Nordic Highlights No. 3 2022

NEWSLETTER FROM GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG & FENNICA GEHRMAN

New works by Daniel Börtz

Daniel Börtz will turn 80 in 2023, a year that will include the first performances of his Sin fonia 14 for string orchestra with Music Vitae on 10 February in Växjö, and on 11 February during the Lund Contemporary Music Festival. Malin Broman will be both the violin and viola soloist in the world premiere of Börtz’s Double Concerto for One on 23 March, together with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Crawford-Phillips. Keep a lookout for more performances in our website calendar.

The Phantom Carriage

On 9 February Victor Sjöström’s silent film classic The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen) from 1921, based on a novel by Selma Lagerlöf, will be shown at Karlstad Congress & Culture Cen tre with music by Mats Larsson Gothe. The Wermland Opera Orchestra will perform the new version for chamber orchestra under the direction of David Björkman. The symphonic version was premiered by the Gothenburg Sym phony Orchestra and Karen Kamensek during the Gothenburg Film Festival in 2018.

#swedishchoralmusic 2022 –for equality

We can now present works nos 3 and 4 in our series “#swedishchoralmusic 2022 – for equality”. Birgitta Flick’s Nocturne is a dreamy and songful setting for three-part treble choir of Swedish-Finnish poet Edith Södergran’s nature-inspired text. Linda Alexandersson’s set ting of Karin Boye’s Önskenatt (Wish-Night), for three choirs in the treble register, depicts a starry night sky as well as the feelings of hope, comfort and trust that the poem conveys. Birgitta Flick is a jazz saxophonist and composer living in Berlin, whose musical interest lies in the borderland between composition and improvisation. Malmö-based Linda Alexandersson, is a composer, arranger and conduc tor and also works as a choir teacher at Lund’s School of the Arts. You can now find the two works on YouTube. (See: New publications)

New Žibuoklė Martinaitytė album receives top acclaim

Ondine has released a new CD including three recent works by Žibuoklė Martinaitytė for string orchestra: Nunc fluens. Nunc stans, Ex Tenebris Lux and Sielunmaisema. The Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra is conducted by Kar olis Variakojis. Martinaitytė’s previous disc, Saudade, received critical acclaim, resulting in increased interest worldwide, and the new CD is equally praised. It was a five-star Editor’s Choice in Limelight Magazine, which wrote: “Martinaitytė wows with new works for string orchestra. This is extraordinary music with a harmonic language all her own: powerful, minimal while immense and unutterably beautiful.” (See Reviews).

Martinsson premieres

Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina Fryklöf

Translations: Susan Sinisalo, Robert Carroll & Apropos Lingua

Cover photo: Lara Poe (Penthouse Studios)

Design: Tenhelp Oy

Click the sound and video symbols in the text.

Other material is available at

www.gehrmans.se/highlights

www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights

ISSN 2000-2750 (Online)

Rolf Martinsson’s music is heard around Europe and in the USA during the 22/23 season. In July the song cycle Ich denke Dein… received its UK premiere with the Philharmonia Orchestra and soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn at the Three Choirs Festival. Manfred Honeck will lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in the concert overture Open Mind on 28-30 October. Hommage an Clara, (a tribute to Clara Schumann) will get its Finnish premiere with the Tapiola Sinfonietta on 12 January, and its Spanish premiere on 9 March with the Balearic Symphony Orchestra, both with Lisa Larsson as the soprano soloist. She will also perform in the world premiere of the German version of Martinsson’s St. Luke Passion together with the Bach Collegium Zürich on 25 March. Felix Klieser is once again the soloist in the horn concerto Soundscape with the La Verdi Orchestra in Milan on 3 March and on 6 April with the Norr landsoperan Symphony Orchestra in Umeå. Both are national premieres.

Photo: Hans Linden

Photo: Lina Aiduke

Photo: Louise Martinsson

Birgitta Flick Linda Alexandersson

Photos: Josef Sjöblom

Arias for Young Voices

Arias for Young Voices, a series of four volumes, (soprano, mezzo/alto, tenor and baritone/bass), has now been completed. It is the result of the experienced and dedicated work of Barbro Marklund, Professor of Singing at the Norwe gian Academy of Music. The anthology provides a complete platform to launch classical singing studies. Each volume contains 20 opera arias and 10 sacred arias from the early days of opera to the 21st century – specially selected for the needs of young voices. It serves as a useful source for concerts and auditions, as well as the entrance to the joyous path of becoming a pro fessional singer. (See: New publications)

50 years of the Colourstrings method

50 years have passed this year since Géza and Csaba Szilvay invented their Colourstrings method. It all began at the East Helsinki Music Institute, was made famous by a TV programme about young fiddlers and has since spread world wide and into other realms of music teaching. The violin method has won particular acclaim around the world. The last part was issued in February 2022, and the full, extensive publication series accompanies the player right from the very first steps up to professional study. The Colourstrings method has raised a host of internationally celebrated artists, including Pekka and Jaakko Kuusisto, Sakari Oramo, Jan-Erik Gustafsson and Réka Szilvay.

the Year and poser of the Year. Auvinen’s guitar concerto Andalusian Panzerwagen Jazz la’s opera lodica) the gala ceremony.

Winnipeg to focus on Kalevi Aho

The Winnipeg New Music Festival will focus on music by Kalevi Aho in 2023. The programme will include his Double Bassoon Concerto featur ing Bram von Sambeek and Katie Brooks, the Symphonic Dances for orchestra, and a new commission: a short orchestral fanfare conduct ed by Music Director Daniel Raiskin. Chamber music will also feature at the Canadian festival running from 26 January to 3 February 2023, with the composer present.

Malmlöf-Forssling Composer Prize 2022, by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, for his “versatile and ingenious artistry comprising ev

The prize was handed out in con nection with the Hugo Alfvén Day on 2 July.

Fennica Gehrman anniversary

Fennica Gehrman will be 20 in October 2022. One of Finland’s biggest music publishers, it was established to take charge of the valuable classical music catalogue of Edition Fazer, which was restored to Finnish ownership after being bought back from Warner/Chappell in 2007. Fennica Gehrman keeps actively abreast of the times, publishing works by contemporary composers and making a wide selection of works available for purchase and hire. In honour of the anniversary year, it is publishing a collection of new commissioned works for violin and piano. They will also be presented in a concert.

Exciting Klami ballet on stage

The Alpo Aaltokoski Company is staging Uuno Klami’s enchanting Pyörteitä (Whirls) at the new Dance House Helsinki on 20–22 October. The missing parts of Klami’s three-act ballet have been completed by Kalevi Aho. The ballet was last produced in 2012. A feast of music, costumes and dance, it brings the world of the ancient Kalevala epic up to the present day.

Photo: Marko Mäkinen

Photo: Henna Salmela

Photo: Eija Tervo

Photo: Gregor Hohenberg

Photo: Katja Tauberman

Géza Szilvay teaching Minifiddlers.

Photo: International Minifiddlers

Daniel Nelson: Chaplin Songs

“Let us fight to free the world – to do away with national barriers – to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.” These words taken from Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” inspired Daniel Nelson to write his Chaplin Songs, which will be premiered by soprano Camilla Tilling and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir on 21 October at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.

When

Daniel Nelson one summer evening in 2017 went to a Coldplay concert in Gothenburg, he knew neither Chaplin’s film masterpiece “The Great Dictator” nor its famous final speech.

- The concert began with an extract from the film’s monologue with Charlie Chaplin as orator. It moved me so much that the week after I looked up the whole speech on YouTube. There was an incredible passion and presence in the text that I wanted very much to express in music.

Daniel Nelson realised that, despite having been written almost 80 years ago, the speech was still of great relevance today. The text asks mankind to choose an empathetic and compassionate way forward in the world. It asks us to treat all individuals equally and help one another; not to follow evil blindly but instead to choose love and inclusivity; and to protect and defend democracy.

- But the truth is, that just now we see a world where far-right-populist winds are blowing over an ever-greater part of the Western world, even in Sweden, and that these winds are bringing with them the intolerance of minorities and di versities that germinate in anti-democratic soci eties. Chaplin’s text is a historical document that should remind us that this is not the way for ward. We have seen this before, and if we choose this way, we shall all be losers.

Chaplin Songs is a monumental work, both in length (45 minutes) and in the somewhat hefty orchestration, also including a sizable choir and a soprano soloist.

- The music contains everything that I can do and that I know about my craft of composition. It is very impassioned, and I hope that it can ex press the strong emotion and power inherent in Chaplin’s epic text. I am really looking forward to the premiere. This work has been spinning around in my brain for almost six years. It is un believably exciting!

Steampunk Blizzard

Another of Nelson’s orchestral works that has met with success is the concert opener with the suggestive title Steampunk Blizzard . Steam punk is an aesthetic based on a retro-futuristic fascination with the industrialism of the Victo rian era.

- At the time that I wrote the work I happened to be reading HG Wells’ classic steam punk novel “The Time Machine”. Instead of his time machine I visualised a scenario where an imaginary snow machine keeps working on and on to finally produce a tiny little snowstorm. The title of the work is, simply, a depiction of the fictitious machine’s function.

The music is permeated by the Steampunk theme as Nelson has tried to get the whole orchestra to sound like a gigantic machine.

- I wanted the listener to hear the gearwheels and cogs that scrape up against one another, how

Photo: Ella Nelson

Charlie Chaplin in “The Great Dictator”

the pieces of metal in the machine strike one another and form peculiar, repeated rhythms that chew and drive the music on. It is a dark, oily, metallic sound-image that discharges into a dazzling, cheerful bell sound, when the machine reaches its peak and produces the whirling snow storm. It is a very narrative kind of music.

The piece was premiered already in 2017 by the Orchestre National d’île de France, and has thereafter been performed by orchestras in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland and the USA. It was last performed by the Munich Philharmon ic under Santtu-Matias Rouvali, who really has taken a fancy to it.

- The reception of the work has been over whelming, especially by the orchestra musicians, who have thanked me and expressed their joy in getting the opportunity to play the piece. And audiences like it as well. That is just fantastic!

Last spring saw the premiere of a piece for solo violin, The Vein Bleeds Silver, a commission from the Swedish Radio Channel 2 for the Swedish rising-star violinist, Johan Dalene. Daniel Nel son found the words “the vein bleeds silver” in a novel that he read. They alluded to the idea of a source that is almost inexhaustible when it comes to producing things that are positive. Everything that flows from the source is good and it never runs out.

- The work I wrote for Johan is actually a nine-minute-long chaconne with four chords that

PREMIERES

September–December 2022

KALEVI AHO

Prologue to Suite Italienne Janne Rättyä, accordion 15.9. Inari, Finland (Lapland Chamber Music Festival)

Sonata for Accordion Janne Valkeajoki 1.10. Bern, Switzerland

BENJAMIN STAERN Rainbow

Östgöta Symphonic Wind Band 16.9. Linköping, Sweden

KIMMO HAKOLA

Sento - The seven features of emotion for solo violin

Unio for violin and piano

Kaija Saarikettu, vln, Kimmo Hakola, pf 18.9. Kaustinen, Finland (Kaustinen Chamber Music Week)

JYRKI LINJAMA

String Quartet No. 4 Jyväskylä Symphony Quartet 2.10. Jyväskylä, Finland

Bells and Dance for piano Matti Pohjoisaho 5.10. Kokkola, Finland

Sonata da chiesa IV for guitar Andrzej Wilkus 29.10. Kauniainen, Finland

TOBIAS BROSTRÖM

Symphony No. 1 – Albedo Gothenburg SO/Santtu-Matias Rouvali 7.10. Gothenburg, Sweden

MIKKO HEINIÖ Ehtooveisut

Key Ensemble & Krysostomos Chamber Choir 8.10. Turku, Finland

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM

The Book of Life (opera)

Norrköping SO/Eric Ericson Chamber Choir/Tobias Ringborg, sol. Miriam Treichl, Jeremy Carpenter, Matilda Paulsson, Jakob Högström, Joel Annmo, Olle Persson etc. 14.10. Norrköping, Sweden

MATTHEW WHITTALL

Silence Speaks (Helsinki Variations)

Helsinki PO/Susanna Mälkki 14.10. Helsinki, Finland

are repeated the whole time in variation. I thought that it was an appropriate title since my four ‘measly’ chords became the source of so much fine music. Also, much of the work has a shimmering quality which I felt sounded very silvery, not least in the hands of such a brilliant musician as Johan.

Just now Daniel Nelson is working on a chamber opera to be staged at the Vadstena Academy.

DANIEL NELSON

Chaplin Songs

Swedish Radio SO & Choir/Andrew Manze, sol. Camilla Tilling, sop. 21.10. Stockholm, Sweden

TIINA MYLLÄRINEN

String Quartet “(Bad) dreams come true” Uusinta Ensemble 28.10. Turku, Finland

MATTHEW PETERSON

An Inner Sky

Swedish Radio Choir/Kaspar Putnins 29.10. Stockholm, Sweden (Sven-David Sandström Memorial Concert)

ALEX FREEMAN

Ghost Light for chorus and orchestra

Helsinki PO and Helsinki Music Centre Choir/Nils Schweckendiek 11.11. Helsinki, Finland

JACOB MÜHLRAD

Transcendent Pitch Fredrik Ekdahl, bassoon 18.11. Stockholm, Sweden

OLLI KORTEKANGAS

Songs of Meena for soprano and orchestra

Helsinki PO/Osmo Vänskä, sol. Tuuli Takala 30.11. Helsinki, Finland

VELI-MATTI PUUMALA

Violin Concerto

Finnish RSO/Jukka-Pekka Saraste, sol. Carolin Widmann 6.12. Helsinki, Finland

KAI NIEMINEN Near the Edge of Light for string quartet Q Quartets 10.12. Liverpool, UK

ESA PIETILÄ

Kairos Ludus (Concerto for violin and tenor saxophone) Jyväskylä SO/ Elena Schwartz, sol. Pekka Kuusisto, vln, Esa Pietilä, sax. 14.12. Jyväskylä, Finland

- It is a little in the spirit of the steampunk aesthetic. However, the plot takes place rather in the historical crossroads when electricity was being introduced into society. I then received a nice request to write an accordion concerto for the Lithuanian virtuoso Martynas Levickis and the Bundesjugendorchester. After that awaits a dream project, namely to write a concerto for self-playing piano (Disklavier) and orchestra for the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra. It will be a sequel to George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique, in other words a “Concert Mécanique”.

Kristina Fryklöf

-

music contains everything that I can do and that I know about my craft of composition.

Seven questions for Lara Poe

1. Your background is quite cosmopolitan. Where do you currently live?

I was born in the US near Boston, but my mother is from Oulu, Finland. I spent a lot of time there, especially in the summers and around Christmas, and I also lived in Finland for a few years during high school. I graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Boston Uni versity and moved to London in 2016 to study for my master’s degree. I am currently studying at King’s College with George Benjamin and Silvina Milstein. Benjamin’s teaching in particular has been instrumental in my development over the last year and a half. Prior to King’s Col lege, I completed my Artist Diploma studies at the Royal College of Music, where I studied with Kenneth Hesketh and others.

2. Was composing a conscious career choice for you early on?

I started composing at a very young age and even then, it was something I enjoyed. I didn’t necessarily consider making it a career at the time – it came to me gradually, as I spent more and more time on it. My main instrument is the piano because I heard a lot of piano music in my childhood home. Through my piano studies I took the path to composition, and through practice

I learned a lot about how sound is formed and how the meta-level of texture works.

3. What would you like to achieve through compo sition and how would you describe your own musi cal language?

There are several factors behind my work: communication, self-expression and the desire to make a difference. I also have a kind of inner compulsion to write music that I want to listen to and that I like. Composing is also a way of participating in the wider musical debate and expressing one’s views in the current cultural context.

My musical language – what a difficult question! I would describe it as colourful and multifaceted. My music has elements of many different styles and traces of, say, American modernism. Certain acoustic phenomena are also important to me: my textures tend to be clear and relatively transparent, even if there are many layers. My harmonies are both spectral and based on the principles of classical melodic patterns.

4. How did your orchestral work Kaamos come about and how did the compositional process un fold? Tell us about your other orchestral works as well.

Kaamos started in connection with the Lahti Sibelius Festival’s Taimitarha project, and my mentor was Sebastian Fagerlund. The performance conveniently coincided between the first

and second lockdown, in September 2020, when there was an audience present. The soundscape of Kaamos is translucent and was based on the sense of silence and twilight found in the polar night of northern Lapland. I have stayed in those landscapes precisely at the darkest time of the year.

Contradanse is based on an asymmetrical dance rhythm. The piece came about when the conducting teachers at the Royal College of Mu sic asked me to write a prima vista piece for the conducting course applicants. Contradanse has had several performances since then, both at RCM concerts and at Tanglewood.

Our Hospitality was written for the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music in 2019, when I along with the other composition fellows, was asked to write music for a silent film. It was the first time I was composing film music and my aim was to reflect the fast pace of the film and the important role of water and rivers in the sequence. I wanted to achieve a tight connection between the music and the visual element but not to follow every single nuance.

Noctilucent Clouds is an extended version of Noctilucous, which I wrote for the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Scheme. Noctilucous means something that glimmers in the night, and in this piece, I have explored a wide range of timbral and textural possibilities for the orchestra. In the extended version more space was given to the development of the musical material.

Waltz of the Crocus Chrysanthus was commis sioned by the Moonlight Symphony Orchestra. The piece is very energetic, and the rhythmic material is largely based on a waltz-like pattern.

5. Are there certain chamber music works in your catalogue that you would like to highlight? Divergence is a string quartet of four move ments of about 25 minutes. Its first and last movements are both energetic in nature, while

Photo: Penthouse Studios

the second movement is playful and the third very slow and airy.

Mainspring for alto saxophone and piano was composed for the Illuminate Women’s Music concert series. The piano base is very rhythmic and moves in the lowest register, while the saxo phone has percussive slap-tongue patterns.

Mirage was composed for saxophonist Jonathan Radford’s concert series. I recorded var ious multiphonics played by Jonathan, made a spectral analysis of them and used them to find different ways of combining the soundscapes of flute, piano and saxophone into a coherent whole. My other published works include Mus ings for alto saxophone, flute and piano and Triton for solo trumpet.

6. What sources of inspiration does your music re flect – what inspires you and gives you ideas for your work and your life?

My inspiration comes from many sources: mu sic, for example, or natural phenomena. I often follow a sound I hear in a piece and think about how to follow it up: What is this sound? What in strumental combination would produce it? What would be the appropriate context for it?

Nature is also a great source of ideas. Long ski ing trips in the middle of winter are important to me. There is something wonderful about a winter forest where everything is almost perfectly still, and nothing moves. You won’t find any winter forests in London, but there are plenty of parks. I enjoy a wide range of reading and making origami – folding origami is a fascinating process.

7. What genre would you like to focus on in the fu ture: vocal music, opera or concertos – and what are your next plans?

I have composed one short chamber opera so far, and it would be great to compose a full-length stage piece. Instrumental music is very fascinat ing, especially orchestral music. The joy of chamber and solo pieces comes from being able to compose for specific players and getting to know their personalities and tendencies. A concerto is in a way a combination of these, but there is also the balance between the soloist and the larger ensemble.

I have just completed a chamber music piece for the East London Music Group, consisting of a string quartet, flute, clarinet and piano. The piano is a so-called magnetic resonator piano, in which the resonance can be modified by mag nets. My next project is to compose solo flute pieces for Malla Vivolin, and I am also planning new works for strings and larger ensembles. More information will be available soon!

Henna Salmela

REPERTOIRE TIPS

KALEVI AHO

Symphony No. 17 “Symphonic Frescoes” (2017) Dur: 63’ 3433-4331-13-org-hp-str

This large-scale work culminates Kalevi Aho’s career as a symphonist and pre sents his skills as a master of orchestral handling. According to the critics: “It is one of the finest, most impressive works of art ever produced in this country, something that exists for the listener, making his soul and innermost being shiver.” The symphony was a commission from the Lahti Orchestra to celebrate Aho’s 70th anniversary in 2019.

TOBIAS BROSTRÖM

Symphony No. 1 –Albedo (2019-2020) Dur: 40’ 3333-4331-timp-3perc-hp-pi/cel-str

The Symphony Albedo is the second work in a trilogy that began with the double concerto Nigredo. The titles represent different phases in the field of alchemy. Albedo stands for the white, pure phase that will bring light and clarity. The symphony is divided into three movements: Anima, Animus and Inquieto, and will be premiered by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali on 7 October.

DANIEL BÖRTZ

Sinfonia 12 (2010-2011) Dur: 40’ bar. 3343-4441-15-1-str

Sinfonia 13 (2015-2018) Dur: 65’ 2 reciters, mz, c-ten, bar. 3333-4331-timp-perc-hp-str

During the period 2010-2018 Daniel Börtz wrote two large symphonies, both with vocal parts to texts by Kjell Esp mark. In Sinfonia 12 a baritone soloist appears in the slow second movement, singing a setting of the poem ‘Caribbean Quartet’. It is about those who have gone before us and have left visible and invisible traces. The monumental Sin fonia 13 to texts from Espmark’s ‘The Creation’ could almost be considered a Requiem for mankind. The reciters and vocal soloists, speak of war, genocide, flight and persecution. In the music there is the blackest darkness, violent ag gressiveness, but also the mildest tenderness.

ANDERS ELIASSON

Symphony No. 4 (2005)

Dur: 25’ 4333-6331-13-str

Eliasson’s fourth symphony seizes the listener by the throat, at the same time as it conveys a most singular beauty with its tenderly entreating melodic melancholy. It is music charged with energy, constantly moving forward with strong and steady force. But at the very end comes a sudden opening to something else: the symphony ebbs away in a short epilogue with a flitting solo for flugelhorn.

TOMMIE HAGLUND

Symphony (2018) Dur: 50’ 3333-4331-timp-4perc-hp-pf/cel-str

In his Symphony Haglund wants to depict the feelings we have when con fronted with the loss of innocence in our time. He has tried to weave in diabolical, painful and dreamy states of mind. It is a singularly beautiful, melancholy music containing both darkness and life-giv ing light, vibrating and shimmering in different colours.

Symphonies: some recent and older gems

KIMMO HAKOLA

Symphony (2018) Dur: 43’

3333-4331-13-pf.cel-2hp-str

Hakola’s symphony is a monumental work and a real horn of plenty. Its salient features are its ability to surprise, and its powerful emotional states: a mighty hammer sets the work in motion and affectively ends it. In contrast to the rhythmic ecstasy, the slow movement presents some magically beautiful har monies and melodic spans made all the more enchanting by the spell-binding sounds conjured forth from crystal glasses.

HALVOR HAUG

Symphony No. 4 (2001)

Dur: 23’

3333-4331-13-hp-str

Symphony No. 5 (2002)

Dur: 24’

3333-4331-13-hp-str

Haug’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies were composed very close to one anoth er in time and were both written in the form of one continuous movement. Haug displays here his masterly ability to utilise the various sound qualities of the instruments to create energy, tension and drama. The music is characterised by profound expressiveness and mel ancholy. The Fourth Symphony was written around the time of 9/11 and is dedicated to all the innocent victims of terrorism throughout the world, while the Fifth is dedicated to his father.

PAAVO HEININEN

Symphony No. 7 (2020)

Dur: 32’ 3333-4sax-4331-13-2hp-pf-cemb-str Symphony No. 8 (2021) Dur: 43’ 3333-4sax-3331-13-2hp-pf-cemb-str

Heininen composed his last two sym phonies in the final years of his life. Both germinated out of character sketches and their structure is based on symmetry. The seventh began with the idea of a single fairly massive movement. Its core is framed by light, airy sections so that the maximum and minimum tempos and dynamics create a chiasma-like pattern. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra premiered the 7th symphony in 2021 and the 8th still awaits its first performance.

MIKKO HEINIÖ

Symphony No. 3 (Sinfonia Concertante for Percussion and Orchestra) (2017) Dur: 30’ 3333-4331-13-pf+cel-hp-str

This symphony is also a concerto with percussions, piano, celesta and harp in the leading role. It is a work of intoxi cating percussion rhythms and a feast of rich orchestral sounds. The use of djem be drums affords an exciting perspective from outside the sphere of western art music. The orchestration is persistently inventive right up to the brilliant final thumps.

HELVI LEIVISKÄ

Symphony No. 2 (1954) Dur: 23’

3332-4331-11-hp-str

Sinfonia Brevis (1962/72)

Dur: 14’

3332-4331-11-hp-str

Leiviskä’s music has been gaining in creasing interest during the last years. Her second symphony is moody and meditative. One of its main themes is a march heard in various hues, a funeral march included, but at times the music also acquires sharper tones evocative of Shostakovich. Leiviskä regarded the Sinfonia Brevis as her fourth symphony. It combines dramatic, playful and lyrical ingredients and ends with a splendid triple fugue.

HERMAN RECHBERGER

Symphony No. 2 “Hawwa” (2003)

Dur: 25’

2222 4331-14-1-keyb-str, 2 sop, bar Rechberger was a contemporary Re naissance man interested in several cultures, as demonstrated in this excit ing piece. “Hawwa” is the Arabic-Persian expression for “passionate”. The English translations of the text are drawn from the 14th century Sufi poet Seyyid Im adeddin Nesimi and the Arabic texts are from North-African nawba poetry (the love poems of Arab-Andalusian music).

ALBERT SCHNELZER

Symphony No. 1 – Azraeel (2007) Dur: 29’

2222-2200-01-0-str

One of Schnelzer’s major sources of creative inspiration is Salman Rushdie and his magic realism. The impulse to write the symphony originated in the tumult arising from The Satanic Verses. Here Schnelzer depicts these events in six movements. The music contains everything from brutal and tumultuous sections, and dance rhythms in var ying time signatures, to quietly meditative moods.

BENJAMIN STAERN

Symphony No. 1 – Polar Vortex (2014) Dur: 27’

2222-4231-timp-2perc-hp-pf/cel-str

Symphony No. 2 – Through Purgatory to Paradise (20192021) Dur: 25’

3333-4331-timp-4perc-hp-pf/cel-str Staern’s First Symphony is a sounding journey in three movements focusing on dramatic natural phenomena. It is a brilliantly colourful depiction of crispy, frosty and fragile sonorities, shimmering light in the form of magical over tones, concluding with a finale that is a ritual volcanic dance with rumbling rhythmical percussion. The Second Symphony is inspired by Dante’s The Divine Comedy. The musical tone material builds to a large extent on two bars in Lili Boulanger’s d’Un soir triste, out of which Staern generates a tone scale. The colourful orchestral texture is more transparent than in his earlier works and there is a greater focus on melodies. Long, tranquil, airy sections are interrupt ed by powerful, energetic outbursts.

TAPIO TUOMELA

Symphony No. 3 “Crossroads” (2017) Dur: 17’

2222-4231-02-pf-str

Some of the material of Tuomela’s op era Neljäntuulentie (Crossing of Four Roads) was reworked for his third sym phony. This compelling music proceeds like a musical fantasy, undulating from one association to another. The flowing movement and the pulsating rhythm merge with dreaminess and late-Ro mantic wisps of melody.

REVIEWS

Magical and ethereal Elizabeth Llewellyn whose radi ant soprano both soared effort lessly and floated with sublime gentleness, luxuriantly bathed in a kaleidoscope of instrumental textures and colours. Martinsson uses a large orchestra, including piano, harp and celeste which add a magical and ethereal dimension at times. He’s a skilful orchestra tor, though, and just as the voice is never overwhelmed, so the instru mental fabric always works with rather than against the voice, as Martinsson crafts onomatopoet ic images and fervent emotional landscapes. Opera Today July 2022

Rolf Martinsson: Ich denke dein… UK premiere: Philharmonia Orchestra/Emilia Hoving, sol. Elizabeth Llewelyn, sop, 24.7.2022 Hereford, UK (Three Choirs Festival)

Aho’s Double and Triple Concertos

The fact is, every Aho piece inhabits its own unique world. These two concertos provide a clear example: The Double Concerto exists in the shadows, while the Triple Concerto is comparatively bright and open…The music reaches its deepest, most dreamy state in the third movement, marked Tranquillo, misterioso: from its drifting string and then brass textures at the opening through the thematic mus ings of the piano trio, this movement is utterly mesmerizing. If BIS ever releases an “Aho’s Greatest Hits” disc, this movement, and perhaps this concerto, probably will be on it. Fanfare Sept 2022

Kalevi Aho: Double Concerto for English Horn, Harp and Orchestra, Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano, and Chamber Orchestra

CD: Antwerp SO/Olari Elts, sol. Dimitri Mestdag, ca, Anneleen Lenaerts, hp, Storioni Trio (BIS-2426 SACD)

Passionate Pettersson

In the Viola Concerto the music often carries the sense of an avalanche of an idea being swept downhill while elements, including the soloist, aspire up wards. The music is keenly, almost manically, passionate and has a profile con stantly in motion. Ellen Nisbeth gives every appearance of not merely know ing the notes but having a grip on the shifting emotional landscape.

Allan Pettersson’s Fifteenth Symphony can be a tough nut to crack, but is certainly worth the effort… one can rarely escape Pettersson’s aura of having something important to say, or his knowledge of the symphony orchestra in how to say it.

MusicWeb International August/September 2022

Allan Pettersson: Symphony No. 15 & Viola Concerto

CD: Norrköping SO/Christian Lindberg, sol. Ellen Nisbeth, vla (BIS-2480 SACD)

Fascinating story and stylistic finesse

The story has an extremely fascinating, irrealistic side… Nordgren’s music of the 1980s has many vocally rewarding features in combination with dramatic nuanc es when operating within the sick soulscape of the leading character… Nordgren uses the chamber musical and vocal means of expression with convincing emo tional pathos and stylistic finesse. Hufvudstadsbladet 4.9.

Pehr Henrik Nordgren: Den svarte munken (The Black Monk)

Sinfonietta Fortis/Teemu Hämäläinen, sol. Kristian Lindroos, Johanna Isokoski, Pekka Kuivalainen etc., 3.9.2022 Helsinki, Finland

Inventive, timeless chamber music

The music of Wessman sails on a sea of sounds, avoid ing predictable routes. His works are timeless in the best sense of the word… In the Piano Quartet, the musical execution is simply fascinating, and its dramaturgy tan gible. Kompositio 1/2022

Harri Wessman: Piano Trios, Piano Quartet, Prelude and Sicilienne for piano trio

CD: Kaaås Trio (Alba ABCD 511)

Thought-provoking Silent Earth

The earth quakes in Karin Rehnqvist’s oratorio about the climate crisis. A powerful and thought-provoking piece of music and poetry… especially in the depiction of mankind’s devastation of its only planet. Dagens Nyheter 28.8.

If any Swedish composer could write a powerful musical manifesto for the envi ronment, it is Karin Rehnqvist… Already the choice of excluding solo singers and instead letting the orchestra and the choir be the components… creates a com munity that the listener can be part of. We mourn together a world that is on its way to destruction… Svenska Dagbladet 29.8.

Here humanity sings to the earth, after which a natural disaster in forte occurs. The work is both dramatic and romantic, as if we in the midst of the catastrophe should not forget that which once was… Musically it is both suggestive and excit ing. Aftonbladet 29.8.

Karin Rehnqvist/Kerstin Perski: Silent Earth

Swedish premiere: Swedish Radio SO & Choir/Dima Slobodeniouk, 27.8.2022 Stockholm, Sweden (Baltic Sea Festival)

Damström’s powerful and entertaining Wasteland

The music was characterised by powerful dynamics, a shifting variety of co lours, and not least sharp contrasts. Here the orchestral attire is indeed utilised for striking rhythms. With the clothes industry and greenwashing as its theme, the work also brought a strong contribution to the ongoing climate debate.

Västerbottenskuriren 2.9.

A piece of highly entertaining orchestral music… Folkbladet 2.9.

Cecilia Damström: Wasteland

World premiere: Norrlandsoperan SO/Ville Matvejeff, 1.9.2022 Umeå, Sweden

Photo: Arne Hyckenberg

Karin Rehnqvist & Kerstin Perski

Photo: Ville Juurikkala

Elizabeth Llewellyn

Photo: Frances Marshall

Raffish Iiro Rantala

Genres cheerfully melted in a mutual embrace … Joy of Life is a work that gives joie de vivre a whole new spectrum, exquisitely and dazzlingly interpreted by Rantala on the piano and Minna Pensola the violin… The Overture was a rhythmic jamboree for the percus sionists and wind players and a whopping caprice for the full orchestra. Keskisuomalainen 7.7.

Iiro Rantala: Joy of Life (Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra), Seven O’Clock Overture Jyväskylä Sinfonia/Antti Tikkanen, sol. Iiro Rantala, pf, Minna Pensola, vln, 6.7.2022 Jyväskylä, Finland

Entrancing Moomin Opera

The performance was quite simply entrancing… Zest and dangerous situations abounded. Kuusisto’s music is steeped in colour, lively and strongly descriptive… The references and stylistic allusions point here and there to the history of opera, and it all culminates in Carmen’s Habanera aria. Helsingin Sanomat 26.5.

Ilkka Kuusisto: Moomin opera (Muumiooppera)

Libretto: Esko Elstelä after Tove Jansson, Swedish by Christian Holmqvist Pori Sinfonietta/Kaapo Ijas, sol. Joel Bonsdorff, Reetta Haavisto, Ville Salonen etc., 25.5.2022 Helsinki, Finland

Tintomara at Läckö Castle

Lovely singing, inspired orchestral music, lively presence on stage, and period make-up & cos tumes suffice for a complete success this season. The music of “Tintomara” is beautiful as well as emotive… Expressen 11.7.

Werle was a modernist but with a strong feeling for melody, leitmotifs and guarded pastiche. His music is discreet and, by small but distinct means, brings out Almqvist’s fantastic and ultraromantic text. He lets Almqvist represent the romanticism, and doesn’t give it further emphasis in the musical expression. This works splendidly… One of the best versions ever. Aftonbladet 13.7.

The ensemble of first-class Mozart voices at Läckö have fun with all the Shakespearian mistaken iden tities. And, to be sure, there is an air of Midsum mer-Night’s-Dream enchantment over the young Tintomara’s ability to get everyone he/she meets to lose their composure and wits. Dagens Nyheter 11.7.

Lars Johan Werle: Tintomara Libretto: Leif Söderström after C.J.L. Almqvist Läckö CO/Simon Kim Phipps, sol. Sidesel Eriksen, Matilda Sterby, Elisabeth Leyser, Carl Ackerfeldt, Per Lindström etc. 9.-30.7.2022, Läckö Castle, Sweden

Kortekangas’s Partita Concertante

Hard-hitting monologue opera by Kyllönen

The opera is in 11 scenes dealing with the position of women in present-day society… Kyllönen has built a dramatic span with rises and falls, conflicts and comic relief. The tension and energy level are consistently high… The hard-hitting libretto has also some playful language and humour. Marthens is a veritable dra matic sound cannon and excels in the opera’s furious outbursts and flare-ups. Helsingin Sanomat 20.8.

Timo-Juhani Kyllönen: Ilona irti Libretto: Leena Lehtolainen

World premiere: Aurora Marthens, sop, Trio Roozeman,18.8.2022 Espoo, Finland (Organ Night and Aria Festival)

Martinaitytė’s compelling and arresting music

Her scores similarly appeal to something beyond the immediately cerebral, creating vast shimmering soundscapes that lead the mind somewhere dream like and seem to speak directly to the body’s senses in arresting and unexpected ways…. this excellent disc offers a welcome introduction to Martinaitytė’s com pelling and transporting music. BBC Music Magazine 21.7.

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė: Ex tenebris lux, Nunc fluens. Nunc stans, Sielunmaisema

CD: Lithuanian CO/Karolis Variakojis (Ondine ODE 1403-2)

A gorgeous piece of musical lacework by Lotta Wennäkoski

Of Footprints and Light, a tender, insinuating score by the Finnish composer Lotta Wennäkoski…an intri cate, gorgeous piece of musical lacework. Her 12-min ute dreamscape opens with eerie footsteps through a fog, scored to immaculate perfection. When the oboe arrives with the first melodic quotation from Moberg’s forgotten score, the effect is like a shimmery spectral visitation come to light. San Francisco Chronicle 3.6.

Lotta Wennäkoski: Of Footprints and Light (Om fotspår och ljus)

San Francisco Symphony/Ruth Reinhardt, 3.-5.6.2022 San Francisco, USA

This is a work of great symphonic elements com pressed into a chamber music context. The premiere was deservedly the concert’s big attraction… The in strumentation created symphonic aural impressions with only a small number of players, and a variety of timbral textures, such as combinations of sustained lines and snappy catchiness. The harmonies conjured up a sense of mystery and contrasts. Turun Sanomat 16.6.

Olli Kortekangas: Partita Concertante for cello and ensemble

World premiere: Arto Noras, cello, and ensemble, 15.6.2022 Naantali Music Festival, Finland

Photo: Daniel Strandroth

Photo: Mikko Kauppinen

Timo-Juhani Kyllönen and Leena Lehtolainen

Olli Kortekangas

Karolina Blixt, Elisabeth Leyser & Matilda Sterby

NEW PUBLICATIONS

ORCHESTRA

HUGO ALFVÉN

En båt med blommor (A Boat with Flowers) for baritone and orchestra

Text: Oscar Levertin (Swe) GE 14295 (score)

NILS-ERIC FOUGSTEDT

Three Miniatures / Kolme pienoiskuvaa (1953) for string orchestra

FG 9790550117877 (score & parts)

MATS LARSSON GOTHE

The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen)

Music to the silent movie version för sinfonietta

GE 14170 (score), GE 14172 (study score)

TOMMIE HAGLUND

Making Something Out of Nothing for voice and orchestra

Text: Per Gessle (Eng) GE 14088 (score), GE 14090 (study score)

PETROS PAUKKUNEN

Touched by Sacred Fire for orchestra

FG 9790550117785 (study score)

TURE RANGSTRÖM

Vinden och trädet (Der Wind und der Baum) for voice and orchestra

Text: Bo Bergman (Swe/Ger) GE 14286 (score)

JONAS VALFRIDSSON

The Swan Maiden (Svanhamnen) Concertino for bassoon and string orchestra GE 13260 (score), GE 13262 (study score)

CHAMBER & INSTRUMENTAL

ANTTI AUVINEN

Beneath for wind quintet

FG 9790550166790 (score & parts) Karkija for bass clarinet and marimba FG 9790550117822

JÖRGEN DAFGÅRD

Iridescence Solitary Poem #16 for soprano saxophone solo GE 14299

MIKKO HEINIÖ

Kun Pojat… / When the Boys... Seven variations and theme based on a Finnish folk song for organ

FG 9790550117884

TIMO-JUHANI KYLLÖNEN Trio No. 4 for flute, clarinet & accordeon FG 9790550117891 (score & parts)

KARIN REHNQVIST

Sånger mellan ljus och mörker/Lavlagat gaskal cuovagga ja seavdnjadasa (Songs between Light and Darkness) for two reciters, sop, a-sax, cl & pf

Text: Gunnar Eklöf (Swe/Sami transl. Mirja Päiviö)

HUGO ALFVÉN

BIRGITTA FLICK

Nocturne for treble choir SSA

Text: Edith Södergran (Swe/Eng) GE 14289

LINDA ALEXANDERSSON Önskenatt (Wish-night) for three treble choirs

Text: Karin Boye (Swe) GE 14350

ANNA CEDERBERG (ARR. AND ADAPTATION)

Amor grande come il mare Laudi Francescane dal Laudario Cortonese del sec. XIII no 32 for female choir (SSAA)

Text in Italian GE 14238

BARBRO MARKLUND (EDITOR) Arias for Young Voices 20 opera arias and 10 sacred arias from the early days of opera to the 21th century, specially selected for the needs of young voices. GE 13193 (soprano), GE 13194 (mezzo/alto), GE 13195 (tenor), GE 13196 (baritone/bass)

STEFAN NILSSON

Så mycket kärlek (So Much Love) for mixed choir (SATB) and piano

Text: Moni Nilsson (Swe) GE 14180

KARIN REHNQVIST

Här får du inte sitta! (You Can’t Sit Here!) for children’s choir (SSAA), 1-2 saxophones and piano

Text: Karin Rehnqvist (Swe) GE 14357 (chorus score), GE 14358 (instrumental parts) GE 14331 (score)

Tiden ropar på dig (Time is Calling to You) for mixed choir (SATB), cello and piano

Text: Harry Martinsson (Swe) GE 14044

FREDRIK SIXTEN

En innerlig visa om döden for voice and piano

Text: Bo Setterlind (Swe) GE 14347 (low) GE14348 (high)

BOOKS

MIKKO RAASAKKA

Klarinetin tutkimusmatka (PDF publication)

Finnish version of ”Exploring the Clarinet” (Johdatus klarinetin historiaan, rakentee seen, ominaisuuksiin ja tutkimusmatka sen soittoteknisiin mahdollisuuksiin) FG 9789525489620

For further information contact us at:

Gehrmans Musikförlag AB

Box 42026, SE-126 12 Stockholm, Sweden

Tel. +46 8 610 06 00 info@gehrmans.se

Web shop: www.gehrmans.se Hire: hire@gehrmans.se Sales: order@gehrmans.se

Songs and Piano Pieces Elin Rombo, sop, Peter Friis Johansson, pf BIS-2575 SACD (‘At home with Hugo Alfvén’)

CECILIA DAMSTRÖM Psychedelic BENJAMIN STAERN Waves

Reetamaria Rajala, piano Valle Music/MWMusica Sweden (‘Silence’)

FREDRIK HÖGBERG Why do you Dance?

CARL UNANDER-SCHARIN

The Cloud of Unknowing Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble/ Erik Westberg, Kim Hellgren vla, Markus Wargh & Aaron Sunstein, org. Swedish Society SCD 1185 (‘The Cloud of Unknowing’)

LARS KARLSSON Arioso, Sonata da camera, Canto drammatico, Koralmeta morfoser, Svit för Helena Ensemble transparent, Gotland Wind Quintet, John Storgårds, vln, Pontus Grahns, db, Lars Karlsson, pf, Annemarie Åström, vln, Tomas Nuñez-Garcés, vlc Pilfink JJVCD-236 (‘Canto drammaticoChamber music by Lars Karlsson’)

ŽIBUOKLĖ MARTINAITYTĖ Nunc fluens. Nunc stans, Ex Tenebris Lux, Sielunmaisema Lithuanian CO/Karolis

Fennica Gehrman Oy Ab

PO Box 158, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland

Tel. +358 10 3871 220

info@fennicagehrman.fi

Web shop: www.fennicagehrman.fi

Hire: hire@fennicagehrman.fi

Sales: customerservice@kirjavalitys.fi

Most Fennica Gehrman’s new publications are also available as PDF editions in our web shop.

Drammatico Kammarmusikav