Nordic Highlights 1 2015

nordic

HIGHLIGHTS

1/2015

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

Focus on Kortekangas and Schnelzer

Jüri Reinvere’s opera Peer Gynt

NEWS Kyllönen at 60 The Bergslagens Kammarsymfoniker have chosen TimoJuhani Kyllönen as their Composer-in-Residence for this year. This will mean performances of orchestral and chamber works by him and a new orchestral commission. The year will culminate in a gala concert at the Cassels Concert Hall in Grängesberg, Sweden on 18 June.

Kyllönen’s 60th birthday year will also be celebrated with a concert of his works at the Sibelius Museum in Turku in November.

This August Gehrmans will issue a new piano anthology with 67 Swedish piano pieces from the 18th century through modern times. It will include classics by Roman, Peterson-Berger, Stenhammar and Larsson, but also pieces by contemporary composers such as Victoria Borisova-Ollas, Daniel Börtz, Albert Schnelzer and Staffan Storm. The editors have also chosen to highlight a few of their own favourite pieces by neglected female composers such as Valborg Aulin, Elfrida Andrée and Laura Netzel. The anthology is being prepared in collaboration with the Malmö Academy of Music, and is compiled by Professor Hans Pålsson, one of Sweden’s foremost concert pianists, and Tina Sjögren, the editor of the acclaimed anthology Svenska Romanser.

Hakola & Puumala as Artistic Directors Kimmo Hakola has been appointed the new Artistic Director of the Lux musicae festival and is planning the programme for this year already. As its new Artistic Director the Kaustinen Chamber Music Festival has chosen Veli-Matti Puumala. The Uusinta Ensemble performed music by Puumala at the festival’s focus concert in January 2015.

Music by Rautavaara on stage and at festivals

Aho’s Sieidi tours the world Kalevi Aho’s percussion concerto Sieidi is blazing a trail across the world with Colin Currie as the soloist. It has already been performed more than 20 times since its premiere in London in April 2012, in countries as far apart as the United States, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands and Spain. It is scheduled for the Vienna Konzerthaus on 17 June, when Martin Grubinger will be its soloist for the first time with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The conductor will once again be Osmo Vänskä.

HIGHLIGHTS

Sound samples , video clips and other material are available at www.gehrmans.se/highlights Cover photos: Peer Gynt opera (Erik Berg), Olli Kortekangas (Saara Vuorjoki/Music Finland), Albert Schnelzer (Hans Lindén) Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf Translations: Susan Sinisalo and Robert Carroll Design: Göran Lind ISSN 2000-2742 (Print), ISSN 2000-2750 (Online) Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2015

Photo: Adam Haglund

www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights

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Both Jörgen Dafgård and Kalevi Aho are com­ posing soprano saxo­ phone concertos for Anders Paulsson. Dafgårds idea for his work Rainbow Valley was born from a vision of an allencompassing love when he was gazing out over a verdant valley between mountains in Italy. The concerto is commissio­ ned jointly by the Jön­ köp­ing and Västerås Sinfoniettas to be premiered in May 2016. The Chamber Orchestra of Lapland will commission the Aho concerto, and the premiere is scheduled for November 2015.

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NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

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Dafgård and Aho compose for Anders Paulsson

Photo: Heikki Tuuli

On 25 April, the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe is to premiere Davide Bombana’s choreography Der Prozess, to the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s orchestral Angel of and Angels and Visitations. Angel Dusk, Angel of Light of Light has also been chosen as the music for the full-length ballet choreographed by Hans Henning Paar. The premiere at the Münster Theatre will be on 23 January 2016. Rauta­ vaara will also be represented at the Presteigne Festival in the UK this year. The Festival Orchestra, conducted by George Vass, will perform his Suite for String Orchestra and Canto III on 28–30 August, and the Choir of Royal Hollo­ on 29 August. way will sing Vespers from his Vigilia

Benjamin Staern is presently busy working on a Trumpet Concertino for Filip Draglund and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, to be premiered on 26 April.

The striking concert overture Jubilate will be heard at the Finnish Oulu Music Festival in March, and April will see the US premiere of the piece by the APU Symphony conducted by Christopher Russell in Azusa, California.

Following the successes in Gävle and Helsingborg Staern’s Polar Vortex – Symphony No.1 will receive yet another performance in April by the Norrköping SO under Michael Francis. The Stockholm Chamber Brass will include Staern’s brass quintet Two Souls, One Thought, as well as his Confrontation for solo trumpet and brass quintet on their tour to Rostock, Germany and Roeselare, Belgium in May.

Photo: Kristian Pohl

Editor Hans Pålsson

nordic

Photo Andreas Pålsson

New Swedish piano anthology

Another Sandström Passion Sven-David Sandström has composed a St. John Passion to be premiered in Easter 2016 in Berlin. The texts to the libretto have been compiled by Jacob Holtze and contain, besides biblical excerpts, texts and quotations

by Dante, Blake, Eliot, Joyce, Rilke, Grundtvig and Tranströmer, among others. The 100 minute Passion is a commission from the Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir, and scored for two male vocal soloists, choir, tuba and string quartet.

Haglund and Reinvere awarded On 30 January Tommie Haglund received H. M. the King’s medal, for his significant achievements in Swedish musical life, during a ceremony at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

Jüri Reinvere received the cultural award of the Republic of Estonia for his opera Peer Gynt , commissioned by the Norwegian National Opera and premiered in Oslo on 29 November. Designated for outstanding creative achievements in the field of culture, the honour was awarded on 23 February at the University of Tartu.

Anna Liisa on disc Photo: Saara Vuorjoki/Music Finland

The opera Anna Liisa by Veli-Matti Puumala, performed by the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Helsinki Chamber Choir conducted by Jan Söderblom, is to be released as a premiere recording by Ondine in March 2015. Singing the part of Anna Liisa will be Helena Juntunen in a cast that will also include Jorma Hynninen, Tanja Kauppinen and Ville Rusanen.

Based on the play of the same name by Minna Canth, Anna Liisa, premiered in 2008, is a powerful drama about infanticide and its consequences both for the individual and the community.

New agreement with Matthew Whittall Fennica Gehrman has signed a publishing agreement with Matthew Whittall for the following orchestral works: The return of light, The Architecture of Happiness, Dulcissima, clara, sonans, The heaven that dwells so deep, Solen and Northlands. The agreement also includes selected chamber, instrumental and choral works. Whittall (b. 1975) studied in his native Canada and the United States before settling in Finland in 2001. Music by him has been performed by, among others, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and in Finland by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Chamber Choir. In 2013 Matthew Whittall was awarded the Teosto Prize for his Dulcissima, clara, sonans.

P r e m ie r es Spring 2015 KALEVI AHO Törö Petri Kumela, guitar • 5.2. Espoo, Finland Wind Quintet No. 2 Philharmonisches Bläserquintett Berlin • 14.6. Berlin, Germany MIKKO HEINIÖ Through Green Glass Patrik Kleemola, guitar • 23.3. London, UK OLLI KORTEKANGAS The Return Tapiola Chamber Choir/Hannu Norjanen • 29.3. Helsinki, Finland Höstlig skärgård YL Male Voice Choir/Pasi Hyökki • 11.4. Helsinki, Finland KIMMO HAKOLA Re:Joy for organ Tuomas Pyrhönen • 12.5. Helsinki, Finland ALBERT SCHNELZER Tales from Suburbia BBC SO/Kirill Karabits • 13.3. London, UK BENJAMIN STAERN Trumpet Concertino Helsingborg SO/Nazanin Aghakhani, sol. Filip Draglund • 26.4. Helsingborg, Sweden TOBIAS BROSTRÖM Theatron for two percussion soloists and orchestra Dresdner Philharmonie/Michael Sanderling, sol. Johan Bridger, Patrick Raab • 16.5. Dresden, Germany JONAS VALFRIDSSON The Temples of Kamakura Norrköping SO/Michael Francis • 21.5. Norrköping, Sweden

NEW CDs Kalevi Aho

Works for Solo Piano (19 Preludes, Three Small Piano Pieces, Two Easy Piano Pieces for Children, Sonatina, Solo II, Sonata for Piano)

Sonja Fräki, piano BIS-SACD-2106

Veljo Tormis

Laulusild (Bridge of Song)

Vox Aurea/Sanna Salminen Alba NCD 50 “Aalloilla”

Veli-Matti Puumala

Anna Liisa

Tapiola Sinfonietta, Helsinki Chamber Choir/ Nils Schweckendiek, Jan Söderblom, sol. Helena Juntunen, Jorma Hynninen, Tanja Kauppinen and Ville Rusanen.

Ondine ODE 1254-2D

Photo: Jussi Vierimaa

Forthcoming Heiniö premieres Mikko Heiniö’s new work Ilta (Evening), 11 dance songs for choir, clarinet and cello will be premiered in Turku on 9 September 2015. For this joint production commissioned by the ERI Dance Theatre and the Key Ensemble chamber choir, Heiniö has compiled a series of poems in different languages showing evening in various lights: in the glowing colours of love and sunset or in dark shades of death and moonlight. The choreography and stage direction are by Tiina Lindfors and the Key Ensemble will be conducted by Teemu Honkanen.

Guitarist Patrik Kleemola has commissioned Heiniö to compose a solo work called Through Green Glass to be premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 23 March.

Heiniö has also been commissioned to write an Organ Concerto for the Cathedral Festival in Turku in 2016. The soloist will be Pétur Sakari.

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Seeking the connection between feeling, words and music Photo: Turun Sanomat/ Lennart Holmberg

“I write the sort of music I’d like to hear. Isn’t that what every composer, if he’s honest, tries to do?” says Olli Kortekangas.

Thus Olli Kortekangas once crystallised his fundamental principle as a composer.

Honesty has paid off, because many others also want to listen to his music. His choral works have found performers the world over, and his operas have spoken straight to the hearts of Finnish audiences. At 60 Kortekangas is one of Finland’s leading contemporary composers.

Olli Kortekangas first made a name for himself in the late 1970s, when he co-founded the Korvat auki (Ears Open) group that shook Finnish musical life with its avant-garde. He nevertheless soon distanced himself from the strictures of modernism and his expression began to expand. In the 1990s it grew richer, more dramaturgically dynamic and emotionally powerful. The change in his musical thinking has, however, always been a gradual, evolutionary process, not a sharp new stylistic departure.

“I try to define man’s place in the universe” Vocal, and especially choral music occupies a focal position in Kortekangas’s output. He pays great attention to his texts; life philosophies and worldviews are among the things that interest him. To give an example: his symphonic cantata Seven Songs for Planet Earth (commissioned by the Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, 2011) addresses the relationship between man and nature.

“My vocal texts are fundamentally about understanding human existence. What is man’s place in the universe? In my mind I’m a seeker and a sceptic, but I’m also open to alternative explanations.

I can handle doubt; the world can be explained in many ways.”

One major category for Kortekangas is music for children’s choir. His works in this genre have often been coloured by a workshop-style mode of composition collaborating closely with young singers, most notably with the world-renowned Tapiola Choir. Then there are the ambitious Verbum (1987), Shadows (2002) and the Mediterranean Sea cycle (2003) demanding much of their performers.

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Kortekangas has also written widely for solo voice. Foreign languages also interest him. “The language does affect the music,” he says emphatically. This is borne out in Vier Bilder aus dem Buch der Wandlungen (Four Images from The Book of Changes, 2001), using texts from the ancient Chinese Book of Changes in two languages. Another work, Pietà (2010) for soprano, viola da gamba and harpsichord, in turn represents the superimposition of many time planes: early period instruments, a contemporary idiom and poems by Anna Akhmatova.

Personal stories against a historical background Opera, a synthesis of diverse modes of expression, is a genre for which Kortekangas feels a natural affinity. He has so far composed seven operas, covering a variety of milieus and epochs and differing in their treatment. Yet they all, he says, have one communal theme: “The central idea in my operas is to view personal stories against a historical background.”

Marian rakkaus (Maria’s Love, 1999), examining 20th-century history overshadowed by war and dictatorship, was part of the operatic trilogy Aika ja uni (The Age of Dreams) by three composers commissioned by the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

Messenius and Lucia (2005) describes the life of Johannes Messenius, a true-life Swedish historian of the late 16th and early 17th century, but with the addition of a modern dimension and debating the essence of historiography. The most highly-acclaimed of Kortekangas’s operas to date has been Isän tyttö (Daddy’s Girl, 2006) which has been staged both in Savonlinna and at the Finnish National Opera. Yhden yön juttu (One Night Stand, 2010), spotlighting young people in a modern urban setting, is once again more experimental and his most modern in terms of treatment, and like some of his choral works, it was composed along workshop lines.

Composing operas is, for Kortekangas, a major forum for collaborating with other artists. “I try to get together with the librettist as early as possible, and the story begins to take shape as we talk it over.” The composer of an opera is, according to Kortekangas, really a dramaturge. It is his job not only to mastermind the work as a whole but also to see that the characters have individual traits. “I

create a personal musical world for the different characters, a personal idiolect. This may, for example, be a leitmotif, but more often an instru­mentation or harmony, or a phrasal construction. And the ensembles: they are the salt of the opera! There are far too few of these in contemporary opera.”

The drama of concertos and the bread-and-butter of chamber music Side by side with his vocal works, Kortekangas has composed a fair amount of instrumental music.

While he was composer-in-residence of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra in 1997–2007, he began to concentrate more on orchestral music. He has felt a special pull towards concertos (Charms for piano trio and orchestra, 1998, an Organ Concerto, 2009 and a Piano Concerto, 2011), in which the things that meant most to him are drama, communication and narrative. His most recent concerto, written for clarinet, was premiered in 2014.

Over the past few years, Kortekangas has developed a special affection for chamber music.

“If opera is music’s cream cake, chamber music is its bread-and-butter. It is a licence and an obligation to engage in musical craftsmanship plain and simple. To me, communication, the inner dialogue of the music, is extremely important in chamber music.” Examples of this ongoing chamber music phase include Aveux for oboe and string quartet (2010), a Cello Sonata (2012) and Chops and Swells for clarinet and string quartet (2014). Works for period instruments are another interesting departure. The first fruit of this is Crossing the Five Rivers (2008) for viola da gamba and organ. An important category since the early-2000s has also been organ music – the weightiest example of this being the Organ Sonata No. 2, Stargazer, of 2005.

K i m m o K o r h o nen This is a shortened article published in Fennica Gehrman’s booklet of Olli Kortekangas

Kortekangas premieres in Helsinki Jannen salaisuus (Janne’s Secret), children’s opera, libretto by Minna Lindgren Finnish National Opera, 27.3.2015 The Return, for chamber choir to texts by Wendell Berry Tapiola Chamber Choir/Hannu Norjanen, 29.3. 2015 Höstlig skärgård, for male choir to texts by Tomas Tranströmer YL Male Voice Choir/Pasi Hyökki, 11.4. 2015

Photo: Hans Lindén

“Gustav Mahler is supposed to have said that he wanted his symphonies to contain the whole world. I am satisfied with the multifaceted suburb, says Albert Schnelzer.”

In March his ‘Tales from Suburbia’ will have its world premiere at the Barbican Centre in London, and ‘A Freak in Burbank’, (another suburban!), continues to score success around the world.

Albert Schnelzer’s suburban inspiration A lbert S chnel z er has lived in the suburb his whole life and admits that he has a kind of love-hate relation to it.

“But there is no denying that it is a fascinating and inspiring milieu in many respects. There are often sharp contrasts where the rural meets the urban, nature meets concrete, stillness meets the pulse of the city. There is also a melting pot of peoples from all over the world.”

Written in 2012, Tales from Suburbia will be given its first performance by the BBC Symphony under Kirill Karabits on 13 March, and the Swedish premiere will follow a couple weeks later with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding, who has also decided to take the work on tour to the Dresdner Festspiele in May. “It will be exciting to finally get to hear the piece.

I set my standards high when I wrote it, musically, but also when it comes to instrumentation, timbre and treatment of the orchestra. It will be especially interesting to hear the opening section live, since I make use of some playing techniques that I have not tried before, and also an orchestration that really creates atmosphere. This will be a challenge for the orchestra as well as for the conductor, but I am confident that both the BBCSO and the SRSO are going to bring it off splendidly!”

Eventful 2014 Also 2014 was an eventful and successful year for Albert Schnelzer. Not least with the concert opener A Freak in Burbank, which during last year was given no less than 14 performances, and was taken into the repertoire of nine new orchestras in eight different countries throughout the world, from the USA to Australia. And it has been like this for the past few years.

“What really cheers me up is that so many conductors and orchestras, wholly independent of one another, are taking up the piece. I have also noticed

that it appeals to a very broad spectrum of listeners, from experienced concertgoers in their 80s to 15-year-old gothic-attired punk rockers. Fascinating! The piece has got a very positive response especially abroad, at the Proms of course in 2010, but also at for example the concert with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in France last year, where the reception was tremendous!”

2014 also saw the premieres of two new works.

The first was Animal Songs, five songs to poems

by Margaret Atwood, composed for soprano Susanna Andersson and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. Here we encounter a pig, a bull, a rat, a hen’s head (!) and a worm that all sing their songs and tell about their lives and their not-veryflattering opinion of us humans.

“The texts were allowed to guide the music quite a lot”, says Schnelzer. The injured bull in the Bull Song was given a lament, the cheeky and grotesque Pig Song was a balmy waltz, while the music to the cruel Song of the Hen´s Head is in contrast to the text with its bright and idyllic character.

A song of praise and a dirge Then last autumn came Brain Damage – Concerto for Orchestra , a sequel to the cello concerto Crazy Diamond from 2011. In both these works Albert Schnelzer has tried to depict how the myth of Syd Barrett, the founder of Pink Floyd, influenced him as a young composer.

“Brain Damage can be seen as a wandering through various strong emotional states: anger, frustration, despair and sorrow; but there is also a gleam of hope”, says Schnelzer.

Why then has he chosen the classical form of the concerto for orchestra to depict this?

“It is a tradition-bound form in which the different instrument groups get to perform as soloists, and often with a virtuosic orchestral texture.

For me it was the dialogue between the different

groups and the tension between solo and tutti that proved to be the most interesting. In an orchestra there is an intrinsic tension as you have to both shoulder an individual responsibility and at the same time be part of a larger group. A bit like life in general. But what happens to those who can´t manage this? Like Syd Barret. My work was both a song of praise for those who shoulder the responsibility and a dirge for those who will never be able to accomplish it.”

Brain Damage was commissioned jointly by the Gothenburg Symphony, that premiered the work under Alain Altinoglu, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, that will perform it this coming September with Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducting.

Moreover, this year we can enjoy the premieres of another two works; an Oboe Concertino for the inaugural season of the new concert hall Malmö Live, and the recently finished clarinet concerto, But Your Angel´s on Holiday, for Staffan Mårtensson and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra – to be premiered in November.

“It is a concerto in three movements that starts out with ominous chords and a threatening atmosphere. The middle movement is a Lamento that is vaguely based on a Swedish folk melody and the third movement is quick, energetic and in some sections extremely virtuosic,” relates Albert Schnelzer.

So there are a great many new things to look forward to in 2015, and then, of course, there will be a few more performances of his hit work, A Freak in Burbank, this year as well.

K r istina F r y kl ö f

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Repe r t o i r e tips

REVIEWS

21st century works for solo piano Inspired by the mystic Swedenborg and the composer Dowland, Haglund has written a work in which expressive outbursts are mixed with enigmatic, meditative sections, characterised by a great tranquillity and an underlying spirituality. Pianist Hans Pålsson describes the piece as “10 minutes of wonder, where something inexplicable is hinted at, smarts, and then disappears. Music that bears a riddle without intending to solve it.”

Kimmo Hakola

Theme, 11 Studies and a Grand Cadenza (1998) Dur: 30’

This work was born of the material for Hakola’s monumental piano concerto, for which he had made a comprehensive study of the types of expression used in piano literature. The result is an exciting musical library from the depths of which Hakola conjures forth a dazzling display of keyboard fireworks. Resting on tradition, it opens up new dimensions and is a demonstration of his inexhaustible fund of musical magic.

Paavo Heininen

Mazurki Op. 79 A (2001) Dur: 40’

Mazurkas are basically intimately poetic, says Paavo Heininen. The moods of these 10 mazurkas vary greatly as they test how far they can go both rhythmically and harmonically within the genre. The titles and expression marks reflect the broad scope of the set: mesto, brillante, lugubre, animato orgoglioso, gentle, straight, etc.

Jyrki Linjama

Sonata da chiesa (2010) Dur: 14’

This four-movement Sonata followed in the wake of Linjama’s church opera Die Geburt des Täufers and reflects it in many ways. Medieval motifs combine with diverse handling of the piano that reaches out in different directions: from meditative Psalm format to solemn bell sounds and from virtuosic density to internalised polyphony.

Commissioned by the Carinthischer Sommer and premiered by Juho Pohjonen in Ossiach on 13 July 2010.

Rolf Martinsson

Aquarius/Taurus (2006/2011) Dur: 7’/7’

Aquarius and Taurus are the two latest pieces (nos. 9 and 10) in Martinsson´s Zodiac series, where he lets the astrological signs influence the character of each piano piece. Aquarius is independent, imaginative and inventive, while Taurus is a little slow, calm, confident and down-to-earth. Martinsson says that the pieces in the series should be considered noted-down improvisations that embrace what is lively and spontaneous rather than what is structured and worked out.

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Veli-Matti Puumala

Hommages fugitifs (2001) Dur: 13’

These 9 preludes for piano were commissioned by the Sibelius Academy for the Helsinki International Maj Lind Piano Competition 2002. Portraits to which characteristics of different persons provided substance, they can be played in any order or in different combinations with the exception of Anna, which is intended to be played first.

Albert Schnelzer

Dance with the Devil

(2000) Dur: 8’

Albert Schnelzer himself has described – quite aptly – this piece as a cross between Franz Liszt and Iron Maiden. And one can indeed clearly hear the influences from hard rock, even though this piece also includes a very beautiful and still middle section. But to sum up, this is a very rhythmical, danceable and virtuosic work that really utilises the entire gamut of the piano and its sound possibilities.

Martin Skafte

Twelve Preludes

(2012/2013) Dur: 35’

In his piano suite Martin Skafte mirrors himself in French music in a profoundly original manner, inspired in various ways

by Debussy´s Préludes: premier livre. He further develops Debussy´s ideas but with his own fantasy and modern musical creativity in focus. The suite is intended to be performed in its entirety.

Staffan Storm

Lied vom Meer

(2009) Dur: 15’

This four-movement work is based on Rilke’s poem Lied vom Meer, and the work’s form and melodic patterns follow those of the poem. Storm describes this as a musical reading of the text. The music has an impressionistic tinge, especially in the exquisite final movement …im Mondschein… where Storm lets the melodies and harmonies flow; but he ends in the sea, black as night, in the lowest register of the piano, rumbling softly.

Victoria Yagling

Five Miniatures for Piano (2002) Dur: 10’

A suite of five short piano pieces of a lyrical nature dedicated to Yagling’s son Victor Chestopal. The early movements, in particular, are airy and dreamily beautiful. The music of Yagling nevertheless always has a modicum of fresh energy, pungency and temperament, as represented in this set of miniatures above all by the last movement, Allegro con brio.

Lisa Larsson

Unashamedly enjoyable Rolf Martinsson’s brand-new song suite Ich denke Dein... offered unusually expressive and full music, post-Straussian expression has seldom been this strong… Nonetheless, it was musical sensations à la Broadway which the Malmö professor holds dearest to his heart... One can only be amazed at how Martinsson had both the guts and the skill to write like this.

Hufvudstadsbladet 29.1.

That someone dares to write so unashamedly enjoyable, sinfully sexy music… the listener felt as if he was being led into an enchanted garden, where an angel had fallen from heaven. Larsson’s soprano radiated and floated, and was sublime in the pianissimos.

Helsingin Sanomat 30.1.

Rolf Martinsson: Ich denke Dein...

Finnish premiere: Helsinki PO/John Storgårds, sol. Lisa Larsson, soprano, 28.1.2015 Helsinki, Finland

Simply beautiful Amazing and astonishing are the words that first spring to mind in the piano music of Kalevi Aho… The Sonatina is wonderfully rhythmic and powerful, simply fascinating...The music is full of colours and rich in character and grand emotions.

Hufvudstadsbladet 10.12.

Kalevi Aho: Works for Solo Piano

CD: Sonja Fräki, piano (BIS-SACD-2106)

Theatrical, provocative, brilliant The show turned out to be professionally impeccable, artistically convincing and eventually became perhaps the most spectacular autumn event in Finnish theatre…The contrasting emotions, tragicomic situations, the scale of the characters in winning Mexican hues have turned out to be a strong framework for a complete, sophisticated and modern opera…Kalevi Aho’s music is a holistic, rich musical canvas…he masters both caustic irony, even the grotesque, and genuine lyricism. Сцена (The Stage) No. 6, December 2014 Kalevi Aho: Frida y Diego, opera in four acts

World premiere: Sibelius Academy SO/Markus Lehtinen, dir. Vilppu Kiljunen, sol. Erica Back, Matias Haakana, Aule Urb, Sampo Haapaniemi, Saara Kiiveri etc., 17.10.2014 Helsinki, Finland

Photo: Merlijn Doomernik

Tommie Haglund

Arcana – Lachrimae (1998) Dur: 12’

Action-packed Polar Vortex Staern lets the mercury fall to Arctic chill and the winds whip us in the face. The music is alive and puls­ ating… It is impossible not to be gripped, not to be swept along. The three percussionists work intensely, change places with one another and use a whole arsenal of percussion instruments, creating sound images and atmosphere. It is playful, fun, beautiful.

Arbetarbladet 15.11.

A work that is typically Staernian, brilliantly colourful and positively full of action.

Gefle Dagblad 15.11.

Benjamin Staern: Polar Vortex

Sonorous new songs for male choir

Dialogue between light and shade

The new item in the concert was the three-movement choral work Isoisän runoja (Grandfather’s Poems), settings of poems by Lassi Nummi.

And amiably grandfatherly and gently humorous these sonorous songs are.

Helsingin Sanomat 16.11.

Mikko Heiniö: Isoisän lauluja

The main number was Kai Nieminen’s string quartet…

Nieminen himself spoke of the winter darkness and the stars in the sky, the way time travels in darkness and light imperceptibly grows. Despite the proximity of death, the quartet also opened the gates to heaven.

Pohjolan Sanomat 3.12.

Kai Nieminen: Towards the Light (from far beyond)

World premiere: Laulu-Miehet/Matti Hyökki, 15.11.2014 Helsinki, Finland

World premiere: Länsi-Pohja String Quartet, 26.11.2014 Keminmaa, Finland

Photo: Arild Juul

World premiere: Gävle SO/Leif Segerstam, 14.11.2014 Gävle, Sweden

Öystein Baadsvik

Concert of works by Lyytikäinen

Rosenberg and Lidholm in UK

The music is rewarding to listen to and carefully crafted… Jiän iänj – The Sound of Ice was one of the finest items in the concert. The timbres forged from the accordion are rich, the melodies beautiful and the full bellows are used expressively.

Hufvudstadsbladet 25.1.

Pasi Lyytikäinen: Songs, Minimalto, Jiän Iänj

Hilding Rosenberg’s Dance Suite from his ballet, Orpheus in Town, was the jaunty, jazzy opener, with its seven dances making the penultimate slow tango stand out for its sexier lilt… Andersson created most impact with Lidholm’s Kontakion from 1978, based on the same Russian liturgical hymn as Britten used in his Third Cello Suite. Out of long sections of tense strings emerged a series of wind solos, dying away after the final offstage trumpet.

A work of apparent austerity carried humanity at its heart.

The Guardian 21.1.

Hilding Rosenberg: Dance Suite from Orpheus in Town Ingvar Lidholm: Kontakion

Kiril Kozlovsky, piano, Eija Räsänen, soprano, Eero Saunamäki, alto recorder, Mika Väyrynen, accordion, 24.1.2015 Helsinki, Finland

photo: Sten D. Bellander

Pasi Lyytikäinen

photo: Bror Karlsson

Photo: Octavian Balea

When the tuba becomes a mistress

BBC National Orchestra of Wales/B Tommy Andersson, 20.1.2015 Cardiff, Wales

There is no doubt about it that the tuba can be a vivacious mistress. So intimately did Baadsvik´s arms embrace the silvery, shining instrument; so sensitively did his lips enclose that fantastic piece of brass to create delightful, delicate sonorities…

Again and again the tuba sang with heart-rending beauty, having survived its struggle with the massive orchestra… The audience´s enthusiasm knew no bounds when Baadsvik concluded with a charming and exquisite dance with his playmate.

Rheinische Post 16.1.

Fredrik Högberg: Rocky Island Boat Bat

German premiere: Niederrheinsche Sinfoniker/Mihkel Kütson, sol. Øystein Baadsvik, tuba, 9.1.2015 Krefeld, Germany

Humour and seriousness in Högberg’s concerto Accordion King is a multi-art-work; the images function in a dynamic interplay with the music, and contribute commentary and complementary elements in Fredrik´s inimitable and humoristic fashion. But the work also comprises seriousness, vertiginous beauty and sensual eroticism.

Allehanda 23.1.

Fredrik Högberg: Accordion King

World premiere: Nordic CO/Niklas Willén, sol. Jörgen Sundeqvist, accordion, 22.1.2015 Kramfors, Sweden

Photo: Erik Berg

Peer Gynt – an opera of undoubted significance Jüri Reinvere’s work has a maturity that gave an irre­fra­gable confidence to director Sigrid Strøm Reibo.

A brilliant, largely Norwegian cast, created a performance of strength and sophistication…Visually the production matched the quality and exuberance of the music…This is a work of undoubted significance that deserves a place in Norway’s contemporary cultural landscape.

Opera Now, February 2015

There are fragmentary references to Wagner and Grieg, but for the most part, Reinvere makes his own music, often meditative, sometimes witty, always deftly orchestrated…This new Peer Gynt is sprawlingly ambitious and dark. Reinvere’s eclectic appropriation of musical styles is adroit, his use of the chorus haunting, his vocal writing polished, his humour rare but effective.

Financial Times 2.12.

Reinvere has masterly crafted a narrative opera with lush string sounds and cantabile winds, broad arches, magnificent climaxes which he gently modernises…

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2.12.

Jüri Reinvere: Peer Gynt, opera in 2 acts

World premiere: Norwegian National Opera/John Helmer Fiore, sol. Nils Harald Sødal, Marita Sølberg, Ingebjørg Kosmo etc., 29.11.2014 Oslo, Norway

H i ghl i ghts

1/2015

new p u b licati o ns S COR E S SELIM PALMGREN

BENJAMIN STAERN

FREDRIK HÖGBERG

Konzert für zwei Posaunen

Polar Vortex – Symphony No. 1

Lullaby (Kehtolaulu) Op. 17 No. 9

GE 12605

FG 55011-232-2 8 (score and parts: 33221)

for string orchestra

for orchestra

version for two trombones and chamber orchestra GE 12196

JONAS VALFRIDSSON

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM

Available again! This is Palmgren’s own arrangement of the popular cradle song from his 24 piano preludes. Its haunting, restful melody is given a richly harmonious treatment in this version which is equally at home in a wide variety of concert programmes.

A Fragmented Memory; My Overgrown Little Tree House

Lyssnande/Listening

for chamber ensemble GE12581

for orchestra

ROBERT SCHUMANN (ARR. ROLF MARTINSSON)

A Sudden Recollection: Le jardin des plantes

GE 12320

From “Five Pieces in Folk Style, op 102”

Piece 1, 2 and 5 in arrangement for solo clarinet and chamber orchestra

for orchestra GE 12462

GE 12618

C H A M B E R / IN S T R U M E N T A L

C H OR A L KARIN REHNQVIST

MIKKO HEINIÖ

Salve Regina – Heavenly Queen

Five Preludes for Guitar

for choir SATB and chamber ensemble Text: Marian Hymn (Lat)

FG 55011-227-8

FREDRIK HÖGBERG

Arbetar-Malins Vals/Worker-Malin’s Waltz

for accordion solo Waltz from Accordion King

GE 11934 (score) GE 12229 (particel)

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM

Dödsskepp i natten

Trolltuba

for tenor, mixed chorus and orchestra Text: Lars Ragnar Forssberg (Swe)

GE 11598

Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte

BJÖRN J:SON LINDH (ARR. OSKAR JANNER)

GE 12573

GE 12625

GE 12569 (score)

version for tuba and piano

for tenor solo, male choir TBarB, violin Text: Johan Ludvig Runeberg (Swe)

Lake District

KALEVI AHO

for organ

Kolme laulua Mawlana Rumin runoihin (Three Songs to Texts by Mawlana Rumi)

GE 12599

for mixed choir Text in Finnish

TOIVO KUULA

Three Pieces for Violoncello (Kolme sellokappaletta)

FG 55011-231-5

1. Melodia lugubre op. 17b/8 2. Chanson sans paroles op. 22/1b 3. Suru op. 22/2b

NILS-ERIC FOUGSTEDT (ARR. REIJO KEKKONEN)

Romanssi (Romance)

FG 55011-226-1

for mixed choir Text in Finnish

JYRKI LINJAMA

Veni redemptor gentium

FG 55009-666-0

for organ

FG 55011-230-8

Orchestrated Larsson Songs

SAMUEL LUNDBACK

Preludium in G major

Three Songs from Lars-Erik Larsson’s Nine Songs op. 35

for organ GE 12590

ROLF MARTINSSON (ARR. JOHAN GUSTAFSSON)

Intermezzo from St Luke Passion

for organ GE 12369

HUBERT PARRY (ARR. OSKAR JANNER)

Jerusalem

Text: Hjalmar Gullberg • Serenad • Jag väntar månen • Kyssande vind

New arrangements by Martin Willert

for soprano/baritone and orchestra Instrumentation: 2222-2210-timp-hp-strings

for organ GE 12598

Orchestral material available on hire as from March For further information about our works or representatives worldwide check our web sites or contact us at: Gehrmans Musikförlag AB

H i ghl i ghts

3/2012

Box 42026, SE-126 12 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. +46 8 610 06 00 • Fax +46 8 610 06 27 www.gehrmans.se • info@gehrmans.se Hire: hire@gehrmans.se Web shop: www.gehrmans.se Sales: sales@gehrmans.se

Fennica Gehrman Oy Ab

PO Box 158, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland Tel. +358 10 3871 220 • Fax +358 10 3871 221 www.fennicagehrman.fi • info@fennicagehrman.fi Hire: hire@fennicagehrman.fi Web shop: www.fennicagehrman.fi Sales: kvtilaus@kirjavalitys.fi (dealers)