James D. Hicks
THE COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC OF KJELL MØRK KARLSEN 1966-2021
In His Words
Copyright © 2022 by Norsk Musikforlag A/S, Oslo. www.musikkforlagene.no
This material is protected by copyright law. Without explicit authorisation, reproduction is only allowed in so far as it is permitted by law or by agreement with a collecting society. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this publication by any means including photocopying is an infringement of copyright. NMO14972 ISBN 978-82-7093-739-4
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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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CHAPTER ONE
EARLY YEARS / EDUCATION INFLUENCES 1947 – 1966 . . . . . . . . . .
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CHAPTER TWO
COMPLETION OF STUDY/ THE NORWEGIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 ORGAN WORLD IN THE 1960s/ FIRST POSITION/ FIRST ORGAN WORKS/ 1966 – 1973 CHAPTER THREE
YEARS AT TØNSBERG CATHEDRAL / 1973-1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 CHAPTER FOUR
YEARS AT STAVANGER CATHEDRAL / 1978-1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 CHAPTER FIVE
YEARS AT SØR-FRON CHURCH/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 SABBATICAL YEAR IN HELSINKI, FINLAND/1981-1989 CHAPTER SIX
YEARS AT SLEMMESTAD CHURCH 1990-1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 CHAPTER SEVEN
YEARS AT ASKER CHURCH 1995-2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 CHAPTER EIGHT
AN INDEPENDENT COMPOSER/2011-PRESENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 CHAPTER NINE
REMEMBRANCES BY COLLEAGUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 CHAPTER TEN
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 COMPLETE WORKS FOR ORGAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 AND ORGAN WITH INSTRUMENTS LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
TABULA GRATULATORIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 The Complete Organ Music of Kjell Mørk Karlsen
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INTRODUCTION I first became aware of the organ music of Kjell Mørk Karlsen relatively late in life. My first encounter with the composer occurred in January 2013, whilst performing a concert at Västerås Cathedral, Sweden. The occasion was my earliest attempt at performing one of the composer’s works, in this case, Sinfonia Norvegica/Orgelsymfoni nr. 4, Op. 157. I had discovered this composition quite by accident, but it was obvious after a preliminary reading, that this was music of considerable craft and vision. When I had mentioned to Mørk Karlsen that I was performing Op. 157, the composer was gracious enough to travel a significant distance to hear my interpretation. Upon our first meeting, I marveled at the distance between the mild- mannered demeanor of this gentleman and the intense drama of his fourth symphony. When he was asked to participate in a preconcert lecture about this opus, I was inspired by the composer’s ability to speak without notes and his expertise with singing all of the major themes of the symphony in a remarkably true voice. This was for me the beginning of a most fascinating musical journey: the study of a remarkable body of works that have enriched the contemporary organ repertoire in countless and unique ways. After learning and recording a number of the Karlsen works for organ, and becoming friends with the master in the process, an idea occurred to me on the occasion of his seventieth birthday in 2017. It had been my privilege to perform the (then) complete five Karlsen symphonies over the course of two concerts at Uranienborg Church, Oslo. Struck by the enormity of how many fine works Karlsen had written, not only for organ, but, in addition, for every conceivable combination of instruments and voices, from the intimacy of a work such as Partita Brevis 2 For Violin and Violoncello to the large-scale grandeur of Missa Grande For Chorus, Soloists and Orchestra, I began to think that it was vital to document some part of this output as a primary source for future musicologists. The idea grew within me, and as I saw that the year 2022, and the seventy-fifth birthday of Mørk Karlsen, was rapidly approaching, I decided that I would devote myself to the study of the composer’s complete organ works, using this research to celebrate an important milestone in the composer’s life. The more I pondered this idea, the more I believed it vital to document the composer’s story in his own words. As a result, the following is IN HIS WORDS, the account of a six-decade life in music, with an emphasis on one aspect of this incredibly varied oeuvre, 4 The Complete Organ Music of Kjell Mørk Karlsen
the organ works of Kjell Mørk Karlsen. Over the course of two months, beginning in the first week of July 2020, Mr. Mørk Karlsen was generous enough to conduct an almost daily online correspondence with me concerning each and every work that he had composed thus far for the organ. This is a body of work that spans the years 1966 through 2021. It contains sixty-four opus devoted to music for solo organ and organ with differing combinations of instruments, out of his total output of two hundred and eleven opuses. Mørk Karlsen’s catalog for organ thus comprises hundreds of individual compositions for the instrument. The biographical information, the description of Norwegian musical life as the composer experienced it, and the detailed musical explanations of each work are the recollections of Kjell Mørk Karlsen. As such, he was able to articulate my vision of writing an authentic summation of this unique life in music for posterity. All of the details concerning this music emanate from its creator, and exact quotes are indicated as such within the text. My goal is to tell a fascinating story, one that connects the post World War II era to the first quarter of the twenty-first century, to devotees who might share my passion for Nordic music and culture. I dedicate this work to Kjell Mørk Karlsen, whose unique artistry has enriched our time.
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CHAPTER ONE
EARLY YEARS / EDUCATION INFLUENCES 1947 – 1966 It was perhaps inevitable that Kjell Mørk Karlsen would choose music as his life’s vocation. Raised in a home “filled with music,” the Oslo-bred composer was born into a family of artists on March 31, 1947. Kjell was the son of Rolf Karlsen (1911-1982) and Ruth Karlsen (1909-1999), and his family included siblings Øivind (1938-1963), Harald (1940-2013), and Eva (1944-1986). Ruth was an accomplished violinist, and her mother was a skilled pianist. She played regularly in local ensembles and accompanied her husband in his various liturgical performances as her domestic duties allowed. Ruth’s older sister Hedvig was an organ pupil of the renowned Norwegian organist Arild Sandvold over the course of ten years, and her younger sister, Sara-Marie was an organist and pianist, known for her work with young children during the 1940s. Kjell has recalled hearing his grandmother sharing excellent performances of music by Chopin well past her eightieth year. Kjell’s elder brother Harald was a professional flutist, performing with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra from 1962-1966 and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra from 1966-1990. As notable as this artistic heritage is, it was Kjell’s father, Rolf Karlsen, who provided the crucial influence to his life in music. The elder Karlsen was one of Norway’s preeminent musicians and the essental guide to Kjell’s early musical endeavors. Rolf Karlsen’s career in music exhibited a pervasive versatility, matched only by the expertise that he brought to each endeavor. A brilliant composer, conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and pianist, Rolf served as organist at Høvik Church, Oslo, from 1932-1936, Ris Church, Oslo, from 1936-1960, Trinity Church, Oslo, from 1960-1966, and Oslo Cathedral from 1966-1982. He also taught at the Oslo Music Conservatory and worked as a keyboard musician with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. In this latter capacity, Rolf was highly esteemed by his peers as a masterful sight-reader, able to condense and realize the contents of the most complex orchestral scores on a moment’s notice. He performed with this orchestra for thirty years. During this tenure, he participated in performances of new compositions by composers such as the American Leo Sowerby as well as some of the standard works of the first half of the twentieth century, including Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and the early works of Igor Stravinsky. As a choral conductor, he is known as the founder of the Norwegian Broadcast Chamber Choir in 1948, and conducted many other of the local chamber groups as well as his various church ensembles. 6 The Complete Organ Music of Kjell Mørk Karlsen
Another important aspect to Rolf Karlsen’s career was as a pioneer of Early Music during the 1950s, bringing the repertoire from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque periods to the musical life of Norway. He studied medieval music in Belgium, and harpsichord in Basel, Switzerland. During his time in Basel, Rolf worked with August Wenzinger (1905-1996), a prominent scholar of Baroque performance practice, famed for his prowess on the viola da gamba and as a conductor. One lasting result of this study was Rolf’s innovative use of the harpsichord, both as a solo instrument and as a part of ensembles, providing an important contribution to the understanding of Baroque performance practice in Norwegian musical life. His choral performances brought the works of Monteverdi, Schütz, and Buxtehude to the Norwegian public in an era when this literature was relatively unknown. Rolf Karlsen was an exponent of Musica Sacra, a movement that strove to restore the primacy of chant within the liturgy of the church, to reintroduce the chorale- based heritage of the Reformation, to support the creation of new works informed by these traditional themes, and to encourage the building of organs influenced by the Orgelbewegung (Organ Reform Movement). Rolf Karlsen’s compositions for organ show the preference for a reimagining of historical forms. His variations on Vår Gud han er så fast en borg (A Mighty Fortress is our God) is a representative example of this approach (found in Tibi Laus, published by Norsk Musikforlag N.B.O. 9599, a collection of this composer’s works). The versatility that defined Rolf’s career served as a role model to his son Kjell. Kjell’s musical studies began at age seven when his father returned from a tour of England with a Dolmetsch soprano recorder, and the boy “fell in love with this instrument.” He received instruction on the instrument from one of the oboists in the The Norwegians Broadcasting Orchestra who had published a recorder method for children. After achieving a youthful mastery of the recorder, Kjell’s older flautist brother Harald suggested that he begin to study the oboe, as the older sibling believed that the oboe and the flute sounded beautifully together. Kjell brought the same dedication to the oboe that he had demonstrated with the recorder, studying with the principal oboist of the Oslo Philharmonic. He was able to attain diplomas in both instruments from the Oslo Conservatory at age twentyone, having often performed on the oboe with the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra by the age of seventeen. Mørk Karlsen achieved such mastery on the recorder that he was hired to teach the instrument at the Oslo Conservatory of Music. These experiences with the recorder and the oboe were vital means of expression for the aspiring musician, affording him considerable insight into the creation and performance of orchestral and chamber music. Working within this instrumental milieu was a formative experience in preparation for the composing of the large-scale works of his maturity.
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Kjell Mørk Karlsen playing recorder and oboe
Photo, private
These studies concerning wind instruments would eventually lead to Kjell’s continuing his father’s passion for early music. Kjell had become fascinated with the sounds of instruments now heard in the late sixties by such musicians as David Munrow, and he ordered quartets of krummhorns, recorders, and pommers from Germany. He also networked with local Norwegian musicians who played viola da gamba, renaissance flute, zink, and lute. Thanks to such pioneers as Munrow, there was a growing audience for this older repertoire, and so Kjell started the Oslo-based Pro Musica Antiqua, an ensemble that presented many concerts throughout Norway on these “authentic” instruments. Karlsen served as the ensemble’s first director from 1969-1974, and performed often on various types of recorders, krummhorns, and shawms. Continuing his father’s work, Kjell Mørk Karlsen did much to introduce the unique timbres of these instruments of antiquity and the literature of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras to Norwegian audiences. Given the importance of Rolf Karlsen’s artistic leadership in several of the most notable ecclesiastical foundations in Oslo, it is perhaps not surprising that Kjell, despite his many accomplishments and education in recorder and oboe, was also drawn to the study of piano and organ. Rolf began his duties as organist at Trinity Church, the largest church building in Oslo, when Kjell was thirteen. From the age of fourteen, Kjell was a member of the select gallery choir that led worship every Sunday. Soon this space became “a second home,” and Kjell was such an enthusiastic participant in the life of the church, that at the 8 The Complete Organ Music of Kjell Mørk Karlsen
Kjell Mørk Karlsen with Pro Musica Antiqua
Photo, private
age of fifteen, he began the study of piano and shortly thereafter, organ with his father. Kjell progressed so quickly that by the age of nineteen, he was appointed keyboard musician with the Oslo Philharmonic. A particularly inspiring performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion provided the initial impetus for this decision. Using the method book by Finn Viderø, Organ School, Kjell flourished, and his assigned repertoire included primarily the compositions of German masters such as Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). The younger Karlsen’s education during his teen years was not limited to the performance of this music, but his initial training as a composer was linked to these liturgical experiences. An ongoing assignment from Rolf was the copying by hand of full choral scores of composers such as Samuel Scheidt, Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), and Heinrich Schütz (1586-1672), setting the various German texts in Norwegian translations in accordance The Complete Organ Music of Kjell Mørk Karlsen
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with Norwegian National Church’s preference in the 1960s for the liturgical performances of these compositions being rendered in the vernacular. Kjell continued this laborious process of copying music by hand as he progressed to editing his father’s original scores, producing the final copies for eventual publication. As Kjell has remembered, “This for me was a great school as a composer, because I became very close to all sorts of techniques that were used in this era. For a composer, this exercise was a basic way to become acquainted with polyphony, harmony, how to set texts, and so on.” In addition to this formidable amount of deskwork, Kjell brought many of these learned techniques to his earliest original compositions, saying, “I brought with me much of the same composers’ techniques to my earliest exercises in counterpoint, also in simple improvisations with imitations and canons.” As a complement to the inspiring music and traditions of the pipe organ, it was the sound of the organ itself that proved to be such a compelling influence to the young Karlsen. An instrument of many instruments, the pipe organ offered a unique sonic diversity, achieving a far-ranging palette of color. Claus Jensen built the organ at Trinity Church, Oslo, in 1858, and in 1959, a new Positiv became a part of that year’s rebuild of the installation. Its stoplist is as follows: I. Ryggpositiv
II. Hovedverk
III. Svellverk
IV. Pedal
Quintade 8’ Principal 4’ Koppelfløite 4” Oktav 2’ Quintatøn 2’ Nasat 1 1/3” Scharff 4 fag Krummhorn 8’
Principal 8’ Rörflöite 8’ Octav 4’ Flöite 4’ Fugara 4’ Quint 2 2/3” Octav 2’ Waldflöite 2’ Ters 1 3/5’ Quint 1 1/3’ Sedecima 1’ Trompet 8’ Trompet 4 (1959)
Bordun 16’ Salicional 8’ (1866) Gedackt 8’ Spisgamba 8’ Rörflöite 2’ Principal 2’ Cymbel 3 fag (1959) Oboe 8’ (1959)
Principal 16’ Subbas 16’ Octavbas 8’ Rörflöite 8’ Quint 5 1/3’ Oktav 4’ (1959) Mixtur 5 fag 2 2/3 (1959) Basun 16’ Zinke 4’ (1959)
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Mørk Karlsen considers this period to be crucial to his development, saying, “On this organ, I learned to be an organist. It was fantastic for me!”
Kjell playing at Bodø Cathedral in 1966
Photo, private
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