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n E W S L E T T E r F r o M G E H r M A n S M U S i K F Ö r L A G & F E n n i c A G E H r M A n

Seven questions for Mihkel Kerem

Sven-david Sandström:St. Matthew Passion

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nEWSLET TEr FroM GEHrMAnS MUSiKFÖrLAG & FEnnicA GEHrMAn

Sound samples , video clips and other material are available at

www.gehrmans.se/highlights www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights

cover photo: Mihkel Kerem (Pål Solbakk),Sven-david Sandström (Leif r Jansson / TT Sweden)Editors: Henna Salmela and Kristina FryklöfTranslations: Susan Sinisalo and robert carrolldesign: Göran LindiSSn 2000-2742 (Print), iSSn 2000-2750 (online)Printed in Sweden by TMG Sthlm, Bromma 2014

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Large work by Heiniö for choir and dancersThe ERI Dance Theatre and the vocal Key Ensemble have commissioned a large-scale work for choir, clarinet and cello from Mikko Heiniö. The choreography and direction will be by Tiina Lindfors, and ERI and the Key Ensemble will be part of the events on the stage. The new work will be premiered in Turku in autumn 2015 and there are tentative plans for about ten performances.

Nuorvala premiere & recordingsThe Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is to premiere a new orchestral work by Juhani Nuorvala on 16 May, at a concert conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali at the Helsinki Music Centre. The work has been commis-sioned by the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Music by Nuor vala is also being recorded. Among the items on a disc to be released on the Alba Records label are Boost for cello and synthesizer, and Five Pieces for flute and cello. The Defunensemble is also planning a CD that will include Nuorvala’s Boost and Veli-Matti Puumala’s Basfortel.

Concertos by Aho around the worldConcertos by Kalevi Aho are busily touring the world. Over the spring, Martin Fröst will be the soloist in his Clarinet Concerto three times in Germany and twice in Denmark. The Percussion Concerto Sieidi can be heard twice in Canada in March (Toronto Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds, sol. Colin Currie). The Double Concerto and the Bassoon Concerto have also been performed elsewhere in the world. The first half of this year further takes in the premiere of a new work: Aho’s Cello Concerto No. 2 is on the programme for the Naantali Music Festival on 6 June; Arto Noras will be the soloist with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. And Aho’s Theremin Concerto Eight Seasons will be given sev-eral performances in Europe. One of them will be at the Carinthischer Sommer festival in Austria in August.

Upcoming Schnelzer and Broström commissions Brain Damage is the title of Albert Schnelzer´s new Concerto for Orchestra, which he is writing for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Stock-holm Royal Philharmonic. The work will receive its premiere in Gothenburg on 10 September under the direction of Alain Altinoglu. Tobias Broström’s next commission is a Concerto for Two Percussionists and Orchestra composed for the percussion duo Malleus Incus (Patrick Raab and Johan Bridger). Michael Sanderling will conduct the Dresdner Philharmonie in the world premiere on 16 May 2015. The concerto is jointly commissioned by the Helsingborg SO, Gävle SO and Norrlandsoperan SO.

ERI Dance Theatre in Mikko Heiniö’s Khora

Hardenberger plays Broström and Martinsson in the USAHåkan Hardenberger is bringing Rolf Martinsson’s Bridge to the Tanglewood Festival on 19 July, where he will be soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons. Conducted by James Gaffigan, Hardenberger and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will give three performances (31 Oct-2 Nov/US premiere) of Tobias Broström’s Trumpet Concerto Lucernaris.

Light meets music in Staern’s Saiyah7 May will see the premiere of Benjamin Staern’s Saiyah: Concert of Colours for chamber ensemble, live electronics and light-design at the Norrlandsopera in Umeå. The work revolves around the neurological state of synaesthesia, when a person who hears music can also see it, for example in the form of different colours. The work will be performed by the New European Ensemble, and the Japanese multimedia artist Yoko Seyama will create the light-sculpture that is synchronised in real time with the music.

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Albert Schnelzer Tobias Broström

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P r E m I E r E SFebruary – June 2014

ANDERS ELIASSONTrio d’archi – Ahnungentrio Zilliacus/Persson/raitinen10.2. Stockholm, Sweden

DANIEL BÖRTZSinfonia 12swedish radio so/daniel Blendulf15.2. Stockholm, Sweden

SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖMSt. Matthew Passionstaatskapelle halle, Philharmonischer chor Berlin, academy chamber choir of uppsala/stefan Parkman16.2. Berlin, GermanyNordic Mass to texts by Tomas Tranströmer Mogens dahl chamber choir/Mogens dahl23.5. Bergen, Norway (Bergen International Festival)

MIRJAM TALLYFrom Darkness to Lightnorrlandsoperan so, sångkraft chamber choir/risto Joost27.2. Umeå, SwedenVortexMusicians from estonian national so11.4. Tallinn, Estonia (Estonian Music Days)

JONAS VALFRIDSSONA Sudden Recollection: La Jardin des Plantesnorrköping so/Michael Francis27.2. Norrköping, Sweden

KALEVI AHO19 Preludes sonja Fräki, piano27.2. Helsinki, FinlandCello Concerto No. 2 Lahti so/osmo Vänskä, sol. arto noras6.6. Naantali, Finland (Naantali Music Festival) Solo XI (Hommage á Munir Bashir)ismo eskelinen, guitar12.6. Raisio, Finland (Naantali Music Festival)

BENJAMIN STAERNSånger om bländvit kärlekhelsingborg so/stefan solyom, sol. anna Larsson, alto6.4. Helsingborg, SwedenSayiah – Concert of Coloursnew european ensemble/christian karlsen7.5. Umeå, SwedenGodai – Concerto for OrchestraMalmö so/Marc soustrot15.5. Malmö, Sweden

HARRI VUORIDie Elfenmusik (new version) tampere Po/anna-Maria helsing11.4. Tampere, Finland (Tampere Biennale)

TOBIAS BROSTRÖMString Quartet No. 1Brooklyn rider23.4. Malmö, Sweden

JUHANI NUORVALANew work for orchestraFinnish rso/santtu-Matias rouvali16.5. Helsinki, Finland

PAAVO HEININENOrgan Concertoguard’s Band, sol. Jan Lehtola27.5. Helsinki, Finland

JYRKI LINJAMABarcarollekaija saarikettu, violin, sonja Fräki, piano3.6. Helsinki, Finland

TIINA MYLLÄRINENTracesPro Musica Foundation orchestra/atso almila5.6. Helsinki, Finland

Martinsson’s Garden of DevotionRolf Martinsson is presently at work on a song cycle for soprano and string orchestra, Garden of Devotion, set to texts by the Indian poet Rabin dranath Tagore. The main commissioner, Musica Vitae, will give the world premiere on 25 September in Växjö with

Högberg concertos in Germany 2015Three concertos by Fredrik Högberg will receive their German premieres during 2015. In January pianist Niklas Sivelöv will be the soloist in his Ice Concerto together with the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, and tubaist Öystein Baadsvik and the Niderrhein Symphony Orchestra will give four performances (9-15 Jan. in Krefeld and Mönchengladbach) of the Tuba Concerto Rocky Island Boat Bay. On 8 November Christian Lindberg and Nils Landgren will treat the German audience in Nuremberg to a real trombone show in Högberg’s Konzert für zwei Posaunen.

Jennefelt receives Lidholm PrizeThomas Jennefelt, who will celebrate his 60th birthday in April, has been awarded the Ingvar Lidholm Prize for his versatile creativity in Swedish musical life. According to the explanatory statement he is “one of Sweden’s foremost composers today and has in particular had great successes as a choral composer, even internationally. His music is characterized by pro-found emotion, a wealth of ideas and a strong feeling for the expressive possibilities of the human voice.”

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Hilary Hahn, Dawn Upshaw & RautavaaraHilary Hahn is the soloist in the Violin Concerto

 by Einojuhani Rautavaara in Paris on 23 May. The French Radio Orchestra will be conducted by Mikko Franck, and the program also includes Rauta-vaara’s popular Cantus arcticus . Dawn Upshaw is also a Rautavaara fan and chose to sing the movement Liebes Lied from Rautavaara’s Die Liebenden in an 11-concert tour of Australia in February (Australian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Richard Tognetti).

New agreement with Lotta WennäkoskiFennica Gehrman has entered into a publishing agreement with composer Lotta Wennäkoski. Signed in January 2014, it will initially cover works by her for orchestra, including a suite from the 86-minute music pre-miered by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2012 for the silent movie Amor omnia. This score was part of a sizeable project commissioned by the Finn-ish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The publishing agreement will also comprise the Flute Concerto Soie (2009) that was one of the recommended works at the Unesco International Rostrum of Composers in 2012.

Born in 1970 and a prolific composer not afraid to speak out on issues that interest her, Wennäkoski has aroused interest outside her native Fin-land. In her vocal music, particularly, she has addressed sen sitive issues, the position of women and everyday life. She was the Tapiola Sinfonietta’s composer-in-residence for the 2010/2011 season and works by her have been released on the Alba label.

Music by Tiina Myllärinen can be heard at the Helsinki Music Centre when the orchestral work Traces commissioned by the Pro Musica Founda-tion is premiered there on 5 June. Atso Almila will conduct the Foundation’s gala orchestra. Myllä- rinen (b. 1979) is a rising composer at present working for a Doctorate at the Sibelius Academy. She signed a publishing agreement with Fennica Gehrman last year.

Tiina Myllärinen’s new commission

Nathalie Stutzman at the podium. Other orchestras in this joint commission include the Scottish ChO, Stuttgart ChO, Staatskapelle Weimar, Norrköping SO, Helsingborg SO, Swedish ChO and Uppsala ChO. The work is dedicated to Lisa Larsson, who is the soloist in all of the performances.

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somehow I couldn’t translate them into music. At the same time I started reading Solomon Volkov’s “Testimony”, Shostakovich’s memoirs. This sent me into the world I was born into and my parents’ descriptions of the times before that. While realis-ing the ignorance of people who had not experi-enced this, more disturbingly was the idealisation of these times by the people who had lived in them but had already forgotten the reality, only ten years after the collapse of the Soviet regime.

I felt the need to do my bit to remind people of the dangers of forgetting the past. It was a difficult work to compose, but an important one for me as it is the first piece of music I wrote and one I feel so strongly about.

4.  Is there any particular chamber music piece of yours that carries special significance for you?

I suppose the most important chamber work for me is my String Sextet . It has also been played the most, as both a chamber and an orchestral work. I am also proud of my three Sonatas for violin and piano and also the nine String Quar-tets and Expression Suite for string quartet that I feel a little selfish pride about, and the two Wind Quintets. I guess they represent a little philosophi-cal struggle in me. Sometimes I believe one person is stronger than a group, sometimes the opposite.

5. You have a very long list of works, considering that your main job is playing the violin. How do you marry these two sides in practice?

I find these two worlds marry very well ...till some-one asks and I start thinking about it. I feel the need to express myself in both ways and I can’t

1. You were very young when you wrote your first violin sonatas. Yet to the listener they sound mature, intense and even passionate. How is this possible for a teenager?

When you’re writing music or creating any other form of art, the age of the creator is hardly ever relevant. Naturally experiences of life add to your knowledge, and your skills develop as you get older. Sometimes, when creating, you go very deep into the subconscious and become more of a channel for art than a creator. I usually feel this as a compulsion to write. The subject matter is not in my control then. Writers of novels know what I’m talking about.

2. Your music seems to have links with the Estonian musical idiom even though you’re a musical cosmo-politan who’s travelled the world. Which composers have made the biggest impact on you?

I have never thought my music was very Estonian. Others have always said so. I suppose you cannot hide your roots. Shostakovich, Mahler and Ravel have been a great inspiration for me. And Stravin-sky. When I was younger, I felt very much influ-enced by their music. Later I learnt from their or-chestration skills, their development of music and use of time.

3. You have composed three symphonies. The most recent is one that makes a statement, in which you describe the pressures on people living under a totali-tarian regime.

The idea to write the third symphony came from my composition teacher at the Royal College of Music in London, William Mival. The idea was for a work lasting 15 minutes. I had some ideas, but

imagine life without either one of them. The only time I find it difficult is when I have a deadline on a new work and a very important performance com-ing up at the same time. 

6. Can you say something about inspiration? 

Inspiration comes from a lot of places. Human beings and my own feelings used to be my great-est inspiration. Lately, I have found inspiration in books I’ve read, stories I’ve heard or paintings I’ve seen. I find that reliving experiences through com-posing makes me understand and feel the subject in hand much more deeply and more clearly. Was it Schopenhauer who said something along the lines of music being the art that describes the soul of art itself, while the other arts reflect reality? I find this very fitting here.    

If I had to pick some works of art to take with me on a desert island, they would be George Or-well’s novel “1984” and Bernstein’s recording of Mahler 9 with the Berlin Philharmonic or the New York Phil, whichever is closest at hand at the time.

7.  What about your forthcoming projects? Where are you performing at the moment, and what sorts of composition plans do you have?

I just had a great project directing the Camerata Nordica in Sweden, introducing some Estonian classics to the world. As for my plans for composi-tions, I tend not to say too much about them until they have realised. It’s a bit like talking about an unborn child.

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M i h k e l k e r e M (born in Estonia in 1981) lives in Lon-don and is the leader of the Brandenburg Sinfonia and a section principal in the camerata nordica. He has also given recitals and been the soloist with several orchestras. He is a prolific composer, with over a hundred works to his name. These include three symphonies, three con-certos and numerous works for various combinations of instruments. His own instrument, the violin, occupies the central position in his chamber music.

Kerem started composing at an early age and finished his first violin sonata when he was 13. He studied compo-sition in Estonia and later at the royal college of Music in London. He has been the composer in residence at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Aurora cham-ber Music Festival. His music has a strong emotional pow-er and an Estonian feel, and he often approaches painful themes in works combining Minimalism, a meditative quality and a motor-like drive.

Seven questions for mihkel Kerem

PHoTo: Pål SolBAKK

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hose familiar with Sandström’s style from the last two decades will find a large number of

familiar traits in his St. Matthew Passion: The cho-ral voicing is typical for Sandström, predominately in six-parts or more providing a stronger emphasis on the middle register; he uses romantic harmony in non-traditional combinations; he alternates between thin, sparse textures and heavily orches-trated dense ones; there are repetitive rhythmical sections with extensive use of percussion; the vocal parts are demanding, both for the nine soloists and the choir, and include sections of extreme registers and high tempi. And while the orchestra utilizes a traditional instrumentation – double winds, four horns, along with organ – the added tuned gongs and tam-tam, occasionally provides a weight-less state to the texture, and the two tubas provide a boost to the bass register creating a sound far from Bach’s. But not surprisingly, in contrast to most of his other baroque-inspired works the passion has a more somber character, especially compared to the lavish High Mass and Messiah.

The importance of the choralesIndeed, his passion drama provides a rather origi-nal interpretation of Picander’s (1700–1764) li-bretto: The first of the seventy-eight sections sets the tone for the entire work. Bach’s version is a contrapuntally dense, dance-like dramatic move-ment in which a children’s choir superimposes the chorale “O Lamm Gottes unschuldig.” Sandström’s has a delicate and slow texture with ornamented melodic fragments in the woodwinds over the mezzo soprano’s “Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen!”. The chorale is performed by the mixed choir, a cappella, giving an early indication of the importance chorales hold for Sandström in this work and beyond.

Sandström has recently embraced chorale com-position: In 2011, he completed a three-year term as composer in residence for the Stockholm Cathe-dral and the church of Hässelby Villastad outside of Stockholm, for which he wrote on average two liturgical works per month. The finished project included one composition for each of the sixty Sundays and celebrations of the church year. Some of which are large-scale works, but there are also hymns, works for children’s choir, and instrumen-tal music for small ensembles or solo instruments.

The experience brought him closer to the historical working conditions of a composer – not least Bach – and he enjoyed the simplicity and joy of the creative process. Today he argues that composition must be enjoyable, that musical expression should be the same today as in historical times and that a composer has the same function as throughout history; expression is not a matter of compositional style, a reason for his reorientation to simpler approaches.

After having completed his St. Matthew Passion he admitted that composing the chorales was the hardest part. While Bach’s chorales are con-trapuntally complex, Sandström’s are tonal and melodically simple, but set to a thick harmony. “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden,” for example, one of Sandström’s finest chorales, is a setting of a dia-tonic melody reminiscent of a Swedish folk song. To further emphasize the importance of the cho-rale texture and sound, the entire work ends with a chorale setting of “Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder.” Indeed, the chorales provide a lyrical con-trast to the recited narrative of the evangelist.

Work filled with symbolismIn his previous Passion, The Word (2004), set in Swedish to texts by poet and Swedish-Academy member Katarina Frostenson, Sandström did not assign one specific voice to the role of Je-sus – Jesus’ words exist only as quotes as his words can be found in all, both symbolically and musically. But in the passion he assigns the role to the baritone soloist. While Bach exclusively used string accompaniment for Jesus, Sandström set it to a brass choir. The instruments are often muted, providing a mysterious atmosphere. Brass instru-ments have a special poignancy for Sandström: A trumpeter, Sandström grew up in a Baptist family, and brass instruments were typically featured in church. The only exception to the use of the brass

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choir is in movement 34 when Jesus utters “Ihr seid ausgegangen als zu einem Mörder, mit Schwerten und mit Stangen, mich zu fahen” (You have come out as if to a murderer, with swords and spears to take me). The instance illustrates that Jesus ap-pears more human, upset over the use of violence.

The work is filled with symbolism, from word painting, as during the choir’s sharp “Sind blitze” (No. 33), or the frequent use of descending scalar patterns, as a recurring Leitmotif typically indicate despair (as in No. 24 “Meine Seele ist betrübt”), all this in a tonal language that includes traits of mod-ernism and neo-romanticism alike.

In contrast to Bach, Sandström assigns the evangelist’s role to a vocal quartet, so as to present the extensive amount of narrative text in a more varied fashion. But perhaps more importantly, he wanted to present the story in several tongues, referring back to The Word emphasizing the his-torical universality of the story.

Sandström’s Passion is shorter than Bach’s; one reason is that the forms are shorter: No. 47, “Erbarme dich,” for example, does not consist of an extensive da capo aria in Sandström’s version, but a short mezzo-soprano aria with a low-keyed string and flute accompaniment. But nevertheless, at two-and-a-quarter hours, Sandström’s Passion is his most extensive non-operatic work, and one he considers one of his most significant.

P E r F. B r o m A N

Die Matthäus-Passion was premiered in Berliner Philharmonie on 15 February with Stefan Parkman conducting the Philhar-monischer Chor Berlin, Academy Choir of Uppsala and Staatskapelle Halle. Olle Persson sang the role of Christ. The Swedish premieres will take place in Stockholm and Uppsala on 16 and 17 April, respectively, and the US premiere is scheduled for the season 2014-2015.

The project is a collaboration between Academy Choir of Uppsala, Philharmonischer Chor Berlin and University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA.

After having completed his large-scale Requiem in 2010, Sven-David Sandström announced that it would be his last work for the church, but he soon thereafter began composing die Matthäus-Passion to the exact same texts that Bach used in his.

TSven-David Sandström:Die matthäus-Passion

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Eliasson´s last work radiates tendernessThe music has a tonal basis and a lyrical character...at times the ideas fly like swift swallows through the air. However, the most personal feature of the trio is the poetry, the care, indeed the tenderness that the music radiates. it goes without saying that it was a devoted performance of this fine contribution to the repertoire of the trio. Svenska Dagbladet 11.2. Anders Eliasson: String Trio – Ahnungenworld premiere: trio Zilliacus/Persson/raitinen, 10.2.2014 stockholm, sweden

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r E P E r T o I r E T I P S r E V I E W S

MAGNUS lINDBERG …de tartuffe, je crois (1981) dur: 11’ for piano quintetLindberg’s early breakthrough work, writ-ten when he was 22, scored success at

the unesco composers’ rostrum and has been popular ever since. it is a work of fantastic intensity and has a firm dramatic span. the year before, Lindberg had composed some incidental music for a play on the theme of Molière, and elements of this crop up in different ways in this Piano Quintet.

AlBERT SCHNElZER Predatory dances (2003) dur: 12’ for piano trioschnelzer succeeds in making the piano trio sound like a whole orchestra. the trio

starts out, violent and aggressive, in forte fortissimo. Like pursued game the strings rush on with the piano driv-ing them from behind. in between there are sections of calm and rest, and melodic lines that are here and there achingly beautiful. this is also how the trio is concluded: andante e tranquillo.

TAPIo TUoMElAPierrot (2004) dur: 16’ for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano tuomela’s Quintet ‘Pierrot’ is bursting with rhythmic energy. the title alludes to the

line-up of schönberg’s song cycle Pierrot Lunaire, and also to commedia dell’arte. the dramatic scheme relies on the contrasting of two elements: a quick, whimsical character that is interrupted by slow music marked by melancholic gestures.

ERKKI-SVEN TÜÜR architectonics ii (1986) dur: 10’ for clarinet, cello and pianoarchitectonics Vii (1992) dur: 8’for flute, bass clarinet and piano

architectonics is a series of seven works scored for various chamber ensembles. tüür moulds his architectonics using different building blocks and has no inhibitions in the way he combines dissimilar stylistic features. the music is full of tensions and contrasts: tonality and atonality, tranquil meditativeness and explosive theatricality – all side by side. architectonics Vii is also available as a version for flute, cello and harpsichord.

JoHAN UllÉN the deadly sins (2006-2008) dur: 37’ for piano trioseven tangos, each describing the charac-ter of one of the deadly sins. For example

“envy”, is in the form of a crime passionnel with the violin in focus, “gluttony”, stuffs itself with new melodies that make the tango grow until it bursts, and the seventh and final tango, “anger”, is a slow dance in which rage gradu-ally comes to a boil inside.

KAlEVI AHothree tangos (1999) dur: 11’ for violin, guitar, double bass, accordion and piano aho comes very close to the world of the traditional argentinean tango in

this tonal, melodic and dance-like work for chamber ensemble. the tango lamentoso and tango appassion-ato revolve around c minor, while the tango dolente is mostly in g minor. temperament and virtuosity are required if the players are to give a convincing perfor-mance of this work.

DANIEl BÖRTZagora (2009-2010) dur: 15’ for piano quintetagora is the greek word for market place; in ancient times it was also a place of as-

sembly where the citizens held discussions and selected persons made decisions. the piano quintet agora consists of five “character pieces”, including gravity, joy, pleasure, argumentation – all typical of an agora.

JÖRGEN DAFGåRD Mahler revisited (2010) dur: 4’ for flute, violin, cello and pianoMahler revisited is a short paraphrase of the second movement of Mahler´s

Fifth symphony. only a small part of the movement´s thematic material has been used – and in a very dif-ferent way, bringing out the intrinsic mechanical and polyrhythmic tendencies. one is reminded of clocks, cog wheels and gear mechanisms. in glimpses and to-wards the end the contrasting lyrical character breaks through.

ANDERS ElIASSoN Fogliame (1990) dur: 19’ for piano quartetFogliame means foliage and refers to the continually shifting and unpredict-able shimmer of light in the shadows of

the trees. it is written in a single movement but con-tains numerous contrasting sections where intensity and allegro alternate with soothing calm and lento – an often repeated indication is dolcissimo. the music develops freely, like when the winds randomly stir the luminous flux among the leaves.

MIKKo HEINIÖ the Voice of the tree (Puun ääni, 2006) dur: 17’ for piano quartet this Piano Quartet commissioned by the kuhmo chamber Music Festival was in-

spired by poems about trees and wood by eira stenberg. the properties of wood as a material are made clear as the instruments are hit, tapped and rubbed. despite the faint hint of west african pentatonic melody and rhythm, the dominant qualities are physicality, sensitivity and unpredictability.

chamber music with pianoAho lets the orchestra shineAho’s Minea is a showpiece in which all the instru-ments and sections of the orchestra get a chance to shine… the string cluster breathing like giant bellows appeals particularly to the ear at the beginning of the 15th Symphony.Helsingin Sanomat 23.12.

There cannot be many contemporary composers of whom it may be said that each new work is a master-piece, but when it comes to Kalevi Aho, we are not far from the truth.Hufvudstadsbladet 22.1.Kalevi Aho: Minea, Symphony No. 15, Double Bass Concertocd: Lahti so/osmo Vänskä, sol. eero Munter (Bis-sacd 1866)

Trio Zilliacus/Persson/Raitinen

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Bittersweet and consoling Pettersson The ninth Symphony is totally uncompromising and a veritable baptism of fire for both listeners and musicians. But you will be richly rewarded, and the long section in triple time is so bitter-sweet that it will cut you to the quick. not to mention the final bar. oh my God! OPUS 51/ December 2013

The interpretation of this “wandering in an inferno” has an implacable rhythmic drive, but also a lightness and clarity that will no doubt give the symphony many new listeners. not least the finale, where the last furious stamping brings forth the smarting light in this miracu-lously consoling song for strings. Dagens Nyheter 15.1.Allan Pettersson: Symphony No. 9cd: norrköping so/christian Lindberg (Bis-2038)

Fredrik Högberg´s MelodramaA highly personal piece, which depicts in words and tones the conditions of creativity, life in a small town with an ever dwindling population, as well as love and politics. Musical multiplicity and variation are combined with self-distance and humour. Allehanda 14.1.Fredrik Högberg: Melodramaworld premiere: rollin Phones saxophone Quartet, sol. olle Persson, baritone, 12.1.2014 nyland, sweden

Large-format concerto by HannikainenThe B flat minor concerto by ilmari Hannikainen deserves greater prominence… for it is the only Finnish romantic representative of its large-format genre. Satukangas’s was an ideal interpretation, bringing out both the heroic and the delicate aspects of the concerto.Helsingin Sanomat 10.12.Ilmari Hannikainen: Piano Concerto in B flat minorLahti so/okko kamu, sol. arto satukangas, 8.12.2013 hämeenlinna, Finland

Nuorvala’s swinging Boost Juhani nuorvala’s Boost is a swinging, microtonal bull’s-eye.www.amfion.fi/Oct 2013Juhani Nuorvala: Boost Markus hohti, cello, emil holmström, synthesizer, 17.11.2013 helsinki, Finland (nordic Music days)

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Valfridsson evokes associationsin his mind, the listener could relate the idyllic landscape to the music and at the same time to an underlying feeling of threat. Timbres and harmonies were layered upon one another, with growing agita-tion… Masterly orchestrated, the work is expressive and evokes a myriad of associations. Uppsala Nya Tidning 23.11.Jonas Valfridsson: A Fragmented Memory: My Overgrown Little Tree Houseuppsala cho/Paul Mägi, 21.11.2013 uppsala, sweden

A nature-themed symphony by NieminenThe symphony by Kai nieminen on forest and na-ture themes began by picturing mist using sliding strings and percussions, continuing along unex-pectedly tension-fraught forest paths… Particu-larly good were the combinations of instruments, producing some startling and inventive timbres.Keskisuomalainen 15.11.Kai Nieminen: Symphony ‘La Selva’world premiere: Jyväskylä sinfonia/Patrick gallois, 13.11. 2013 Jyväskylä, Finland

Fiery arabesques in Schnelzer’s Enchanter The oboe part, masterly executed by Leleux, draws long, fiery arabesques that are twisted and stretched without ever coming off; it laughs and giggles in mocking fun, the whole time with a hypnotic tone as clear as glass. Gävle Dagblad 16.11.Albert Schnelzer: Oboe Concreto -The Enchantergävle so/Jaime Martin, sol. Francois Leleux, 15.11.2013 gävle, sweden

Convincing Animal SongsThe feeling in the texts [by Margaret Atwood] was convincingly expressed by the composer, fateful and questioning. Susanna Andersson interpreted the songs with genuine commit-ment. Helsingborgs Dagblad 13.1.Albert Schnelzer: Animal Songsworld premiere: helsingborg so/clemens schuldt, sol. susanna andersson, soprano, 12.1.2014 helsingborg, sweden

Fantastic Hakola fantasiaKimmo Hakola led the choir on a fantastic fantasia tour. The text is brimming with lively, colourful, allegorical imagery… The choir often acts as a steady, rhythmical narrator and succeeds in keeping the texts, abound-ing in poetic imagery, clear. Soprano Anu Komsi was the anarchistic, parachuting puppet, at times leaping upwards and at others plummeting down to earth.Helsingin Sanomat  24.11.

Kimmo Hakola: De kaspiska tigrarnas Gudworld premiere: chorus sanctae ceciliae/dag-ulrik almqvist, sol. anu komsi, Jaakko kortekangas, 22.11.2013 helsinki, Finland

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H i G H L i G H T S 1 / 2 0 1 4

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PER GUNNAR PETERSSoNTvå inskriptioner (Two Inscriptions)for mixed choir satB a cappella1. o crux2. Memento metext: two inscriptions: one on the wooden cross over august strindberg’s grave, and the other from a grave stone in the Linköping cathedral, which is also the oldest known biblical inscription in sweden. (Lat)ge 12377

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