Nordic Highlights No. 3 2023

HIGHLIGHTS

NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Taming the violin – Géza Szilvay at 80 • Gehrmans at 130 • Jonas Valfridsson

Gehrmans 130th anniversary

Gehrmans Musikförlag

celebrates its 130th anniversary by paying tribute to the future generations of composers, performers and music lovers – the children! The anniversary concert on 22 October will be held in collaboration with the Grammy awarded children’s music group Ensemble Yria whose books can be found in our webshop at gehrmans.se. Also watch their YouTube Channel!

Staern’s portrait album

The Gävle Symphony Orchestra has recorded a portrait album containing Benjamin Staern’s breakthrough work The Threat of War, the prize-winning clarinet concerto Worried Souls and his first symphony, Polar Vortex. Karin Dornbusch is the clarinet soloist, and the orchestra is conducted by Emil Eliasson. The album will be released in the spring of 2024 on Swedish Society Discofil.

Children’s Lied

A composition competition running until the end of 2023 will be producing new children’s Lied repertoire by contemporary composers. The competition will culminate in a national event and concert in Helsinki in November 2024, and Fennica Gehrman will be offering publishing agreements for the works in the finals. Fennica Gehrman has already published two popular collections of Children’s Lied (Lasten Lied) by Saara­Maija Strandman and Marjukka Eskelinen.

Two Helvi Leiviskä discs

Two new CDs are proof of the growing rekindling of interest in the music of Finnish composer Helvi Leiviskä (1902–1982). A brand new release by the Weimar Staatskapelle includes her Symphony No. 1 and her Piano Concerto Op. 7 .

The soloist in the concerto is Oliver Triendl and the orchestra is conducted by Ari Rasilainen.

BIS Records is to release a CD of Leiviskä’s orchestral music in December: Suite for Orchestra No. 2, Symphony No. 2 and Sinfonia Brevis performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dalia Stasevska.

Jennah Vainio premiere

Mühlrad on tour

Jacob Mühlrad’s new shorter version of the orchestral work REMS had its premiere on 24 August with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and conductor Mathias Pintscher during the Suntory Hall Summer Festival. The Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Martin Fröst will include REMS on their European tour in October. The tour will be rounded off with a portrait concert on 28 October in Stockholm also including the choral works Ay Li Lu, Kaddish and Time performed by Vokalharmonin and Fredrik Malmberg. For the concert Alexander Wessely has created sculptures and light projections reflecting Mühlrad’s music.

Editors: Henna Salmela, Kristina Fryklöf

Translations: Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Susan Sinisalo, Robert Carroll

Cover photos: Géza Szilvay (Minifiddlers.org), Jonas Valfridsson (Lars Kroon), Ensemble Yria

Design: Tenhelp Oy

Click the sound and video symbols in the text.

ISSN 2000-2750 (Online)

Jennah Vainio’s orchestral Sylvia’s Lullaby is to be premiered in a concert given by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra on 20 October. The piece was inspired by the Pauper’s Lullaby (1907) by Robert Kajanus, the subject of which was one to which Vainio could relate because of her orphaned grandmother. Sylvia’s Lullaby is part of the Helsinki Variations series for which works were commissioned from 12 Finnish composers, among them Matthew Whittall (Silence Speaks), Lotta Wennäkoski (Of Footprints and Light), Seppo Pohjola (Roots), Antti Auvinen (Stabat Tiger Mater) and Kimmo Hakola (Wake!).

Jacob Mühlrad

Photo: Morgan Norman

Ensemble Yria

Jennah Vainio

Photo: Maarit Kytöharju

Iiro Rantala’s Veneziana

Iiro Rantala’s Veneziana is a real showstopper: it is a new 50-minute work with drama, wit, melodic richness and fun which charms the audience by presenting surprises round every musical corner. Iiro pays tribute to the city of Venice and composers such as Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Mozart, Prokofiev and Sibelius, connecting them to the story of the city with an irresistible imagination and twist (See: Reviews). Scored for wind and string quintets and piano, Veneziana was premiered in February 2023 by members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and has since had several hearings. It was recorded by ACT and the score has been published by Fennica Gehrman.

New commissions for Kortekangas and Martinaitytė

The Lappeenranta and Mikkeli orchestras are together commissioning a Guitar Concerto from Olli Kortekangas to be performed in the autumn 2024 season. The soloist will be Janne Malinen and the combined orchestra (Saimaa Sinfonietta) will be conducted by Erkki Lasonpalo.

Žibuokle Martinai­

tytė is writing a new work for violin and string orchestra for performance by the three commissioning orchestras from different countries. The head commissioner is the Lithuanian National Philharmonic and the others are O/Modernt from Sweden and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra from Finland. The solo violinist at the premiere in Kokkola, Finland on 8 March 2024 will be Hugo Ticciati, who initiated this project.

Martinaitytė was recently interviewed for SoundLives at NewMusicBox, USA. Listen here to the podcast by Frank J. Oteri.

Damström’s Extinctions

Cecilia Damström has composed a new 20-minute work on commission from the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The theme of the work is mass extinction, the one we are confronted with today, and the five previous ones. “The piece explores the creation of life on earth, its evolutions and extinctions through different sound worlds”, says Damström. Extinctions will have its world premiere in Helsinki on 26 January under the direction of Chloé Dufresne.

Myllärinen, Peterson and Larsson

Gothe awarded Tiina Myllärinen was awarded at the Finnish Music Publishers Association’s anniversary gala on 1. September in Helsinki. Myllärinen received a prize for her work (Bad) Dreams come true for string quartet in the smallscale work category.

On 1 July Matthew Peterson received the Carin Malmlöf Forssling Composer Prize for his rich and original artistry. “Peterson is an artist who is inspired by what is close to him and arrives at a music that affords scope to both performer and listener, a music that seems to continue sounding even in silence”, says the jury.

Mats Larsson Gothe was awarded the Royal Swedish Opera Chorus’s Prize for his opera The Promise (Löftet). Larsson Gothe has in an exceptional and artistic manner raised the opera chorus to new heights and let it shine in everything from the most delicate a cappella sections to more dramatic traditional choral passages.

Newly discovered work by Ingvar Lidholm

The Eric Ericson Chamber Choir will premiere a newly discovered choral work by Ingvar Lidholm on 18 October. It is Five Haiku Poems by Tomas Tranströmer that Lidholm set to music in September 1999. The songs will be published by Gehrmans in connection with the first performance. The concert will also feature Kristin Warfvinge’s Une charogne (A Carcass), the sixth choral piece in the series #swedishchoralmusic 22/23. This setting of Baudelaire’s poem, for mezzo-soprano and mixed choir, is a musical attempt to capture the essence of the text’s depiction of a rotting carcass – at the same time gruesome and beautiful.

Tiina Myllärinen

Photo: Mikko Kauppinen

Matthew Peterson

Photo: Lova Wallerö

Mats Larsson Gothe

Photo: Sören Vilks

Photos: Henna

Salmela

Cecilia Damström

Photo: Ville Juurikkala

Žibuokle Martinaitytė

Olli Kortekangas

The taming of the violin

Géza Szilvay began to develop his world-famous Colourstrings method more than 50 years ago. Having turned 80 in September, he is still going strong, and his sources of inspiration are the same as ever: “Making music makes your soul grow!”

t is a story retold in numerous articles unpacking the marvel of Finnish string instrument tuition: how the exceptional charisma of cellist Erkki Rautio at the Casals Competition attracted the interest of the Szilvay brothers from Hungary who were then invited by their new friend to visit Finland. Soon, violinist Géza Szilvay accepted an invitation to teach at the “Music University” in Helsinki for one year and to bring his family with him. The description of a “university” with campuses from Kontula to Roihuvuori turned out to be an error in translation, and instead of professional students Szilvay found himself teaching dozens of schoolchildren in eastern Helsinki.

Around the same time, his oldest child had proven to respond animatedly to the sound of the violin even before birth, and so the need for a child-oriented violin pedagogy emerged. The time available per student for one-on-one tuition was limited, however, and out of this dilemma came the invention of group tuition. From his compatriot Zoltán Kodály, Géza Szilvay borrowed the pillars on which his Colourstrings method was based: technique must be developed in balance with musical sensibility and inner hearing, and both the intellectual aspect (read-

ing and theory) and emotional aspect must be incorporated into the teaching. Compared with methods rooted in technical proficiency and students imitating what they hear, progress with Szilvay’s method is admittedly slower but much safer and more balanced for the child, a way of forging a permanent relationship with music.

Pioneer inspired by innovations

Géza Szilvay turned 80 in September, and it is more than five decades since he began to develop his Colourstrings method. He is still going strong, and his sources of inspiration remain the same: “Sport makes your body grow, but making music makes your soul grow! Isn’t it wonderful that you can ask a child to play music ‘more darkly’ and they know how to find that tone on a violin?” As communication is increasingly reduced to brief sequences of written characters, Szilvay feels that living, vivid communication through music, passing on the heritage of composers, is more important than ever. Pedagogical insights often come after teaching, when a solution or an idea for an exercise to help a student resolve a particular issue presents itself. “When I began to explore the use of natural harmonics to resolve intonation issues with small children and the use

of left-hand pizzicato in teaching beginners, I was amazed: why had no one thought of this before, the benefits were so obvious? I even asked Yehudi Menuhin about this. The answer may lie in the fact that harmonics are easier to pick out on modern metal strings than on the traditional gut strings.”

Music made with other people

Géza Szilvay was headmaster of the East-Helsinki Music Institute for 25 years but always set time aside for teaching and orchestra conducting as well. He describes an instrument lesson as a 45-minute conversation and encourages teachers to invest their full energy into every encounter. Being a child is more important than playing the violin, and Colourstrings allows for this:

“When you learn violin technique one inch at a time, one new thing at a time, errors cannot accumulate. If a violin teaching method is designed to progress by yards, you cannot go back in inches.” Group tuition and orchestral playing introduced a social dimension to the teaching, and Szilvay stresses how special this is. An ice hockey team, for instance, is always coached to perform against someone. Music is always made with other people, never against them. “Competitions in music, particularly for children, are just wrong pedagogically. Competing casts people as winners and losers and may cause trauma that takes a long time to heal.” He is concerned about children, particularly from Asia, being taught on

Szilvay has given nearly 300 Colourstrings courses around the world.

Photo: Minifi ddlers

the terms of their teachers and their parents and ending up playing, say, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto by the age of ten. “Instrumental technique is easy enough to teach, and a child with good coordination can learn quickly by copying. But in such cases the child’s emotional and intellectual competence lag behind, and this leads to major problems.” The focus must be on the child, not the instrument: “The violin must be tamed to fit the child, not the other way around. Also, every child must be taught as if they might eventually become a professional. If learning music is not just imitation but also includes sight-reading and making music together, children will gain a lifelong appreciation for music even if they eventually stop playing their instrument as teenagers.”

Extending to professional studies

Géza Szilvay’s magnum opus, which began in 1971, came to completion during the coronavirus pandemic. In April 2022, Fennica Gehrman published the final module in the Colourstrings violin method, Book G5: Sixth and Seventh Positions which focuses on technique in high positions and includes exercises, chamber music and performance pieces. The Book G series, in five volumes, progressing one position at a time, makes Colourstrings the first violin method ever to span the entire gamut from beginners to professional students. The innovative ‘house of positions’ and preparatory exercises help both young and advanced violinists to understand in depth why and for what the various positions are needed. A revised version of the pedagogically revolutionary guide to teaching scales on the violin has been published in three volumes (See: New pub-

PREMIERES

SEPTEMBERDECEMBER 2023

ŽIBUOKLĖ MARTINAITYTĖ

Ululations for choir

Latvian Radio Choir/ Sigvards Kļava, Kaspars Putniņš

15.9. Riga, Latvia

Spiral Spin for cello

Oliver Herbert

23.9. Kronberg, Germany (Kronberg Festival)

Enheduana for mezzo-soprano and orchestra

Lithuanian State SO, sol. Justina Gringytė

29.10. Vilnius, Lithuania (Gaida Festival)

JONAS VALFRIDSSON

Árit, part 2

Jönköpings Sinfonietta/Peter Robinson, sol. Rickard Söderberg, ten 21.9. Jönköping, Sweden

Varför älska vi att sjunka (Why Do We Love To Sink)

Gävle SO/Tobias Ringborg, sol. Mattias Knave, narrator

5.10. Gävle, Sweden

Árit, part 3

Jönköpings Sinfonietta/Anna Skryleva, sol. Rickard Söderberg, ten 12.11. Jönköping, Sweden

BENJAMIN STAERN

Hymnus Aquarius – Hymn to the Baltic Sea

The Royal Swedish Navy Band/Alexander Hanson, Anders Paulsson, ssax 27.9. Karlskrona, Sweden

Sawtooth/Square for piano

Pontus Carron, piano

15.10. Flen, Sweden

Det svältande hjärtat (The Starving Heart) Monodrama in four scenes

lications). “Most children and adolescents hate scales or are downright afraid of them because they don’t understand what they’re for. When you build up a scale from two notes, three notes, four notes, you achieve a diatonic feel naturally, and intonation comes with it.”

Online and out in the world

Through the Minifiddlers online teaching programme, Szilvay had years of know-how in remote teaching under his belt by the time the coronavirus pandemic hit. Cameras and TV studios were old friends to him, as he had first appeared on the air in televised concerts by the Szilvay family quartet in Budapest in the 1960s. In Finland, his TV show Minifiddlers in Music Land (Viuluviikarit musiikkimaassa ) became a huge hit and taught numerous budding professional musicians how to perform in front of a camera. Szilvay emphasises how important it is to set the appropriate tone for remote teaching or courses through careful preparation: “You can transfer energy from teacher to student or vice versa even if you are physically not in the same room; however, chamber music – an important part of the teaching – will never work via cameras.” Szilvay has given nearly 300 courses for violin teachers around the world. This year, he has recorded a video series with 13 episodes, each 2.5 hours long. These will be released in November 2023. In these he gives his definitive take on how he envisions each of the modules being used in teaching. Inch by inch, respecting the logic of children and adolescents.

Anna Grundström

Sonanza Chamber Ensemble/Jan Risberg, sol. Magdalena Risberg, sop

23.11. Stockholm, Sweden

LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI

Ele for clarinet and chamber orchestra

Ostrobothnian CO/Dima Slobodeniouk, sol. Lauri Sallinen 29.9. Kokkola, Finland

Prosoidia (Violin Concerto)

BBC SO/Eva Ollikainen, sol. Ilya Gringolts

3.11. London, UK

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

Vuodet laulua täynnään

Suite for Childrens’ Choir and Ensemble

Espoo Music Institute, Tapiola Choir/Pasi Hyökki

11.10. Espoo, Finland

Kirkastuvaa – Christmas Cantata

Tuuli Lindeberg, sop, Nicholas Söderlund, bass, Pori Philharmonic Choir/ Teemu Honkanen, Kari Vuola, org

3.12. Pori, Finland

MIKKO HEINIÖ

Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Choir

Kampin laulu/Saara Aittakumpu, sol. Patrik Kleemola, gtr

12.10. Helsinki, Finland

LARA POE

Song Cycle to Poems by L. Onerva

Lahti SO/Nil Venditti, sol. Virpi Räisänen, Mz-sop 12.10. Lahti, Finland

JENNAH VAINIO

Sylvia’s Lullaby

Helsinki PO/Ruth Reinhardt

20.10. Helsinki, Finland

ANTTI AUVINEN

New work for cello and video

Anssi Karttunen

30.10. Turin, Italy (EstOvest Festival)

MAIJA HYNNINEN

Mobiles for chamber orchestra

Ensemble L’Itinéraire

17.11. Paris, France

KIMMO HAKOLA

Kaksi imaginaarista lintua (Two Imaginary Birds) for coloratura soprano and cello

Piia Komsi, sopr, Artturi Aalto, vlc

19.11. Siuntio, Finland (Lux musicae Festival)

DANIEL BÖRTZ

Sinfonia 15

Royal Stockholm PO/Ryan Bancroft

22.11. Stockholm, Sweden

Photo: Anna Grundström

Géza Szilvay

Seven questions for Jonas Valfridsson

On 27 August you began your residency with the Jönköping Sinfonietta for the 2023/24 season and it opened with the first part of their commissioned work Árit (The Year) with tenor Rickard Söderberg as soloist. The four parts of the song cycle will be performed one at a time throughout the season and finally in their entirety on 26 May next year. Could you tell us a little about the work?

Rickard has written the texts and I have been given ample freedom to edit them. In this way, you might say that the music has influenced the text just as much as the text has formed the music. On the surface, it is a visionary text of nature romanticism with allusions to Norse mythology, but I set it to music more from the perspective of the narrator – the inevitable transformations in the course of the seasons and the acceptance of that cycle.

Árit is inspired by “a time when mankind was totally at the mercy of nature”. Nature has an important role in a number of your orchestral works to be performed during the coming season, e.g., A Fragmented Memory, My Overgrown Little Treehouse and the monumental John Bauer Suite 1918. You depict a nature that can not only be extraordinarily beautiful but also harsh, treacherous and a bit frightening. How can this ambivalence to nature be observed in your music?

I think it began when I became irritated at the “nature-is-good” spirit prevalent during the 2010s. Anything that was “natural” was considered better than what was “artificial”, whether it be foodstuffs, pharmaceutical products or emotional expression. Oh my God, I thought, do you know what is natural? To die from a simple infection, to freeze to death, to drown in a flood… I am not that kind of nature romanticist, but rather have the greatest respect for civilization being at a disadvantage when it comes to the forces of nature. I try to give form to this, over and above the idyllic and beautiful sides of nature.

The painter John Bauer fell victim to these forces of nature when he and his entire family perished in a terrible storm. The John Bauer Suite 1918 , for choir and orchestra, will be performed on 21 March in Jönköping. You composed the work in 2018 to observe the tragic passing, 100 years earlier. All this developed into not only a suite but also into a triptych, together with The John Bauer Overture and the bassoon concertino The Swan Maiden. What is it in John Bauer’s paintings that is so inspiring?

The early 20th century has always fascinated me, and it was the music from that period which aroused my keen interest in composition. I wanted to start out with a similar kind of expression, harmonies, formal structures, but to find another angle of approach from someone who is active 100 years later in history.

Do you always have a source of inspiration before you start composing to trigger your creativity? Or do you begin directly with the music?

It is increasingly so that I just get started, as I often have a clear picture of how things are to be. Since the first thought that crosses your mind is often the most obvious and banal, I always try to take the time to step back from and be critical of my artistic decisions, and ask myself what an alternative course of action could be.

October will see the premiere of Varför älska vi att sjunka (Why Do We Love to Sink) composed on commission from the Gävle Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of author Stig Dagerman’s birth. It is a 30-minute work for narrator and orchestra – a melodrama. Can you tell us something about the work and how you set about composing it?

Referring to what I said before, I really took my time to do some research about this and get to the bottom of what I wanted to do. Actor and producer Mattias Knave has been a great help to me, and the closest we came to what we wanted to create was musical theatre in the spirit of Brecht and Weill: the older type of Sprechgesang, a fluid transition between music and theatre. Somewhere in that area I found a way to approach Dagerman’s texts.

During the last few years, you have worked quite a lot with music that is close to musical drama; Árit, mentioned above, Why Do We Love to Sink and the short opera När knoppar brister (When Buds Break), part of the Short Stories Project of the Royal Swedish Opera. Is musical drama a format that you enjoy working with?

I see that I have a talent for it, that it is easy for me and that the results are good. It is not anything that I have particularly longed or striven for, but I notice that I find it enormously enjoyable to collaborate with others in the artistic field. It is perhaps a matter of me becoming more mature, that I more easily understand other artistic intentions and don’t just run my own race.

Speaking of music drama, your next commission is a ballet aimed at the younger audiences. Can you say something about the project?

I can’t say so much about it as it is not yet official. But it is nothing less than a dream come true; the great ballets from the early 20th century were the reason that I wanted to become a composer. It is going to be magical.

Kristina Fryklöf

Photo: Peter Feurst/Jönköpingsposten

Jonas Valfridsson

TOMMIE HAGLUND

La rosa profunda (The Unending Rose) (2007/2016) Dur: 14’ for soprano and orchestra:

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Text: Jorge Luis Borge (Eng)

The Deep Rose is a setting of Borge’s text about life’s fragility perceived through the perishability of the rose. It is exuberant, sensuously shimmering music, with simple but beautiful melodies, where echoes of Mahler, Delius and Puccini can be heard. Above all it is Haglund’s own marvellous world of sound that transports the listener to a higher sphere.

KIMMO HAKOLA

Sinfonische Elegien (2023) Dur: 90’ for soprano and orchestra:

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Text: Rilke, Kimmo Hakola (Ger)

This sweeping work is a real horn of plenty. Its text, visuals and music reflect the richness of Hakola’s imagination. The Symphonic Elegies consist of 10 big movements divided into several smaller ones and end with an Epilogue to form a broad symphonic span. The text engages in captivating dialogue based on the Rilke poems, and the background video creates a dialogue of its own for the thoughts of the main character and his alter ego.

MIKKO HEINIÖ

Sextet (2000) Dur: 18’

for baritone, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano

Texts: Ugo Foscolo, John Keats, Franz Kafka (Ital, Eng, Ger)

Heiniö has admirably solved the problem of singability in his work: the soloist is allowed to shine in the resonant register without awkward interval jumps. The texts in three languages describe sensual and unattainable love and are embraced in the translucent, bright sound world. There is also room for humour when the falsetto singing in the scherzo creates some ironic, comic dimensions. The texts are fragments from the letter novel by Ugo Fosgolo and letters by Keats and Kafka.

LARS KARLSSON

Sju sånger till text av Pär Lagerkvist (Seven Songs) (2010-11) Dur: 29’

for baritone and chamber orchestra:

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Text: Pär Lagerkvist (Swe)

Karlsson was inspired by the singing quality and profoundly spiritual subjects of these poems. The work proceeds as if it were charting a life-journey starting with the existential anxiety of youth. The colourful music is intense, at times cavorting in waltzing rhythms and at others mournful, building a dramatic arch towards serenity and light.

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

Songs of Meena (2020) Dur: 20’ for soprano and orchestra:

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Text: Meena Alexander (Eng)

This cycle consists of settings of lyrics by Meena Alexander, an Americanised poet of Indian descent. Kortekangas was impressed by the sensitivity of her poems, their universal relevance and feminist spirit. The re -

fined, transparent music reflects the delicate lyricism of the text. There are also some subtle, dramatic and even playful episodes that allow the soprano to sparkle and demonstrate the suppleness of her voice.

ROLF MARTINSSON

Garden of Devotion (2014)

Dur: 23’

for soprano and string orchestra

Forlorn (2014) Dur: 13’ for soprano, cello and string orchestra

Text: Rabindranath Tagore (Eng)

In 2014 Martinsson composed two song cycles to poems from Tagore’s “The Gardener”. The five songs of Garden of Devotion build a drama about unrequited love. Martinsson utilizes the effects of the strings to the full to create an atmosphere of pent-up tension and to colour the prevailing passionate feelings. In the three romantic and melancholy songs of Forlorn, a solo cello is added to the strings in infinitely beautiful dialogue with the soprano.

TEBOGO MONNAKGOTLA

Un clin d’oeil (2018) Dur: 20’ for baritone and orchestra: 2222-423112-1-str or 2222-2200-01-str

Text: Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (Fr)

The first song, ‘Un clin d`oeil’, is about the transitoriness of life, the second, ‘Perle’, is a love poem from the poet to his daughter. The third song, ‘Dances’, describes an elderly woman who dances with a young girl but who actually is one and the same person. The songs are melodically beautiful and expressive, embedded in an impressionistic and iridescent orchestral attire.

KARIN REHNQVIST

Bloodhoof (2019) Dur: 42’

Monodrama for mezzo-soprano and 8 instruments: fl-ob-cl-perc-pf-vl-vla-vcl

Text: Ger∂ur Kristny (Swe/Eng)

The point of departure for the work is Icelandic Kristny’s poetic tale Bloodhoof about power, threats and assault. Rehnqvist’s sound world moves from inarticulate bestial sounds and gurgling to loud songlike cries and subtle ornaments. She uses the instruments in order to bring out the dramatic element. From thin, bubbling metal plates imitating water surfaces, to gongs that sound like clattering hooves.

MARIE SAMUELSSON

Aphrodite – Fragments by Sappho (2015) Dur: 21’ for mezzo-soprano and orchestra: 3333-4331-12-1-str

Text: Sappho (Swe)

The first part of Samuelsson’s “The Love Trilogy” is a setting of five short stanzas from Sappho’s poetry. It deals with the erotic, overwhelming, uncontrollable love. Aphrodite is invoked with virtuosic, suggestive and wistful melodies in the solo part. The orchestral texture evokes images of long, surging ocean waves. Even the musicians’ voices are used as a part of the effervescent soundscape when they collectively whisper segments of the text.

BENJAMIN

STAERN

Sånger om bländvit kärlek

(Songs of Dazzlingly White Love) (2013) Dur: 30’ for alto and orchestra: 2222-4231-11-0-pf-str or 2222-22(1)0-01-0-pf-str

Text: Karin Boye (Swe)

Staern describes his song cycle as a music drama in five episodes. It is about spontaneous infatuation, intimacy, yearning, perfidy and the unearthly, unattainable, dazzlingly white love. He uses an exceedingly varied sound palette, where each song has its own character: airily light, dreamy, highly expressive, anxiety-ridden and, finally, nothing short of ecstatic.

TAPIO TUOMELA

Sea-Drift (2006) Dur: 17’ for mezzo-soprano, piano, 2 violins, viola and cello

Text: Walt Whitman (Eng)

Sea-Drift is an expressive setting of Whitman’s great poetic work, and the organic link with the natural sound world is clear from the very first bars. The mood varies from impassioned episodes to mystical nature scenes, and the vocal part offers great ecstasy, complete with cries and hoots. The soloist can narrate the frame story in any language, and its symbolic tale of birds expands into an allegory of human feelings.

JOHAN

ULLÉN

Lady Macbeth (2009/2013)

Dur: 22’

mezzo-soprano and orchestra: 22222200-10-1-str

Text: Willliam Shakespeare (Macbeth, Act I, Scene V) (Eng)

Three monologues from Macbeth that opens with a long prelude that conjures up the atmosphere of the play. We meet the Lady reading the letter from Macbeth, and her reaction to it. A short orchestral episode depicts the distorted relationship between the Lady and her husband. When she hears the raven’s caws, Lady Macbeth calls forth all the evil spirits of hell in the final song, which is followed by a brief triumphant postlude.

JENNAH VAINIO

Beatbox Concerto “Fujiko’s Fairy Tale” (2010) Dur: 23’ for beatboxer and string/ sinfonietta/symphony or wind orchestra

This exciting work is a musical voyage through mythology depicted in Japanese manga/anime art. There are oriental influences combined with hip hop and dance beats and more traditional contemporary concert music with a hint of the soundscapes from the videogames of the 1980s and 90s. Available in different versions.

REVIEWS

Mesmerizing Martinaitytė piece – pure sonic magic

The evening’s absorbing centerpiece, Chiaroscuro Trilogy was heard in its captivating Finnish premiere. …Martinaitytė’s scoring fuses stillness and movement together into almost tangible scenery of celestial events, as expressed by the slowly rotating musical setting. Captivatingly performed, the central movement is pure sonic magic… Hopefully there are many more performances of the Martinaitytė oeuvre ahead soon. jarijuhanikallio@wordpress.com 17.6.

Žibuokle Martinaitytė: Chiaroscuro Trilogy for piano and string orchestra

Finnish premiere: St. Michel Strings/Okko Kamu, sol. Laura Mikkola, pf, 15.6.2023 Iitti, Finland (Iiitti Music Festival)

Something artistically genuinely different

Occasionally, one comes across with something artistically genuinely different. This was precisely the case with Pinnan alla (Bubbling Under). …It steps out of traditional categories, combining elements of opera, concert setting, spatial and conceptual art, yielding to thought-provoking multimodal journey…The subject matter of Bubbling Under is the Saimaa ringed seal, a highly endangered freshwater species…An absorbing journey, juxtaposing folk-tales and seal hunting accounts with contemporary environmental takes on the matter. Presented in the manner of extended meditation, Bubbling Under does not teach nor preach, and this is exactly why the piece is so profoundly compelling. jarijuhanikallio@wordpress.com 25.7.

Tiina Myllärinen: Pinnan alla (Bubbling Under) for 4 singers and ensemble

World premiere: Meri Metsomäki, Eleriin Müüripeal, sopr, Martti Anttila, ten, Jussi Linnanmäki, bass & ensemble

22.7.2023 Kerava, Finland (Our Festival/Meidän festivaali)

Cecilia Damström’s colourful and witty work

The texture of the music is colourful and witty avant-garde… Science Frictions radically renews the cantata genre, but at the same time stays within its limits. With her work, Damström has claimed her place as one of our leading young modernists. The piece is a refreshing experience and makes you want to hear it again. Amfion 22.3.

Damström’s musical language and Rinne’s text material, which includes nine different languages, emphasise playfulness and inventiveness, language games and paradoxes, and a balanced dialogue between the soloist and the choir… Science Frictions’ rich soundscape and the varied characters of the sections contain, in miniature, all the wonder and anguish of science – from the pressure and thumping of arguing with logics to the mysterious harmony of the spheres of the second and sixth movements, peering beyond empiricism. Helsingin Sanomat 26.5.

Cecilia Damström: Science Frictions

World premiere: Academic Choral Society, Helsinki University SO/ Aku Sorensen, sol. David Hackston, counter ten, 20.3. and 26.5.2023, Helsinki, Finland

Shimmering and beautiful Árit

The first part of Jonas Valfridsson´s “Árit” is shimmering and beautiful. The text and the music are fused in a wondrous way, the orchestra delivers and Söderberg sings with forceful intensity. Awesome! Jönköpingsposten 27.8.

Jonas Valfridsson: Árit, part one

World premiere: Jönköping Sinfonietta/Daniela Musca, sol. Rickard Söderberg, ten, 27.8.2023 Jönköping, Sweden

Enchanting guitar CD

The disc features some of Nieminen’s most recent works… Music constructed like this is a pleasure to listen to; it shows respect for the listener but is strongly present… Nieminen has released an album of the most spell-binding music that encompasses itself in a magic circle. Yle.fi 3.6.

Works for guitar

CD: Kai Nieminen, gtr (Pilfink JJVCD-257 “Tales from the Past – Night and Dreams”)

The Ghost Machine Treatise

– effective and addictive

It is quite effective, and in a very positive way. You are confronted with sounds that you never expected to hear like this. It is utterly crazy and addictive, you just want to hear more. Kultura-Extra 6.8.

While the orchestra creates the fitting ghostlike atmosphere, the Lithuanian soloist Martynas Levickis glides into various roles with his accordion. He dances in the foreground, spices tuttis with his interjections, communicates with the percussion or throws himself into a cadenza with frenetically fast runs. Der Tagespiegel 6.8.

Daniel Nelson: The Ghost Machine Treatise for solo accordion and orchestra

World premiere: Bundesjugendorchester/Clemens Schuldt, sol. Martynas Levickis, acc, 23.7.2023, Toblach, Italy

Rickard Söderberg

Photo: Åsa Sjöström

Daniel Nelson

Photo: Ella Nelson

Laura Mikkola

Photo: Merja Ollikainen

Kai Nieminen

Wennäkoski CD receives praise

Flounce is a short, energetic and rhythmic orchestral piece written for the Last Night of the Proms. ... The harp is often associated with arpeggios and airy sounds, but in her harp concerto Sigla Wennäkoski brings out other qualities and, especially in the middle section, creates a dreamy nocturnal mood in which the music cautiously proceeds. …But at the risk of being tedious, one cannot help noting yet again that Finland’s status as a major musical power is as strong as ever. Kulturdelen.com 27.7.

Lotta Wennäkoski: Harp Concerto “Sigla”, Flounce, Sedecim

CD: Finnish RSO/Nicholas Collon, sol. Sivan Magen (Ondine ODE-1420-2)

Luminous first performance

Performed with sensitive finesse, Flickereth was given a luminous first performance, one of inspired musicality and admirable fluency. Given its marvellous combination of elusiveness and instant allure, the score calls forth further outings, which, hopefully, have already been firmly etched on its trajectory. jarijuhanikallio@wordpress.com 23.7.

Lotta Wennäkoski: Flickereth for string quartet World premiere: Kamus Quartet, 23.7.2023 Järvenpää, Finland (Our Festival/Meidän festivaali)

NEW CDs

KALEVI AHO

Concerto for Recorder and Orchestra, Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra, Sonata Concertante for Accordion and Strings

Saimaa Sinfonietta/Erkki Lasonpalo, sol. Eero Saunamäki, rec, Esa Pietilä, sax, Janne Valkeajoki, acc BIS-2646

ERKKI MELARTIN

Little Quartet for Four Horns op. 185

KAI NIEMINEN

From Hidden Cities…Dreams of Gaudi

MATTHEW WHITTALL

Anthem II

JUHANI NUORVALA

Summer!

The Golden Horns

Pilfink JJVCD-25 (“Witches in the Air”)

KAI NIEMINEN

Le tombeau de Darius Milhaud, Le tombeau d’Albert Roussel, From… Shadows… of…

Songs the Winds, Hathor (& works by other composers)

Kai Nieminen, guitar

Pilfink JJVCD-257 (“Tales from the Past – Night and Dreams”)

KAI NIEMINEN Shadow(s), Plays(s) II

JENNAH VAINIO

Diesel Rhythm Canticle

JUST3 (Anne Jusslin, gtr, Hekki Sivonen, fl, Ilkka Teerijoki cl)

Pilfink JJVCD-261 (“On the way”)

ALLAN PETTERSSON

Concerto for Violin and String Quartet, Four Improvisations for String Trio, Two Elegies, Andante espressivo, Romanza, Lamento

Ulf Wallin, vln solo, Sueye Park, vln, Daniel Vlashi Lukaçi, vln, German Tcakulov, vla, Alexander Wollheim, vlc, Thomas Hoppec, pf BIS-2580

SEPPO POHJOLA

String Quartets 5-7

The New Helsinki Quartet

Alba ABCD470

IIRO RANTALA

Veneziana

Iiro Rantala’s Veneziana – pure pleasure

Resolutely inspired, joyful, complex, fleeting, and visionary... Rantala proves once again that he is one of the greatest European artists. It remains to be hoped that this album can be heard and accepted here in the USA because Iiro Rantala is one of those exceptional artists capable of bringing renewal and a source of inspiration to future generations… In the form of a kaleidoscope, we visit the composer’s imagination, the poetic charm of the compositions charged with drawing emotions and memories. Paris-move.com 9.4.

Iiro Rantala: Veneziana for chamber ensemble and piano

CD: Members of the Berlin Philharmonic, Iiro Rantala, pf (ACT 9971-2)

Irresistible drive in Albert Schnelzer’s piece

It’s a work by Albert Schnelzer, with Brahms and the names of his own family members interpolated into the composition. Music not at all as cryptic as its title, “Aksak and Ciphers”, where “aksak” denotes halting rhythms. Catchy rhythms for a full-bodied string orchestra with slapping bass, stamping of feet and an irresistible drive, under the leadership of Hugo Ticciati. Dagens Nyheter 16.6

Albert Schnelzer: Aksak and Ciphers

World premiere: O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra/Hugo Ticciati, 15.6.2023 Stockholm, Sweden (Festival O/Modernt)

Mitglieder Berliner Philharmoniker ACT 9971-2

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

Piano Concerto No. 3 ‘Gift of Dreams’

Lahti SO/Dalia Stasevska, sol.

Olli Mustonen, piano BIS-2532

Narcissus (& other piano works)

Irene Cantos, piano

Novus Promusica 2023 (“Jeux”)

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM

O salutaris hostia, Tantum ergo

Ora Singers/Suzi Digby

Harmonia Mundi HMM90533435 (”Sanctissima”)

Photo: Maarit Kytöharju

Photo: Kaupo

Kikkas

Hugo Ticciati

Lotta Wennäkoski

NEW PUBLICATIONS

CHORAL/VOCAL

MATHIAS ALGOTSSON

Two Blake Songs for female choir

Text: William Blake (Eng)

GE 14513

GÖRAN BEJSTAM

Missa brevis for mixed choir and piano

Text: The Mass (Lat)

GE 14388

ULRIKA EMANUELSSON

Längre in for mixed choir

Text: Tomas Tranströmer (Swe)

GE 14464

NANA FORTE

Great Spirit Prayer for mixed choir

Text: A prayer by Big Thunder (Bedagi), a late 19th century Algonquin (Eng)

GE 14397

ALEX FREEMAN

Northern April for mixed choir

Text: Edna St. Vincent Millay (Eng)

FG 9790550118669

GUNNAR IDENSTAM (ARR)

Folkjul 2 (Folksy Christmas 2) for mixed choir and organ ad. lib. Från himmelen kom ängeln Gabriel (Gabriel’s Message)

Text: Trad/ transl. Eva Norberg (Swe)

Allt vid den ljusa stjärnan

Text: Sofia Sandén (Swe)

GE 14481

FANNY KÄLLSTRÖM

Tiden har sin gång

Mass for mixed choir, 2 vln, db, org

Text: Fanny Källström (Swe)

GE 14540

MATS LARSSON GOTHE

The Pigeons for mixed choir

Text: Håkan Sandell/transl. Bill Coyle (Eng)

GE 14456

ANTON LEANDERSON- ANDRÉAS

Ave Maria, mater terra for mixed choir

Text: Lat and Swe

GE 14393

DANIEL NELSON

Emily Songs three songs for soprano and piano

Text: Emily Dickinson (Eng)

GE 14479

KARIN REHNQVIST

Strålar av ljus (Rays of Light) for treble choir and piano

Text: J. O. Wallin/B. S. Ingemann/ transl. Linda Schenck (Swe/Eng)

GE 14384

AGNETA SKÖLD

Så länge natten varar for mixed choir

Text: Åsa Hagberg (Swe)

GE 14394

BENJAMIN STAERN

In paradisum

‘Song to the people of Ukraine’ for mixed choir

Text: Antiphon from Requiem Mass (Lat)

GE 14408

DANIEL WIKSLUND/

KATARINA HELLBERG (ARR)

Snowhere for female choir

Text: Daniel Wiklsund (Eng)

GE 14471

Two Blake Songs

CHAMBER & INSTRUMENTAL

KALEVI AHO

String Quartet No. 4 FG 9790550118782 (score & parts)

TIMO ALAKOTILA Illusions (Kangastuksia) for flute, violin, violoncello & piano

FG 9790550118775 (score & parts)

String Quartet No. 4 FG 9790550118768 (score & parts)

ERKKI MELARTIN (ARR. KARI KARJALAINEN)

Three pieces for brass quartet (2 trumpets & 2 trombones)

A set of transcriptions based on Melartin’s piano pieces.

FG 9790550118652 (score & parts)

JACOB MÜHLRAD

CHIMI for string quintet

GE 14072 (score), GE 14073 (parts)

TIINA MYLLÄRINEN

(Bad) Dreams come true for string quartet

FG 9790550118744 (score & parts)

LAURI MÄNTYSAARI

Chats before Sunrise for piano

FG 9790550118713

ALBERT SCHNELZER

I Remember River Clear for cello and piano

GE 14530

BENJAMIN STAERN

Fanfar för Ravinen for brass quintet

GE 14567 (score), GE 14568 (parts)

ERIK TULINDBERG

(RECONSTR: ANSSI MATTILA)

String Quartets Nos. 1 -6

First publications of the six Tulindberg (1761-1814) quartets – now available in Anssi Mattila’s skilled reconstructions.

FG 979055011-879-9, 880-5, 881-2, 882-9, 883-6, 884-3 (score & parts)

LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI

Pige for string quartet

A work commissioned by the Danish String quartet and performed on several venues across the world.

FG 979055011875 (score & parts)

ORCHESTRA, WIND BAND & REDUCTIONS

PANU AALTIO

Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra “Koli” Aaltio has composed music to films, TV series and video games, as well as a full-length ballet for the Finnish National Opera. His concerto was commissioned by Lieksa Brass Week and premiered by Jouko Harjanne in 2022.

FG 9790550118676 (solo part & piano reduction)

TIMO FORSSTRÖM

Waiting for Spring for flugehorn and wind band

FG 9790550166981 (score & parts, PDF edition)

MARKKU JOHANSSON (ARR. ARTHUR FUHRMAN)

Tähtiä ja timantteja (Stars and Diamonds) for wind band

FG 9790550167056 (score & parts, PDF edition)

Savitaipale Reggae for flugelhorn and wind band

9790550167049 (score & parts, PDF edition)

JACOB MÜHLRAD

On the Verge of Eternity for orchestra

GE 13050 (score), GE 13052 (study score)

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

A Children’s Mass (Lapsimessu)

Text: Mass (Latin)

This arrangement enables the orchestral movements of this choral piece to be performed as a separate cycle (the chorus part is available separately).

FG 9790550118720 (score & string parts 33221)

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM

Te deum for mixed choir and orchestra

GE 13498 (score), GE 13501 (choral score), GE 13500 (study score)

WILHELM STENHAMMAR

Two Songs from ”Idyll och epigram”

1. Flickan kom från sin älsklings möte

2. Flickan knyter i Johannenatten

Text: J. L. Runeberg (Swe)

GE 14232 for voice and piano, GE14230 for voice and orchestra (score)

Two Songs from “Fem visor till text av J. L. Runeberg”

1. Den tidiga sorgen

2. Dottern sade

Text: J. L. Runeberg (Swe)

GE 14235 for voice and piano,

GE 14233 for voice and orchestra (Orch: Rolf Martinsson, score)

BOOKS

PAAVO KORPIJAAKKO, MINNA LEINONEN, ROOPE MÄENPÄÄ, TUOMAS TURRIAGO

(ED. KALLE OITTINEN)

PIILO – Nykymusiikkia ja improvisaatioharjoituksia (Contemporary music and improvisation cards)

A unique collection of new pieces and improvisation exercises for the saxophone. Foreword and instructions in English included.

FG 979-0-55011-841-6 (sax.part, piano accompaniment, cards)

GÉZA SZILVAY

Violin Scales for children 1-2

FG 9790550118485 (1.), 9790550118690 (2.)

Violin scales and arpeggios

FG 9790550118706

Revised versions of three pedagogically revolutionary guides to teaching scales.

For further information contact us at:

Gehrmans Musikförlag AB

Box 42026, SE-126 12 Stockholm, Sweden

Tel. +46 8 610 06 00

info@gehrmans.se

Web shop: www.gehrmans.se

Hire: hire@gehrmans.se

Sales: order@gehrmans.se

Fennica Gehrman Oy Ab

Fredrikinkatu 61 A 22, 00100 Helsinki.

Tel. +358 10 3871 220

info@fennicagehrman.fi

Web shop: www.fennicagehrman.fi

Hire: hire@fennicagehrman.fi

Sales: customerservice@kirjavalitys.fi