works RE P ER TO IR E TIPS 21th century for strings
Pehr Henrik Nordgren in memoriam for strings 55432 Dedicated to the memory of fellow-composer Nordgren, Letter to the Netherworld is a musical question-and-answer in which the violins put questions to the low strings and the rich viola tones act as catalysts. The result is beautiful, moving music.
TOBIAS BROSTRÖM Mirage (2013/2016) Dur: 5’ Mirage is an arrangement for string orchestra of a movement from Broström’s String Quartet No. 1. The opening trills of the violins against the natural overtones in the viola and cello give the piece a magical, shimmering character, like a vibrating light over the horizon – like a mirage. The violins’ trills then change into a whirling rhythmical accompaniment. The melodic element is found throughout the piece in the viola and the cello. The music is continually in motion and doesn’t come to a stop until the very end, when it ebbs away and concludes in a quiet pizzicato.
CECILIA DAMSTRÖM Infirmus (2015) Dur: 7’ Infirmus is the Latin word for ill or weak, and this piece is dedicated to all those who suffer from chronic illnesses. And one can indeed feel the pain in Damström’s striking piece, which is full of glissandi, achingly high strings, rapid runs and playing ”sul ponticello”. In this piece we can also find a quotation from her earlier choral composition on the theme ”My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me”?
ANDERS ELIASSON Sinfonia per archi (2001) Dur: 35’ The sorrowfully singing Sinfonia per archi consists of a long continuous movement that ranges from the most delicate tenderness and achingly beautiful melodic lines, to dramatic outbursts. A twenty-minute-long opening Adagio turns into a restless, slightly jerky and onrushing Allegro that leads to a Lento, in which the character of the beginning returns. The work ends on a bright, pure, open chord that imparts a feeling of release and hope.
TOMMIE HAGLUND Serenata per Diotima (2014/2015) Dur: 14’ Serenata per Diotima is dedicated to Haglund’s first grandchild. He has told how looking into the little girl’s eyes inspired him while composing. The music is characterised by an uncanny beauty, emotional directness and intimacy. There is a melancholy shimmer over the fluid string texture. And here there are also recurrent lyrical, cantabile and dizzyingly beautiful interjections from a solo violin.
HIGHLIGHTS
2/2019
MIHKEL KEREM String Sextet ‘Restless Night’ (2004) Dur: 30’ Laudatio (2011) Dur: 10’
Photo: Jesper Berg
KALEVI AHO Letter to the Netherworld/Kirje tuolle puolen’ (2018) Dur: 12’
REVIEWS
“Anyone who believes traditional tonality to be no longer capable of expressing anything more than timeworn clichés should listen to Kerem’s work,” wrote Fanfare. Kerem, himself a violinist, has written idiomatic and hauntingly beautiful music for strings. The idea of the String Sextet was connected to Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht so that the two pieces could be performed together. The mood goes from calm to agitated and finds peace at the end with a long, meditative stretch in D Major.
ROLF MARTINSSON Kalliope (2003) Dur 27’ In the highly expressive nine-movement work Kalliope, Martinsson lets the Muses of Greek mythology come forth, each in a movement of her own. The movements are divided into three groups of three so that the tempi and the Muses’ different characters are contrasted and varied as much as possible throughout the work. The characters fluctuate between the harsh and the more romantic, between tranquility and rhythmic tension.
JUHANI NUORVALA Varationes ex “Bene quondam” (2017) Dur: 24’ Eight variations on Bene quondam dociles in the medieval Piae Cantiones collection. The solo viola binds the movements together and the theme passes through different eras, musical cultures and styles. Here again Nuorvala handles his material with real skill. Shifting rhythms, archaic tones, toe-curling sounds, beautiful flageolet notes and gamelan allusions, hints of tango and rock – all these can be found in this relaxed, enjoyable piece.
VELIMATTI PUUMALA Rime (2013) Dur: 24’ for strings 55432
Memorial Fragment (2008) Dur: 13’ for violin obligato and strings 54432
Like many of these ‘tips’, both pieces were premiered by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. Rime alludes to the frosty autumn fields of Central Ostrobothnia. The thread running through is a folk melody noted down by Toivo Kuula. The Memorial Fragment is subtitled “In memory of P.H. Nordgren” and quotes a piece by him that engages in dialogue with Puumala’s own idiom. Breathtaking, quiet moments are often a mystical fundamental element of Puumala’s works.
HARRI VUORI To Fly, to Fly / Lentoon (2015) Dur: 10’ for 18 strings 44442
Sakari Oramo conducted the premiere of this work in 2015. It pictures the polyphony of swans on the wing: The composer wrote: “In summer 2014, four swans landed on the lake by my summer cottage. My attention was immediately caught by their joint song using the first four notes of a major scale, at times slightly extending their melody up or down. I was also impressed by the strange hypnotic rhythm of their singing.”
Jeroen Berwaerts and Håkan Hardenberger
Broström’s Nigredo The composer evinces an eminent talent when it comes to handling timbre… he keeps the percussion busy creating a soft swarming atmosphere, together with the harp, the piano and the whole multifarious orchestra’s web of parts. The soloists liberate themselves from this fantastic throng to excel, while the amazing secrets of trumpet technique crop out in duels and bickerings. Otherwise, images predominate of the impressionistic tone painting of wide oceans. And Broström is lord of the waves. Sydsvenskan 15.3. Tobias Broström: Nigredo World premiere: Malmö SO/John Storgårds, sol. Håkan Hardenberger, Jeroen Berwaerts, trumpets, 14.3.2019 Malmö, Sweden
Högberg’s entertaining Baboon Concerto The soloist told stories, blew smoke rings through the instrument, distorted the composer’s melodies and gradually took his instrument apart piece by piece, until at last only the pipe was left… A work with so many comical gimmicks requires a performer who not only masters the virtuosic passages on the instrument, but also dares to loosen up in the theatrical features inserted in the score. Sebastian Stevensson is such an entertainer – he obviously enjoyed his role as the baboon, who cunningly stole the show from the highly competent conductor Susanna Mälkki. Jyllands-Posten 1.3. Fredrik Högberg: Baboon Concerto Danish premiere: Danish National SO/Susanna Mälkki, sol. Sebastian Stevensson, bassoon, 28.2.2019 Copenhagen, Denmark
Wennäkoski’s Soie the highlight of the evening Lotta Wennäkoski’s extremely virtuosic concerto was the highlight of the evening. Atmospheric poetry, refined instrumentation, rich handling of detail and sovereign play with the orchestra’s timbral potential – astounding and impressive … Kersten McCall places his outstanding competence in the service of the work. This is great art, free from the airs and graces of stardom. Westfälischen Anzeiger 25.3. Lotta Wennäkoski: Soie Concertgebouw Orchestra/Thomas Hengelbrock, sol. Kersten McCall, flute, 22.3.2019 Dortmund, Germany
Finesse and radiance The guitar concerto Susurrus by Lotta Wennäkoski is distinguished by the finesse and invention of a score in which the orchestra becomes the sound box for the guitar. The energy of the solo part and the novel ideas give an instrument so difficult to confront with an orchestra an astonishing radiance. resmusica.com 11.5. Lotta Wennäkoski: Susurrus Estonian National SO/Olari Elts, sol. Petri Kumela, 3.5.2019 Tallinn, Estonia (World Music Days)