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HIGHLIGHTS
1/2009
NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFร RLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN
Kalevi Aho
Sven-David Sandstrรถm
The man behind the music
Focus on his three last motets
NEWS Best new work of the year
2008 saw the celebration of the centenary of the choreo grapher Birgit Cullberg. To pay homage to her, the Royal Ballet put on Miss Julie, Birgit Cullberg’s breakthrough from 1950. Cullberg’s inter pretation of August Strindberg’s play to music by Ture Rangström was epoch-making in its time, and has become a modern ballet classic the world over. A total of 13 perform ances were given at the Royal Opera in Stockholm during 2008-2009. The music material is available from Gehrmans library of stage works.
Erland von Koch in memoriam
Photo: Maria Prytz
Fredrik Sixten’s choral music scores success also beyond the borders of Sweden. March will see two UK premiers: The LENTfest Chorus under Peter Yardley-Jones will per form Sixten’s St. Mark Passion in Glas gow and John Hearn will lead the Stone haven Chorus and the Aberdeen Sinfonietta in the English version of his Requiem . O Sacrum Con Vivium is also heard in March in the USA with the San Francisco Sym phony Chorus and Ragnar Bohlin. It re cently received its Ger man premiere by the Vocal Ensemble Can tabile Regensburg.
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Photo: Agneta von Koch-Hyllius
Sixten’s music goes worldwide
HIGHLIGHTS
Sound samples and in-depth material are available at
H ighlights
1/2009
Photo: Tõnu Tormis
www.gehrmans.se/highlights and www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights. Cover: Kalevi Aho (Photo: Maarit Kytöharju/Fimic), Sven-David Sandström (Photo: Mats Bäcker) Background photo: Miss Julie at the Royal Opera (Photo: Hans Nilsson/Kungliga Operan) Editors: Henna Salmela, Kristina Fryklöf Translations: Susan Sinisalo, Robert Carroll Design: Göran Lind ISSN 1239-6850 Printed in Sweden by 08 Tryck, Bromma 2009
Erland von Koch died on 31 January at the age of 98. He was one of Sweden’s most prominent and beloved composers and, together with Lars-Erik Larsson, Gunnar de Frumerie, Dag Wirén and others, belonged to the socalled “Group of the 1930s”. With his six symphonies, twelve solo concertos, 18 Monologues for various solo instru ments, the children’s opera Peter Tailless, a large number of choral works, film music etc, he was also one of the most versatile and productive composers of his generation. A keen sense of melody, a strong rhythmical profile and influences from Swedish folk mu sic permeate his oeuvre. Erland von Koch was active throughout his whole lifetime. As late as 2004, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra premiered his last orchestral work, Rondinato. Gehr mans and von Koch began only recently a collaboration which will become an edition with organ works.
The Belgian weekly Knack has named the premiere of Kalevi Aho’s Oboe Concerto the un disputed musical highlight of 2008. According to Knack, “ This contemporary work brilliantly played by Piet van Bockstal has absorbed influ ences from all quarters and can be called one of the greatest compositions of recent years.” The Royal Flemish Philhar monic premiered it in Antwerp with Eivind Aadland conduct ing on 11 April.
New Martinsson commissions Rolf Martinsson’s order book for the coming seasons is filling up. First in the line is a Chamber Concerto commissioned by the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orches tra and Västerås Sinfonietta scheduled to be premiered in Uppsala on 6 May 2010. For the season 2010/2011 there are also two new solo concertos in the pipeline, a Clarinet Concerto for Martin Fröst jointly commissioned by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and a Double Bass Concerto for Dan Styffe com missioned by the Oslo Philhar monics.
Tormis CD Gramophone Critic’s Choice
1/2009
NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN
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Photo: Hans Nilsson/ Kungliga Operan
Miss Julie at the Royal Opera
Several CDs of Veljo Tormis’s choral music have been released recently, among them Vision of Kalevala by Alba Records (see new CDs) and male choir works sung by the Svanholm Singers (Tocc CD0073). The Toccata CD was Gramophone Critic’s Choice last De cember, as according to Gramophone “Tormis is won derfully inventive and his exponents are brilliant”. Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of Veljo Tormis. Over the years Fennica Gehrman has published a large number of his choral works, and a growing number of them are now also available in English translation.
P remieres Spring 2009 Meta4
VELI-MATTI PUUMALA
Memorial Fragment, for string orchestra
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Juha Kangas 29 January, Kaustinen, Finland
FREDRIK HÖGBERG
Konzert für zwei Posaunen
Swedish Wind Ensemble, sol. Christian Lindberg and Nils Landgren, trombones 7 February, Stockholm, Sweden
TOBIAS BROSTRÖM
Violin Concerto
Gävle SO, cond. Mats Rondin, sol. Karen Gomyo 12 February, Gävle, Sweden
Tapio Tuomela has been ap pointed Composer-in-Resi dence of the Joensuu City Orchestra. The partnership began with the premiere of his Piano Concerto in Novem ber 2008 and will run until spring 2011. Tuomela aims to act as a link between orchestra and audience and to take part in education projects and pro gramme planning.
KAI NIEMINEN
Somni di Gaudí (Oboe Concerto)
photo: Antti Hannuniemi
Tuomela takes up residence in Joensuu
Jyväskylä Sinfonia, cond. Jan Söderblom, sol. Juha Markkanen 18 February 2008, Jyväskylä, Finland
PEKKA JALKANEN
Hakola live and on CD Kimmo Hakola’s Piano Concerto and Sinfonietta have been re leased on CD (see new CDs). The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by John Storgårds, and Henri Sigfridsson is the soloist in the monumental concerto, which was last heard at the Stockholm International Composer’s Festival in November. Hakola’s other hit, the Clarinet Concerto, is touring the world. The WDR Symphony Orches tra performed it in Cologne twice in January with Semyon Bychkov and clarinettist Kari Kriikku, and it scored success at La Scala in Milan on 6 February. During the spring there will be five performances of Hakola’s String Quartet No. 1 by Meta4, including concerts in Finland and Spain.
Puumala’s Seeds of Time Kortekangas The Ensemble Intercontemporain, US premiere
Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris and pianist Hidéki Nagano per formed Veli-Matti Puumala’s Piano Concerto Seeds of Time in Paris in January under the baton of Susanna Mälkki. This concerto was the win ner of the Finnish Teosto Prize in 2005 and can be heard in Tampere on 24 April. The Tampere Philharmonic will also record it for the Alba label with Roland Pöntinen as the soloist.
Photo: Pekka Mäenpää
Karen Gomyo at Gävle Concert Hall
C4, the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective performed Olli Kortekangas’s choral suite Välimeri (The Mediterra nean Sea) in New York on 26 and 28 February. This was the US premiere. C4 is a unique ensemble, consisting largely of singers who are also com posers and/or conductors. Music by Kortekangas was previously heard in the US when his commission for the Syracuse Vocal Ensemble, The Way to the Woods, was premiered in March 2008.
Taivaallisen härän tappo (Slaying the Heavenly Ox)
HERMAN RECHBERGER
Lumen & Oscura
OLLI KORTEKANGAS
Triptyykki seitsemälle (A Triptych for Seven)
KIMMO HAKOLA
Kal
Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, cond. Jan Söderblom, Kimmo Hakola 28 February, Helsinki, Finland
SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM
Wachet auf
Rockefeller Chapel Choir and Motet Choir, cond. James Kallembach Thomas Weisflog, organ 28 February, Chicago, USA
BENJAMIN STAERN
Arpalinea for guitar solo
Johannes Möller, guitar 1 March, Malmö, Sweden
ALBERT SCHNELZER
Azraeel Suite
Göteborg Wind Orchestra, cond. Alexander Hanson 6 March, Gothenburg, Sweden
ROLF MARTINSSON
Orchestral Songs
Malmö SO, cond. Vassily Sinaisky, sol. Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo soprano 12 March, Copenhagen, Denmark
BENJAMIN STAERN
Jubilate
Gothenburg SO, cond. Stefan Solyom 2 April, Gothenburg, Sweden
Broström’s solo concertos As part of Tobias Broström’s engagement as Composer-in-Residence with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra, he has composed a 20minute Violin Concerto in three movements. It was premiered on 12 February at a packed Gävle Concert Hall with Mats Rondin on the podium and Karen Gomyo as the soloist. The orchestra’s next Broström commission is a Trumpet Concerto for Håkan Hardenberger. Robin Ticciati will conduct the world premiere on 8 May.
KALEVI AHO
The Bells (Kellot), Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra
Helsinki PO & The Raschèr Quartet, cond. John Storgårds 23 April, Helsinki, Finland
TOBIAS BROSTRÖM
Trumpet Concerto
Gävle SO, cond. Robin Ticciati, sol. Håkan Hardenberger 8 May, Gävle, Sweden
ANDERS ELIASSON
Quo Vadis
Swedish RSO, Swedish Radio Choir, cond. Johannes Gustavsson, sol. Michael Weinius, tenor 15 May, Stockholm, Sweden H ighlights
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H enna S almela
The man behind the music
Photo: Maarit Kytöharju
Kalevi Aho says on the eve of his 60th birthday: “I have a basic tendency towards melancholy. Yet nowadays I still feel like Leoš Janáček: it’s a joy to be alive. This change in my attitude to life is indeed at odds with what is happening in the world right now.” Who exactly is the man behind this prolific musical output, international acclaim and serene exterior?
K
alevi Aho gives the impression of being a calm, considerate man who is slightly shy, though boy ish and even talkative when excited. But even as a child he had another side he did not reveal to oth ers. “I read masses of books, gave a lot of thought to philosophical, moral and religious questions, began playing when I was ten and composing as soon as I knew the notes. I never showed my piec es to anyone. No one knew this side of me.” Aho studied in Helsinki and Berlin and for a while was professor of composition at the Sibelius Academy. He began composing large-scale works when he was still a student. “As a young man I had a romantic fear that my life might be cut short. So my first symphonies were like dying words; I put everything I had into them. In the 1980s I began to shake off this op pressive weight. Maybe this was partly due to the birth of my children in the late 1970s.” The 14 Aho symphonies are all written in dif ferent musical languages, astounding the listener with his capacity for variety. Each time he succeeds
in finding a new perspective in which to immerse himself. The new elements are never just pastichelike impressions; they are integrated with the mu sic through and through. It is difficult not to draw a parallel between his symphonic output and his inner life processes. The mood of the eighth is of a spiritual striving towards the light. In the ninth symphony he adopts a different time perspec tive, cleverly orchestrating a jolly, carefree Baroque theme to suit his personal idiom. Luosto brings to life a new type of epic narrative that grows into a veritable Gesamtkunstwerk brimming with wild and primitive forces. The thirteenth challenges tra ditional symphonic form by describing different human characteristics by musical means, while the fourteenth features Arabian and Chinese hues and hypnotic rhythms.
Aho’s inner world How, then, to describe the inner world from which Aho draws his ideas? His phenomenal visions he preserves, he says, in his memory, which serves as a library from which to choose the musical mate rial for each work. Some experience or mood may attune his mind all the time he is working on a composition. So what are these visions on which he feeds? His fifth symphony was stimulated by the traffic in Helsinki’s Station Square: “The impres sion was chaotic, yet there was also order in it.” A concert or, say, an art exhibition may also prove to be a decisive experience. “The initial impetus for my 14th symphony was seeing some video works by the Iranian artist Shirin Neshat; their powerful mood gave it a certain ‘Befindlichkeit’, to use a term of Martin Heidegger meaning attunement or state of mind’’. Then again, the decisive impetus for the The
The view from Aho’s workroom window in Turku
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Bells (Saxophone Quartet Concerto) was the sound of the Kaustinen church bell tolling at the funeral of Aho’s colleague and friend Pehr Henrik Nordgren. ‘‘As I had already composed quite a lot of the concer to, I had to completely rewrite the first movement.” The most important thing in a composition is, Aho says, its emotional countenance. Music must affect the emotions, but in order to do this con vincingly, the composer has to be able to distance himself from his feelings. “In a way, composing is, for me, a schizophrenic business: a work may be stimulated by a strong emotional experience, but when I come to compose it, I have to examine that experience as an outsider, from a distance. If you write something in a burst of emotion, you usually find when you calm down again that the form does not altogether work.” Aho also knows how to reg ulate himself and does not crave tight schedules. If a work is coming along well, he likes to stop from time to time to let his soul catch up.
Hard work and discipline Aho’s compositions are also the result of persistent hard work, cast-iron technique and confidence that the music will find its right mode of expression in the process. Being an orderly, disciplined composer, he delivers his commissions in good time. He is not prey to impulse, and nor does he hang around wait ing for inspiration. Instead, he sits himself down at his desk, confident that the right musical form will present itself in due course. Sometimes he gets excited by things such as the book by Herman Rechberger on rhythm in Arabian music or the lute playing of Munir Bashir. “ I’ve got lots of Bashir’s CDs and other classical Arabian music. These influ ences are manifest both in the 14th symphony and in
the Oboe Concerto. My latest orchestral works also have rhythmic patterns of an Oriental nature but no Arabian rhythms as such.” Aho is also fired by books. He has a vast knowl edge of literature and reads very fast – just as he speaks, thinks and makes decisions. He has com posed settings of Chinese poetry (Chinese Songs), used texts by Mawlana Rumi (Love is a Black Lion) and Pablo Neruda (The Book of Questions) – but all in Finnish translation, for he never tires of extolling the expressive richness of his native tongue. The works of Thomas Mann, Fyodor Dostoevsky or Volter Kilpi are not just feath ers in his cap but endless springs from which to slake his thirst again and again. He enthuses over the language of Kilpi, the poetic inventiveness of which has to be savoured slowly, a little at a time, and in the same breath speaks in glowing terms of the humour in the national epic, the Kalevala. As a composer Aho is a Postmodernist who has noth ing against the Romantic spirit but who could, as a person, be called an aesthetician. He revels in the beautiful, moving and eternal. Behind his peaceable exterior, Aho can never theless be critical and outspoken. Without being pushy, he makes his voice heard through his polemic articles, for example, and does not mince his words on the evils of the modern world. He is opposed to the global market economy and busi ness in which insatiable greed has become a virtue. “Overpopulation, the destruction of our biodiver sity, global warming, turbo-capitalism – these are all grave problems in the light of which the future does not look good and we may face major global catastrophes.” He has also addressed social issues in his operas, especially Insect Life.
Growing optimism In spite of everything, Aho has become more op timistic with the passing of the years. In summer he relaxes amid the beautiful scenery of his seaside villa in Turku, usually from the end of May to the middle of September. He keeps fit by cycling to the shops, walking and such pursuits as chopping firewood. “There’s always something physical to do at my summer place. In recent years, for example, some huge fir trees have died and caused a lot of work. I just hope my present good health contin ues for a long time to come.” “I’m quite happy on my own; I’m a potential her mit. I don’t mind company, too, but I don’t shine at parties. Many of my works still have a certain mel ancholy touch. I have a basic tendency towards mel ancholy. Yet nowadays I still feel like Leoš Janáček: it’s a joy to be alive. This change in my attitude to life is indeed at odds with what is happening in the world right now. But at personal level it feels as if more and more light and positive life energy is well ing forth from my innermost being.”
Photo: Mats Bäcker
Es ist vollbracht:
Sven-David Sandström’s Six Motets P er F. B roman
It was just a matter of time before Sven-David Sandström would complete his motet cycle, set to the same texts as J. S. Bach’s six a cappella compositions BWV 225–230: the project was too interesting for Sandström, and proved to be instrumental in his artistic development. This considerable enterprise began with a com mission from Stefan Parkman who suggested using the text from Bach’s Lobet den Herrn. He wanted to perform the new work along with Bach’s Jesu meine Freude. The resulting sixpart choir work was premiered by the Swedish Radio Choir in 2003. The same year Ingemar Månsson commissioned Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied for double choir for the Lund Vocal Ensemble. The stone had begun to roll, and en thused by the outcome, Sandström continued with Komm, Jesu, Komm (2005), Fürchte dich nicht (2007), Jesu, meine Freude (2008), and he closed the cycle in 2008 with Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf premiered by the St. Jacob Chamber Choir under Gary Graden. During the last decade or so, Sandström has found tremendous inspiration when encoun tering a sacred text or a subject, especially those employed by Bach. The first work that seriously alluded to Bach was the massive two-hour long High Mass (1994), followed by his Christmas Oratory (2004), the Passion Ordet (2004), Magnificat (2005), and the Cantata Wachet auf (premiered in Chicago on 28 February 2009). Sandström has also composed a version of
Messiah, to be premiered in 2009 at the Oregon Bach Festival. I will here focus on Sandström’s three last motets, building on my previous article in Highlights 18 (2005) that addressed the first three.
The last motets In Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf Sandström, like Bach, makes a clear distinction between the two different text sources: the be ginning Rom. 8:26-27 and the choral setting of the third verse of Martin Luther’s Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott. The beginning is intensely agitated and melismatic, followed by a slow neoromantic section so typical of Sandström’s later style, and ending by an almost pointillist amen section. Bach composed his motets for different occasions during his Leipzig years, including at least one funeral, that of the Headmaster of the School of St. Thomas, Johann Heinrich Ernesti, for which he wrote Der Geist hilft… Sandström’s works are not composed for specific religious events; rather they are concert pieces. But he would not mind having each of them performed during a service, perhaps broken
For a performance list, work list, sound samples and in-depth material on Kalevi Aho see www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights.htm H ighlights
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REVIEWS up into several pieces, something that yet has to be tried. An excellent can didate for such an approach is Jesu, meine Freude . As in many recent compositions by Sandström, the piece is built through the juxtaposi tion of short, closed sections. It is the most extensive work among the six, both for Sandström and Bach, due to the long text, taken from a hymn by Johann Franck in six verses, with inserts from Rom. 8:1 and 4, 2, 9, 10, 11, in between the verses. The scrip ture speaks of Jesus’ liberating power, while the chorale text gives voice to the believer’s praising of the gifts of Christ and longing for his comfort, contrasted with images of hell. Like Bach, Sandström begins with an in timate tonal chorale, initially in Dflat major – (Sandström has found that flat keys have a softer sound for choir, something that fits his aesthetic thinking) – which is virtu ally identical in rhythm to Bach’s and keeps returning with subtle changes in harmonization between the poly phonic movements.
Sandström the church composer There is one more connection be tween Sandström and Bach: In 2008, Sandström began a three-year term as Composer-in-Residence at the Stockholm Cathedral and the church of Hässelby Villastad, out side of Stockholm, for which he will write liturgical music. On average he writes two works per month, not only large-scale pieces, but also hymns, works for children’s choir, and canta tas (a recent one being for the first of Advent), motets (other than the six mentioned here, almost twenty to date), and instrumental music. The goal is to have one work for each of the sixty Sundays and celebrations of the church year. Sandström appreci ates the closely-knit community he experiences with the performers and audience. The working process is intimate, direct, and immediate: sometimes there could be as little as a week or two from the beginning of the composition to the performance. This is something he appreciates in another sense: it brings him closer to the historical circumstances, and a simplicity and joy of the creative pro
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cess. Composition must be lustful. Sandström is a firm believer that the musical expression is the same today compared to historical times; expres sion is not a matter of complicated structures, a reason for his reorienta tion to simpler approaches. Musical renewal is crucial for the survival of the church: – I have thought for long that church music is something that can save the church; people go to church when there is much music. To create new music is necessary, otherwise the music dies in the church. One cannot disconnect the future with out also loosing the tradition.
The cycle is completed Indeed, this statement resonates par ticularly well with Fürchte dich nicht (2007) , the motet that most closely relates to Sandström’s earlier, modernist works. It’s stuttering, of ten pitchless beginning on the sylla ble “fü” gives the work a surreptitious atmosphere. Gradually the structure develops into a rhythmically precise, agitated, and highly dissonant, al most possessed atmosphere. It cul minates in the triumphant “denn ich bin dein Gott!” set in a neo-roman tic harmonic language, so typical of Sandström’s works since the 1980s. But there is a significant difference this time, as its sound could easily be taken for authentically late-roman tic, rather than neo-romantic. The following section is a tribute to the vocal polyphony of the Baroque and Renaissance eras, an imitating setting of “ich helfe dir auch,” followed by yet a triumphant statement, “Herr, mein Hirt.” Indeed, it is forward looking with a perceptive eye on the tradi tion. Now when the cycle is completed the obvious question arises: when will Sandström’s entire cycle be performed at one event along with Bach’s? Undoubtedly, this would be a large, complex, and multi-choir project, but the artistic contribution would be immense. © Per F. Broman, 2009
Per F. Broman is an Associate Professor of Music Theory and Assistant Dean of the College of Musical Arts, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA.
Nuorvala’s fresh world of sound
Lindberg’s Requiem captivates the audience Lindberg cries, rages, rejoices and consoles in his Requiem…The performance made a very strong impression; indeed, it was completely overwhelming. The audience clapped and cheered. And rightly so. Saarburger Zeitung 5.11. Nils Lindberg: Requiem
Nuorvala is one of today’s eclectic Finnish voices, but his String Quartet No. 2 is clearly in neoromantic vein – modernism with a human face. And the syncopated opening draws the listener into his fresh world of sound, which in the second movement is made almost translucent by his use of brittle flageolets. A cheerful unwinding in the finale evocative in mood of Shostakovich or Kurt Weill. Svenska Dagbladet 27.1. / Sofia Nyblom Juhani Nuorvala: String Quartet No. 2
The Indra Quartet, 24.1.2009 Stockholm, Sweden
Chorale St Michel, Chorale Grenzgänger, Luxembourg Jazz Orch., cond. Gerry Welter, sol. Erine Hammes 31.10.2009 Saarburg, Germany
Lindberg’s Reflections In Dalecarlian Reflections Lindberg uses the rural melodies with roots in the deep forests and the soul of the people, and makes them blossom out on a large scale. Like a Nordic Vaughan-Williams, he gives the triple-time stomp and the melancholy, dense arabesques symphonic force, but he also provides many of his own fantasies… Sundsvalls Tidning 26.1. / Susanne Holmlund Nils Lindberg: Speglingar/Dalecarlian Reflections
CD: DalaSinfonietta, Östgöta Symphonic Wind Orch., cond. Bjarte Engeset, sol. Anders Paulsson, soprano saxophone (SCD 1140)
Harmonious quartets The works are characterised by an austere playfulness…Still, it is the captivating motives of the “intimate miniatures” that gladden our hearts the most in this harmonious recording. Dagens Nyheter 21.1. / Thomas Anderberg Lars-Erik Larsson: Senhöstblad (Late Autumn Leaves)
CD: The Stenhammar Quartet (Daphne 1035)
Addictive and rich in inspiration It should find a wider audience… Rich in inspiration, fabulously sung and addictive in the listening, this shows off the composer – just turned 80 – in wonderfully imaginative form. Gramophone January 2009 / James Invernes (Editor’s Choice) Einojuhani Rautavaara: Complete Works for Male Choir
CD: YL Male Voice Choir, cond. Matti Hyökki; Talla Vocal Ensemble, cond. Pasi Hyökki (Ondine 1125-2D)
If Rautavaara had a French surname... Jan Lehtola’s splendid CD of the complete Rautavaara organ output… dignified, powerful, sometimes even severe. If Rautavaara would have a French surname these works would be standard repertoire by now. FMQ 4-2008 / Martin Anderson Einojuhani Rautavaara: Complete Works for Organ
CD: Jan Lehtola, Guards’ Band, cond. Elias Seppälä (Alba 265)
Catchy new concerto
World premiere: Joensuu CO, cond. Esa Heikkilä, sol. Iiro Rantala
Colourful Schnelzer CD Schnelzer’s cinematic imagination puts the melody in focus in a tone language that is both harsh and accessible. His feeling for rhythm avows an affinity to both jazz and minimalism… But there is also ethereal poetry, in the Pärt-sounding Frozen Landscape and in Edith Södergran’s Requiem – a frozen triptych of pain with Susanna Andersson’s soprano in the leading part. Svenska Dagbladet 14.1. / Sofia Nyblom Albert Schnelzer: Predatory Dances
Photo: Hans Lindén
The opening of the first movement was effective and the end really elegant… The rhythmic fun and games of the first movement continued in the finale. … The audience gave the concerto and soloist a warm reception. Karjalainen November 2008 / Topi Linjama Tapio Tuomela: Piano Concerto
CD: Tobias Ringborg, violin; Claes Gunnarsson, cello; Staffan Mårtensson, clarinet; Susanna Andersson, soprano; Per Lundberg, piano; Francisca Skogh, piano (Daphne 1031)
Puumala’s music seduces
Evocative setting by Staern
This Puumala portrait disc is admirable proof of a power to communicate. Puumala’s breakthrough work, the String Quartet, seduces the listener with countless different types of timbre, woven into a continuum. The inventive Hommages fugitifs portraits are character music rich in variety, and Emil Holmström the pianist succeeds in communicating the delightful command of composition technique. Rondo 2/09 / Kare Eskola
The temperature rises – and reaches its peak in Benjamin Staern’s minimalist, playful The Night’s Deep Violoncello, with the contralto voice like a jewel in the middle. Svenska Dagbladet 21.1. / Sofia Nyblom
The works are uncommonly polished and uninhibited. Puumala has weighed the timbres and chords with a gold balance and charged every moment with individual distinction. Helsingin Sanomat 17.1. / Jukka Isopuro Veli-Matti Puumala: String Quartet and other works
CD: Sonanza, cond. Jan Risberg, Anna Larsson, contralto (PSCD 180)
CD: Meta4, Pia Freund, Emil Holmström, etc. (Jase 0048 “Voices, Stringing”)
Memorial fragment The glass world of harmonies continued – only now freed from the traditional rules of tonality. The quivering dissonances bordered on violent outbursts. Music works for as long as it succeeds in plucking the strings of the listener’s emotions. …This piece at least did not have to be left to reason. Keski-Pohjanmaa 2.2. / Mikko A. Himanka Veli-Matti Puumala: Memorial Fragment
World premiere: Ostrobothnian ChO, cond. Juha Kangas, 29.1.2009, Kokkola, Finland
Nordgren’s music stirring in its solemnity
Bordering between witty and holy …A work that rejects all former proportions and would be difficult to surpass by the same means. It is and will remain one of Hakola’s greatest works. …An experience lasting just under an hour, it comes close to a religious ecstasy akin to Bruckner or Messiaen. Helsingin Sanomat 25.1. / Jukka Isopuro Kimmo Hakola: Piano Concerto
CD: Tampere PO, cond. John Storgårds, sol. Henri Sigfridsson (Ondine 1127-2)
The concerto began with dark chords. …The third movement seemed to serve as an organ cadenza. A glorious, heart-stoppingly tranquil entity. The fourth movement was totally unlike the previous one. Harmoniousness and rhythm violently raised their heads in this movement. The low organ registers were stirring in their solemnity. Keski-Pohjanmaa 20.1. / Jaana Vitikka Pehr Henrik Nordgren: Concerto for Organ and Chamber Orchestra
World premiere: Ostrobothnian ChO, cond. Juha Kangas, sol. Jan Lehtola, 17.1.2009, Kokkola, Finland
The Symphony for Strings has been considered one of the best Nordgren works of the 70s. It is in five movements, unbelievably expressive, robust, powerful and melancholy. …The Transe-Choral has a modicum of hope and consolation in the F sharp major chord at the end – a chord that brings the audience up short… Hufvudstadsbladet 25.1. / Wilhelm Kvist Pehr Henrik Nordgren: Suite for Strings, Transe-Choral, Oboe Concerto
Ostrobothnian ChO, cond. Juha Kangas, 23.1.2009 Helsinki, Finland (Nordgren in memoriam)
Evocative setting... accessible, strongly individuated and warmly recommended. Musical Pointer 28.12 / Peter Grahame Woolf Benjamin Staern: Nattens djupa violoncello (The Night’s Deep Violoncello)
An attractive flavour
Music for the soul
Before the likes of Rautavaara and Aho came along with their bolder, more emancipated brand of symphonism, the four symphonies of Kokkonen felt like major contributions to the postSibelian Finnish tradition. …Yet on CD his spare yet expressive textures still have an attractive flavour of their own. Gramophone February 2009 / David Fanning Joonas Kokkonen: Symphonies 1-2, Opus Sonorum
The work becomes vastly multifaceted and eventful, and at the same time it has a unique, personal tone that gives it great inner unity…This is music for the soul, magnificent music but also very distinctive. Seldom has anything like it been created in Scandinavian music since Sibelius. Klassik Heute 8 January 2009 / Benjamin G. Cohrs Anders Eliasson: Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra, Sinfonia per archi,
CD: Finnish RSO, cond. Sakari Oramo (Ondine 1129-2)
CD: The Swedish Radio SO, cond. Johannes Gustavsson, sol. Ulf Wallin, Roland Pöntinen (CPO 777 334-2)
Nisso & Chrisso trying each others slides
Entertaining mixture by Högberg Here you find a mixture of styles that knows no bounds… An introductory movement with funky beats, a second movement with Fellinian absurdism and long parts for “opera voice” (performed by Christian Lindberg)…a bluesy third movement where Nils Landgren successfully acts the crooner, before the madness breaks loose in the fourth movement with speedy solos and rap…Instead of cadenzas there were a few circus tricks, like the slides of the two trombones being tied together with rubber bands etc etc. All very entertaining… Dagens Nyheter 9.2. / Thomas Anderberg Fredrik Högberg: Konzert für zwei Posaunen “Tromboni buffa per orchestra di fiato e due trombone featura the Rudolphini Brothers (Nisso & Chrisso)”
World premiere: Swedish Wind Ensemble, Christian Lindberg and Nils Landgren trombones, 7.2.2009, Stockholm, Sweden A website with video clips and other material presenting the concerto will be opened in the near future at: http://www.iopera.com/doubleconcerto
H ighlights
1/2009
7
NEW CDs TOBIAS BROSTRÖM
Arena, Phantasmagoria, 6&8, Twilight, Nordic Peace, Bridging the World, Faces
Malmö Percussion Edition C-Y Contemporary CY 0802
Kimmo Hakola
Piano Concerto, Sinfonietta
Tampere PO, cond. John Storgårds, sol. Henri Sigfridsson Ondine ODE 1127-2
Paavo Heininen
Quincunx duplex, Täällä (Here), for piano and organ
Jan Lehtola, organ, Annika Konttori-Gustafsson, piano
ALLAN PETTERSSON
Eight Barefoot Songs, Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 for String Orchestra
Nordic Chamber Orchestra, cond. Christian Lindberg, sol. Anders Larsson, baritone BIS-CD-1690
Einojuhani Rautavaara
The 8 Symphonies
LARS-ERIK LARSSON
The Stenhammar Quartet Daphne 1035
Concerto for Saxophone
Kammersymphonie Berlin, cond. Jürgen Bruns, sol. Frank Lunte, alto saxophone Deutsche Grammophon DG 480 1021 (Club 100)
C H A M B E R & I N S T R U M E N TA L Mikko Heiniö
Treno della notte for clarinet, cello and piano FG 979-0-55009-539-7 score (parts available on demand)
Sextet
for baritone, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano FG 979-0-55009-540-3 score (parts available on demand)
Olli Koskelin
Tintinnio for flute solo FG 979-0-55009-592-2
National Orchestra of Belgium, Leipzig RSO, Helsinki PO, cond. Mikko Franck, Max Pommer, Leif Segerstam
Orizzonte for horn solo
BENJAMIN STAERN
CHORAL
CARIN MALMLÖF-FORSSLING
GE 10546
Ondine ODE 1145-2Q
Unheard of Again: Nattens djupa violonAlba ABCD 255 (Music for Piano and Organ) cello (The Night’s Deep Violoncello) Senhöstblad (Late Autumn Leaves) incl. Intimate Miniatures Op. 20, String Quartets Nos. 1–3
new p u blications
Sonanza, cond. Jan Risberg, sol. Anna Larsson, alto Phono Suecia PSCD 180
Veljo Tormis
Vision of Kalevala (The Seventeenth Canto of the Kalevala, Kullervo’s Message, Forging the Sampo, Curse upon Iron, The Singer’s Closing Words)
Estonian National Male Choir, cond. Ants Soots Alba NCD 35
SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM
Ah! Sun-flower
for mixed choir (SSAATTBB) a cappella Text: William Blake (English) Premiered during the World Symposium on Choral Music 2008 GE 11329
Four Songs of Love
SCORES KALEVI Aho
Symphony No. 14 FG 979-0-55009-593-9
CARIN MALMLÖF-FORSSLING
Release
for string orchestra GE 10540
HALVOR HAUG
for mixed choir (SMzATBarB) a cappella Text: Song of Songs (English)
Symphony No. 4
GE 11236
GE 11227
To See a World
Symphony No. 5
GE 11328
A Freak in Burbank
for mixed choir (SATB div.) a cappella Text: William Blake (English) Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
for mixed choir (SMzATBarB) and organ Text: Philip Nicolai and anon. GE 11377
Mattias Sköld
Ascent
for mixed choir (SATB) a cappella Text: From Gospel of Thomas (Coptic and English) GE 11221
GE 11198
ALBERT SCHNELZER
for chamber orchestra GE 11181
Azraeel Suite
for symphonic wind band GE11206
Bassoon Concerto No. 1 – Auroral Dances
for bassoon and orchestra GE 11179
Symphony No. 1 – Azraeel
for male choir Canto popular mejicano (Spanish)
GE 11177
GE 11260
GÉZA SZILVAY
Colourstrings Violin ABC
Robert Sund (arr)
La cucaracha
TUTORS
TOBIAS BROSTRÖM
Buxtehude Remixed
for orchestra
Guides for teachers and parents In Finnish (FG 979-0-55009-594-6) In English (FG 979-0-55009-595-3) In French (FG 979-0-55009-598-4) In Hungarian (FG 979-0-55009-596-0) In Italian (FG 979-0-55009-597-7)
GE 11308
Crimson Seas
for alto and orchestra GE 11277
Crimson Skies
for chamber ensemble GE 11279
Kaléidoscope
for orchestra GE 11281
Transit Underground
for orchestra GE 11275
EDUARD TUBIN
Complete Works – Volume V
Symphonies Nos. 9, 10, 11 GE 11303
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