO Chamber Symphonies 1-3

INGVAR LIDHOLM POESIS PE R OR CH E STRA PARTITU R / S C O R E

Mutanza for orchestra GE 12043 (conductor’s score) GE 12045 (study score)

GÖSTA NYSTROEM Sinfonia Espressiva GE 12067

Huilukamari 1-4 (Flute Chamber)

Chamber music for young flutists based on original versions for violin duos by Lászlo Rossa and Géza Szilvay. Book I is intended for groups of players of different standards, II includes duos, II is a selection of trios and IV is a book of quartets.

FG 979-0-55011-089-2 (I), 55011-090-8 (II), 55011-091-5 (III), 55011-092-2 (IV)

CSABA SZILVAY Cello ABC, Book B

Second part of the popular Colourstrings cello school FG 979-0-55009-478-9

25% Off on all Gehrmans’

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