Nordic Highlights 4 2015

NORDIC

HIGHLIGHTS

4/2015

NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFร RLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

Daniel Bรถrtz & Medea Sibelius piano miniatures

NEWS

Christian Lindberg

Garden of Devotion Rolf Martinsson and Lisa Larsson are continuing their successful collaboration in 2016 with another 15 performances of Garden of Devotion, a song cycle about love, set to texts by Rabindranath Tagore. In Sweden there will be performances with the Norrköping SO, the Swedish and Uppsala Chamber Orchestras, and the Västerås Sinfonietta. The German premiere will be in February with Staatskapelle Weimar, and in September the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester will follow. The Lapland Chamber Orchestra will give the Finnish premiere in September and the Dutch premiere with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra is scheduled for November.

Photo: Jussi Vierimaa

Marie Samuelsson has composed a Trilogy of Love consisting of three orchestral works inspired by texts of Göran Sonnevi, Sappho, and George Katsiaficas.

Conducted by Marc Soustrot, the Malmö SO and clarinet soloist Johnny Teyssier will premiere A New Child of Infinity – To My Two Sons on 28 November.

Scheduled for March of next year is the premiere of Aphrodite – Fragments by Sappho, with mezzo-soprano Katija Dragojevic and the Swedish Radio SO under Daniel Blendulf, while October will see the premiere of The Eros Effect and Solidarity with the Nordic Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Sarah Ioannides.

Photo: Josef Doukkali

Samuelsson´s Trilogy of Love

Karin Rehnqvist was awarded the composer prize in memory of Bo Wallner for her great artistry. “With her unmistakably personal tone language, often with folk music as a strong sonorous fundament, she creates music of immediate interest that is both engaged and engaging.” Marie Samuelsson received the magazine Nutida Musik’s annual recording prize “Nutida Sound” for her CD The Sun Goddess “where her orchestral sound shines with the power of the sun and swirls in seductive movements.” Mats Larsson Gothe was awarded the Swedish Music Publishers Award for his “inventive instrumentation that creates both drama and variation” in his opera Blanche and Marie.

Photo: Mats Bäcker

Awarded composers

Sputnik becomes Beatnik

Christian Lindberg performs Allan Pettersson’s symphonies around the world. In November he conducted the unfinished First Symphony with Nürnberger Symphoniker and thereafter Symphony No. 14 with the Norrköping SO. Symphony No. 4 will have its Asian premiere with the Taipei SO in December and it will be performed in March of next year by both the Royal Flemish and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras. This October BIS released the CD with the monumental 13th Symphony, which has garnered rave reviews (See: Reviews).

NORDIC

HIGHLIGHTS

4/2015

NEWSLE T TER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

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

Cover photo: Anneke Lönnroth/Eri Dance Theatre & Key Ensemble in Mikko Heiniö’s Ilta (Matti Kivekäs) 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

HIGHLIGHTS

4/2015

Lintinen concerto for Klingenthal finals The Accordion Concerto by Kirmo Lintinen has been chosen as the compulsory work for the celebrated Klingenthal Accordion Competition to be held in Germany on 2–8 May 2016. The Concerto was commissioned by the Kokkola Winter Accordion Festival and premiered in February 2015 by Niko Kumpuvaara and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra conducted

by Anna-Maria Helsing.

Works by Palmgren and Pylkkänen Fennica Gehrman has signed a publishing agreement with the Sibelius Academy Foundation for six pieces for orchestra by Selim Palmgren (1878–1951) and 73 mainly orchestral works

by Tauno Pylkkänen (1918–1980). Ten operas, including Mare and her Son, and The Wolf Bride, are also among the works by Pylkkänen.

Mikko Heiniö

Premieres of Heiniö and Aho concertos The Organ Concerto by Mikko Heiniö commissioned by the Katedraali soi festival is to be premiered on 11 February 2016. The soloist will be Jan Lehtola, with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam. The festival celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2016.

Among the new works by Kalevi Aho is a Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra to be performed at concerts by the Pori Sinfonietta and the Lappeenranta City Orchestra in March; the soloist is Esa Pietilä. The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra is to premiere the Timpani Concerto it has commissioned from Kalevi Aho in April 2016; the soloist then will be Ari-Pekka Mäenpää.

Kalevi Aho

Photo: Romain Etienne

Lindberg conducts Pettersson

After the success with the short trumpet composed for Håkan concertino Sputnik Hardenberger and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Tobias Broström has now made an orchestral version, Beatnik, on commission from the Wermland Opera Orchestra.

This five-minute opening piece or orchestral encore, or as Hardenberger puts it, “a small firework rocket for festivities”, will have its premiere at the Wermland Opera’s Epiphany concert.

New composer – Jacob Mühlrad

PREMIERES

Gehrmans has begun collaboration with the young composer Jacob Mühlrad (b. 1991), who already has managed to establish himself and reach out with his music to renowned institutions and musicians, such as the Royal Swedish Opera, the Swedish Radio Choir and pianist Staffan Scheja. The collaboration with Gehrmans will at the outset include his choral works. Mühlrad’s feeling for the human voice as an instrument is special. He uses the text to create a sound palette to paint with. “I have listened to his music for choir and it is really top notch”, says composer Sven-David Sandström. The works Thoughts & Thoughts, Anim Semiraus and Nigun have now been published. Shevah, a work commissioned by Västerås Cathedral Parish, will be premiered in the spring of 2016, and another commission for the Swedish Radio Choir is planned for 2018.

ALBERT SCHNELZER Magical Allusions for oboe and orchestra

Malmö SO/Marc Soustrot, sol. Cristina Monticoli, 7.11. Malmö, Sweden But Your Angel’s on Holiday – Clarinet Concerto

Norrköping SO/Anna-Maria Helsing, sol. Staffan Mårtensson 12.11. Norrköping, Sweden

JONAS VALFRIDSSON, Bikernieke Forest

Sinfonietta Riga/Normunds Sne, 14.11. Riga, Latvia

OLLI KORTEKANGAS Grace – Sonatina for Horn and Organ

Petri Komulainen, horn, Jan Lehtola, organ, 15.11. Helsinki, Finland

KIMMO HAKOLA In Memoriam 2015 for reciter and organ

Christina Indrenius-Zalewski, recitation, Kimmo Hakola, organ 17. 11. Siuntio, Finland (Lux Musicae Festival) Metsämiehen laulu, arr. for baritone and wind band

Helsinki Police Band/Sami Ruusuvuori, sol. Jorma Hynninen 6.12. Espoo, Finland

Photo: Marcus Rönne

DANIEL BÖRTZ

Sibelius editions for orchestra The orchestral transcription by Ernest Pingoud of the Op. 75 Trees piano cycle by Jean Sibelius can now be hired from Fennica Gehrman. This gem dating from 1942 had been catalogued but the material was not previously available. It is a five-movement work and lasts about ten minutes. New, edited material of the Humoresques, Op. 87 for violin and orchestra is shortly also to

be published. Drawing mainly on Sibelius’s own manuscript, it corrects the errors in the material used since 1923 and for the first time provides a true picture of the Humoresques. Fennica Gehrman published the original version of Sibelius’s Cassazione, Op. 6 for symphony orchestra earlier this year.

I mörkret av röster (In the Darkness of Voices) for choir and tubular bells

Eric Ericson Chamber Choir/Fredrik Malmberg, 18.11. Stockholm, Sweden Medea – Opera in 2 Acts

Royal Swedish Opera/Patrik Ringborg, sol. Emma Vetter, Karl-Magnus Fredriksson, Marianne Eklöf etc., 23.1. Stockholm, Sweden

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM Halleluja for mixed choir and orchestra

Joyful Mission Choir, Vienna Volksoper Orchestra/Yunsung Chang 22.11. Vienna, Austria Nun komm der Heiden Heiland for mixed choir, organ, cello and double bass

WDR Rundfunkchor/Stefan Parkman, 28.11. Cologne, Germany Photo: Saara Vuorjoki/Music Finland

Kortekangas to the fore in the USA Olli Kortekangas’s Migrations for male choir, soloist and orchestra is to be given its first performance on 4 February 2016, in Minneapolis.

A commission from the Minnesota Orchestra and Osmo Vänskä, it will be recorded by BIS in April, coupled with Sibelius’s Finlandia and Kullervo. The soloist with the YL Male Voice Choir will be Lilli Paasikivi. Migrations is the second sizeable commission Kortekangas has received from the United States; the first, Seven Songs for Planet Earth, was premiered by the Washington Choral Society in 2011. This can next be heard in the USA on 23 April, in a performance by the Masterworks Chorale of Augsburg College conducted by Peter Hendrickson.

November 2015 – March 2016

Seven Pieces for Violin and Orchestra

O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Wind Ensemble, sol. Hugo Ticcati, 20.2. Stockholm, Sweden The Giver of Stars

NOTUS Choir/Dominick diOrio, 26.2. Chicago, USA

JYRKI LINJAMA, Kastemusiikkia

Sari Rantanen, soprano, Päivi Hakomäki, organ, 29.11. Espoo, Finland Läsnäolosi, Hannu Jurmu, tenor, Liisa Malkamäki, organ 13.12. Espoo, Finland

MARIE SAMUELSSON Ett nytt barn av oändlighet (A New Child of Infinity) for clarinet and orchestra

Malmö SO/Marc Soustrot, sol. Johnny Teyssier, 28.11. Malmö, Sweden Aphrodite – Fragments by Sappho

Swedish Radio SO/Daniel Blendulf, sol. Katija Dragojevic, mezzo-soprano, 11.3. Stockholm, Sweden Olli Kortekangas

TOBIAS BROSTRÖM, Beatnik

Wermland Opera Orchestra/Johannes Gustavsson, 5.1. Karlstad, Sweden

OLLI KORTEKANGAS, Migrations

New solo discs Patrik Kleemola has been recording Finnish guitar works for Pilfink Records. They include Mikko Heiniö’s Through Green Glass and Kai Nieminen’s Quadri morandi. The disc was followed by a series of concerts in Finland, and next year Kleemola will be taking the works to Milan and London.

Pilfink has also released an organ disc on which Marko Kupari plays Finnish organ works by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kai Nieminen and others. Fuga has released the complete organ works by Jean Sibelius performed by Kalevi Kiviniemi and a solo disc entitled Prelude by Ilpo Laspas of pieces by Aimo Känkänen, a leading name in Finnish organ music.

Minnesota Orchestra, YL Male Voice Choir/Osmo Vänskä, sol. Lilli Paasikivi, 4.2. Minneapolis, USA

MIKKO HEINIÖ, Concerto for Organ and Orchestra Turku PO/Leif Segerstam, sol. Jan Lehtola 11.2. Turku, Finland (Katedraali Soi)

JOHAN ULLÉN, The Deadly Sins, version for piano and string orchestra, Musica Vitae/Magnus Fryklund, sol. Téres Löf 26.2. Växjö, Sweden

KALEVI AHO Concerto for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra

Pori Sinfonietta/Jan Söderblom, Lappeenranta City Orchestra, sol. Esa Pietilä, 10.3. Pori - 17.3. Lappeenranta, Finland Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra

Turku PO/Erkki Lasonpalo, sol. Ari-Pekka Mäenpää, 22.4. Turku, Finland

HIGHLIGHTS

4/2015

Medea through the eyes of Daniel Börtz

Photo: Hans Lindén

Daniel Börtz is one of the leading Swedish opera composers of our time. 25 years after his big breakthrough with Backanterna (The Bacchae) in 1991, his Medea will have its premiere at the Royal Swedish Opera.

Once again, it is a Greek drama with a bloody outcome.

I

n work after work, Daniel Börtz tackles the great human questions. It is as if he wants to tell us something. See the person. See her weaknesses. He confronts the darkest sides of humanity, the unfathomable evil, the deceit, the violence, but also depicts reconciliation and light. The music can be extremely violent and brutal, a primeval force, but also lighter, simple and delicate. The voices are at the epicentre of the drama. And the words, weighed on a scale in Börtz’s composing laboratory.

Greek drama has often been the starting point, from the breakthrough opera Backanterna, 1991, to the oratorio Hans namn var Orestes (His Name Was Orestes), 2004, and the opera Medea, based on Euripides’ drama, that will have its first performance at the Royal Swedish Opera in January 2016.

Even while working on Backanterna, Daniel Börtz was talking to director Ingmar Bergman about Medea. The then-existing translation by Hjalmar Gullberg ”was too beautiful and felt out of date”. He found the modern poetic language he was looking for a few years later, in a new interpretation by Agneta Pleijel and Jan Stolpe. “A splendid text with great aesthetic beauty,” explains Börtz. This is the version, abbreviated by the composer himself, which became the opera’s libretto.

HIGHLIGHTS

4/2015

An enthralling story What then is so fascinating in the story of Medea? The myth tells of Medea from Colchis, who helps Jason steal the Golden Fleece. She flees with him to Corinth, gives birth to two sons, but is abandoned when Jason chooses another woman, King Creon’s daughter. As a refugee in Corinth with no husband, Medea is banished. In revenge for the betrayal, she has the king and his daughter killed by a terrible poison.

She then kills the two children herself and flees from the city.

“I cannot understand her deed”, says Daniel Börtz. “I can try to illustrate it. I am enthralled by the story.

What Medea is subjected to and the madness she then unleashes, also happens to people in our world.”

Börtz notes how skilfully Euripides builds up events, how well he depicts jealousy, madness, reckless yearning, expressions that are suitable for music and opera. The drama delves deep into the human psyche, particularly Medea’s, a large and demanding part for a dramatic soprano who is on stage the whole time. Emma Vetter plays the role, a singer who often sings Wagner and knows what is required in a leading part. Börtz highlights a key scene in the second act where Medea is going to take leave of the children that she loves. She is thrown between different moods and finds it diffi-

cult to make a decision. The scene is followed by the Messenger’s story of how the king’s daughter and King Creon have been killed. The role is performed by a speech actor, Jonas Malmsjö.

“There is incredible power in the text. It is not possible to remove a syllable,” says Börtz. The scene is “accompanied” by an orchestral sound that intensifies the power in the spoken monologue.

Composing Medea Compositional work on the opera lasted two years, 2012-2014, with regular half-yearly meetings with dramatist, translator and dramaturg.

Börtz displays a handwritten script written in pencil where he has outlined the opera’s first synopsis. It was this he showed opera manager Birgitta Svendén, who gave him the commission. The next stage is a copy of the text where Börtz adds the musical ideas and creates the lines that carry it forward. Like the symphonist he is (his oeuvre includes 12 symphonies) he then writes the score chronologically by hand in a single stream. The instrumentation is nearly always done directly. “The musical idea and the instruments belong together,” he says, “and therefore instrumentation cannot be done retrospectively.”

One of the changes made during the process and the discussions was the design of the Wet Nurse role.

From the very beginning, Daniel Börtz knew that he wanted to write special parts for the Royal Opera’s female choir and to highlight the soloists in the choir. The small Wet Nurse’s role grew further during the composition work. It is the character that can adopt a hard line in the scenes with Medea, but is also the big mother figure that comforts Jason. It was also good for the mu-

sical and dramatic balance to create another important female role. In other respects, the choice of register has been straightforward for the composer, who believes that they have chosen themselves.

A strong human pathos Medea is Daniel Börtz’s sixth major opera. He very much likes the practical work of transposing scores and sheet music into a living work of art on the stage.

“There is nothing as creative as the musical preparation for an operatic work”, he says. “All art forms are there and are kneaded together.”

At the time of writing, the opera has not yet been performed. We do not know how orchestra and voices will sound together. We have not yet seen director Stefan Larsson’s interpretation on the stage. But we already know that the drama is there in the music. I myself have had the privilege of following the work from the beginning. Börtz appears to be a bright and natural opera composer. The choice of dramatic subject, the detailed work with the text, the knowledge of theatrical expression and transparency in working with the singers, musicians, playwright, conductor and director have all been problem free. Behind the success is a structured, formally mature composer, carried forth by strong human pathos. A will to tell of the world today. Börtz has done this in several operas in the past, Medea is no exception. Medea is desperate, without asylum in a foreign country, and commits a horrific crime. We do not need to understand, but we can get help to process her fate and the similar fate of others through the eyes of Börtz.

Katarina Aronsson Dramaturg at the Royal Swedish Opera

poco stretto

17

The Sibelius piano miniatures The piano miniatures by Jean Sibelius are expressions of a momentary vision; captured in a miniature format are experiences nothing short of monumental. mental.

“I

know they have a certain future. I know this even though they are virtually forgotten at the moment,” said Sibelius himself of his works for the piano. His complaint that he had to compose some piano pieces to earn a living, and the irritation he reports in his diary at having to interrupt his work on his great symphonies because he is short of cash speak of the drive that characterises tempo way: when faced the artist. Or to put a it another 22 with an external need to compose, he is a professional with a vast capacity for concentration and inspiration; a capacity for drawing on endless invention – and in an instant, in much the same poco way as a performing artist. Like the composers of the Baroque, Sibelius had all the skills at his command, including keen self-criticism and attention to detail. Some have compared the little pieces to shavings hewn by a master carpenter from a block of wood (meaning the great symphonic works), but this does not allow for the care and polishing which Sibelius lavished on them; nor does it do justice to the original ideas embodied in them.

right through to his last opuses, and made piano transcriptions of many of his works for orchestra.

The colourful world of the piano miniatures speaks of a cultured composer, of a broad knowledge of music and a curiosity about the things in life. There are stories about his sensitive feell for mood and his ability to “enterr n n. into the part” even as a young man. g”” He would go about “fantasizing” xwith his violin, playing what he experienced and saw in nature and in the life around him.

S The piano miniatures by Jean Sibelius are expressions of a momentary vision; captured in a miniature format are experiences nothing short of monumental. Some have but a single core musical idea that no longer needs to be developed, to be turned into or made out of something; the idea and its incarnation in sound are one and the same.

morous us cameos and dramas. Among them are introvert reflections, outgoing pieces, glimpses of the world of children and his own childhood – always changing but always inherently Sibelian and defying generic classification.

In his essay on the piano works of Sibelius, Glenn Gould clearly identified the maestro’s merits: Sibelius never wrote against the grain of the keyboard; he never made the piano compete with an orchestra; he favoured lean, contrapuntal thinking and created a piano idiom of his own with no recourse to Neoclassicism. Gould placed the best piano works on a par with the Violin Concerto and Luonnotar and saw in them a dignity and severity that shunned brilliance.

The piano music of Sibelius is resonant and colourful, heard with the ear of a sensitive composer – but unlike the keyboard style of others.

It is not rooted in the tradition of Chopin or Schumann; it does not tie in with the Impressionism of Debussy or Ravel or with the Expressionism of his contemporaries; despite drawing from time to time on folk music, it cannot be compared to Bartók or Janáček. The expressive force and timbres of the Sibelian sound need seeking out. Sometimes the listener may catch an orchestral, “philharmonic” murmur and a panoply of harmonics that should not be allowed to cloud the contrapuntal clarity.

Different styles and sources Enchanted by piano playing 27 The custom of making music in the home, still of inspiration common in Sibelius’s day and one for which the The piano works were inspired in different ways. smaller pieces were well suited, has been waning Those of the early period show the influence of for a century now, and his miniatures have often the national epic, the Kalevala, of Runeberg and been dismissed as mere “stop gaps” or “trifles”. By other poets and to some extent the romantic this logic, poems or short stories could be re- Slav tradition, though this has sometimes been exaggerated. Sibelius composed virtually no “sagarded as trifling compared with novels.

Sibelius’s own instrument was the violin, but lon” pieces, and he was always more Nordic, solthere are many indications that the piano meant itary, stern and mythical than, say, Tchaikovsky.

Nor did he feel any affinity a lot to him. As a young man he with the version of melody was enchanted again and again rooted in early German Roby the playing of his friend Fermanticism and epitomised in ruccio Busoni. And one sumFinland by such composers as mer, when he was spending a few Oskar Merikanto. The piano weeks by the sea, a local boatman dim. e allarg. forms of his middle and late said of his piano playing: “It’ s 33 3 periods look to various eras crazier even than his swimming. and countries. Sibelius had a Because he only swims during gift for adapting to different the day, but he never stops playstyles: he could compose in ing night and day.”

French pastoral vein, in court The Sibelius works for solo style, sometimes aphoristicalpiano comprise 21 opuses, most ly, sometimes poetically, with of them each with a number echoes of folk music or whiffs of pieces. Together they total 2 century; of the Vienna of last 120 opus-numbered items and Fennica Gehrman has published the of medieval instruments, baldozens more without a number.

24 most popular Sibelius piano let, runic poetry, commedia Sibelius composed for the piano miniatures in this new edition dell’arte, nature scenes, hu- Eero Heinonen from his school and college days (See: New publications).

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HIGHLIGHTS

* See the Critical Remarks.

4/2015

fl-cl-pf-vln-vla-vlc

In Anders E liasson’s F antasia w e ar e plunged dir ectly in to the music tha t takes off light and air y, like a bird fleeing from approaching danger; appr ehension is lurking in the background. It is ener getic, t ense and for ward-driven. Then suddenly we end up in an exquisitely beautiful section of peace and calm, where the music c onveys a feeling of loss and melancholy. Commissioned by Norrbotten NEO.

FREDRIK HÖGBERG

Déjà vu (2004) Dur: 10’ cl-tbn-perc-pf-db

Déjà vu was written for the Nor wegian BIT20 Ensemble . It is a rh ythmical, virtuosic and pla yful piec e with some visual finesse – the per cussionist plays both the vibr aphone and the drum set , but gets less and less time to move bet ween the instrumen ts, which cr eates some stress… This sure is swinging music and, as so often with Högberg, one can imagine the twinkle in his eye.

JUHA T. KOSKINEN

Fourrures (2007) Dur: 8’ cl-vln-vlc-pf

When writing this w ork, K oskinen was inspir ed b y the musicians of the Moscow C ontemporary Music Ensemble and a poem b y Osip Mandelstam.

The title F ourrures means “furs” and the c omposer writes: “In a cold hostile w orld we need a w arm, maternal hiding plac e, although Mandelstam did not hide; inst ead he had the c ourage to expose openly his deepest though ts. I’d like to see m y piece Fourrures as a syn thesis of man y elements with sev eral interacting levels.”

TOMMI KÄRKKÄINEN

Fragilia (2003) Dur: 8’ guitar and string quartet

In F ragilia Kärkkäinen has cr eated a piece with a br and new , almost animal po wer. D uring the c omposition process the ‘fragileness’ started to fade and the piece began to get many virtuosic and percussion-like episodes. As a contrast it includes a sort of a quote from Jimmy Page’s Rain Song. Kärkkäinen’s own interest in per cussions is manifest in such in ventive sound effects as different taps on the sound box and stamping feet. The piece can also be played as a solo guitar v ersion that has been r ecorded by Janne Malinen.

KIMMO KUITUNEN

Triple Duos (2008) Dur: 24’ fl-cl-perc-pf-vln-vlc

In this se xtet 15 differently char acterised duos interact in 15 triple duo c onstellations. The role and timing of the duos in the musical dr ama as a whole was dr eamt up befor e an y signs w ere made on the empt y score. Packed with a v ariety of details, vigour and driving energy, the piece is dedicated to the Estonian Ensemble Ü, which has also recorded it.

HIGHLIGHTS

4/2015

REVIEWS

MAGNUS LINDBERG

Zona (1983) Dur: 17’

for cello and ensemble: afl-bcl-perc-hppf-vln-db

Zona r epresents early Lindber g. The name c omes fr om Andr ei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker, in which the main char acter leads his clients to a site known as The Zone (Italian “zona”).

The music begins as a high shimmer from which the cello gradually emerges as soloist . The cello part is e xtremely virtuosic, covering a wide spectrum of timbres and testing the very limits of expression. Zona is in three movements performed without a break.

TIINA MYLLÄRINEN

Squarcio (2011) Dur: 8’

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Squarcio has the e xplosive energy typical of Myllärinen’s music and gr ows in overlapping cr escendos. It ma y be divided into two parts, the expansive first leading to a denser, more layered second. The music is marked off by strong, polyrhythmic eruptions and ever-denser crescendos that carry the piece to its close. There is, however, one more surprise in store just before the final build-up.

MARIE SAMUELSSON

Fantasia in a Circle (2011) Dur: 9’ fl-vln-vlc-pf

The piano sound is in focus in Samuelsson’s suggestive Fantasia and gives the piece its special character. It is at times modified by an e -bow, which cr eates a sor t of dr one, and in addition the pianist uses rubber mallets t o strike the strings .

The other instruments circulate around the piano, melodies are created and timbres glide in and out of one another , creating new mixtures of colour.

ALBERT SCHNELZER

Wolfgang is Dancing (2004) Dur: 8’ cl-vln-vlc

There is rhythm and dancing when Mozart meets Kle zmer in this piec e. Schnelzer got the idea when he sa t at the piano and played some Mozart pieces and just for fun inserted klezmer scales into the music. He suddenly imagined an irritated Mozart who has lost inspir ation and is sitting and drinking in a bar. In come some street musicians and star t to jam with him. His inspiration returns and Wolfgang begins to dance.

Heiniö’s Ilta abounds in sensuality The music of Heiniö is skilfully constructed. It is demanding without seeming difficult, while at the same time leaving room for the simple and beautiful.

Hufvudstadsbladet 28.10.

Heiniö’s Ilta is impressive music, and it’s a brilliant work… It has many moving scenes. Sung a cappella, Kaukainen viita is a thrilling lullaby… The kinetic musicality and the dance-like music make Ilta an all-round experience. Turun Sanomat 12.9.

Mikko Heiniö: Ilta (Evening), 11 dance songs for choir, clarinet and cello World premiere: Eri Dance Theatre, Key Ensemble/Teemu Honkanen, 10.9.2015 Turku, Finland

Absorbing Verdigris by Wennäkoski The concert opened with a short, absorbing new work called Verdigris by Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski, a composer with play at the heart of her music: this is the woman who wrote a concerto for orchestra and juggler.

Here the joke is fondly on Sibelius, with some striking gossamer textures wrapped around fragments of his music.

The Guardian 30.10.

Lotta Wennäkoski: Verdigris World premiere: Scottish CO/Tuomas Hannikainen, 28.10.2015 St Andrews, UK Photo: Saara Vuorjoki/Music Finland

ANDERS ELIASSON

Fantasia per sei strumenti (2010) Dur: 10’

Works for ensemble

Photo: Eri/Matti Kivekäs

REPER TOIR E TIPS

BENJAMIN STAERN

Bells and Waves (2010) Dur: 30’

for 11 instruments: fl-ob-cl-bcl-bsn-perc-pf-vin-vla-vlc-db

An eventful chamber symphony in five movements, wher e the first seethes with life and energy. The second is more tranquil, one can imagine church bells in the distanc e and boats slowly gliding by in the fog. The third is rhythmically complex and playful, while the forth is reflective, and you can hear the fateful ringing of a ship’s bell. In the last mo vement the music gushes for th in a torrent of r apid toccata-like figures until it finally fades a way and disappears into nothingness.

Heininen’s 6th symphony Even though the basic concept of this 37-minute symphony in four movements is atonal, it is bristling with tonal fixed points – in, among other things, the Adagios with their beautifully jazz-tinged harmonies – and the whole symphony makes a lyrically pure and dramaturgically coherent impression. Hufvudstadsbladet 2.11.

Paavo Heininen: Symphony No. 6 World premiere: Helsinki PO/John Storgårds, 8.10.2015 Helsinki, Finland

Photo: Nicklas Raab

Enjoyable and spectacular

Pulses of pop and driving rhythms of minimalism…

Concertino for basset clarinet and tape brings in the rhythms of rave in a terrific swirl of a piece that will set even the most obdurate of feet tapping wildly.

Finnish Music Quarterly 3-4/2015 Juhani Nuorvala: Boost , 7.13, Prélude non retouché, Solo per viola da gamba, Five Pieces for Flute and Clarinet, Concertino CD: Juho Laitinen, Jouko Laivuori, Heikki Nikula, Harri Mäki etc.

(Alba ABCD 376 “Nuorvala 7.13”)

Brilliant Jubilate Benjamin Staern’s brilliant and colourful prelude for orchestra is at present scoring successes in the world of classical music, and rightly so… It is about collective exclamations of joy, but also the opposite: the destructive and aggressive mob. The opposites collide in the music, but they are united at the end of the work… We will certainly be hearing a great deal more from this composer.

Rheinische Post 2.10.

Photo: Adam Haglund

Benjamin Staern: Jubilate Duisburger Philharmoniker/Stefan Solyom, 30.9.2015 Duisburg, Germany

Exquisite details If Pohjannoro were a visual craftsman, he would undoubtedly be a graphic artist… The listener who strains his ears and concentrates on the deepest, subtlest aspects of the music will find hidden within it globs of gold. Hufvudstadsbladet 17.10.

Hannu Pohjannoro: time exposures, Images, hommages, kuin kaiverrettu maailman merkki, maailma on kartta World premiere: Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano, Petri Antikainen, bass-baritone, Osuma Ensemble, Tampere Raw, 15.10.2015 Helsinki, Finland

Tobias Broström: Theatron Swedish premiere: Norrlandsoperan SO/Johannes Gustavsson, sol. Malleus Incus, 3.9.2015 Umeå, Sweden

Ingenious Broström This is clever detective music over a repeated bass figure, at the same time that the composer succeeds in saying something important. The music winds itself around the pulse, the aorta of music, and the handling of the sonorities is beyond the ingenious. Sydsvenska Dagbladet 9.10.

Tobias Broström: Transit Underground Malmö SO/Håkan Hardenberger, 8.10.2015 Malmö, Sweden

The soloist is seriously taxed, but Paulsson skimmed the bar with room to spare – even taking it up a notch.

Joining together in the Concerto are everything from the crisp multiphonics of a soprano sax, cattle calls, micro-intervals and string organ points immersed in a mossy bed of sound. Pohjolan Sanomat 13.11.

The music acquired the hue of a devout religious hymn full of light… Whittall’s infinitely peaceful work has the miraculously captivating magic of the source of life, the sun. Helsingin Sanomat 2.11.

The soundscape conjured forth by Whittall is, to say the least, fascinating, and the way conventional music-making is gradually approached and the sun at last shines forth is magical… Whittall has, in the past few years, created an aesthetic mode of expression that is not only extremely personal but also truly unique, and something tells me that this is just the prelude. Hufvudstadsbladet 2.11.

Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra World premiere: Lapland CO/John Storgårds, sol. Anders Paulsson, 11.11.2015 Rovaniemi, Finland

Tremendous intensity in Pettersson’s 13th

Matthew Whittall: The Return of Light World premiere: Helsinki Chamber Choir, Tapiola Sinfonietta/Nils Schweckendiek, 30.10.2015 Espoo, Finland

Here Lindberg is afforded scope for what he does best. The intensity is tremendous, but that doesn’t mean it gets louder and louder. The so-called “lyrical islands”, peaceful and tonally based sections, are given consummate sentiment… a strong power of attraction runs through all 66 minutes of the symphony’s duration… The feat is no less than heroic.

Svenska Dagbladet 26.10.

Extravagant, highly romantic and exciting The first two movements create, to Rilke’s words, the work’s tension between the gushing-forth of sonorities and a kind of hollowness. An eager but uncertain searching for love’s tonality… In the next-to-last movement Martinsson first seeks out the mysterious tranquillity in Eichendorff ’s image of a sighing forest (And how it sighs in the violins!). Before he gathers up all imaginable sonorous and rhythmic energy in the finale, it is time for Lisa Larsson to fling out Goethe’s wistful closing line: “Oh, if only you were here!”.

Dagens Nyheter 14.9.

Allan Petterson: Symphony No. 13 CD: Norrköping SO/Christian Lindberg (BIS-2190) Gabriel Suovanen

Rolf Martinsson: Ich denke Dein…

Swedish premiere: Gothenburg SO/Antonello Manacorda, sol. Lisa Larsson, soprano, 9.9.2015 Gothenburg, Sweden

Jansen plays Eliasson with ardour The violin concerto “Einsame Fahrt” has elements of both Russian romanticism and French impressionism. It is dreamy and sublime. Eliasson doesn’t fuss with the listeners, but he forces them to follow along. It is dynamic and organic, as if every single tone has a predetermined place. Expressen 22.10.

This is music that is beautiful but never ingratiating, that vacillates between long periods of calm at the one extreme and violent disturbances at the other, and concludes in an entirely brilliant manner, in the midst of the step, as it were. Jansen and Blendulf are perfectly synchronised and tackle the work with great ardour. Dagens Nyheter 23.10.

Anders Eliasson: Einsame Fahrt Royal Stockholm PO/Daniel Blendulf, sol. Janine Jansen, violin, 21.10.2015 Stockholm, Sweden

Super-sax

Acclaim for Whittall premiere

Photo: Tarja Tiilimäki

nuorvala 7.13

Janine Jansen in the Stockholm Concert Hall

Photo: Jan Olav Wedin

Nuorvala’s variety of moods and styles

The marimba soloists, Johan Bridger and Patrick Raab, displayed extraordinary technical brilliance – between them there was an almost telepathic communication that turned into rapturous music and theatrical performance, with a variety of percussion instruments. The enjoyment was multidimensional and the performance spectacular, in the best sense of the word. Västerbottenskuriren 4.9.

Enjoyable opera by Hakola Akseli enchanted at Pori Opera and was a real experience… Suovanen sang with intensity of moments in the life of an artist, such as the agony of creation, joy, love, great grief at the loss of a child, and the feelings aroused by contemporary reviews. Satakunnan viikko 28.10.

Kimmo Hakola: Akseli, monologue opera Pori Sinfonietta/Jan Söderblom, sol Gabriel Suovanen, 20.10.

Pori, Finland

HIGHLIGHTS

4/2015

N E W P U B L I C AT I O N S VOCAL & CHORAL ANDERS ANNERHOLM

ORCHESTRA BENJAMIN STAERN

Stjärnmusik 2 (Star Music 2) Six songs on poems by Nelly Sachs (Swe) for voice and piano

Godai, The Five Elements Concerto for Orchestra, GE 12294 (study score)

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

GE 12615 (score), GE 12617 (study score)

GE 12812

Ikikaiku (Eternal Echo) for children’s choir Text from various sources including Kalevala (Fin/Eng/Spa) FG 55011-064-9

Kirkkaat purot, sameat virrat for mixed choir Text: Kai Nieminen (Fin) FG 55009-826-8

The Return for chamber choir Text: Wendell Berry (Eng) Kortekangas commission dating from 2014 to thought-provoking texts by Wendell Berry.y FG 55011-270-4

TIMOJUHANI KYLLÖNEN

Merisarja op. 63 for female choir Text: Tommy Tabermann, Kyllönen (Fin) FG 55011-070-0

JACOB MÜHLRAD

Anim Semiraus for mixed choir a cappella Text: old Jewish song (Hebrew) GE 12818

Thoughts & Thoughts for mixed choir a cappella Text: syllables, sounds, Hebrew words GE 12820

Surprise Concertino for Trumpet and Orchestra

ROLF MARTINSSON

Opening Sounds, for orchestra

GE 12201 (score), GE 12826 (study score)

CHAMBER & INSTRUMENTAL KALEVI AHO

Wind Quintet No. 2 (2014)

FG 55011-262-9 (score), 55011-263-6 (parts)

TOMMIE HAGLUND

Epilogue, Hymns to the Nightt for solo violin, GE 12823

PAAVO HEININEN

Small Wolfstock for saxophone quartet FG 55011-267-4

NILS LINDBERG

Dalabilder (Dalecarlian Pictures) ures) for organ, GE 12863

SVENDAVID SANDSTRÖM

GE 12573

Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden for six part mixed choir a cappella Text: The Bible, Selnecker, Luther (Ger) erata Commissioned by the Copenhagen Chamber Choir Camerata GE 12604

JEAN SIBELIUS/TIMO LEHTOVAARA ARR.

Viisi joululaulua Op. 1 (Five Christmas Songs ) for mixed choir Text: Topelius, Joukahainen (Fin) 1. Joulu saapuu portin luo, 2. Jo on joulu täällä, 3. Jo joutuu ilta, 4. En etsi valtaa loistoa, 5. On hanget korkeat nietokset FG 55011-264-8

JEAN SIBELIUS

Tuule, tuuli leppeämmin Op. 23/6b for female choir Text by A.V. Forsman (Fin) FG 55011-271-1

ERLAND VON KOCH

Symphony No. 3, Sinfonia Seria, Impulsi, Nordiskt capricio Swedish Radio SO/Per Hammarström BIS-2169

TOIVO KUULA

South Ostrobothnian Suites 1-2, Festive March, Prelude&Fugue Turku PO/Leif Segerstam Ondine ODE 1270-2

AIMO KÄNKÄNEN

Compositions for Organ Ilpo Laspas, organ Fuga 9394 (”Prelude”)

ROLF MARTINSSON

St. Luke Passion Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir and ensemble, sol. Jeanette Köhn, Patrik Sandin IMP 1518

KAI NIEMINEN

Umbra beata

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

Angel of Dusk chamber version (db, 2pf, perc)

FG 55011-272-8 (score and parts)

Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte (The Tryst) for male choir, tenor solo and violin Text: Johan Ludvig Runeberg (Swe)

Pilfink JJVCVD-150 (”Through Green Glass”)

FG 55011-187-5

MAURICE RAVEL/EUGENIA KANTHOU ARR.

GE 12803

KAI NIEMINEN

Quadri morandi Patrik Kleemola, guitar

“From Winters Night”, Temple II, Preghiera (di Francesco di Assisi)

FG 55011-264-3 (score), 55011-265-0 (solo part with piano)

Cinq mélodies populaires grecques (Five Greek Folk Songs) arrangements for voice and guitar Text: Trad (Gre/Fre), French translation: M. D. Calvcoressi

MIKKO HEINIÖ

Through Green Glass

LOUHOS  JURIS  LIUTAWASTSTJERNA

Pianon avain 3 / Piano Key 3 Taito ja ilmaisu / Skills and expression A revised edition of the popular piano tutor

Nigun for mixed double choir a cappella Hebrew) Text: fragments from Jewish services (Hebrew) GE 12819

NEW CDs

JEAN SIBELIUS

VÄINÖ RAITIO EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

Laudatio trinitatis Marko Kupari, organ

Pilfink JJVCD-151 (“Laudatio trinitatis”)

JUHANI NUORVALA

Andante festivo Transcription for saxophone quartet by Jari Eskola

Boost

Piano Miniatures / Pianominiatyyrejä A collection of 24 best-loved miniatures

by Sibelius, among them the Etude, Spruce and Romance in D-flat.

Based on the complete critical edition.

Basfortel Defunensemble

FG 55001-259-9

STAFFAN STORM

Lied vom Meer for piano GE 12828

VELIMATTI PUUMALA

Sibarecords SRCD-1014 8 (“Define Function”)

GÖSTA NYSTROEM

Concerto Ricercante Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz/Roberto Paternostro, sol. Anna Christensson, piano Capriccio C5240

ALLAN PETTERSSON

ANDERS PAULSSON

Subterranean Wail for mixed choir a cappella Text: Jade Snow (Eng) GE 12695

This work is a part of the project www. coralguardians.org and the preservation of coral reefs, as is the earlier workk Danjugan Sanctuary (WC 1601296).

Symphony No. 13 Norrköping SO/Christian Lindberg BIS-2190

JEAN SIBELIUS

Complete Organ Works Kalevi Kiviniemi, organ Fuga-9393

Petite Suite, Tiera, Overture F Minor Solistiseitsikko Imperial

Pilfink JJVCD-152 (“Complete Works for Brass Septet”)

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

MATTIAS SKÖLD

Tre årstider (Three Seasons) for mixed choir a cappella Text: Haiku poems by Gunnar Nilsson and Matsu Bashô (Swe/Jap) GE 12814

CARL UNANDERSCHARIN

Saligprisningarna - Motet No. 6 (The Beatitudes) for mixed choir and organ Text: The Bible, Harry Martinson (Swe) GE 12813

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)