Focus on Jonas Valfridsson & Tapio Tuomela

Albert Schnelzer’s opera Norrmalmstorgsdramat – The Stockholm Syndrome

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A concert dedicated to Nordgren The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orches-tra is dedicating a concert conducted by Juha Kangas on 19 January 2019 to the memory of composer Pehr Henrik Nordgren (1944–2008). For this concert, Kalevi Aho, a friend and colleague of Nordgren’s, has been commissioned to write a ten-minute work for string orchestra called Kirje tuolle puolen (Letter to the Nether-world). Also on the programme will be Nordgren’s Koko maailma valittanee (The Whole World Will Lament) and Transe-Choral .

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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/highlightsCover photos: Anders Larsson & Anna Näsström in Albert Schnelzer’s opera Norrmalmstorgsdramat/ The Stockholm Syndrome (P-J Jansson), Tapio Tuomela (Music Finland/Saara Vuorjoki), Jonas Valfridsson (Victor Gårdsäter)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 2018

Three Heiniö focus concertsMusic by Mikko Heiniö can be heard at three focus concerts in autumn. On the programme for 7 October at the Helsinki Conservatory is the premiere of Mot natten by Patrik Kleemola, guitar and Erkki Lahesmaa, cello, along with other chamber music performed by Tommi Hakala, baritone, Kristian Attila, piano, and others. Another concert will take place at the Sibelius Museum in Turku on 10 October focusing on Heiniö’s guitar music.

The Key Ensemble is also celebrating Heiniö’s mile-stone birthday with a concert in Turku on 17 November. Dedicated exclusively to choral music by him, the concert will be conducted by Teemu Honkanen.

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Kortekangas’s Pictures of LifeA big new work titled Elämänkuvat (Pictures of Life) for solo voices, symphonic choir, children’s choir and orchestra by Olli Kortekangas is to be performed on 1 August 2019 at the old church in Isokyrö in connection with the Korsholm Music Festi-val. The libretto is by Pia Perkiö, the stage director is Ville Sauk-konen, and the orchestras will be those of Vaasa and Seinäjoki. Lasting 60 minutes, the cantata is a commission from the Finnish Cultural Foundation and continues Kortekangas’s sizeable series of vocal works.

The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and conductor Christian Lindberg were met by a crowded concert hall and standing ovations, when Allan Pettersson’s seventh symphony was performed in Musik verein

in Vienna on 10 June. The enthusiastic au-dience was moved by Pettersson’s music. Seven curtain calls and a cheering audience led to an encore with more Swedish music, by Wilhelm Stenhammar.

Success for Pettersson in Musikverein

Bo Nilsson passed away on 25 June at the age of 81. He had his breakthrough as a radical avant-gardist during the 1950s and 60s with works such as Stunde eines Blocks for soprano and six instrumentalists and the big ”cantata cycle” Brief an Gösta Oswald. He later changed to a more traditional style and composed music to major Swedish TV productions such as August Strindberg´s Hemsöborna and Röda rummet, as well as popular songs. As Bo Nilsson was approaching the

age of 70 he felt that he had finished with composing and decided to bid farewell to musical creativity with two songs to texts by Gudrun Ekstrand, which were published by Gehrmans in 2007: Vaggvisa för en orolig själ (Lullaby for a Troubled Soul), dedicated to ”all who have lost someone close”, and Genom mitt öppna fönster (Through My Open Window), about the importance of and love for a musician´s or a composer´s life work.

Bo Nilsson in memoriam

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An opera and other Wennäkoski commissionsLotta Wennäkoski is composing an opera for the Savonlinna Opera Festival. It is based on the libretto Regine by Laura Voipio that won a libretto competition held by the Fes-tival in 2017 and tells of the life of Danish Regine Olsen and her relationship with the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.

Scheduled to be premiered on 13 November with Susanna Mälkki conducting is Hele for 12 players, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Gustavo Du-damel. In September 2019, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orches-tra will premiere a work it has commissioned from Wennäkoski as the first part of a set of Helsinki Variations commissioned from six composers.

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The orchestral song cycle Sju sånger till text av Pär Lagerkvist (Seven Songs to Texts by Pär Lagerkvist) by Lars Karlsson has been nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize. It is one of the works on a disc

of his music recently re-leased by BIS. The winner will be an-nounced in Oslo on 30 October.

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P R E M I E R E S Autumn 2018

2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. It also marks the Swedish com-poser Franz Berwald’s 150th anniversary of death. On commission from the Tonhalle-Orchester soprano Lisa Larsson has created Traumreise, a compilation of nine beautiful, and sadly unknown Berwald songs.

Larsson takes us on a journey from Sweden via France and Germany to Switzerland, with Berwald’s settings of Swedish, French and Ger-man poetry. The songs have been orchestrated by Rolf Martinsson and will be premiered on 28 November in Zürich under the baton of Lahav Shani. Johannes Gustavsson will conduct the Helsingborg Symphony in the Swedish premiere in December. Already on 25 September Larsson and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic presented a short teaser in connection with the Opening of the 2018 Parliamentary Session.

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PAAVO HEININENUn sourire dansé Joensuu City Orchestra/Jurjen Hempel27.9. Joensuu, Finland JONAS VALFRIDSSONWorpswede Triptyk for violin and pianoAnders Lagerqvist, violin, Mats Widlund, piano4.10. Stockholm, Sweden John Bauer Suite 1918Jönköpings Sinfonietta, Jönköping Chamber Choir/Christian von Gehren4.11. Jönköping, SwedenJACOB MÜHLRADMaggid for cello soloJohannes Rostamo6.10. Stockholm, SwedenTime for mixed choirSwedish Radio Choir/Ragnar Bohlin17.11. Stockholm, SwedenBENJAMIN STAERNMeditation in Colours for organ and stringsLund Chamber Soloists, Robert Bennesh, organ6.10. Lund, Sweden (Lund Sacred Contemporary Music Festival) MIKKO HEINIÖMot natten for guitar and celloErkki Lahesmaa, cello, Patrik Kleemola, guitar 7.10. Helsinki, Finland

ESA PIETILÄGlow for ensembleBlazing Flames for tenor saxophone and string quartetFire! for tenor saxophoneThree Strides of Light for piano Veli Kujala, accordion/live elec-tronics, Esa Pietilä, saxophone, Janne Tuomi, percussion, Risto-Matti Marin, piano, Kamus String Quartet26.10. Helsinki, Finland (Pietilä focus concert)

JÖRGEN DAFGÅRDEclipse – Concerto for Violin and String OrchestraCamerata Nordica, sol. and leader Hugo Ticciati27.10. Oskarshamn, SwedenTUOMAS TURRIAGOSonata for Flute and PianoSami Junnonen, flute, Tuomas Turriago, piano 10.11. Helsinki, Finland ANN-SOFI SÖDERQVISTCity LifeO/Modernt Chamber Orchestra/Hugo Ticciati11.11. Stockholm, Sweden (Gehrmans 125th Anniversary)LOTTA WENNÄKOSKIHeleLos Angeles Philharmonic/Susanna Mälkki 13.11. Los Angeles, USAKIMMO HAKOLAA new work Vaasa City Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia14.11. Vaasa, Finland (Jorma Panula Conducting Competition)Symphony No. 1Finnish RSO/Hannu Lintu12.12. Helsinki, FinlandFRANZ BERWALD/ORCH: ROLF MARTINSSONTraumreise for soprano and orchestraTonhalle-Orchester Zürich/Lahav Shani, sol. Lisa Larsson, soprano28.11. Zürich, SwitzerlandKAI NIEMINENBartlebooth for pianoOLLI KOSKELINFive Pieces for Piano, Discussions with AirTuomas Mali, piano8.12. Helsinki, Finland

Double trumpet concerto by BroströmTobias Broström is writing a Concerto for Two Trumpets and Orchestra for soloists Håkan Hardenberger and Jeroen Berwaerts, a joint commission from the Malmö Symphony, The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Radio 3/the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Conducted by John Storgårds the concerto will have its world premiere in Malmö on 14 March 2019. PH

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Digital sheet music in Fennica Gehrman and Gehrmans are delighted to announce our partnership with nkoda, the new sub-scription service app for digital sheet music, with over 100,000 titles at launch. The first scores include some 600 works from our hire and sales catalogues, from some earlier pieces by Jean Sibelius and Hugo

Nils Lindberg turned 85 in June. With his folk-music-coloured blend of art music and jazz he continues to score successes with choral classics as Shall I compare Thee to A Summer’s Day , Requiem and A Christmas Cantata. Among his recent works is the Rossetti Suite composed for the WDR Rundfunkchor Köln. Febru ary of next year will see the German premiere of his Elf Shot, for soloists, choir and symphonic big band.

Daniel Börtz celebrated his 75th birthday in August. Since he turned 70 he has been busy composing a Sinfonia 12, the opera Medea, the large-scale choral work In the Darkness of Voices etc. He recently finished work on his 65-minute Sinfonia 13, scored for two reciters, three soloists and orchestra, to texts from Kjell Espmark´s Skapelsen (The Creation). Patrik Ringborg will conduct the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in the premiere on 23 May 2019.

Congratulations Lindberg and Börtz

Alfvén till the music of today, and the aim is to entrust nkoda with our entire catalogues. The scores can be annotated using built-in smart tools.

The app is currently available on a 30-day free trial for iPad, iPhone and Android tablet and other ver-sions are due in September 2018.

Lisa Larsson’s Traumreise

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Nominations and awards On 5 September, the Finnish Music Publishers Asso-ciation chose Kimmo Hakola as Classical Composer of the Year. In defending its choice it said: “He is a fine artist who makes no compromises with his cre-ative self. A strong inner vision combined with what he feels to be the right end result is, for him, a more important source of creativity and incentive than any external pressure. A widely cultured person, he also expends much of his creative energy helping and sup-porting both his colleagues and the whole of our com-munity in what he does.”

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of Tapio Tuomela. Its stylistic and textural solu-tions may be very wild and dramatic even, yet always in the background is a feeling of classical breeding, of a thorough grounding in not only composition but also the piano and conducting. His innovative solutions spring from his versatile appropriation of tradition.

Practical experience and enjoymentTapio Tuomela’s practical experience as both a pianist and a conductor is especially marked in the Piano Concerto he wrote for Iiro Rantala in 2008. It is a work that weaves tensions between simple metrical shapes and their cunning disruption. In its attitude to time Iiro Rantala is able to draw widely on his experience of jazz, to say nothing of the space set aside in the score for the soloist to improvise. The enjoyment of music-making and the energy radiating from the outer movements is offset in the slow one by frail nature sounds and appealing nostalgia.

The Saxophone Concerto Swap (2012-13) is in many respects a sister work to the Piano Concerto. Its special feature is the dense, virtuosic tossing of material between soloist and orchestra. The multi-phonics and extended string-technique timbres in-tegrate convincingly with the orchestration, which could be characterised by a Richard Strauss-type paradox: the sound is simultaneously transparent and full.

Vocal dimensionsComposition studies in Finland in the 1980s often concentrated on things like set theory and gesture metamorphosis. Tuomela recalls how refreshing it was to study in New York and to contemplate the cultural and human signification of music more richly and more directly in his composition lec-tures: what does music signify? How does music signify?

Delving deep into such questions has opened up routes to vocal music and especially opera. Äidit ja Tyttäret (Mothers and Daughters, 1998-99), to a libretto by Paavo Haavikko, takes a fresh look at the Lemminkäinen myth in the Finnish national epic, The Kalevala, and not without humour. The opera’s synthesis of modern classical music and age-old Finnish ethnicity is a veritable tour de force. It dramatizes various aspects of the

well remember the first time I met Tapio Tuomela, at a piano masterclass in 1979. He was a student in the class and I was its janitor. When it came out that I was studying composition and my instrument was the violin, Tapio, without more ado, fished the score of a new composition out of his briefcase and began asking me about violin bowings. This says something about the enthusiasm and pragmatism that has accompanied him not only in his composing but also in his many admin-istrative capacities and his networking, both Finnish and international.

Cultural interactionCultural interaction is an important feature of Tuomela’s composer profile. There was concrete evidence of this in his artistic Doctorate some years ago, focusing on versions of one and the same vocal work in different translations. For example, the differences between the French versus English versions of Fissure for baritone and chamber ensem-ble, extend far beyond the phonetics and syllables. They mirror different worlds; they are studies of two different perceptions of reality.

Leonard Ratner writes of the beginning of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro in his book Classic Music (p. 112): “This effervescent melody, free as it seems, is still subject to the law of the strict style, to the rule of old Grandpa Fux.” The same thing occurs to me, mutatis mutandis, in the music

Kalevalaic world: both unadorned sensuality and zeal, mortal fear and the driving force of love. The love incantations are concrete manifestations of a folklore that violates the traditional expurgated, censored versions.

Synthesis of the classical music tradition and ethnic identities is a fundamental element of Tuomela’s vocal works, the texts of which are of-ten taken from ancient Finnish folk poetry. The underlying mood of Mothers and Daughters is tragic, and in this respect it ties in with his more recent operas. Antti Puuhaara (2007-08), based on a folk tale, combines the tragedy of margin-ality with a strong feel for nature by various vo-cal means: for the human voice is ultimately the richest and most fascinating source of sound. The opera Neljäntienristeys (Crossroads) premiered in Oulu last year is based on a novel by Tommi Kinnunen that addresses inter-generational ten-sions in the status of women, spiritual violence and sexuality.

Tuomela has firm links with the north-erly regions of Finland, through both family ties and his hobby: fishing. The elemental power of the arctic nature is reflected in many ways in his scores Jokk´ , Vuohenki Luohti (The Song of Vuohenki) in the Sámi language for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, and the third symphony Crossroads using material from the new opera. Meanwhile, the way he gives voice to the margin-alised, his respect for the intrinsic worth of each and every one, reflects the human-oriented ethos of his work.

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FootnoteTapio Tuomela will be 60 years on 11 October. A concert presenting his latest vocal works will be held on 16.10. at the Helsinki Music Centre. The program includes also a world premiere: Three Folk Ballads for mezzo-soprano and ensemble written for Virpi Räisänen and the Zagros Quartet.

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The diversiform musical ethos of Tapio Tuomela

Cultural interaction. Passion coupled with pragmatism. A synthesis between the classical musical heritage and ethnic identities. Respect for the intrinsic worth of each and every one. These, according to his composer colleague Jyrki Linjama, are the cornerstones of the musical ethos of Tapio Tuomela.

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Jönköping on 4 November 2018, under the direc-tion of Christian von Gehren.

While at work on the John Bauer Suite Valfrids-son received a commission for a piece for bassoon-ist and soloist prize-winner Sebastian Stevens-son and the string orchestra Musica Vitae. Since he was completely absorbed in Bauer´s world he was hesitant, but after hearing Stevensson´s mag-nificent playing he started work on a Concertino for Bassoon, Svanhamnen (The Swan Maiden) , inspired by Helena Nyblom´s story, with illustra-tions by Bauer, premiered in January 2018.

Years of studyJonas Valfridsson began his musical career, while in upper secondary school, as a guitarist in the local hard rock band. But he soon found that he enjoyed writing music more than playing it, and he there-fore began studies in composition. First a couple of years at the Gotland School of Music Compo-sition, thereafter studies in Paris, Stockholm and Gothenburg. He wrote some chamber music in the harsh modernistic style that was in vogue during his period of education. He tried out electronic music, used it in some early pieces, and in later works has taken advantage of some of its possibilities trans-ferred to purely instrumental music. With a mixture of modern expressivity and tonal features in lyrical surroundings, he quickly found himself.

Competition successesValfridsson soon discovered that it was not so easy for an unknown composer to get his works performed. One way was to send them to competitions. Already his very first orchestral work, In Killing Fields Sweet But-terfly Ascend , won third prize in the Toru Take-mitsu Award 2005, and was premiered by the NHK Symphony in Tokyo. He returned to Japan when the Japanese ”Friends of Stenhammar” in 2014 was to per-form his Piano Trio Jag är ingens mor (2002).

”This is actually my second piano trio and one of the most frequently played of my works. I look upon it somehow as my Opus 1 since it is the first work where I was starting to find my own voice – a lyrical, fragmented and delicate piece in which the inspiration for its form comes from modern poetry, a verse from a poem by Katarina Frostenson.”

His interest in Japan had been aroused and he was fascinated by the fact that the Japanese without misgiv-ings in many contexts blend the ancient with the hy-permodern. During his trip he took the opportunity to visit the ancient temples at Kamakura, a dizzying experience that for once would inspire him to create actual concrete melodies. The orchestral Temples of Kamakura , was written in 2015 on commis-

sion from the Norrköping Symphony after he had won the Anne-Sophie Mutter composition contest with his concert opener A Sudden Recollection: Le Jardin des Plantes in 2013.

Long before that Valfridsson had composed prize-winning chamber music. His Clarinet Quintet You Live on My Skin went to the final for the Aberdeen Music Prize in 2009, and the same year he was awarded the Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia grant in Bamberg. More successes were to follow: in 2010 he won the Uppsala Composer Competition with The Only Thing You Keep Chang-ing Is Your Name. It led to the commission of a new work: A Fragmented Memory – My Overgrown Little Tree House (2013), in which childhood memories appear, are included and result in a wonderful, lively fantasy. During the period when Valfridsson was composer-in-residence with the Sinfonietta Riga he wrote Bikernieki Forest (2015) . This work depicts the forest with the same name just south of Riga, where mass graves and monuments after the murder of 35.000 people during World War II made an indelible impression on him. The work is dedicated to the victims and their next of kin.

If you by chance were to meet Jonas Valfridsson on a street in Stockholm, you would perhaps take him for a bureaucrat, impeccably dressed in a suit and tie, on the way to his office. Most likely he would actu-ally be on the way to his work, to a well-functioning studio where he creates most of his imaginative works of art. It is vital for him to have a job to go to, where he can shake off the shackles of everyday life and en-ter straight into his dream workshop. For it is often dreams, memories, experiences that come alive when his note-writing pen is activated. Then tones gush forth from worlds that no one has ever visited before.

S T I G J A C O B S S O N

Jonas Valfridsson was born in 1980 in Jönköping, in the same city as John Bauer, the fairy-tale artist, born in 1882. Generations of children (and adults) have loved and admired Bauer´s imaginative paint-ings of princesses, goblins and trolls. In 1918 Bauer and his whole family drowned in a tragic and widely reported steamboat accident on Lake Vättern, and it is for the centenary of that catastrophe that Valfrids-son was commissioned to compose memorial music. The John Bauer Suite 1918, is a 36-minute work for orchestra and vocalising choir, whose six movements derive their titles from well-known fairy tales that have been illustrated by Bauer.

”Woodland and natural scenery as depicted by Bauer were what triggered my inspiration”, says Val-fridsson. “The scenery in these stories and paintings is not all idyllic; rather, much of it seems alluring and treacherous. In Bauer´s mythological world na-ture is not to be trusted; it can be intrinsically just as cruel and unforgiving as natural disasters. It can be barbarous, ready to devour us the day that civilisa-tion comes to an end… In spite of this, I can still not resist being seduced by nature´s beauty, and it is this ambivalence that I have tried to give form to in the music – the discord between the seductively dangerous and the mysteriously beautiful. The point of departure for my sonorities has been music from around the time of Bauer´s decease, that is, from the early twentieth century.”

The work was commissioned by the Jönköping Sinfonietta and the Norrköping Symphony Or-chestra, and the premiere will take place in

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Jonas Valfridsson enters John Bauer’s mythological world

Jonas Valfridsson goes his own way. He builds structures that are exciting to enter into, arouses suggestive rhythms that make us sway, paints sonorities that we have never heard before. He prefers to write in an associative manner rather than to follow traditional models.

John Bauer: Little Princess Cottongrass

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KARIN REHNQVISTDer Herr ist mein Hirte (2007) Dur: 8‘ SSAA Text: Psalm 23 (Ger/Sw) A joyous and beautiful setting of the well-

known psalm text, also including folk music elements and suggestive whisperings. The work was commissioned by the 8th World Symposium on Choral Music.

JAN SANDSTRÖM / MICHAEL PRAETORIUSDet är en ros utsprungen/Es ist ein Ros entsprungen/Lo, How a Rose E´er Blooming (1990/2017)

Dur: 4’ SSAA + SSSSAAAAText: Trad. (Sw/Ger)Sandström used Praetorius’ Christmas hymn as a starting point for his otherworldly composition for double choir a cappella, where the tones seem to stretch out into eternity. The four-part ‘Choir I’ is singing Praetorius in slow motion, while the contrasting, harmonizing music of the eight-part ‘Choir II’ is hummed throughout. The work has become a modern classic among choirs. In 2017 a new version was published, transcribed for descant choir by Mette Østby Madsen.

URMAS SISASKGratias agamus Domino Deo nostro(1991) Dur: 6’ SSAAText: LatThe ostinato figures and repetitions in the

text give this work a hypnotic atmosphere above which rise the first sopranos’ melodies. Sisask’s works reflect his interest in shamanistic cultures, medieval vocal polyphony and Estonian rune singing, and many of his choral works, this one included, draw on ecclesiastical texts in Latin.

AGNETA SKÖLDAgnus Dei (2015) Dur: 2’30’’ SSAAText: LatThe music of Agneta Sköld´s Agnus Dei brings Gregorian chant to mind, but in a modern

tone language. A meditative and sonorous work.

VELJO TORMISÜheksa eesti pulmalaulu / Nine Estonian Wedding Songs (arr.) Dur: 9’ SSAAText: Trad. (Est)

A recent arrangement for high voices by T. Kangron. The nine songs in the set vary in character from quick and cheerful to more lyrical, depending on the topic (e.g., Waiting for the Wedding, Wedding Ride, The Bride Cries for Home). Once again, Tormis brings archaic melodies and traditions back to life. A separate English translation of the text is available.

JENNAH VAINIOAt Midnight (2016) Dur: 4’ SSAAText: Sara Teasdale (Eng)Alto staccatos imitate the relentless tick of the second hand of a clock. Beautiful

melodies and delicate harmonies emerge as the work proceeds. Teasdale’s powerful text conjures forth an ominous midnight mood. The work is dedicated to the Kaari-Ensemble and was premiered at the Berlin Philharmonie in February 2017.

PER EKEDAHLFive Shakespeare Songs (2017) Dur: 14’30’’ SSAA Text: William Shakespeare (Eng)In his attractive musical settings of Shake-

speare poems, Ekedahl has tried especially to make all parts in the chorus equally interesting to sing. He has incorporated some catchy melodic arabesques, and there is also a hint of reminiscences from English madrigals. The songs in the suite can be performed separately.

ULRIKA EMANUELSSON Arctic Yule & Arctic Elements (2017) Dur: 6’ SSAA Text: Yoik and EnglishUlrika Emanuelsson gives us wintry Nordic

sonorities in her kaleidoscopic potpourri with fragments of Yuletide songs and sing-along yoik, including features of rhyth-mical improvisation.

OLLI KORTEKANGAS Harmony (2005) Dur: 5’ SSAAText: composer after I Ching, the Book of Changes (Eng) Harmony for descant choir was commis-

sioned for the Florilege Vocal de Tours choral competition 2006. It represents tuneful choral Kortekangas and poses a host of exciting technical and expressive – yet not unreason-able – challenges.

Three Studies (2011) Dur: 6’ SSAAText: phonetics, Hajime Kijima (transl. L. Levis) (Eng)The celebrated Children’s Chorus of Washington sang in the pre-miere of Kortekangas’s oratorio Seven Songs for Planet Earth at the Kennedy Center in 2011, after which they commissioned this work from him. Each Study operates within one clear tex-ture, and the middle one has room for improvisation.

JACOB MÜHLRAD Anim zemirot (2017) Dur: 8’ SSSAAA Text: Jewish liturgical poem (Hebrew)Jacob Mühlrad is often inspired by the Jewish liturgy in his composing, and in this work he

has set the psalm text Anim zemirot, sung in the synagogue at the end of the Sabbath. It is magnificent, suggestive and innova-tive. Here in a new version for descant choir.

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA I min älsklings trädgård / In My Lover’s Garden (1993) Dur: 9’ SSAAText: Edith Södergran, transl. J. Mäntyjärvi (Swe/Eng).

A set of three songs, the first of which (I de stora skogarna) is beautiful and lyrical and the third (Lyckokatt) light and playful. Mellan gråa stenar begins with a melody for the altos accompa-nied by the others with figures in seconds or thirds. Sometimes the roles change, and the voices form a hypnotic weave evoca-tive of a flock of birds.

Wenn sich die Welt auftut (When the World Surrenders) (1996) Dur: 10’ SSSAAAText: Lassi Nummi, transl. by I. Schellbach-Kopra (Ger)A work commissioned by the Mädchenchor Hanover based on inspiring poems which Rautavaara felt as being extremely per-sonal. The five movements can also be performed separately or in different combinations. The opening Freude steigt ins auf is based on a jolly triplet rhythm that is varied in the most popu-lar, fourth song, Der Brief.

Works for descant choirREPERTOIRE TIPS

Simply wonderful Pettersson The Seventh has needed a good modern recording for some time, and finally it has one... The Norrköping players are once again on superb form, responding to Lindberg’s advocacy just as keenly; but then this music is in their blood… what caught my ear as much in both symphonies was the orchestral balance, with so much of the detail coming through as never before. Simply wonderful.Gramophone July 2018Allan Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7CD: Norrköping SO/Christian Lindberg (BIS-2240)

R E V I E W S

Catchy Flounce Lotta Wennäkoski’s Flounce is brilliant orchestral music with trumpets and percussion as the driving force, readily motoric, with stirring rhythms and dynamics that threatened to send the Concert House roof and walls flying.Hufvudstadsbladet 12.8.Lotta Wennäkoski: FlounceFinnish RSO/Hannu Lintu, 10.8. Turku Music Festival, Finland

Magnus Lindberg’s RitrattoLindberg’s early Ritratto is a modern outburst that radiates joy and energy. It is like the fleeting movement, shimmer and heave of resonant electromagnetic waves. Its clear tensile span seems to be dominated by elemental fire, flaring and dying.Helsingin Sanomat 1.7.Magnus Lindberg: RitrattoAvanti!/Dima Slobode-niouk, 28.6. 2018 Porvoo, Finland

Impressive Rautavaara entityRautavaara’s gentle and harsh impulses are combined in the interpretations to form impressive entities… In the Neo-Baroque Sonata for Solo Cello, Tetzlaff’s playing grows out of an incomparably velvet sound… Sydämeni laulu (The Song of My Heart) suits the cello just as well as the original baritone voice.Helsingin Sanomat 1.6.

Tetzlaff’s and Süssman’s vision of this music is lucid and profound, never overly sentimental but always highly expressive.Finnish Music Quarterly 25.5.Einojuhani Rautavaara: Works for Cello and PianoCD: Gunilla Süssmann, piano, Tanja Tetzlaff, cello (Ondine ODE 1310-2)

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RAElgant Wirén When listening to Dag Wirén´s elegant string serenade you come alert. He has his gay and lively rhythms and pregnant melodies to fall back on… The Third Symphony is expansive in its dynamics; you notice that the composer is serious even when he is playful… ”Divertimento” is a little rougher, a bit in the direction of Stravinsky. But absolutely, distinctly recognizably Wirén, a reliable guide in our Swedish neoclassical music literature. Opus #83 June 2018Dag Wirén: Symphony No. 3, Serenade for Strings, Divertimento, SinfoniettaCD: Iceland SO/Rumon Gamba (Chandos CHSAS 194)

Aho’s Timpani Concerto – a marvellous piece The Timpani Concerto finds the composer at his engaging and immediate best. It’s a bravura work that modulates from quiet, tingling introspection to bold, thundering outbursts… It’s all so refreshingly direct, with not a note wasted on empty gestures. Then again, that’s a familiar aspect of this composer’s style. …Goodness, what a marvellous piece this is, and how gratifying it is to discover that Aho, 70 next year, has lost none of his flair and energy. MusicWeb International July 2017Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra, Concerto No. 1 for Piano and OrchestraCD: Turku PO/Erkki Lasonpalo, Eva Ollikainen, sol. Ari-Pekka Mäenpää, timpani, Sonja Fräki, piano (BIS-SACD 2306)

Psychologically gripping operaAlbert Schnelzer´s music sucks the audience right in, relentlessly and fatefully. The music is remarkably singable and melodious in a melancholy way, even though the first-rate Vattnäs Chamber Orchestra under conductor Fredrik Burstedt brings out the agitated drive, the urgent rhythms and the pulsating nervous tension.Svenska Dagbladet 15.7.

Stylistically it is melodious minimalism in the John Adams mould…Rhythmically intense it certainly is… very cantabile… the more dramatic moments also receive their due in powerfully intense, ‘physical’ music. This score is a triumph in every way.Seen and Heard International/24.7.

At best, Schnelzer´s tone language lets the singers rest in introverted brooding… Such as Anna Larsson´s self-restrained motherly admonitions in a telephone aria… Or the many fine ensembles… A highlight for the little orchestra is the suggestive dance for the mute person among the hostages, here interpreted by dancer Anna Näsström.Dagens Nyheter 14.7.Albert Schnelzer: Norrmalmstorgsdramat – att dö på sin post (The Stockholm Syndrome ) OperaWorld premiere: Vattnäs CO/Fredrik Burstedt, sol. Anna Larsson, Göran Eliasson, Anders Larsson, Tobias Westman, Agnes Auer, dancer: Anna Näsström, libretto and direction: Patrik Sörling,13.7.2018 Vattnäs, Sweden

Tonal euphony for orchestraThis is without exception, in the best sense, accessible music, which nevertheless contains sharp contrasts. From the distinct profiles of the ten songs with orchestra to the ”Concerto for Orchestra” with its complex web of parts. I am impressed by the composer´s ability to vary sonorities and intensity… Lisa Larsson is a superb vocal soloist; her singing is nuanced, with a tone that is clear as a bell; her dic-tion is impeccable and without any mannerisms.Opus #83 June 2018

Rolf Martinsson’s works are bold and uncompromis-ingly personal, eschewing avant-garde modernism and engaging us with solidly expert conventional techniques of composition and orchestration…. Having all of these works together in BIS’s superb SACD sound and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on top form is a real treat.MusicWeb Interna-tional June 2018Rolf Martinsson: Open Mind, Orchestral Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson, A. S. in Memoriam, Concerto for Orchestra CD: Royal Stockholm PO/Andrew Manze, Sakari Oramo, sol. Lisa Larsson, soprano (BIS-2133 ‘Presentiment’)

Laura Mikkola opens up this pianistic treasure trove …The Sonatina is like a microcosm illustrating Englund’s aesthetics: speed and flow, marching rhythms and playful comments one after the other. The Piano Sonata is more meditative and also the biggest and weightiest of the works for piano.Hufvudstadsbladet 21.3.Einar Englund: Complete Music for Solo PianoCD: Laura Mikkola, piano (Toccata Classics TOCC 0356)

Magical Schnelzer The cello concerto “Crazy Diamond” as well as the concerto for orchestra “Brain Damage” convey a feeling of meeting what is unfamiliar and unimagi-nable, a kind of close encounters of the third kind… in ”Tales from Suburbia”, he alienates the suburb in a way that arouses its slumbering magical potential. That alone is a colossal achievement in itself. Dagens Nyheter 28.6.

A pianistic treasure trove

Superbly performed and recorded to BIS’s usual superlative standards, this is a powerful trio of works which has the hands of a master craftsmen behind them – both in their creation and performance… MusicWeb International August 2018Albert Schnelzer: Crazy Diamond, Tales from Suburbia, Brain Damage CD: Gothenburg SO/Benjamin Shwartz, sol. Claes Gunnarsson, cello (BIS-2313)

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Kalevi Aho and Ari-Pekka Mäenpää

Laura Mikkola

Anders Larsson & Anna Näsström

H I G H L I G H T S 3 / 2 0 1 2

N E W P U B L I C AT I O N S

For further information about our works or representatives worldwide check our web sites or contact us at:Gehrmans Musikförlag ABBox 42026, SE-126 12 Stockholm, SwedenTel. +46 8 610 06 00 • Fax +46 8 610 06 27www.gehrmans.se • info@gehrmans.seHire: hire@gehrmans.se Web shop: www.gehrmans.seSales: sales@gehrmans.se

Fennica Gehrman Oy AbPO Box 158, FI-00121 Helsinki, FinlandTel. +358 10 3871 220 • Fax +358 10 3871 221www.fennicagehrman.fi • info@fennicagehrman.fiHire: hire@fennicagehrman.fi Web shop: www.fennicagehrman.fiSales: kvtilaus@kirjavalitys.fi (dealers)

MARIE SAMUELSSONFem årstider/Five Seasonsfor string orchestra and audio file(Poems by Mimmi Palm)GE 13090 (score), GE 13092 (study score)

MATTHEW WHITTALLNorthlands

for horn and stringsNorthlands’ recording by Alba Records won Finnish Broadcasting Company’s Record of the Year prize in 2017. FG 979-0-55011-450-0 (study score)

TOMMIE HAGLUNDLa rosa profundafor soprano and orchestraGE 12975 (score) GE 12977 (study score)

MATS LARSSON GOTHERicerco 2for bassoon and orchestraGE 13374 (score) GE 13375 (solo parts) GE 13376 (study score)

DANIEL NELSONSteampunk BlizzardGE 13401 (score) 13403 (study score)

S C O R E S

KALEVI AHOWind Quintets 1 & 2Berlin Philharmonic Wind QuintetBIS-2176

PEHR HENRIK NORDGRENSonata for Cello, String Quartet No. 3, Equivocations, String QuintetKokkola Quartet, Marko Ylönen, cello etc.Alba ABCD 421 ’Evocation’

WILHELM STENHAMMARSymphony No. 2Antwerp SO/Christian LindbergBIS-2329Sången, Two Senti-mental Romances, ReverenzaGothenburg SO/ Neeme JärviBIS-2359

EDUARD TUBINSymphony No. 2 “Legendary”Vanemuine SO/Paul MägiVanumuine 740447-314662

MATTHEW WHITTALLThe Wine-dark SeaRisto-Matti Marin, pianoAlba Records ABCD 423 ‘Sixth Sense’

N E W C D s

MARJUKKA ESKE-LINEN – SAARA-MAIJA STRANDMANLasten lied! (Children’s Lied!)A repertoire compendium for the very young singers and pianists in Finnish. FG 979-0-55011-443-2

HANS KENNEMARKTalita koum!  Cantata for soloist, mixed choir SATB, two violins, double bass and organ. Text: Irma Schultz (Sw)GE 13425

MATTIAS KOIJ/GUNNEL MAURITZSONNu tändas tusen juleljus/ A Hymn of Homelessness for choir SSAText: Emmy Köhler, Fred Kaan (Sw, Eng)GE 13415   

V O C A L JACOB MÜHLRADKaddish (Short version)for mixed choir SSAATTBB and mezzo sopranoText: based on quotes by Elie Wiesel, Michael Bliman and the Judaic Kaddish (Eng)GE 13422

DANIEL MÖLLERLux æternafor mixed choir SABText in Latin  GE 13392

PER GUNNAR PETERSSONNunc dimittisfor mixed choir SAB, solo and organText: Luke 2:29-32 (Lat, Eng)GE 13400

KARIN REHNQVISTJag lyfter mina händer  (I Lift My Hands) for mixed choir SATB, divisiIn memory of choir conductor Bo JohanssonText: Jacob Arrhenius/Jesper Svedberg (Sw)GE 13332

AGNETA SKÖLDDen levande Maria/ The living Maryfor mixed choir SATB and organ. Suite in five move-ments to texts by Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Ebba Lindqvist and Luke 1:46-55 (Sw, Eng)GE 13390

RICHARD WAGNERFem sånger till dikter av Mathilde Wesendonck(Wesendonck-Lieder)for voice and pianoin Swedish interpretation by Patrik RingborgGE 13300

LÁSZLÓ ROSSA – CSABA SZILVAY – GÉZA SZILVAY Colourstrings Duos for Violin and Cello, Vol. 1 & Vol. 7Volume 1 includes 21 new and thrilling composi-tions and volume 7 “Songs from Various Nations” is an around-the-world trip of 11 pieces by Rossa. No. 1: FG 979-0-55011-452-4No. 7: FG 979-0-55011-453-1

PIRKKO SIMOJOKI – GÉZA SZILVAY Colourstrings Viola ABC (Book B)FG 979-0-55011-253-7

KIRMO LINTINENBallata Concertante for octet (cl, fg, hrn, vl 1, vl 2, vla, vcl, cb)FG 979-0-55011-440-1 (score and parts)

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARASong of My Heart (Sydämeni laulu)for cello and pianoRautavaara reworked his beloved song from the opera Aleksis Kivi for cello and piano in 2000. FG 979-0-55011-431-9

MARIE SAMUELSSONI horisonter/In Horizonsfor violin, cello and pianoGE 13342 (score)

JEAN SIBELIUS / ARR. NINO ATANASKOVICTheme and Variations for guitarAn idiomatic transcription of the Sibelius’s solo cello work dating from 1887. FG 979-0-55011-449-4

C H A M B E R & I N S T R U M E N TA LJARI ESKOLA (ED.)Finnish Repertoire for Alto Saxophone and PianoTranscriptions of works by Finnish composers of the early 1900s. 979-0-55011-442-5

PAAVO HEININENSonata for Piccolo and Piano Op. 116 FG 979-0-55011-436-4Sonata for Bassoon and Piano Op. 122FG 979-0-55011-438-8Sonata for Contra-bassoon and Piano Op. 138 FG 979-0-55011-439-5Sonata for English Horn and Piano Op. 137FG 979-0-55011-437-1

TIMO-JUHANI KYLLÖNENAlleluia Songs for saxophone trio (soprano, alto, baritone). Three pieces originally written for women’s choir. FG 979-0-55011-445-6 (score and parts)

TUOMAS TURRIAGOSonata for Alto Saxophone and PianoFG 979-0-55011-451-7

COLOURSTRINGS STARTER PACKS #1 contains Minifiddlers video subscriptions for one year (1st year package) and two books: Colourstrings Violin ABC Book A and Colourstrings Violin ABC Duettini. FG 979-0-55011-600-9

#2 contains Minifiddlers videos for one year (1st year package) and two books: Colourstrings Violin ABC Book A and Hand-book for Teachers and Parents (new 2018 edition).FG 979-0-55011-601-6

JENNAH VAINIODiesel Rhythm Canticlefor flute, clarinet and guitarFG 979-0-5011-430-2 (score and parts)

MATTHEW WHITTALL Event Horizons - Sonata for Alto Saxophone and PianoFG 979-0-55011-432-6