Nordic Highlights 3 2012

nordic

HIGHLIGHTS

3/2012

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

Hannu Pohjannoro – a creator of exquisite worlds of timbre

Albert Schnelzer at 40

NEWS Martinsson featured composer in Helsingborg

The Tapiola Sinfonietta has installed Veli-Matti Puumala for its 2012/2013 season. It will premiere a new commission by him in March 2013, and also in the pipeline are some chamber music, a performance of his Chant Chains for orchestra, and the double-bass concerto Taon. The Tapiola Sinfonietta this season celebrates its 25th anniversary, culminating in February 2013.

Music by Puumala can also be heard in Austria at the Wien Modern festival. The Oesterreichisches Ensemble für neue Musik is to play his Ghirlande with Johannes Kalitzke conducting on 11 November.

Gehrmans News in English 2012 Echo Award

Daniel Börtz’s Nemesis Divina for recorder and mixed choir is in­cluded in Michala Petri’s collaborative project with Stephen Layton and the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, “The Nightingale” (OUR Recordings 6.220605). The CD was selected as “World Premiere Recording of the Year” by the Deutsche Novelties by Kalevi Aho Phono-Akademie for the 2012 Kalevi Aho has composed an unusual concerto for an unusual solo instrument. Eight Seasons for theremin and chamber orchestra was commissioned by ECHO Awards. the Lapland Chamber Orchestra on the initiative of theremin expert Carolina Eyck. John Storgårds will conduct the premiere in Rovaniemi on 10 October.

Aho has produced three completed versions of the closing fugue, ConBlomstedt gives US trapunctus XIV, in Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge: for organ, for saxophone premiere of Poesis quartet, and for strings. Jan Lehtola gave the first performance of the organ Herbert Blomstedt will conversion in the Altenberg Schlosskirche, which has one of the most valuable duct the San Francisco Symremaining organs once played by Bach, on 2 August. The Raschèr Quartet phony Orchestra in the US premiered the sax version in Hamburg on 11 May. The string-orchestra premiere of Ingvar Lidholm´s version has not yet been played. experimental classic Poesis in Davies Symphony Hall on 11Kortekangas commission 13 April. He will follow up with for Minnesota another three performances Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota with Staatskapelle Dresden in Orchestra have commissioned Olli June. Blomstedt gave the world Kortekangas to write an orchestral work premiere of the work with the for the autumn 2014 season. It is to be Royal Stockholm Philharmonic scored for two singers, symphony orchesin 1964 and has performed it tra and male choir and the theme will be with many different orchestras immigration. Kortekangas’s most recent since then, most recently with major US premiere was the symphonic the Oslo Philharmonic last Nocantata Seven Songs for Planet Earth vember. heard in Washington in May 2011.

Photo: Fimic/Saara Vuorjoki

Photo © San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

In October Gehrmans will launch a news site in English. Gehrmans News will feature the latest information concerning our composers and their works. You can read about premieres, concerts, festivals, new commissions and CD recordings; you can watch videos, listen to sound samples, read Highlights and much more. Visit Gehrmans News at: news.gehrmans.se/en

nordic

HIGHLIGHTS

Sven-David Sandström returns to Bloomington

3/2012

NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Cover photos: Angela Sterling (Igone de Jongh & Marijn Rademaker, Dutch National Ballet), Fimic/ Maarit Kytöharju (Hannu Pohjannoro), Hans Lindén (Albert Schnelzer) 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 2012

H i ghl i ghts

3/2012

Photo: Ewa Rudling

Sound samples , video clips and other material are available at www.gehrmans.se/highlights www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights

Sven-David Sandström has recently returned to Indiana University in Bloomington for a new three-year period as professor of composition. The vibrant artistic and intellectual community at IU and most importantly, the opportunity with a new generation of composition students – not to mention an early mandatory retirement age in Sweden – made the move an easy decision. As Sandström turns 70 in October, he shows no signs of slowing down. To mark his birthday, he will attend the Swedish premiere of his Six Pieces for Piano Trio and Orchestra, with Trio Con Brio Copenhagen and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic/Thomas Dausgaard in Stockholm Concert Hall. You will find more Sandström tribute concerts in our calendar at www.gehrmans.se/en/calendar.

Photo: Saara Vuorjoki

Puumala in Tapiola Sinfonietta residency

Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra has included three solo works by Rolf Martinsson in the 2012/2013 season programme. Dan Styffe is the soloist in the Swedish premiere of the Double Bass Concerto on 27 September. Martin Fröst will perform the Concert Fantastique on 9 December and on the orchestra’s tour to Festspielhaus Salzburg in January. On 3 February soprano Lisa Larsson will make a guest appearance in Helsingborg with Martinsson’s Orchestral Songs to Poems by Emily Dickinson.

Photo: Emelie Joenniemi

Gehrmans has published Johan Ullén´s The Deadly Sins, seven tangos for piano trio from 2006. Ullén has found connections be­ tween the deadly sins in the Bible and the Argentinian tango, where pride, lust, anger and covetousness are typical ingredients both in the old texts and in the attitude of the music itself. The Deadly Sins has already been performed on about thirty occasions by various ensembles in Sweden, Norway, Italy and Japan. In November it will be recorded by the Swedish Television, performed by Trio Nova to whom the work is dedicated. Johan Ullén belongs to Sweden’s foremost pianists but is also active as composer of chamber operas, songs, orchestral and chamber music.

Hakola opera about Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Madetoja anniversary concert The Oulu Symphony Orchestra honours the 125th anniversary of the birth of Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja on 4 October with a concert that includes his Symphony No. 3, The Chess Game and Lyric Suite.

The conductor is Markus Lehtinen.

Jörgen Dafgård – Composer of Spring 2013 Jörgen Dafgård has been chosen “Composer of Spring 2013” at the Berwald Concert Hall in Stockholm.

The programme will include among others a new com­mission for the Swedish Radio Symphony Orch­estra, a Clarinet Concerto for Andreas Sundén, and two performances of the prizewinning orchestral work Veils, under the direction of Manfred Honeck.

Photo: Emelie Dafgård

Johan Ullén’s Deadly Sins

Distance teaching Colourstrings

Kimmo Hakola is composing a monologue opera about one of the greatest Finnish painters, Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931). Entitled Akseli, the opera will be premiered at the Ateneum Theatre attached to the Finnish National Gallery in Helsinki on 28 February 2013 – the “flag day” of Finland’s national epic, The Kalevala. Cast in the title role will be Jorma Hynninen. The opera is based on a libretto by Pekka Hako telling of seven moments in the artist’s life, his mindscapes and visions. The events are set in his studio and in his imagination – in Paris, Berlin and Africa.

Distance teaching of the Colourstrings method invented by Géza Szilvay began in September 2012.

In this International Minifiddlers project Szilvay coaches groups of children and their local teachers by video in real time in ten countries. The programme is also being documented for TV. The project provides in-service training for musicians and teachers and is a unique opportunity for children in various countries to benefit from Szilvay’s first-class tuition.

Birthday tribute to Heininen As a tribute to Paavo Heininen, who will be 75 on 13 January 2013, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is to perform two new commissions by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) in its concert on 11 January: Kaukametsä and Musta kehtolaulu (Black Lullaby). They both are parts of his big Te Deum Creaturae based on texts by Helvi Hämäläinen and Aleksis Kivi. The FRSO and the Tapiola Chamber Choir will be conducted by Anna-Maria Helsing.

P r e m ie r es Autumn 2012 FREDRIK SIXTEN

Psalm 150 (Praise ye the Lord)

Nacka Chamber Choir/Per Rönnblom, Gunilla Tornving, organ 2.9. Stockholm, Sweden

Toccata and Fugue on B.A.C.H

Lars G. Fredriksson, organ 9.9. Härnösand, Sweden

ROLF MARTINSSON

Golden Harmony – Soprano Saxophone Concerto No. 1

Norrland Opera SO/Christoph Altstaedt, sol. Anders Paulsson 6.9. Umeå, Sweden

Veli-Matti Puumala

Rope

Finnish RSO/Hannu Lintu 7.9. Helsinki, Finland New work for chamber orchestra

Ostrobothnian ChO/Tuomas Hannikainen 17.11. Kokkola, Finland

Per Gunnar PETERSSON

Cry Out

Olaus Petri Vocalis/Mats Bertilsson, Mattias Wager, organ 9.9. Reykjavik, Iceland

JÖRGEN DAFGÅRD

Esprit

Nordic Chamber Ensemble 27.9. Sundsvall, Sweden

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM

Five Fantasy Pieces for Ensemble

IU New Music Ensemble/David Dzubay 27.9. Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Kalevi Aho

Eight Seasons (Kahdeksan vuodenaikaa), Concerto for Theremin and Chamber Orch.

Chamber Orchestra of Lapland/John Storgårds, sol. Carolina Eyck 10.10. Rovaniemi, Finland Gejia, Chinese Images for Orchestra

NCPA Orchestra 20.12. Beijing, China

Mikko Heiniö

Event Horizon, for wind band and mixed

choir ad lib.

Finnish Navy Band/Juha Kangas 10.11. Turku, Finland

Harri Vuori

Photo: Dutch National Ballet/Angela Sterling

Ballet music by Tüür and Rautavaara The Dutch National Ballet’s 2012/2013 season kicked off with a special Hans Van Manen programme consisting of highlights from his choreographies, such as Two Pieces for HET. The music includes Illusion by Erkki-Sven Tüür, and there are nine performances in all between 21 September and 5 October 2012.

Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Fiddlers was the music chosen for Van Manen’s choreography Variations for two couples premiered in Amsterdam in February this year.

Die Elfenmusik

Hyvinkää Orchestra/Tuomas Pirilä 18.11. Hyvinkää, Finland

Olli Kortekangas

Sonata for Cello and Piano

Samuli Peltonen, cello, Anna-Mari Murdvee, piano 1.12. Helsinki Music Centre, Finland

Igone de Jongh & Marijn Rademaker

H i ghl i ghts

3/2012

Albert Schnelzer at 40 Photo: Hans Lindén

Pink Floyd, thrilling suburbs and Paul Auster, these are the latest sources of inspiration for Albert Schnelzer who turned 40 in June.

H

ow does it feel to no longer be “young and promising”?

– Great! Of course I can’t deny that it feels a bit absurd when composers who have been middleaged for quite some time are still called “young and promising”. To be a composer of course involves a continual striving to renew oneself; and hopefully I will become better at expressing myself musically with every passing year and every new work.

Tales from Suburbia is a joint commission by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra scheduled for the 2013/2014 season. Is the music as stimulating for the imagination as the title suggests?

– Tales from Suburbia are indeed fairy tales from the suburbs. What is interesting about suburbs is often how different extremes meet, and sometimes collide, for example the beautiful and the ugly; the pastoral idyll and the grey cement; the peaceful, secure and the violent and threatening. As you know, Mahler wanted his symphonies to embrace a whole world, but I am satisfied with the suburbs.

Are we going to recognise Albert Schnelzer in this new work, or will there be some surprises?

– Starting with the Cello Concerto for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra last year, it felt like I had found my very own tone language that I wanted to continue to develop. Long lines and floating sonorities that took the listener on a journey. To be sure, there are hopefully novelties in all the new works that I will write, but of course it is hard to determine how conspicuous these will be for the audience.

During the last few years you have above all composed works for chamber orchestra, but in H i ghl i ghts

3/2012

Tales from Suburbia, as well as in the cello concerto Crazy Diamond , you have resorted to the symphony orchestra. How was it to get to use the palette of the whole orchestra?

– Great fun and inspiring! To compose is a little like painting oneself in tones, and then having a whole orchestral palette to work with affords an almost unlimited number of possibilities. Then, of course, every type of ensemble has its fascination, so I also hope to be able to write more chamber music in the future.

Claes Gunnarsson and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra premiered your highly acclaimed Cello Concerto last December. The subtitle Crazy Diamond reveals that there are connections to Pink Floyd. Can you elaborate?

– The Cello Concerto was for me a deep recollection of my own teenage period when groups like Pink Floyd and Genesis were on good terms with Beethoven, Stravinsky and one or another jazz tune. The song “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” is Pink Floyd’s homage to the former member, Syd Barrett, who had to leave the group early on when the drugs and a worsening mental illness got the upper hand. Each movement in the concerto has a title that also is a quotation from Pink Floyd’s song lyrics and these have functioned as a kind of catalyst to liberate my own music, and by means of this my own history.

In your next commission from the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra you will once again get to collaborate with the soprano Susanna Andersson.

Have you decided on the texts yet, and will it be a song cycle or a through-composed work?

– It will most likely be a song cycle, as I think that

this form is eminently suitable when song and voice are involved. I have not yet decided exactly which texts I will include, but it will probably be poetry by Paul Auster. I find his texts enormously exciting, evocative and very unpredictable. They also have pure musical qualities.

You have not written so much vocal music. What is it like to work with the human voice? And how is it when you have to relate to a text?

– I think it is tremendously inspiring with poetry, prose and literature in general! Many of my “pure” orchestral and chamber works have literary influences; so working with the voice does not actually feel that unfamiliar.

You are not only a composer, but also an enthusiastic runner. Next race on your agenda is the Berlin Marathon. How does the running affect your composing?

– I have always had a great need to exercise; I am rather restless by nature! But it is nothing that I think about a lot, it is a little like brushing your teeth. It is hard to say whether the running influences my composing. Probably not. But I feel better, and that is enough for me. Like the author Haruki Murakami I say, “I am an unhealthy soul in a healthy body”!

K r istin a F r y kl ö f

More information on www.albertschnelzer.se

Hannu Pohjannoro P

– a creator of exquisite worlds of timbre

ohjannoro’s fully chromatic idiom, his rich rhythmic constructions and precisely notated shades of timbre link his music with the Modernist tradition. For him, searching for new expressive devices and questioning tradition are not, however, ends in themselves. On the contrary, familiarity with tradition means much to him.

“The search for the new associated with Modernism is a romantic idea. I don’t really believe in the chances of finding anything new, except to a very limited degree: rather, I’m looking for things that are new to me in my new works. Nor are extremes necessarily interesting. Most interesting is the strange, that which defies explanation, that cannot really be grasped.”

In such early works as eilisen linnut (the birds of yesterday, 1994) for chamber ensemble and syksyn huoneet (rooms of autumn, 1997) for string quartet, Pohjannoro adopted a dense, post-Serialist idiom akin to that of Webern. Melodies flash past in little snatches, and the textures change in quick cuts. The tone is clear and bright.

“Webern meant a lot to me when I was young.

So did Kurtág and Feldman. An interest in aphoristic things has, in other respects, too, been a typical trait for me, and things like haiku and tanka poetry interest me.”

Not for nothing does Pohjannoro allude to Japanese poetry, for the poetic titles of his works (which are, almost without exception, written without any uppercase letters) could well be lines from haikus or tankas. There are, however, no programmatic allusions or secret meanings hidden behind the titles.

Though the music of Pohjannoro has continued to bear certain basic stylistic traits, there have been changes at the level of expression. The chamber concerto tuulenpolku (the wind trail, 2000) already has a more clear-cut dramatic structure and breathes in broader sweeps, its harmonies are softer and its rhythms more muscular. An interesting detour into the world of microintervals is hämäränpyörre (twilight whirl, 1999) for clarinet and string orchestra.

“I am moving away from miniature worlds towards broader formal spans and entities. The units of my music are expanding,” says Pohjannoro of his musical development.

In recent years, Pohjannoro has composed for a variety of instrumental combinations. time exposures (2005) is scored for percussion quartet, valo katsoo (the light is beholding all, 2008) for two guitars, and Ecce Homo (2008) for chamber orchestra. valoa vasten aika (time through light,

Photo: Fimic/Maarit Kytöharju

From aphorism to broader sweeps

Tone colour and detail are among the key words chosen by Hannu Pohjannoro (b. 1963) to describe his music. A composer known for his exquisite worlds of timbre, his graphically etched lines and polished details, he avoids lavish displays of emotion and instead focuses on the lyrical poetry of little gestures, on volatility and limit states – things that cannot be defined precisely.

2011), a commission from the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, is for a solo-like horn quartet and orchestra.

“The expression and gestures are broader, and the amount of information given in the notation spreads, as it were, into a larger space. There is more room and time to hear and experience the sound.”

ally careful consideration and I want to be just as precise. The timbre and rhythmic aspects are important to me as a composer, but of course I am also influenced by the content of the poem; both the poem and the music must have a certain feel. I have to lay myself open to poetry, and wait to see what the text conjures forth.”

Making a little go a long way

Various technical challenges have set him reflecting on the basic premises of composition: “Just recently I’ve been trying to establish a more immediate approach to composing. Not thinking things to death in advance. I acknowledge the polarity of constructivism and the aesthetics of expression but also the fact that both are needed: the friction between them is a fundamental element of my composing.”

Pohjannoro’s musical thinking is fired by the classical ideal of making as much as possible out of as little as possible. His works are marked by consistency, the effective utilisation of a certain basic corpus of material. There are no allusions to other music.

“What I’m looking for is not simple complexity but complexity in the encounter of simple things.”

The age-old tension between word and music appeals to Pohjannoro in vocal music, though he has so far composed rather little in this genre.

“I treat the poem with great respect. The poet has given each detail, each comma and indent, re-

K i m m o K o r h o nen

H i ghl i ghts

3/2012

Repe r t o i r e tips * also available for voice and piano

Kalevi Aho Kysymysten kirja

(Book of Questions, 2006) 28’

Song cycle for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra: 1111-1000-01-str Text: Pablo Neruda, transl. by K. Kallio (Finnish) A meditative, philosophical song cycle based on Pablo Neruda’s book of the same name asking mysterious and enigmatic questions. Aho’s focused, lucid music gives space for the text and the combination makes the listener come out in goose pimples again and again.

*Kiinalaisia lauluja (Chinese Songs, 1997) 20’

soprano and orchestra: 2221-2211-01-1-str Text: Old Chinese poems, transl. by P. Nieminen (Finnish) These are songs charged with delicacy and passion. The underlying mood becomes gradually darker from the initial radiance until the sixth song finds a new light and ends in a mood of heavenly bliss.

Daniel Börtz Kassandras spådom

(The Prophecy of Cassandra/ Die Prophezeiung der Kassandra, 2001/2005) 13’

alto and orchestra: 2222-2210-12-str Text: Aischylus/Emil Zilliacus (Swedish/English/German) A poignant and dramatic scene from Börtz´s acclaimed oratorio His Name Was Orestes, in which Cassandra predicts the murder of Agamemnon in his bath and her own death. The music matches the dark mood of the text with its expressive vocal part and evocative orchestration.

Kimmo Hakola *Kivi-laulut

(Seven Songs to Texts by Aleksis Kivi, 2007/2011) 27’

baritone and strings (hp-str), chamber orchestra (2222-2210- 11-1-str ) or symphony orchestra (3333-4331-12-1-pf-str) Text: Aleksis Kivi (Finnish) Hakola has translated Kivi’s most beautiful poems into Romantic language. The songs have catchy, folk-like melodies and a whole range of emotions: playful waltz rhythms, heart-rending melancholy, defiant bravado and amusing musical allusions. The cycle ends with the woeful Song of my Heart that is like a hypnotic poem reaching across into the world beyond.

Mikko Heiniö *Syyskesän laulu

(Late Summer Song, 2008) 17’

baritone (or bass) and orchestra: 2222-2200-01-str Text: Lassi Nummi (Finnish) A vocalist’s dream: lyrical expression combined with beautiful, elastic orchestration and Nummi’s tender texts. The sensitive, impressionistic mood is airy and heedful throughout. This is music with subtle gestures, and everything in the score is carefully thought-out and weighty.

Vuelo de Alambre (Barbed-wire Flight, 1983) 28’

soprano and orchestra: 3333-4331-13-1-cel/pf-str Texts: anonymous Chilean prisoners (Spanish) The powerful human emotions of the texts are admirably portrayed in the music: longing, grotesque eroticism, a mother’s despair and a spark of hope. The music radiates vocal and rhythmic brilliance, and is not without some surprises.

Timo-Juhani Kyllönen *Amor vivus (2007) 26’

baritone and orchestra: 2222-4230-11-str Text: Maritza Núñez, transl. by M. Rossi (Spanish/Finnish) Kyllönen’s erotic song cycle consists of settings of poems by Maritza Núñez. The mood is intimate and the orchestral palette reflects the delicious world of the poems, steeped in colour. The sensual beat is always present and there are also tango elements in the last movement.

Ingvar Lidholm stund när ditt inre

(hour when your soul, 1998) 15’

baritone and orchestra: 2222-4330-11-1-str Text: Erik Johan Stagnelius (Swedish) A sublime and highly expressive monologue, where Lidholm conjures up the feelings of a person in a deep crisis and the hope that ultimately returns. The title itself gives an indication of the sparseness that is so typical of the musical style.

NILS LINDBERG Three Shakespeare Sonnets (2011) 15’

soprano and string orchestra Text: William Shakespeare (English) Three sensitive and gorgeous Shakespeare settings, with Lindberg’s unmistakable blend of Swedish folk tone and jazz. Includes a new arrangement of his much loved Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day.

Photo Festium/Heikki Tuuli

Some gems for voice and orchestra

REVIEWS

Rolf Martinsson Orchestral Songs to Poems by Emily Dickinson (2009) 26’

soprano and orchestra: 2222-4220-12-1-pf/cel-str Text: Emily Dickinson (English) A song cycle comprising 10 songs divided into three parts: Songs of Love, Songs of Nature and Songs of Life. Martinsson uses a broad palette of timbre to give the delicate shades and nuances in the texts a sounding mirror image. The aphoristic texts have clearly left their mark on the work, in respect to both form and instrumentation.

Seppo Nummi *Vuoripaimen (Der Berghirt/The

Mountain Shepherd, 1951/2004) 15’

tenor and orchestra: 1111-0000-01-hpd-str arr. Pekka Haapasalo. Text: Lassi Nummi, transl. by G.L. Buckbee, V. Steinbock (Finnish/English/German) Nummi originally wrote these songs for voice and piano when he was only 20. A pastoral fantasy set in China, it has elements of Baroque music and represents the sensitive marriage of word and music.

According to Tommi Hakala, The Mountain Shepherd is a hidden treasure and one of the finest works in the Finnish song repertoire.

Gösta Nystroem *Sånger vid havet

(Songs by the Sea, 1942) 14’

mezzo-soprano and orchestra: 1111-2100-11-1-cel-str Text: Ebba Lindkvist, Edith Södergran, Ragnar Jändel, Hjalmar Gullberg (Swedish/English) Five songs that glide between the bright atmosphere of the archipelago and the shady shores, from turbulence to consolation. They are distinctive pictures, using almost impressionistic colours and a hint of Nordic lyricism. The vocal contour, the timbre of the orchestra and the poetic visions are fused into an entity of divine geometry.

*Det enda (L´unique au monde/L´unico/ To the Sea/Das Einzige, 1947-48) 9’

mezzo-soprano and orchestra: 3333-4221-11-1-pf-cel-str Text: Ebba Lindqvist (Sw/Fr/It/Eng/Ger) To the Sea is the centrepiece of Nystroem’s grand Sinfonia del Mare, but can also be performed separately. It belongs to the most beautiful pieces ever written in Swedish music with its quiet, billowing vocal part and the undulating swells in the colourful orchestral texture.

Ture Rangström *Vingar i natten (Nächtliche Flügel/ Wings in the Night, 1917/25) 3’

medium voice and orchestra: 2000-2110-10-str

*Melodi (Melodie, 1917/25) 3’

medium voice and orchestra: 2121-1000-01-1-str Text: Bo Bergman, transl. by T. Rangström (Swedish/German) Rangström’s songs constitute a high-water mark in the great Swedish song tradition. The music is closely fitted to the inflection and rhythm of the texts in a fashion that gives them a moving directness. The melancholy, dramatic and stormy Wings in the Night, and the contrasting bright and lyrical Melody, rank among his finest settings.

Cantus arcticus now a virtuoso piano suite The Cantus arcticus was originally a concerto for birds and orchestra, and the birds cried on tape and over loudspeakers… The third movement was a dazzling feat by Laura Mikkola, for arranging the multi-level orchestral texture for the piano made the work a veritable virtuoso piece.

Helsingin Sanomat 16.6.

Einojuhani Rautavaara: Cantus arcticus (arrangement for piano & CD by Peter Lönnqvist)

World premiere: Laura Mikkola, piano, 14.6.2012 Iitti Music Festival, Finland

High jazzy jinks and sparkling pianism The flood of notes issuing from the grand piano is like a sparkling stream. Tuomela makes full use of the effects of a sinfonietta-sized orchestra. The Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä sound was sumptuous, at times almost monumental. The conductor, soloist and orchestra clearly revelled in this live performance, and there were even some jazzy high jinks.

Keskisuomalainen 11.5.

Tapio Tuomela: Piano Concerto

Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä/Tapio Tuomela, sol. Iiro Rantala, 9.5.2012 Jyväskylä, Finland

Convincing Pettersson interpretation It is obvious that Allan Pettersson´s music is home ground for the orchestra. I have never heard the symphony played so beautifully and tenderly.

Helsingborgs Dagblad 29.8.

Allan Pettersson: Symphony No. 6

CD: Norrköping SO/Christian Lindberg (BIS-SACD-1980) H i ghl i ghts

3/2012

Pungent and beautiful The work is a rewarding mixture of pungency and beauty, mighty chains of chords and stunning climaxes.

Helsingin Sanomat 9.6.

Kalevi Aho: Double Concerto

Intimate Heiniö The Piano Trio is one of Heiniö’s greatest chamber works; the way he adapts his material to suit different moods is particularly successful and he cleverly exploits his line-up. ReLay is a work with a world of ideas that is rich, beautiful, even philosophical …Canzona is an intimate piece that could well be played at a funeral. It is not, however, a funeral march; it is rhythmical and richly nuanced in typical Heiniö manner.

Turun Sanomat 13.8.

Mikko Heiniö: Chamber music (Duo per violino e pianoforte, Piano Trio, ReLay, Canzona)

Juha-Pekka Vikman, violin, Ramona Wolin-Takala, viola, Matti Moilanen & Jukka Perksalo, cello, Pasi Helin, piano, 11.8.2012 Turku Music Festival, Finland

Atmospheric Luceat It’s a delight that Mikko Heiniö’s minimalistic and atmospheric Luceat has finally been recorded.

Finnish Music Quarterly 2/2012 Mikko Heiniö: Luceat, for mixed choir

CD: Key Ensemble/Teemu Honkanen (FUGA 9302 “Missa Baltica”)

Inventive Staern This is music of great complexity, covering a broad variety of rhetorical moods…We can only hope that other performers will join Simpson in providing more opportunities to begin to appreciate the inventive complexities of this composer Examiner.com 1.7.

Benjamin Staern: Arpalinea

With Swedish composer Fredrik Högberg´s “Hitting the First Base” from 2008 we have ranged beyond modernism and entered the humorous part of contemporary music, with Dan Styffe as our travel guide and an impressive soloist in a rhythmically vivacious and wildly virtuoso concerto for double bass.

Bergens Tidene 12.6.

Fredrik Högberg: Hitting the First Base

Aho’s compact chamber symphonies

CD: Tromsø ChO/Kolbjörn Holthe, sol. Dan Styffe (Simax PSC 1302)

The three chamber symphonies grab listeners with their compactness. The string orchestra sounds bare at times, and at other times it expands into masterful dimensions. …In the 3rd Aho is revealed as a composer who senses poetic visions of nature and a colorist of distinction.

Finnish Music Quarterly 2/2012 Kalevi Aho: Chamber Symphonies 1-3

Sixten’s gorgeous Requiem

CD: Tapiola Sinfonietta/Stefan Ashbury & Jean-Jacques Kantorow, sol. John-Edward Kelly (BIS-SACD-1126)

Sixten’s Requiem is indeed an eloquent and powerful work… His Requiem, with neither presumption nor ostentation, presupposes the history of requiems that have come before it; as a composer, Sixten attaches modernity to the old with ease and has produced a major work that, extending beyond its liturgical origins, is gorgeous…

TheatreScene.net 25.6.

Fredrik Sixten: Requiem

US premiere: SONOS ChO and Choir/Erich Ochsner, sol. Christina Arethas, soprano, Eric Jordan, bass, 8.6.2012 New York, USA

Wiklund’s tuneful and sweeping piano concertos Wiklund really deserves this reappraisal: he has Rachmaninov’s talent for big, sweeping statements and Grieg’s way with a sweet melody. It’s a winning combination, beautifully captured here by Martin Sturfält and the Helsingborg players under the sure direction of increasingly interesting violinist-turnedconductor Andrew Manze.

The Guardian 3.6.

Adolf Wiklund: Piano Concertos Nos 1 and 2

CD: Helsingborg SO/ Andrew Manze, sol. Martin Sturfält (Hyperion CDA 67828)

Photo: Anders Eliasson

Photo: Riitta Heiniö

Lahti SO/Okko Kamu, sol. Arto Noras & Frans Helmerson, cello, 7.6.2012 Naantali Music Festival, Finland

Humorous Högberg

US premiere: Elliot Simpson, guitar, 30.6.2012 San Francisco, USA

Dazzling Martinsson concertos Rolf Martinsson’s Double Bass Concerto is a dazzling highlight on Dan Styffe´s new CD… His music is characterised by immense stylistic mastery and exceptional craft of musical composition… The concerto opens in an almost apocalyptic atmosphere and the stage is set for an enormously virtuoso and spectacular work, full of colour and dynamics.

Kulturkompasset 19.8.

Rolf Martinsson: Double Bass Concerto

Photo: Mats Bäcker

CD: Oslo PhO/Jukka-Pekka Saraste, sol. Dan Styffe (Simax PSC 1324) It sounded at times like a macho version of The Flight of the Bumblebee, but also offered some really charming and beautiful strains, and was a fantastic display of most of the sounds that are

possible to produce on the instrument. This was real showmanship and the audience in the packed cathedral responded with a standing ovation. It set a high standard for the rest of the festival.

Norsk Rikskringkasting 7.8.

Rolf Martinsson: Suite Fantastique

Martin Fröst, clarinet, Christian Ihle Handland, piano, 6.8.2012 Stavanger International Chamber Music Festival, Norway

A work of great beauty and surprising effects… gorgeous harmonies and almost nature infused lyrical passages captures the listeners…suggestive music with a stunning palette of colours.

Västerbottenskuriren 7.9.

Rolf Martinsson: Soprano Saxophone Concerto – Golden Harmony

World premiere: Norrland Opera SO/Christoph Altstaedt, sol.

Anders Paulsson, 6.9.2012 Umeå, Sweden

H i ghl i ghts

3/2012

new p u bli c a ti o ns C H OR A L

Olli Kortekangas

FREDRIK SIXTEN

Three Studies

Bo Hansson

I den bleka vintern/In the Bleak Midwinter

for children’s chorus (Eng)

For as the Rain

for mixed choir and piano. Text: Christina Rossetti/Jonas Jonson (Swe/Eng)

FG 979-0-55011-118-9

for descant choir, mixed choir and organ Text: Isaiah (Eng)

GE 12120

PER GUNNAR PETERSSON

GE 12123

Cry Out for mixed choir and organ

MATS HÅLLING

GE 12138

Unforgotten

for mixed choir a cappella Text: Robert W Service (Eng)

Text: Isaiah (Eng)

Il est né – French Christmas Suite

ALLAN PETTERSSON

Symphony No. 6

BIS-CD-1946

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Norrköping SO/Christian Lindberg BIS-SACD-1980

Nemesis Divina

Nattvarden (Communion),

Our Recordings 6.220605 (“The Nightingale”)

Ehtoohymni)

Danish National Vocal Ensemble/ Two Extracts from the Stephen Layton, Michala Petri, recorder Vigil (Avuksihuutopsalmi,

FREDRIK HÖGBERG

Hitting the First Base

Tromsø ChO/Kolbjørn Holte, sol. Dan Styffe

Simax PSC 1302 (“Perspectives”)

Olli Kortekangas

Offertorium

Aulis Sallinen

Chaconne

Kari Vuola, organ

Alba ABCD 343 (”Contrasts”)

ROLF MARTINSSON

Double Bass Concerto

Oslo PhO/Jukka-Pekka Saraste, sol. Dan Styffe Simax PSC 1324 (Secret Memories)

Kai Nieminen

Riflessioni sul nome Amedeo Modigliani, for guitar solo

Patrik Kleemola, guitar

for female choir (Est/Eng)

GE 12028

Organ Music: Three Interludes for Organ, Alles Vergängliche

DANIEL BÖRTZ

Kolm eesti mängulaulu/ Three Estonian Game Songs

for mixed choir a cappella Text: Paul Celan (Ger)

NEW CDs Jan Lehtola, organ

Veljo Tormis

Tenebræ

GE 12147

Kalevi Aho

GE 12050

Karin Rehnqvist

Three traditional French Christmas songs in arrangements for mixed choir and organ, or choir and six woodwinds Texts in French and Swedish

Sibelius-Akatemian Kuopion osaston Kamarikuoro/ Heikki Liimola

Alba NCD 45 (”Sing a New Song”)

FG 979-0-55011-109-7

S COR E S TOBIAS BROSTRÖM

Samsara for violin, marimba and orchestra

GE 11924 (score) GE 12166 (solo violin) GE 12167 (solo marimba)

Magnus Lindberg

ANDERS ELIASSON

Ritratto

Symphony No 3

Symphony No 1 in C Minor Symphony No 2 – The Legendary

FG 979-0-55011-077-9

for soprano saxophone and orchestra

Zona

GE 12024

FG 979-0-55011-078-6

GE 11668

EDUARD TUBIN

(Complete works vol. I)

Veljo Tormis

Incantatio maris aestuosi, Kord me tuleme tagasi, Kolm mul oli kaunist sõna, Vastlalaulud, Pikse litaania, Viru vanne, Helletused, Raua needmine, Muistse mere laulud, Hamleti laulud etc.

Orphei Drängar Male-voice Choir/ Cecilia Rydinger Alin BIS-SACD 1993 (“Curse upon Iron”)

ADOLF WIKLUND

Piano Concertos Nos 1 and 2

Helsingborg SO/Andrew Manze, sol. Martin Sturfält, piano Hyperion CDA67828

C H A M B E R & IN S T R U M E N T A L Kalevi Aho

Kai Nieminen

In Memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren

Night Shadows (Dreams Within)

FG 979-0-55011-060-1

FG 979-0-55009-903-6

for violin solo

for two guitars

Solo V

Images of Fear (Hommage to Paul Klee)

for bassoon

for guitar solo

FG 979-0-55011-021-2

FG 979-0-55011-071-7

Solo VII

Riflessioni sul nome Amedeo Modigliani (Omaggio a Oscar Ghiglia)

for trumpet FG 979-0-55011-692-9

Trio, for clarinet viola and piano

Pilfink JJVCD-103 (“Perchitarrasola” – Finnish and Italian music for guitar)

for guitar solo

FG 979-0-55009-700-1 (score), 55009-701-8 (parts)

FG 979-0-55011-112-7

TOBIAS BROSTRÖM

MARIE SAMUELSSON

Crystal Ball

Ö (Island)

for piano solo

for violin solo

GE 12089

GE 12059

Olli Kortekangas

FREDRIK SIXTEN

Divertimento

Mesto

for cello solo

for viola and piano

FG 979-0-55009-822-0

GE 11866

Phillips Duettino

WILHELM STENHAMMAR

for clarinet and cello FG 979-0-55011-117-2

Sonata in a minor

Bo Linde

GE 12144

for violin and piano

Trio

Tapio Tuomela

for violin, viola and cello

Suite française

GE 12151 (score and parts)

ROLF MARTINSSON

for woodwind quintet

Bassic Instinct

Face it!

Symbiosis

GE 11919

GE 10985

GE 11132

for double bass solo

for trumpet solo

FG 979-0-55011-116-5

for two violins

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

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