Nordic Highlights 2 2015

NORDIC

HIGHLIGHTS

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NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFร RLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Focus on Fredrik Hรถgberg

NEWS

Digital promotional scores are available on Fennica Gehrman’s composer site. Works by Kalevi Aho, Kimmo Hakola, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Mikko Heiniö, Veli-Matti Puumala, Tommi Kärkkäinen and others have been included, and more scores – close to 100 in all – will be uploaded over the coming months. The service is provided in partnership with Music Finland, the organisation for promoting Finnish music.

Focus on Whittall Matthew Whittall is Composer-of-the-Year of the 2015 Korsholm Music Festival. There are five works by him on the programme: Leaves of Grass for piano, Giverny for oboe and piano, a String Sextet and being the pine tree for accordion. His new commission Devil’s Gate will be premiered by Henri Sigfridsson, piano, Joris van den Hauwe, oboe and Etienne Boudreault, bassoon at Vaasa City Hall on 3 August.

Tampere Opera will host the world premiere of Olli Kortekangas’s new opera My Brother’s Keeper (Veljeni vartija) in February 2018.

The librettist and stage director is Tuomas Parkkinen. A commissioned work, it describes the Finnish Civil War of 1918 from the perspectives of two siblings who drift to opposite sides.

Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra will premiere Kortekangas’s new Migrations in February 2016, joined by the YL Male Voice Choir and Lilli Paasikivi. Migrations will also be recorded together with Sibelius’s Kullervo and Finlandia, all live in concert.

Jan Lehtola has released a disc of organ works by Kortekangas: Fantasia, Three Interludes, Ciaccona, Summer Toccata and three Organ Sonatas. The CD was released in May to celebrate the composer’s 60th anniversary.

BIS portraits Haglund and Martinsson In the spring of 2016 BIS will release a portrait CD with Tommie Haglund’s music containing the cello concerto Flaminis Aura, Serenata per Diotima for violin and orchestra, the string trio Sollievo (dopo la tempesta) and the string quartet Il regno degli spiriti. Participating musicians include the Gothenburg and Malmö Symphony Orchestras, conductors David Afkham and Joachim Gustafsson, cellist Ernst Simon Glaser, et al. BIS is also producing a Rolf Martinsson portrait including his Orchestral Songs on Poems

by Emily Dickinson and Concerto for Orchestra.

The Stockholm Royal Philharmonic will perform under the direction of Andrew Manze and Sakari Oramo; and the soloist is Lisa Larsson.

New Nuorvala CD NORDIC

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NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Sound samples , video clips and other material are available at www.gehrmans.se/highlights Cover photos: Fredrik Högberg (Marco Feklistoff ), Factory workers from the film to Högberg’s Accordion King (Fredrik Högberg), Luther opera (Finnish National Opera/Kari Hakli) Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf Translations: Susan Sinisalo and Robert Carroll Design: Tenhelp Oy/Tenho Järvinen ISSN 2000-2742 (Print), ISSN 2000-2750 (Online) Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2015

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The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has commissioned a new composition from Lotta Wennäkoski. The work is intended as a tribute to Sibelius, alluding to his music, and the premiere is scheduled for October 2015.

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra has recorded music by Wennäkoski on a new Onthe ordine release: the flute concerto Soie, chestral Hava and the 20-minute Amor omnia suite based on the silent-movie score she composed as a commission from the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle).

Alba Records has released a CD of chamber music by Juhani Nuorvala. Included are Boost for cello and synthesizer , 7.13, Prélude non retouché, Solo per viola da gamba, Five Pieces for flute and clarinet and Concertino – works that offer an exciting view of Nuorvala’s original, ecstasy-fuelled style and his use of microtonality. (See new CDs).

Hakola’s hit concerto on tour Kari Kriikku will perform Kimmo Hakola’s Clarinet Concerto on his tour of New Zealand and South Korea in autumn 2015. Four performances by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra are scheduled for between 30 October and 7 November in Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland and Hamilton. The concert with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra at the Seoul Arts Centre is on 13 November. There are also two performances in Malmö, Sweden during autumn.

Kari Kriikku

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Promotional scores online

Lotta Wennäkoski live and on CD

Olli Kortekangas news

Photo: Maarit Kytöharju

Jukka Linkola will be celebrating his 70th birthday on 21 July. Linkola is a prolific composer whose output includes orchestral, chamber and choral music, jazz and operas. He is particularly well-known for his music for brass and his popular concertos; his Euphonium Concerto, for example, has had many performances across the world. Among his most recent orchestral works are the Clarinet Concerto Gipsy Heart premiered by Christoffer Sundqvist with the Pietarsaari Chamber Orchestra conducted by Linkola in October 2014.

Photo: Music Finland/Saara Vuorjoki

Jukka Linkola at 70

PREMIERES Photo: Elias Sjögren

BENJAMIN STAERN Surprise! – Concertino for Trumpet

New solo concertos by Sandström

Helsingborg SO/Nazanin Aghakani, sol. Filip Draglund 26.4. Helsingborg, Sweden

Sven-David Sandström has composed three new solo concertos that will all be premiered during the 2016/2017 season. First in line is his Seven Pieces for Violin and Orchestra for Hugo Ticciati, a commission from O/Modernt Festival with the premiere scheduled for 20 February 2016.

Next comes Concerto for Flute and Orchestra No. 2 for soloist Tobias Carron, jointly commissioned by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra, Västerås, Jönköping and Dala Sinfoniettas, and Gävle and Norrköping Symphony Orchestras. And lastly, the piano concerto Five Pieces for Piano and Orchestra, written for Peter Friis Johansson, to be premiered by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

TOBIAS BROSTRÖM Theatron for two percussion soloists and orchestra

Dresdner Philharmonie/Michael Sanderling, sol.

Malleus Incus 16.5. Dresden, Germany

JONAS VALFRIDSSON The Temples of Kamakura

Norrköping SO/Michael Francis 21.5. Norrköping, Sweden

TIMO-JUHANI KYLLÖNEN Celebration Fanfare/Juhlafanfaari for two trumpets

Jani Huopala, Tapio Paavilainen 4.6. Espoo, Finland (Urkuyö ja aaria Festival)

Photo: Harald Hoffmann/Decca

KAI NIEMINEN

New YouTube films You will find a number of new films on Gehrmans’ YouTube page. Watch pianist Henrik Måwe’s stunning performance of Albert Schnelzer´s Dance with the Devil. Also available is Tobias Broström´s counterpart to Beethoven´s Pastoral Symphony, On Urban Ground, featuring the NorrlandsOpera SO. In addition one can view Rolf Martinsson´s Ich denke Dein... in a recording from the Concertgebouw with Lisa Larsson and the Netherlands Philharmonic.

Symphony No. 2 “Nello specchio della notte”

Sääksmäki Soi Festival Orchestra/Jukka Iisakkila 3.7. Sääksmäki, Finland

MATTHEW WHITTALL Devil’s Gate for piano, oboe and bassoon

Henri Sigfridsson, piano, Joris van den Hauwe, oboe, Etienne Boudreault, bassoon 3.8. Vaasa, Finland (Korsholm Music Festival)

ROLF MARTINSSON Work for soprano and orchestra

Malmö SO/Marc Soustrot, sol. Lisa Larsson 28.8. Malmö, Sweden

KALEVI AHO Symphony No. 16

Malleus Incus

Janine Jansen to play Eliasson Janine Jansen will be the soloist in Anders Eliasson’s violin concerto Einsame Fahrt on 21 and 22 October together with the Stockholm Royal Philharmonic and conductor Daniel Blendulf. The Royal Philharmonic will also, together with the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, and soloists Ingela Brimberg, Anna Larsson, Michael Weinius and Gabriel Suovanen, perform Eliasson´s magnum opus, Dante Anarca (1998), an 80-minute symphonic oratorio to a libretto in Italian by Giacomo Orgelia. The performances will take place in the Stockholm Concert Hall on 10-12 March 2016, under the direction of Sakari Oramo.

Finnish RSO/Hannu Lintu, sol. Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano 2.9. Helsinki, Finland

MIKKO HEINIÖ Ilta (Evening), 11 dance songs for choir, clarinet and cello

Eri Dance Theatre, choreography Tiina Lindfors, Key Ensemble/Teemu Honkanen 11.9. Turku, Finland

PAAVO HEININEN Symphony No. 6

Helsinki PO/John Storgårds 8.10. Helsinki, Finland

Theatron premiere Tobias Broström´s Theatron for two percussionists and orchestra received its world premiere during the Dresdner Festspiele on 16 and 17 May by the percussionist duo Malleus Incus (Johan Bridger and Patrick Raab) and the Dresdner Philharmonie under Michael Sanderling.

The concerto was commissioned jointly with the NorrlandsOperan, Gävle and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestras, who will all perform the work in the autumn of 2015, starting with NorrlandsOperan in Umeå on 3 September.

Grammy Award for Pettersson’s Ninth Christian Lindberg and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra’s acclaimed recording of Allan Pettersson’s Symphony No. 9 (BIS-CD-2038), was in February awarded a Swedish Grammy for the best classical CD of the year. The Allan Pettersson Project continues on 28 November in Norrköping with a performance and subsequent recording of Symphony No. 14.

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Photo: Britt Vuorio

Tikka’s opera presents Luther both as a reformer and controversial individual In composing his opera Luther, Kari Tikka sought to do for music what Martin Luther had done for the Bible: to translate it into the language of the people. During 15 years this popular work has been performed numerous times in Finland, in English in Minneapolis and in German in Berlin and Wittenberg.

Luther and his opponents Tikka completed Luther in 2000, the “crazy year” that saw the premiere of 17 new Finnish operas.

Luther was premiered in Helsinki on 8 December 2000 and has since been performed in several other Finnish cities, in English in Minneapolis and in German in Berlin and in the Reformer’s own church in Wittenberg.

The opera presents Martin Luther both as a reformer and as an individual wrestling with his own faith. It is in seven big scenes tracing his life. His biggest opponent is Satan, who appears in different disguises in the various scenes – sometimes as Death, at others as one of the most learned theologians of his day, Erasmus of Rotterdam, or again as the Pope himself. In the first of the two Acts, the disputes raised by the Reformation take the leading role; in the second, Luther’s wife Katharina von Bora makes her appearance.

The events take place at an interesting juncture in European culture, at the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era. As one of his themes Tikka chose the Dance of Death of

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humankind. The dancers are Satan, Sin, Law, Death and Hell, given human appearance in keeping with the medieval theatre tradition.

Music in the vernacular Before the opera was premiered, Tikka said he had sought to do for music what Luther had done for the Bible; in other words, to translate it into the language of the people. At no point is there any Modernist monkish Latin; instead, the music could be described as neo-tonal, in an idiom often consciously archaic. The repetition of motifs and the persistence of the dancelike rhythms are evocative of Minimalism. The Stravinsky of his Neo-classical period, from Pulcinella right up to the Symphony of Psalms, and the choral works of Carl Orff also appear to have left their mark. Stirring crowd scenes alternate with quieter, meditative ones and discussion.

Kari Tikka

Photo: Finnish National Opera/Kari Hakli

F

ew people have made such a lasting impact on the ideological history of Europe as the German priest and father of the Reformation, Martin Luther (1483–1546). The 95 Theses he published in autumn 1517 set in motion a wave of theological disputes that would draw a clear spiritual dividing line through Europe and would influence the way people thought and felt in many ways.

Considering the dominance of Luther’s ideas in Finland, the fact that Kari Tikka (b. 1946) chose the great Reformer as the topic of an opera is not altogether surprising. Tikka has been conducting for many years at, among others, the Finnish National Opera, and has composed three operas of his own. They all have a strong spiritual dimension, and he has also written other religious music.

Eeva-Liisa Saarinen and Esa Ruuttunen in Luther

The keys chosen by Tikka for the opera carry strong symbolic significance. The key of death is B-flat minor, and that of mortal fear A minor; the latter is, he says, literally a step down from death. Life, by contrast, is tonally as far removed from death as possible, a tritone away in E minor or major.

The archaic-sounding Minimalism and the beat of the Dance of Death are well suited to the early 16th-century ambiance. Tikka underlines this by using a smallish orchestra with no clarinets or French horns. The chorus occupies a central role, and the audience can also join in singing the unison hymns between the scenes, thereby generating a community spirit. The one diversion from the general archaic soundscape is the Armolaulu (Grace Song), a popular religious song composed by Tikka in 1976.

Despite telling the story of a religious reformer and being a strongly denominational work, Luther can also be interpreted at a more general, non-religious level, as the story of the path travelled by anyone with firm faith in a particular cause. It also raises questions; the dance with which the opera begins, painting late-medieval visions of death, reappears in the closing scene. Like all true art, it not only believes; it also doubts.

Kimmo Korhonen

Fredrik Högberg

Film screens behind the musicians, soloists who interact with images of themselves, scores including choreography or spoken dialogue, warm and irresistible humour...

Fredrik Högberg creates spectacular multimedia works.

A

January evening in Tonhallen in Sundsvall. On the stage an orchestra, a conductor and a soloist. Behind the musicians there are three large display screens. The one in the middle shows a young couple dancing. On the surrounding screens the silhouettes of other dancing couples can be seen.

The Nordic Chamber Orchestra and the accordion virtuoso Jörgen Sundeqvist are playing, what Fredrik Högberg defines as polystylistic music in layer technique, where, among other things, a couple of well-known Swedish accordion waltzes have been mixed in. The pictures on the screens fluctuate throughout the whole concert. We see log-driving, a man riding a bicycle, bathing lovers, monotonous work in a factory, and a great deal more.

Fredrik Högberg’s latest work, The Accordion King, pays homage to the accordion virtuosos who lived and worked in the same part of northern Sweden where Högberg himself lives, and at the same time shows us fragments of times gone by.

A great sense of humour Midway through the concerto the orchestra falls silent and a commercial is shown on the screen, informing us that the sheet music for Worker Malin’s Waltz, a piece of music in traditional style included in the work, is for sale in the foyer.

Fredrik Högberg enjoys playing, both with the audience’s expectations and the conventions of art music, and does it with a great sense of humour. Other examples are when the trombonists in Konzert für Zwei Posaunen play facing each other with a rubber band fastened between their slides, and when the trumpeter in The Poem reads poetry, does magic tricks and juggles.

There is always time for a laugh. But there is seriousness and depth too, which has become increasingly obvious. As in his Melodram, for the saxophone quartet Rollin’ Phones and baritone Olle Persson, where he has not only written the music, but also the text. Both bear witness to his more vulnerable and sceptical sides.

Working with multimedia What has singled him out during these last few years is his predilection for working with multimedia.

“It is time for structural changes in classical music as well”, says Fredrik Högberg. “In the modern times in which we live there are a great many technical possibilities – so why not take advantage of them? I actually believe that everything the Internet and the computer do for creativity is an even bigger revolution than the printing press! To have a computer and only use it to make music would be like having a guitar and only playing on one string!”

Consequently, Högberg has gradually acquired the know-how to work with film, edit, record sound, animate, even to a certain extent to choreograph – after having collaborated on many occasions with the dance company Norrdans.

The multimedia features should not be seen as some kind of accompaniment to the music, or vice versa. No indeed, Fredrik Högberg is careful to point out that he works with universal art-works in which all parameters are equally important.

“For me colour, movement, story line, pitch and rhythm are all on equal footing. My works can be just listened to, the music must be good enough to stand by itself, but some of my works I would not even want to have issued on record since the visual element is just as important.”

Sometimes a lot happens on the screens, other times the images function more as a background.

“This is my way of ‘orchestrating’ – shifting focus between soloist, orchestra and screens, in the same way as you in your orchestral score may shift focus between the strings and the woodwind. “ Also, acts of creativity are paralleled – one day a film recording, the next day composing, etc.

A whirlpool of unexpected ideas Högberg stresses the importance of not always knowing in which direction everything is going.

Instead he sometimes lets chance and circumstances decide. As when he, for his concerto for piano, Ice Concerto , was going to film a

Photo: Marco Feklistoff

enjoys playing with expectations and conventions

burning piano falling from a great height onto the ice of the river Ångermanälven. The plan was to film the piano as it went through the ice, and later to play the film backwards on stage. But the ice was too thick and the piano was left standing on it. Fredrik Högberg was, however, reported to the police for a serious case of environmental crime. The charge was dropped, but he realised that the story could attract attention to what was happening with the glaciers at the poles.

In Ice Concerto, which was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Music Prize 2014, we are shown images and films on screens creating atmospheres with colours and animated dancers. We also get to see the piano crash-landing on the ice.

Many artists appreciate collaborating with Högberg. ”His brain is like a whirlpool of unexpected ideas”, says clarinetist Martin Fröst, who has had several works written especially for him (Invisible Duet, Dancing with Silent Purpose, Plast Musikk), including interaction with video-projections and choreography. Other artists who have collaborated with Högberg are Christian Lindberg, Ole Edvard Antonsen, Niklas Sivelöv, Malena Ernman and Øystein Baadsvik. Högberg is presently in the process of writing a violin concerto for Isabelle van Keulen also including film.

What is it like, then, to stage a multimedia work by Fredrik Högberg?

“It is not at all difficult today”, he says. “Modern concert stages have the required technology, for instance projectors and surround sound.”

Looking to the future he sees further possibilities. Like communicating with the audience directly through their smart phones and let the concert continue also after they have left the concert hall. “I want to challenge and develop the concert format”, says Fredrik Högberg.

Ingela Hofsten

Footnote: • Accordion King was premiered by the Nordic ChO/ Niklas Willén/Jörgen Sundeqvist on 22 January in Kramfors, Sweden.

• Ice Concerto received its German premiere by the MDR Leipzig SO/Kristjan Järvi/Niklas Sivelöv at Gewandhaus Leipzig on 22 January.

• Konzert für Zwei Posaunen will receive its German premiere on 24 July in Laeiszhalle Hamburg with Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra and Christian Lindberg and Nils Landgren as soloists.

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KALEVI AHO

FREDRIK HÖGBERG

Concerto for Trumpet and Symphonic Wind Orchestra (2011) Dur: 31’

The Poem – Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (2005) Dur: 25’

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This work is suitable for performance at both wind band and symphony orchestra concerts. It begins with singing, lyrical music. The quick second movement poses great challenges for the soloist, and has some elements of jazz. The calm orchestral writing is interrupted now and then by cadenza-like passages for the trumpet, and the work gradually grows more dynamic and dramatic towards the end. It is at this point that the soloist becomes most virtuosic.

ERIK BERGMAN Fantasia per tromba ed orchestra (2003) Dur: 19’ 2222-4330-13-str The Fantasia dates from the late period of Bergman’s composing career. It differs from the conventional concerto format, being a fantasia in which the trumpet ranges from two solo cadenzas to a final build-up in which each section of the orchestra draws a profile of its own. Different aspects of the trumpet are presented, from translucent chamber music-like intimacy to idyllic ‘Pastorale’ moments. The work reflects elements of the 20th century trend in trumpet interpretation and technique, not least of US jazz and French impressionism.

Lucernaris – Concerto for Trumpet, Live Electronics and Orchestra (2009) Dur: 30’ 2222-4231-12-pf/cel-str Lucernaris has been described as a wandering from darkness towards light, and consists of two parts. The first is darker and heavier, opening on the flugelhorn, and ending with a very effective section where the soloist plays against himself in a rhythmic pre-recorded loop. Building up a huge climax, it leads over to a short live-electronic interlude. In the second part it starts to lighten up in the solo part and a shimmer comes over the orchestra. The work concludes with a beautiful chorale-like section where the soloist leaves the stage, and in the very end we hear the muted trumpet playing in the distance. The work is intended to be performed with stage lighting.

DANIEL BÖRTZ Trumpet Concerto – Songs and Dances (1994-95) Dur: 27’ 2222-2000-11-0-str Songs and Dances is the first in Börtz’s tetralogy of solo concertos in which the word “songs” is included in the title. And it is obvious how Börtz lets the trumpet sing with expressive melancholy and beauty. But there are also sections dominated by primitivistic and dance-like rhythms. Börtz succeeds in creating real drama in the music. The trumpet engages in a dialogue with the orchestra, which Börtz at intervals lets disappear in order to make room for more trimmed-down sections.

MIKKO HEINIÖ Envelope for Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in Eb (2002) Dur: 20’ 3333-4331-13-hp-pf-str In this work Heiniö “envelops” the Trumpet Concerto by Joseph Haydn in his own music – a combination of wild, muscular sounds and vigorous rhythms – and the result is an exciting blend of old and new.

The whole work begins with Heiniö’s music (c. 12½ minutes), proceeds without a break to the Haydn concerto (c. 16 minutes), and ends again with Heiniö (c. 7½ minutes). Heiniö has also added a cadenza to the Haydn concerto and written bridge passages between the movements.

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Filip Draglund

The Poem is a trumpet concerto featuring both theatrics and humour, where the soloist, besides playing, also has to read a poem, do magic tricks, etc. But above all we are offered delightful and unashamedly entertaining music, containing everything from languorous melodies to rhythmical, swinging and very virtuosic sections. The concerto ends with the soloist showing off in a Dizzy Gillespie-inspired finale.

TIMOJUHANI KYLLÖNEN Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra “Cadiz” (2012) Dur: 22’ 1111-1110-1-2-str

This concerto was composed as a commission from the Gran Teatro Falla in Cadiz, where Kyllönen was composer-in-residence. The music is a blend of historical and Spanish moods and fanfares, seasoned with Latin percussions. The church bells of Cadiz were the first impetus to the work and they are echoed at the beginning of the Andante movement. The rhythmic fun and games lead to a slow, solemn Maestoso march, after which the fiery Spanish rhythms return and the work builds up to a final climax.

ROLF MARTINSSON TOBIAS BROSTRÖM

REVIEWS Photo: Elias Gammelgård

Works for trumpet and orchestra

Bridge – Trumpet Concerto No. 1 (1998) Dur: 27’

Staern’s playful Surprise In the first movement the soloist was forced, time and again, up into the highest register to show off his technique above the sophisticated instrumentation of the orchestra. Draglund managed this admirably.

In the slow middle movement he had occasion to let his instrument sing in an aria in binary form, in which the second part became fascinating nocturnal music as the soloist played with the mute on. The work was then rounded off with a playful finale where the soloist was given many opportunities to display his masterful art of phrasing. Helsingborgs Dagblad 27.4.

Benjamin Staern: Surprise World premiere: Helsingborg SO/Nazanin Aghakhani, soloist Filip Draglund, trumpet, 26.4.2015 Helsingborg, Sweden

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Bridge consists of three large sections linked together by one lyrical and one dramatic cadenza in the solo trumpet part. The first section takes its point of departure from a melodic monogram derived from Håkan Hardenberger´s name, and the music undulates through extensive orchestral culminations.

After that follows a slow section with many nuances of sonority, such as playing on so-called musical glasses. The concluding section is thrilling, extremely rapid and virtuosic.

BENJAMIN STAERN Surprise! (2015) Dur: 15’ 2222-2000-01-hp-str

Surprise! is a lyrical concertino in three movements with melody in focus and a relatively transparent instrumentation. It starts off with a virtuosic Fantasia, which is followed by the second movement’s slow Aria, where the trumpet gets to sing beautifully. The final movement is a clearly humorous and lively Scherzo, which is rounded off by a playful cadenza. Read also the review on this page.

HARRI WESSMAN Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (1987) Dur: 18’ 1111-1100-02-str

The first movement presents two themes including a “sailing theme” in which the composer’s aim was to make the music pleasant in a very summery way and to write as beautiful a melody as possible creating the feeling of sea and the bracing archipelago. In the slow movement the muted trumpet sings melancholy, sentimental thoughts in dialogue with a solo violin.

Wessman has also written another work for trumpet and orchestra: the Concertino Mirrors for strings.

Bravura concerto from Hakola During this megalith lasting over 40 minutes the soloist has time to coax out more notes in dialogue with the orchestra – and that means specifically double stops, flageolet notes and good old bravura echoes – than in any other Violin Concerto. Kaleva 28.3.

Kimmo Hakola: Violin Concerto Oulu Sinfonia/Johannes Gustavsson, sol. John Storgårds, 26.3.2015 Oulu, Finland

Powerful Message of Tormis Tormis has used a “chemical process”, the result of which is a fusion of folklore and the techniques of professional music, which is probably unique in the whole world. The performance was stunning and accentuated the suggestiveness that is characteristic of Tormis’ music…He is a painter of sounds, a master of colours...

Curse upon Iron infected the whole world back in the day. Even now, it has a powerful message that leaves you inwardly shaken. Postimees 16.2.

Veljo Tormis: Curse upon Iron , Autumn Landscapes etc. (85th birthday concert) Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir/Kaspars Putniņš, Youth & Chamber Choirs of Tallinn Music High School /Ingrid Kõrvits, Janne Fridolin, 13.2.2015 Viljandi, Estonia Photo: Scanpix/Postimees/Peeter Langovits

REPER TOIR E TIPS

The mood is, even at its fiercest, pensive and concentrated… placing oneself at the mercy of the notes is rewarding. Reflecting Landscapes and In der Winterzeit present perhaps the lustiest, but also the most fragile and gentlest sound phenomena… The contrasts are startling.

Keskisuomalainen 13.3.

Photo: Tord Martinsson

Startling contrasts Lisa Larsson and Rolf Martinsson

Kai Nieminen: Reflecting Landscapes, Capriccio, Astolfo sulla luna, Poems from Standstill Time and Silence, Waves of Sorrow… In memory of…, Notturno ”Uccelli della notte”, Epitaph, In der Winterzeit CD: Trio La Rue (Pilfink Records JJVCD-137)

Exhilarating Tales from Suburbia

Romantic and colourful Martinsson songs

Schnelzer’s approach to orchestration is exciting and at times unexpected...wind, brass and strings nailing their colours to the mast clearly throughout the work’s various dramatic turns... But the lyrical elements are strong too, carrying a potent sense of searching, free from metrical constraints, and also passion, culminating in some exhilarating moments of full-on freakout. 5:4 March 2015

The ten orchestral songs by Rolf Martinsson were inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poems and comprise movements that convey moods and colours from the symbolic poetry… he intelligently combines the late-romantic, impressionistic and colourful features with a song style that is above all characterised by recitative and related to content. Thüringsche Landeszeitung 15.4.

The SCO brought a lyrical depth to Martinsson’s vivid and animated score… the poignancy of the plight of Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore’s lovelorn protagonist in his collections of poems entitled ‘The Gardener’, was exquisitely explored by Larsson as she skillfully communicated the angst ridden bewilderment of a deep yet unrequited love. The Herald 10.5.

Rolf Martinsson: Orchestral Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson Staatskapelle Weimar/Stefan Solyom, sol. Lisa Larsson, soprano 12.4.2015 Weimar, Germany

Rolf Martinsson: Garden of Devotion UK premiere: Scottish CO/Olari Elts, sol. Lisa Larsson, soprano, 8.5.2015 Glasgow, UK

Aho’s Chamber Symphony in New York

The contrasts in a suburb between the rural idyll and the modern city teeming with life were here given an extraordinarily brilliant illustration in sound. With a formidable, skillfully handled palette of sonorities, calm tranquillity and unruly stress were coloured in incessant contrasts.

Upsala Nya Tidning 26.3

Photo: Stina Gullander

Albert Schnelzer: Tales from Suburbia World Premiere: BBC SO/Kirill Karabits, 13.3.2015 London, UK Swedish premiere: Swedish Radio SO/Daniel Harding, 25.3.2015 Uppsala and 28.3.2015 Stockholm, Sweden

Kalevi Aho’s remarkable Chamber Symphony No. 2 was the most unsettlingly brilliant piece here. Written for string orchestra, it’s a contemporary of John Adams’s classic Chamber Symphony and just as persuasive…With extended, stratospheric passages in the violins, this symphony is a punishingly difficult work, but you’d never have known it from the strings’ command. Shaped sensitively by Mr. Gilbert, it took on a powerful narrative quality, like Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” updated, darker and more ambiguous.

New York Times 8.3.

Meditative work by Kerem Per Nyström was the solo cellist in Lamento and interpreted the feeling of sorrow and lamentation in a way that was moving, poignant and very beautiful. The idea of performing Kerem’s concentrated and meditative work with a rhythmically lively piece by Bach was surprising and constituted a fine entity.

Oskarshamns-Tidningen 25.3.

Mihkel Kerem: Laudatio, Lamento Camerata Nordica/Terje Tønnesen, sol. Per Nyström, 23.3.2015 Kalmar, Sweden Mihkel Kerem

Kalevi Aho: Chamber Symphony No. 2 New York Philharmonic/Courtney Lewis, 7.3.2015 New York, USA

Astonishing Sandström Mass Mogens Dahl’s eponymous 18-strong chamber choir copes with every technical challenge of this fantastically difficult music. Sandström stretches every vocal part with his luscious harmonies, throwing in clusters, hissing, glissandos and bell-like harmonics for good measure. Such vocal dexterity is truly astonishing and well worth exploring and relishing.

Gramophone 2/2015

Albert Schnelzer/Swedish Radio SO

Sven-David Sandström: Nordic Mass CD: Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir/Mogens Dahl, Toke Møldrup, cello (EXLCD 30164)

HIGHLIGHTS

2/2015

Photo: Pål Solbakk

The performance was an action-packed show number, in which Harding got the music to swing on every pumping beat of the dance rhythm, but also captured every budding solo. A riffing ecstasy went through the strings, perhaps it was the stress of the big city. Dagens Nyheter 30.3.

N E W P U B L I C AT I O N S CHAMBER & INSTRUMENTAL

ORCHESTRAL

NEW CDs HUGO ALFVÉN Herd Maiden’s Dance

PASI LYYTIKÄINEN

LARSERIK LARSSON/ARR: MARTIN WILLERT

LARSERIK LARSSON

Jiän iänj (Jään ääni) - The Sound of Ice

Ur Nio sånger op. 35 (From Nine Songs op. 35) Serenad, Jag väntar månen, Kyssande vind

Concertino for Trombone

for soprano/baritone and orchestra Text: Hjalmar Gullberg (Sw)

Camera per trombone e pianoforte

for solo accordion FG 55011-238-4

SVENDAVID SANDSTRÖM Four Pieces for Piano Trio

GE 12664 (score) GE 12666 (study score)

GE 12254 (score and parts)

ROLF MARTINSSON HARRI WESSMAN

Garden of Devotion

Olli’s Solo - Tapio Jalas in Memoriam

on Poems by Rabindranth Tagore for soprano and string orchestra Text in English

for flute and piano FG 55011-239-1

These pieces were linked together as a homage to two important musicians Olli Pohjola and Tapio Jalas, but the pieces can also be performed separately.

Five Flute Pieces for Arja Pohjoismäki (Viisi huilukappaletta Arja Pohjoismäelle)

for flute and piano

for double bass and piano FG 55011-241-4

These two collections continue the line of easy and rewarding pedagogical pieces that Wessman has composed for different instruments.

MATTHEW WHITTALL Paysages abstraits

for piano FG 55011-242-1

Giverny

for oboe and piano FG 55011-243-8

BENJAMIN STAERN Humorous Monologue etc

Lars Karlin, trombone, Katarzyna Wieczorek, piano, Trombone Unit Hannover etc Genuin GEN 15337(“A Swedish Trombone Wilderness”)

GE 12515

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

GÖSTA NYSTROEM

Works for Organ (Fantasia, Three Interludes, Ciaccona, Summer Toccata, Sonatas 1-3)

Concerto ricercante

per pianoforte ed orchestra d’archi, hi, percussione, arpa e celesta

Fuga 9397 (“Stargazer”)

GE 12720 (score) GE 12722 (study score)

Key Ensemble/Teemu Honkanen

FG 55011-240-7

Five Double Bass Pieces for Amanda Thielme (Viisi kontrabassokappaletta Amanda Thiemelle)

ROLAND PÖNTINEN

Kirkkaat purot, sameat virrat Fuga 9395 (”Cast into the Sea”)

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA Ballad for Harp and Strings

MAGNUS LINDBERG

FG 55011-244-5 (string orchestra parts: 33221)

Sonatas

JEAN SIBELIUS

Pasi Eerikäinen, violin, Emil Holmström, piano

Cassazione

Alba SACD 379

for orchestra FG 55011-235-3 (score)

First edition of Sibelius’s orchestral Cassazione with double woodwinds, four French horns, two trumpets and three trombones.

BENJAMIN STAERN Sånger om bländvit kärlek (Songs of Dazzling White Love)

for alto and orchestra Text: Karin Boye (Swe)

JUHANI NUORVALA Boost, 7.13, Prélude non retouché, Solo per viola da gamba , Five Pieces for Flute and Clarinet, Concertino

Juho Laitinen, Jouko Laivuori, Tuuli Lindeberg, Topi Lehtipuu, Battalia, Kirmo Lintinen, Susanne Kujala, Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, Mikael Helasvuo, Heikki Nikula, Harri Mäki, Juhani Nuorvala, John Vihervä Alba ABCD 376 (“Nuorvala 7.13”)

GE 12323

SVENDAVID SANDSTRÖM

VOCAL & CHORAL

Four Songs of Love

South Dakota Chorale/ Brian A. Schmidt

MATHIAS ALGOTSSON Come My Love

for mixed choir a cappella Text: from Song of Songs (Eng) GE 12658

HARALD FRYKLÖF

SWEDISH PIANO MUSIC/SVENSK PIANOMUSIK Anthology including 67 piano pieces from the 18th century through modern times.

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

Editors: Hans Pålsson and Tina Sjögren ● Classics by Roman, Stenhammar, Peterson-Berger, Larsson etc ● Contemporary music by BorisovaOllas, Börtz, Schnelzer, Storm etc ● Introductions and instructions in Swedish and English ● Prepared in collaboration with the Malmö College of Music

Höstlig skärgård (Hommage à Jean Sibelius)

GE 12536

Sånger (Songs) Three songs for voice and piano

Sen har jag ej frågat mera (Text: J. L. Runeberg, Swe) Jag har varit (Text: Sven Lidman, Sw) I drömmar träden stå (Text: Wilhelm Ekelund, Sw) GE 12268

Pentatone PTC 5186530

JEAN SIBELIUS Complete Works for Mixed Choir

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir/Heikki Seppänen Ondine ODE 1260-2D

LOTTA WENNÄKOSKI Soie for flute and orchestra, Hava, Amor Omnia Suite

Finnish RSO/Dima Slobodeniouk, sol. Kerstin McCall, flute Ondine ODE 1259-2

for male choir Text: Tomas Tranströmer (Swe) FG 55011-228-5

For further information about our works or representatives worldwide check our web sites or contact us at:

Verbum

for mixed choir Text: D. H. Lawrence etc. (Lat) FG 55009-916-6 (revised edition)

TORSTEN SÖRENSON Mässa för måsar (Mass for Seagulls)

for voice and piano Text: Ebba Lindqvist (Swe) GE 1238

Gehrmans Musikförlag AB

Fennica Gehrman Oy Ab

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

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)