Highlights 3-2010

nordic

HIGHLIGHTS

3/2010

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

Olli Kortekangas and the beauty of polyphony

Tommie Haglund – speaking to the listener

NEWS Tormis rights for Fennica Gehrman

New orchestral works Photo: Peter Kislinger

by Kalevi Aho

Kalevi Aho has been busy composing some new orchestral works.

He has recently written a trombone concerto for Jörgen van Rijen and is now planning a percussion concerto for Colin Currie. With these new works – to be premiered in 2011 and 2012, respectively – the Aho concertos will number 16, including ones for such exotic soloists as the contrabassoon and the tuba.

Aho has also raised the number of his symphonies. The BBC Philharmonic has commissioned his fifteenth, to be premiered in Manchester on 26 March 2011.

nordic

HIGHLIGHTS

3/2010

NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Sound samples are available at

and other material

www.gehrmans.se/highlights www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights Cover photos: Saara Vuorjoki/Fimic (Olli Kortekangas) Angelica Ahlefeldt-Laurvig (Tommie Haglund) Background photo: Lilian Pärni 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 2010

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Estonian composer Urmas Sisask celebrated his 50th birthday on 9 September. Sisask is unique among Estonian composers, and his music combines sincere beauty with primeval power.

He studied composition under René Eespere at the Tallinn State Conservatoire and has composed music rich in styles and genres. His international reputation comes primarily from his choral works, such as those on cano­nical texts, e.g. Domine exaudi orationem meam or the motets Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro and Benedictio. Sisask’s extremely popular Gloria Patri , consisting of 24 hymns for mixed choir, is based on the kumayoshi mode obtained from theoretical sound values for the rotations of planets. Astro­nomy has always been a great source of inspiration for Sisask.

Swedish music at the Venice Biennial Music by Rolf Martinsson, Tobias Broström and Sven-David Sandström will be featured at the 54th Venice Biennial the last week in September. The programme will include Martinsson’s debut work, String Quartet No. 1, performed by the Teatro La Fenice String Quartet. The Malmö Music Academy Percussion Ensemble will give the Italian premieres of Broström’s most recent percussion piece Ombra from 2009 and Sandström’s percussion hit Drums from the1980s.

Newly edited Melartin symphony available Nordic Music Days Symphony No. 3 by Erkki Melartin is now available in an performances edited version. This means that new orchestral parts of this work completed in 1910 have been published as a result of a clean-copying project organised by the Erkki Melartin Society. The editing and copying were done by Jani Kyllönen, who has previously edited Melartin’s Symphony No. 5, the “Sinfonia brevis” of 1916. The orchestral parts of both works can be hired from Fennica Gehrman.

Fredrik Högberg signs with From Sweden Productions Fredrik Högberg has embarked on a collaboration with the newly founded London-based artists agency From Sweden Productions, that now represents Högberg worldwide. As a result of this relationship all commissions of new works

by Högberg are arranged through the agency. For further information and contact see www.fromswedenproductions.com or e-mail sofie@fromswedenproductions.com.

The Nordic Music Days in Copen­hagen on 8-11 September presented music by Tommi Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti Puumala, Kimmo Kuitunen, Albert Schnelzer and others.

Among the works heard were Kärkkäinen’s Concordia nebulosa for accordion and tape (Frode Andersen), Puumala’s Memorial Fragment (Danish National Chamber Orchestra/ Adam Fischer), Kuitunen’s TripleDuos (Esbjerg Ensemble) and Schnelzer’s A Freak in Burbank (Danish National Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Dausgaard).

Marie Samuelsson news Gehrmans has recently published Marie Samuelsson’s orchestral work Flygande linjer och dån (Airborne Lines and Rumbles). Commissioned by the Stockholm Chamber Orchestra (SNYKO), it was premiered in Stockholm and repeated at the annual festival in Beauvais, France in May 2009. Andrew Manze will conduct the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in the next performance of the work on 14 October. Samuelsson’s future commisions include an opera for the Vadstena Academy to a libretto by the novelist Kerstin Ekman. Lasting around an hour and three quarters, it will be a chamber opera including four soloists, chamber choir, dancers and an ensemble of twelve instrumentalists scheduled for the 2012 season.

Photo: Mats Bäcker

Fennica Gehrman has bought the publishing rights from Kirjastus Muusika for 16 works

by Veljo Tormis. These are mostly choral suites in many movements such as the popular 8-movement Nostalgia for mixed choir, Five Estonian Folk Dances, The Songster’s Childhood, and Songs of Singing and the Songster.

A figurehead in Estonian choral music, Veljo Tormis was 80 on 9 August. During this jubilee year works by him have been performed at a number of concerts, e.g. at the Nargen Festival in Estonia. His Reminiscentia Suite, an arrangement from 2009 for string orchestra of his choral cycle Nature Pictures (Looduspildid) and the much-loved St. John’s Day Songs ( Jaanilaulud), was performed in Nargen and also at the Baltic Sea Festival on 30 August by the Stockholm Sinfonietta and Tõnu Kaljuste.

Photo: Scanpix/Peeter Langovits

Urmas Sisask at 50

P r e m ie r es Autumn 2010

Staern and the New European Ensemble Starting in September and for the next three years Benjamin Staern will be Composer-inResidence with the New European Ensemble. To begin with, they will perform his Tranströmer Songs , (composed for the ensemble and the singer Carina Vinke in 2009), on their tour of Sweden this October.

It will be followed by the world premiere of their new Staern commission, Bells and Waves for large ensemble, at the White Crow Music Festival in

Leiden (NL) on 11 Nov­ember.

The New European Ensemble was founded by the Swedish conductor Christian Karlsen and a group of young top musicians from throughout Europe in 2008, and is based in the Netherlands. Their goal is to bridge the gap between new music and the public through exciting and expressive performances and to renew the concert format with the aim of showing new music’s relevance to society. More information at www.neweuropean­ ensemble.com.

Per Gunnar Petersson

Organ Mass

Andrew Canning, organ 2 September, Uppsala, Sweden

FREDRIK HÖGBERG

In January of next year Håkan Hardenberger will give his 50th performance of Rolf Martinsson’s trumpet concerto, Bridge, which he has played with high acclaim throughout the world. The 50th performance will take place in Zürich with the Tonhalle Orchestra under conductor Andris Nelsons. The young trumpet virtuoso Guiliano Sommerhalder will be the next trumpeter to take up the concerto in his repertoire when he performs with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra on 4 November.

Dancing with Silent Purpose

Jönköping Sinfonietta, cond. and sol. Martin Fröst 4 September, Gislaved, Sweden

Paavo Heininen

Flute Concerto ”Autrefois”

Lappeenranta CO, cond. Tibor Bogányi, sol. Mikael Helasvuo 30 September, Lappeenranta, Finland

Pasi Lyytikäinen

Necto

The Guard’s Band, cond. Jarkko Aaltonen 12 October, Helsinki, Finland

Rolf Martinsson

Concert Fantastique – Clarinet Concerto No 1

Malmö SO, cond. Shi Yeon-Sung, sol. Martin Fröst 14 October, Malmö, Sweden

Albert Schnelzer

Emperor Akbar, for string orchestra

Tromsø ChO, leader Kolbjørn Holthe 22 October, Tromsø, Norway

Oboe Concerto – The Enchanter

Swedish ChO, cond. Lionel Bringuier, sol. Francois Leleux 11 November, Örebro, Sweden

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

Charms, Concerto for Piano Trio and Orchestra (revised version)

Tapiola Sinfonietta & Trio Finlandia, cond. SanttuMatias Rouvali, 4 November, Espoo, Finland

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Photo: Ronald Boersen

Hardenberger’s 50th performance of Bridge

Sofi Oksanen’s Purge staged as opera

New European Ensemble, cond. Christian Karlsen 11 November, Leiden, Netherlands

New Shostakovich releases from DSCH

Photo: © re:pi:n media

Photo: Toni Härkönen

An opera based on the best-selling novel Purge (Puhdistus) by Sofi Oksanen is to be premiered at the Finnish National Opera in April 2012.

The composer is Estonian cosmopolitan Jüri Reinvere, who is also writing a libretto based on the book. Reinvere (b. 1971) is a talented, versaSofi Oksanen and Jüri Reinvere tile composer and poet who studied composition at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and is at present living in Berlin. He has twice won the International Rostrum of Composers (in 2000 and 2006).

BENJAMIN STAERN

Bells and Waves

Violin Concerto No. 2

New collected works of Dmitri Shostakovich.

Vol. 44 (Full Score) Ruslania 153469 / ISBN 979-0-706364-15-5

New publishing agreement with Kimmo Kuitunen

Photo: Alma Kuitunen

Fennica Gehrman has signed a publishing agreement for seven works

by Kimmo Kuitunen (b. 1968): Three Movements for string quartet, Saxes for alto saxophone, TripleDuos for sextet, Trio for clarinet, cello and piano, Fantasies for piano, Crest, through and scrolling nodes for bass clarinet and cello and Three Songs for soprano and piano.

Kuitunen’s main teacher in composition at the Sibelius Academy was Paavo Heininen; before studying composition Kuitunen had been working as an all-round musician. His collaboration with Mikael Laurson and Mika Kuuskankare in computer-assisted composition continues and is aiming far into the future.

Trusting relations with musicians are, for Kuitunen, a matter of life and death. Most of his works are for virtuosos: Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo (sax) and Joonas Pohjonen (piano) have, for example, commissioned works from him, and he has partnerships with the Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat and the Estonian Ensemble U. Next in the pipeline is the recording in Tallinn of the sextet TripleDuos.

Symphony No. 7 & No. 8

New collected works of Dmitri Shostakovich.

Vol. 7 & Vol 8 (Full Scores) Ruslania 153959 / ISBN 979-0-706364-16-2 (Vol. 7) Ruslania 153522 /ISBN 979-0-706364-13-1 (Vol. 8)

Orango

Unfinished satirical opera (Piano score) Ruslania 154057 / ISBN 979-0-706364-17-9

String Quartet No. 8 (Parts)

Ruslania 152397 / EAN 9781001523972

Andantino for violin and piano Ruslania 152338 / EAN 9781001550466

Other Shostakovich string quartets parts and scores are also available from www.ruslania.com (webstore) sheetmusic@ruslania.com

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Tommie Haglund – speaking to the listener

Photo: Angelica Ahlefeldt-Laurvig

Some composers write good music, pure and simple. Others compose music with an inexplicable charisma. While the former are almost automatically caught up by the institutions of concert life, the latter are surrounded by musicians who have been enraptured by the music. Slowly, the rumour of something exceptional spreads.

T o m m i e H a g l u n d is a composer of the latter sort. To begin with, a circle of Swedish musicians started to campaign for his music: among them were pianists Hans Pålsson and Carl-Axel Dominique, cellist John Ehde and violinists Dan Almgren and Joachim Gustafsson. After that his music began to be played by musicians from abroad, e.g. the English Medici Quartet, guitarist John Mills and violinist Elisabeth Pitcairn. A markedly international Swede, clarinettist Karin Dornbusch, is helping him along in the same way. And these are continually being joined by new musicians.

Spiritual power It is its spiritual power that distinguishes Haglund’s music from most other music that is composed today. Just the fact that one can speak unabashedly about spiritual power indicates that there is something special about Haglund. His voice has something that has been missing in art music for a long time, without his resorting to stylistic means that are retrospective. To be sure, he can work with tonal fields, but he does it in a way that does not repeat the past. Melodic phrases can certainly crop up, but they are melodies that in a peculiar way always seem to quickly disappear.

Chances are that the new record with Haglund’s music will result in another step forward. With the violin concerto Hymnen an die Nacht (2005) , the ensemble work Röstens dotter (Daughter of the Voice) (2002-03) and the sextet To the Sunset Breeze (1997/2009) , we get a clear picture of the composer’s profile. The solo concerto searches out the magical darkness to be found in

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the German romanticist Novalis’s collection of poems, the title of which has been borrowed by Haglund. The texts for Röstens dotter are taken from St. Bridget’s revelations, and this gives a hint of the religious themes that are not seldom found in Haglund’s works. In the sextet, written for an unusual ensemble including guitar, harp and string quartet, we also find the affirmative side of Haglund – what the American poet Walt Whitman lent his voice to – the piece was composed after a reading of one of Whitman’s poems.

Reaching broader audiences Concert audiences have already got to know Haglund in Paris, Philadelphia and Scandinavia.

His music has been performed in all continents of the world except Australia. Commissions also come in from abroad. In that sense, Haglund is already established internationally. But the next step is, of course, over the threshold to meet wider audiences, both in Sweden and abroad. There have been many requests for further performances of the Violin Concerto from the USA and Central Europe. The cello concerto, Flaminis Aura, which had its premiere in Helsingborg with Ehde as soloist, is waiting for its first gramophone recording, this time on a foreign record label.

The TV documentary that is presently being shot will doubtless lead to more attention on the part of broader audiences. For the past year the film team has come to visit from time to time in Halmstad, where Haglund has resided for a long time. One of the central features is when they are working on the recording of the Violin Concerto,

where Elisabeth Pitcairn practises in eager conversation with the composer. In addition, there are comments from a number of musicians who have followed him from the very the beginning.

Music just for you And so it will go on, whatever happens. Tommie Haglund’s music has literally spoken to musicians, who have made it their own. The same goes for the listeners. The music speaks to the listener. It speaks about things that are elusive, about the pain that can accompany a person through life, about the happiness that brightens up one’s existence, about that which is beyond life. What is remarkable is that all this seems to be formulated just for you, the individual listener. Irrespective of whether it has to do with a work such as Spiráre celorum for the clavisino (an intimate instrument akin to the clavichord) or the view of the cosmos in the Cello Concerto (here there is actually sound picked up from outer space), the music seems to be directed toward one’s own person.

Nor does this apply to all music. Some music can create a great spirit of community with its festive mood, while another type can aim at a playfulness that can be attained only through music.

But the music that Tommie Haglund composes – often in a process that requires long periods of time, based on ideas of sound that have been scribbled down on note paper, then expanded during lengthy mental elaboration – seems directed to what you are as a listener. It is true that a concert experience may lead to a great community of listeners or that there are also playful features in Haglund’s music, but its special quality lies in a fervour that never becomes sentimental.

So whatever steps may be taken, the music will keep its intimate character, speaking to the musician, speaking to the listener.

E r i k Wa ll r u p Music critic, Svenska Dagbladet

Olli Kortekangas

and the beauty of polyphony

Photo: Saara Vuorjoki/Fimic

E

arly autumn 2010 finds composer Olli Kortekangas working on several commissions: a piano concerto, an oratorio, and a work for children’s choir, the last two commissions from America. A new opera, Yhden yön juttu (One Night Stand), for the opening season of the new Helsinki Music Centre is also coming along nicely.

The piano concerto will be premiered in April 2011 by Paavali Jumppanen and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Though Kortekangas has written concertos before, this one, for piano and orchestra, is the first of its kind.

“It’s in one movement but falls into five parts, and it lasts about half an hour” he says. “I want it to be a concerto in the best sense of the word.

In other words, though it is thematically clear and the orchestra is important, the piano has a prominent role and is what carries the story along. The piano part is challenging but also brilliant.”

The fascination of chamber music Though Kortekangas loves choral music and opera most of all, he is now finding himself fascinated by chamber music.

“Over the past three years I’ve written several big chamber works. These include the Divertimento (2007) for solo cello, Crossing the Five Rivers (2008) for viol and organ, and Pietà (2010) for soprano, viol and harpsichord. Last winter I also did two parallel works, Boreas for clarinet and string quartet for musicians from the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, and Aveux for oboe and string quartet as a commission from the Uusikaupunki Crusell Week.”

The processes of composing chamber music and opera differ considerably. As Kortekangas puts it: “If doing an opera is like making a cream gateau, chamber music is like baking rye bread.

Working with little forms and small ensembles is infinitely challenging and educational. The actual performance is rewarding, because you can follow what the individual players are doing in a way you can’t in opera or orchestral music.”

Olli Kortekangas is composing several works side by side. “If doing an opera is like making a cream gateau, chamber music is like baking rye bread,” he says.

Chamber music and working with early instruments – especially the viol – have made him think polyphonically again.

“Polyphony in fact comes naturally to me, because I’ve always felt I think of music in linear terms. Could this be because I used to be a chorister? Of course all music has both a vertical and a horizontal dimension, but in most cases one or the other dominates. It’s fascinating to explore the potential of polyphony and the various layers of the music, and on the other hand transparency, even in such larger-scale works as opera.”

One Night Stand Kortekangas’s new chamber opera, One Night Stand, is a commission from the Sibelius Academy and will be premiered in the opening season of the new Helsinki Music Centre, in October 2011.

“One Night Stand is a spin-off from my previous opera, Daddy’s Girl, in that in early 2008 Markus Lehtinen, who conducted the world premiere of Daddy’s Girl at the 2007 Savonlinna Opera Festival, suggested a follow-up by the main people involved, this time under the aegis of the Sibelius Academy.” The libretto for the new opera is, like that for Daddy’s Girl, being written by Michael Baran, dramaturge at the Finnish National Theatre.

“Right from the start the new opera has been constructed from the perspective of the Sibelius Academy’s voice students. Markus Lehtinen was of the opinion that the project should include a degree of experiment and pedagogical dimensions. One Night Stand is reminiscent of a musical in that it has lots of roles, and when a character isn’t singing a solo, he or she sings in the ensemble or chorus.”

Commissions from the United States The demand for works by Olli Kortekangas is not confined to Finland. He has, among other things, received two choral commissions from America, the first of which led to the second. The commissioner of the first is a leading US symphonic choir The Choral Arts Society of Washington, which requested a work with an ecological slant to its text. The other commissioner of the work is the Tampere Philharmonic. Performances have already been fixed for Washington, San Francisco and Tampere.

“My new piece is called Seven Songs for Planet Earth, and the words are a collage of bits from works by different writers. These include St Francis of Assisi and the contemporary US poet Wendell Berry. I also use folk poetry. Lasting about 40 minutes, it has a big choir and orchestra and two soloists, so it could be described as an oratorio. It will first be heard at the Kennedy Center in Washington at the end of May 2011.”

Kortekangas reveals that his new work also has parts for a children’s choir, rather like the chorales in Bach’s St Matthew Passion.

“Because I also wanted it to have a children’s choir, the Children’s Chorus of Washington inspired by the Tapiola Choir and Erkki Pohjola will also be taking part. On top of all this, the Chorus placed a commission of its own,” Kortekangas gleefully reports.

L iis a m a i j a H a u ts a l o

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REVIEWS

Photo: Lilian Pärni

Photo: Kaapo Hakola

Aho’s Piano Concerto – strong individual voice

Hakola’s KAL & cold shivers The electric harp is a magnificent invention... Kimmo Hakola’s KAL plus the electronics directed by Timo Kurkikangas sent cold shivers down my back. The little girl in the balcony even stopped knitting for the whole of the mighty nine-movement work.

Helsingin Sanomat 30.5. / Jukka Isopuro Kimmo Hakola: KAL

The three movements have a wonderful; rhapsodic character. …And yes, even though one might detect a Brahmsian flavour at times there’s a strong, very individual voice here, any stylistic snatches welded into an entirely original and convincing whole. As for the strings, they soften the music’s edges, bringing out a wonderful sense of wistfulness in quieter passages. Just sample the gentle rain of sound that Siirala conjures up at 7:59 in the second movement, the string playing that follows Straussian in its weight and quiet stoicism. The Lahti forces are glorious, full, warm and beautifully blended.

Musicweb-international.com July 2010 / Dan Morgan Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra, Symphony No. 13

CD: Lahti SO, cond. Osmo Vänskä, sol. Antti Siirala (BIS-CD-1316)

Lily-Marlene Puusepp, harp, Linda Hedlund, violin, Maya Egashira, viola, Seeli Toivio, cello, Malla Vivolin, flute, 28.5.2010 Helsinki, Finland

A veritable feast of sound Kimmo Hakola invited the listener to a veritable feast of sound in two of his latest orchestral works, Maro and KIMM, which with almost shocking clarity demonstrated the enormous expressive and effective resources that passed the rigorous postserialists by. ...Hakola weaves a polyphonic web of great melodic beauty that, à la Charles Ives, collided with aggressive orchestral outbursts.

Hufvudstadsbladet 22.5. / Mats Liljeroos Kimmo Hakola: Maro, KIMM

Symphonic meditation The concert opened with Linjama’s symphonic meditation Allerheiligentag II. It began tenderly and softly, and that is how it ended... The unembellished harmonies penetrating the drum rolls and the

trumpet fanfares from time to time created some wonderfully lyrical moments.

Kleine Zeitung 13-14.6. / Willi Rainer Jyrki Linjama: Allerheiligentag II

Kuopio SO, cond. Sascha Goetzel, 12.6.2010 Carinthian Music Festival, Austria

A rewarding musical ride with Marie Samuelsson In his article “Stockholm 2007–2009: Marie Samuelsson premieres in context”, in the July issue of Tempo Music Magazine, Guy Rickards writes a review of Marie Samuelsson’s orchestral music which he finds “exquisite”, “grippingly evocative”, “deftly scored” and “a rewarding musical ride”. He is also looking forward to her opera premiere in 2012 which he suspects will be a thrilling experience. The full article

is available for download on Cambridge Journals Online: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/ displayJournal?jid=TEM. Marie Samuelsson: Singla, Airborne Lines and Rumbles, The Horn in the Wind

Royal Stockholm PhO, Stockholm ChO, cond. Mats Rondin, Stockholm Wind Ensemble, sol. Sören Hermansson, cond. Staffan Larsson 2007-2009, Stockholm, Sweden

Hugely enjoyable and witty – Schnelzer at Proms

Photo: Hans Lindén

This is a smart, likeable showpiece from a talented composer.

The Independent 29.8. / Anna Picard

The Swedish composer Albert Schnelzer is little known in the UK, but A Freak in Burbank may change that…the restlessly busy, witty, lightlyscored music lives in an imaginative world of its own.

Financial Times 25.8. / Richard Fairman The piece reveals an exceptional flair for orchestral virtuosity on the part of its composer.

The Guardian 24.8. / Tim Ashley

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Photo: Gunnar Källström

Finnish RSO, cond. Sakari Oramo, 19.5.2010 Helsinki, Finland

Telescoping as many ideas into its nine minutes as John Adams would stretch out for a full symphony, it combines ear-friendliness with the adrenalinbusting energy of a fairground ride.

Intermezzo 26.8.

Albert Schnelzer’s A Freak in Burbank was hugely enjoyable. …Schnelzer’s compositional voice seems both individual and assured.

Classical Source.com 24.8. / Alexander Campbell Albert Schnelzer: A Freak in Burbank

Swedish ChO, cond. Thomas Dausgaard, 23.8.2010 Proms, London, England

Pettersson’s passionate 7th in Gothenburg and in Cologne One can indeed wonder why this existentially affecting, pressure-cooker music is not performed more often. The work is a 20th-century classic […] conductor Johannes Gustavsson sees to it that the work gets a compact and coherent interpretation, where the orchestra´s passionate string sonorities make the extended passage for string orchestra especially poignant. A warm feeling, in the midst of the anxiety-ridden. …In Pettersson’s case you cannot escape the flame of life’s intensity…

Göteborgsposten 20.5. / Magnus Haglund In his Seventh Symphony here performed in a totally grandiose manner, one could feel every part of his pain, lament and desperation in a way that reminds of Schostakovich and Mahler. It was a capturing concert.

Kölner Stadtanzeiger 21.6.

Christian Lindberg presented a very exciting and sophisticated version of Allan Pettersson’s 7th Symphony. Gone was the entertainer and there was an artist bringing out chromatic lines, disturbing screams and painful shattering from a composer born in the Stockholm slum in 1911. And the Gürzenich Orchestra let this 45-minute passionate work take a compelling shape.

Kölnische Rundschau 21.6.

Allan Pettersson: Symphony No. 7

Gothenburg SO, cond. Johannes Gustavsson, 19-20.5.2010 Gothenburg, Sweden Gürzenich-Orchestra Cologne, cond. Christian Lindberg, 20-22.6.2010 Cologne, Germany

N E W C Ds Kalevi Aho

One of the most gorgeous pieces I have ever heard

Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra (Piano Concerto No. 2), Symphony No. 13 ‘Symphonic Characterizations’

The Violin Concerto is probably unique among the works of Nieminen that I have heard so far; the solo passages are legion, somewhat virtuosic… This piece has the evocation of Sibelius in its midst… Enter In Mirrors of Time and you will encounter in the last movement one of the most gorgeous pieces I have ever heard, wistful, ruminative, and melancholy in a way that we all like. ...With the rich scoring of the Viola Concerto, and the genius idea of accentuating the harp, we have a modern concerto that takes advantage of the viola’s considerable yet often unused resources to provide not only atmosphere and warmth, but sterling technique and a leadership role in the proceedings.

Fanfare July-August 2010 / Steven E. Ritter Kai Nieminen: Violin Concerto “Il viaggio del cavaliere...(inesistente)”, In Mirrors of Time, Viola Concerto “La Serenissima”

Lahti SO, cond. Osmo Vänskä, sol. Antti Siirala BIS-CD-1316

TOMMIE HAGLUND

Hymns to the Night, Röstens Dotter (Daughter of the Voice), To the Sunset Breeze

Helsingborg SO, cond. Hannu Koivula, Joachim Gustafsson, The Lysell Quartet, Elizabeth Pitcairn, violin, John Mills, guitar, Stephen Fitzpatrick, harp, Jeanette Bjurling and Tua Åberg, sopranos etc.

Phono Suecia PSCD 184

Olli Kortekangas

Shadows, Psalm Music (Psalmimusiikkia)

Vox Cantorum, cond. Heikki Seppänen

CD: Pori Sinfonietta, cond. Jukka Iisakkila, sol. Erkki Palola, violin and viola, Anni Kuusimäki, harp (Pilfink JJVCD-79)

Omfalos OMF 004 (”Domine, Dominus, Noster”)

Leevi Madetoja

Antti Puuhaara in France

So What If I Sing (Mitä tuosta, jos ma laulan)

Tapio Tuomela’s music [...] includes a great variety of fine harmonies, humming with closed mouths, noises, great melodic lines, popular themes, spicy dissonances... The skilful direction of Roland Hayrabedian creates music with millions of colours, lyrical legato, stunning pizzicato and murmuring of the frightening forest.

Zibeline June-July 2010 / Yves Berge

Works for mixed choir Tapiola Chamber Choir, cond. Hannu Norjanen

Antti Puuhaara, a Finnish legend, was performed with incredible talent. The artistic director Roland Hayrabedian performed the songs, noises, cries of anxiety, and spoken voices with a communicative passion and intensity. The sublime voices of the soloists and the score deliver the spirit of the tale in a splendid interpretation by the strings, clarinet and accordion.

Le Dauphine 13.6. / Colliat-Dangus Pierrette Tapio Tuomela: Antti Puuhaara

Works for Violin and Piano vol. 1

(concert version) Ensemble Musicatreize, cond. Roland Hayrabedian, 10-11.6.2010 Bourget-du-lac & Marseille, France

Rautavaara evergreen in new version Leif Segerstam lets the orchestra wallow in sweet timbres and gilded hues in the orchestral version of the popular Icons piano suite. In doing so he has given the evergreen a new lease of life.

Helsingin Sanomat 12.6. / Veijo Murtomäki Einojuhani Rautavaara: Before the Icons

CD: Helsinki PO, cond. Leif Segerstam (Ondine ODE 1149-2)

Alba ABCD 271

WILHELM STENHAMMAR

Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2

Helsingborg SO, cond. Andrew Manze, sol. Seta Tanyel Hyperion CDA 67750

Husband and wife Ben Connor and Sonia Antiloff sang the main roles in Rautavaara’s “The Gift of the Magi” in Canberra

Photo: The Canberra Times

EDUARD TUBIN

Sigrid Kuulmann, violin, Marko Martin, piano Estonian Record Productions ERP 3009

Fine Finn in Canberra Music Festival Rautavaara’s compositions opened a welcome window onto the world of Finnish music, and I hope that this theme will continue in future festivals. …David Pereira accompanied by pianist Timothy Young performed the Cello Sonata No. 1, providing a deeply musical interpretation. …The Fiddlers was an exciting piece, and provided a welcome opportunity to watch Thor Fromyhr bring out the best in the ANU Chamber Orchestra and treat the audience to Rautavaara’s wild and intentional dissonance.

Canberra Times 18.5. / Jennifer Gall Music of Einojuhani Rautavaara

ANU Chamber Orchestra etc., 25.5.2010 Canberra International Music Festival, Australia

Spiritual Haglund

This nocturnal music approaches darkness in a manner that has few parallels. It is like a slow dance between the solo part and the orchestra, or between the ego and its dissolution, where the vicissitudes are such that one doesn’t know for sure who is leading or who is being led. But toward the end there is also a light, or one could perhaps call it lucidity, with a promise of dawn.

Dagens Nyheter 23.6. / Martin Nyström Tommie Haglund: Hymns to the Night, Daughter of the Voice, To the Sunset Breeze

CD: Helsingborg SO, cond. Hannu Koivula, Elizabeth Pitcairn, violin, John Mills, guitar, etc.

(Phono Suecia PSCD 184)

Elizabeth Pitcairn and Tommie Haglund

Photo: Anders Gustafsson

A sense of spirituality permeates Halmstad composer Tommie Haglund’s music. ...Powerful and delicate of sound, splendidly performed.

Svenska Dagbladet 22.6. / Lars Hedblad

H i ghl i ghts

3/2010

7

new p u b lic a ti o ns C H OR A L M U S IC Per Gunnar Petersson

S COR E S

ALLAN PETTERSSON

Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra

TOBIAS BROSTRÖM

Hosianna

GE 11663

Violin Concerto

for mixed choir and organ Text in Swedish CG 7490

New version for double mixed choir and organ Text in Swedish GE 11725

Fredrik Sixten

Magnificat

for mixed choir, brass instruments and organ Text in Latin

GE 11362

Symphony No. 2

ROLF MARTINSSON

Symphony No. 4

GE 11638

Orchestral Songs

GE 11639

GE 11382

Fear and Hope

Fredrik Pacius

GE 11511

for mezzo-soprano and orchestra Text: Emily Dickinson (English)

MARIE SAMUELSSON

for orchestra

Melodramas: Die Weihe der Töne (Tonernas välde), Tod im Tode (Död i döden)

Flygande linjer och dån (Airborne Lines and Rumbles)

ISMN 979-0-55009-651-6

Emperor Akbar

for chamber orchestra GE 11567

Full score of two melodramas by Pacius (1809-1891), edited by Mikko Nisula & Jani Kyllönen. Foreword by Eero Tarasti.

GE 11498 (score) • GE 11499 (choral score) GE 11500 (set of parts)

Klappa händer (Clap Your Hands)

for mixed choir, organ and percussion Text: Psalm 47 (Swedish and English)

ALBERT SCHNELZER

for string orchestra

GE 11575 (score) • GE 11576 (organ part) GE 11577 (percussion) • GE 11578 (choral score)

GE 11599

Sven-David Sandström

GE 11573

Oboe Concerto – The Enchanter

The Lord’s Prayer

HALVOR HAUG

for six part choir a cappella Text in English

Symphony No. 2 GE 11411

GE 11676

Three Poems by Prince Claus

for choir, strings and percussion Text: Prince Claus (English) GE 11585 (score)

LINA MALM/MARTINA KARLSSON

Yes, I´m Coming Home

Seven gospel songs for mixed choir and piano Arr: Staffan Sundås and Mattias Johansson Texts in English Piano part and chord symbols in the score GE 11644

C H A M B E R & IN S T R U M E N T A L Per Gunnar Petersson

ANDERS ELIASSON

Trio

Organ Mass

for violin, vibraphone and piano GE 11708 (score and parts)

ROLF MARTINSSON

Dawning Landscapes

Concertino for flu te, oboe and string quintet GE 11193 (score and parts)

T U T OR S Géza Szilvay

Yellow Pages of the Colourstrings Violin School

Commissioned by the Church of Sweden for the Fourth National Symposium for Church Music in Uppsala. The work replaces the corresponding sections of the mass, which otherwise may have been sung by the congregation.

1. Basic Rhythms (ISMN 979-0-55009-545-8) 2. Basic Rhythms and Ornaments (55009-640-0) 3. Basic Bowings (55009-641-7) The three Yellow Pages books offer pedagogical material to violin teachers and their students in order to develop the feeling of pulse, to assist the mast­ ering of all rhythms and their combinations, to help build basic knowledge on ornaments and to create a solid basis for virtuosic bow technique.

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM

Orgelpuls 1

GE 11723

Seven Pieces for String Quartet

(String Quartet No. 4) GE 11572 (score and parts)

Anne-Lise Lindberg Sjödin

Innovative beginners school for church organ. In­spiring graphics and creative moments to encourage impro­visation and creativity from the very beginning. Texts in Swedish.

GE 11508

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 Sales: sales@gehrmans.se H i ghl i ghts

3/2010

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 Sales & distribution: Dealers: kvtilaus@kirjavalitys.fi End users: ostinato@ostinato.fi, nuotit@f-music.com or other music shops