Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

I composed Para dos violines" for Duo Gelland, first as a shorter piece - mainly what is now the first movement. For a project with the society Samtida Musik (Contemporary Music) I expanded the piece into a work of four ovements. On September 30, 2015, "Para dos violines" was premiered at the Culture House in Skarpnäck, South Stockholm. After the concert, Duo Gelland asked me if I would consdier adding a fifth movement. The completed five movement work was the ngive its first performance on June, 11, 2016 at a concert in Lübeck, Germany. "Des Menschen Wort vergeht" is a poem written by Karl Wolfskehl in 1934. It deals with man killing the word, how he drains it and twists its true meaning. It feels only too relevant today. I composed this work in 2013, commissioned by Swedish Arts Council for Vollen United who premiered it at the Sound of Stockhold Festival that same year. "Rite Now" is an old work, composed in 1991. I had planned to write a lyrical piece for string trio and electronics. The piece was, however heavily affected by an ongoing war and turned into something rather nasty. A string trio recorded nine voices to which I added percussion and electronics. "Rite Now" can be listened to as it is on this recording, or with strings and/or percussion playing along with the recording. It must be performed at very high volume, really loud! "SXQII" was composed in 2014 for the Stockhold Saxophone Quartet who premiered it on March 19, 2016, at a concert at Musikaliska, Stockholm. "Night Music" was composed in 2016 for Yoriko Asahara, Mats Jansson, Björn Malmqvist, and Bo Pettersson. It was commissioned by the ensemble with support from Helge Axson-Josson's foundation. Karin Almlöf's painting ont eh cover served as inspiration for the composition of Night Music.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

In his symphonic works Torbjorn Iwan Lundquist is using a special technique, in which large form is made from large musical blocks. The third symphony is written in one movement, but you can distinguish three blocks and a concluding part, ‘the reminiscence’- in which the accumulated power reverts to the original nothingness in the end. The third symphony was begun in 1971 in Jamtland and was completed in 1975 at Salto in Bohuslan. As in most of Lundquist’s symphonies, this symphony begins with a primal cell, his association theme, a gust of wind, which unfolds into a grandiose sunrise. Nature means a lot for Lundquist. The idea for the Symphony No. 3- which also had the title Sinfonia dolorosa and is dedicated to the composer’s deceased wife Maud- he got during a mountain hike, shortly after his wife’s death. The symphony was first performed in September 1976 in Malmo, by Malmo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Janos Furst. Lundquist was working on the fourth symphony for several years, mainly in 1984-85. Also this is in a single long, mighty, movement. It is almost twice as long as the third symphony, and it is also written for large orchestra with extensive percussion. After the premiere in Gothenburg in October 1985, with the Gothenburg Symphony under the direction of Sixten Ehrling, who also got the dedication, the composer withdrew the score and revised it slightly a year later. “Performance, yes- because the composition does not feel completely finished until I heard it,” says Lundquist.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

It is easier to find roles that Laila did not sing. On the question who she liked to sing with, she immediately answered Rolf Bjorling. ''He was a top singer who you really could trust'', she said. ''He had the same timbre and body form as his father Jussi. Gedda was more distant, not just as loving on the stage as Rolf, but Gedda had a wonderful sense of humor.'' With Gedda she sang Tosca in Savonlinna under Sixten Ehrling. When Laila sang her last performance at the Stockholm Opera in the role as Elektra, on the 4th of May, 1996, the role list was decorated with a colored photo with the singer and a hundred of piano reductions. They contained the hundred roles that Laila sang in the Stockholm Opera during her 32 years as an employee. A most unusual record. Now Laila has also written her memoirs. She tells about her long, variable and successful career, but also difficult ordeals in her private life, for instance the stroke she suffered in 2003, and how to survive even if you are severely harrowed.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This release is a compilation of some of the best music in the Sterling Records library. Sterling is a Swedish-owned record label of more than 150 titles specializing in orchestral music from the Romantic era. It was founded by Bo Hyttner in 1980. Most of the albums released by Sterling contain previously unrecorded works. Alongside the main series of Romantic Orchestral classics, Sterling also publishes an Artist series, dedicated to musical excellence from Swedish performers, and a Historical Recordings series sourced from the Swedish Radio Archives. Bo Hyttner writes of this release: “By the mid-nineteenth century orchestral music had evolved into a large and diverse entity, composers created their own musical styles incorporating regional folk songs and traditional melodies in their work. Picturesque instruments, such as the harp, became regular members of the orchestra as Classical formalities dissolved in favor of ‘tone-poems.’ From the 1820s, for around 100 years, the Romantic style of orchestral writing was in continuous development by many hundreds of composers. Musical dictionaries report their names, and list their works, even so many have been forgotten or even lost. Perhaps not all of them were individual enough to keep a place in the repertoire. Perhaps some lived at time, and in a place, where music was not fully appreciated… I hope that by experiencing this sample taken from our Sterling catalogue you will be able to grasp the enormity of this lesser known musical treasure trove. In my mind all of this music is worth preserving as it forms a vital part of our musical heritage. I also believe that this music contains great beauty whilst also reflecting each country’s cultural development and history.”