Throughout the years, Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble have had the opportunity to work and tour in a number of countries and continents, among them the United States, China, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, and Japan. Many esteemed artists and musical directors have chosen to collaborate with the ensemble. In Sweden, concerts have been arranged together with Eric Ericsons Kammarkör and Bachkören. Among international names may be mentioned the directors Christopher Hogwood, Andrew Parrott, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Sigiswald Kuijken, Emmanuelle Haïm, and Alfredo Bernardini, as well as soloists such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Malena Ernman, and Emma Kirkby.
Extending the Range is the result of several years of collaboration between Allmanna Sangen and the Malva Quartet. Our two ensembles are driven by a shared desire to explore new music and to promote music by female composers. Both aspects are reflected in this album of music for choir and string quartet, written by some of the most exciting Swedish and American composers of our time.
In Monteverdi's Lament, the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble presents two contemporary works that reimagine poetry and music connected to the legacy of Claudio Monteverdi. Drawing on 17th-century sources, these compositions set historical and contemporary choir music in dialogue with interactive technologies and the hyperorgan-an instrument enhanced with digital control functions that allow performance beyond the traditional keyboard. The result is an exploration of the creative tension between past and present, echoing the spirit of innovation that shaped Monteverdi's music in the early 1600s. Carl Unander-Scharin's Lamento è più takes inspiration from Ottavio Rinuccini's libretto for the lost opera Arianna, originally set by Monteverdi in 1607. Created in collaboration with choreographer Åsa Unander-Scharin, this 2023 work expands the expressive potential of the 17th-century text through a dynamic interplay of choreography, choir, and hyperorgan.
Skallsjo Sommarorkester was founded based on a shared love for music and on a firm belief in the universal powers of music. We believe that music has a unique way of building bridges and bringing people closer together and one of our favorite ways of showcasing this has been to challenge traditional genre borders. We believe that when sound gets brought out of it's expected packaging, it's power to fuse people and cultures together grows stronger. So, we suppose we would call this classical fusion, but who cares about genres anyway. In the end we just did what we always do: we picked the tunes we love most and hope that you'll love them too
The three short movements in "Aspects of Snow" are united by the theme of snowy landscapes depicted in the poems and also share concentrated musical material. The piece was written in 2012 and premiered the same year by the Malmo Academy of Music Chamber Choir under the direction of Mats Paulsson. Else Lasker-Schuler (1869-1945) was one of the leading German writers in the decades after the turn of the century. She became famous for her expressionist poetry and her colorful performances. After the Nazis took power, she was persecuted and abused but managed to escape via Switzerland to Jerusalem, where she settled for the rest of her life. The short poem "Die Dammerung holt die Sichel" can here surround the prose sketch "Nachtregen" ("The Night Rain"). The work is written for choir a cappella and solo viola, which functions as a wordless voice in the vocal folds. The work was composed in 2018 and is dedicated to Erik Westberg and his vocal ensemble. The suite "Seelenherbst" ("Autumn of the Soul") for mixed choir and percussion was composed in 2021-22 and is based on a selection of poems by Luise Buchner (1821-1877). During her time, Buchner was a noted author of novels, short stories, and poetry. However, she probably became best known for her debate book "Die Frauen und ihr Beruf", which was printed in several editions during her lifetime. She also worked to ensure that the works of her late older brother Georg Buchner, including "Wozzeck", would be published. Luise Buchner's poetry has a personal romantic- symbolist touch where nature, special places, and environments reflect and relate to people's inner experiences and changing moods. Sometimes the picture expands with questions about the individual's place in the universe. The chosen poems form a suite of five movements, where the two outer move ments that frame the work depict a jour ney from winter to autumn, while the three middle movements are evening and night moods of different characters. This work is also written for and dedicated to Erik West berg and his vocal ensemble. "Långt i forsvunna tider" ("Far in By gone Times") takes it's starting point from three songs by Wilhelm Sten hammar, "Stjarnoga", "Flickan knyter i Johannesnatten" and "Vore jag ett litet barn". I selected these songs because they were more open to new musical angles due to their close connec tion to the Swedish folk song. Stenhammar 4 is here himself both freer in his use of har mony and in his part-writing, something I have underlined and partly reinforced. I have also placed the songs in surround ing wordless material as contrast and musi cal reflection, and here and there gaps also open up inside the songs when new material is used as contrast. Swedish Radio commis sioned the work for the 150th anniversary of Wilhelm Stenhammar in 2021 and the Swedish Radio Choir premiered it under the direction of Erik Westberg. / Staffan Storm
Benjamin Staern - composer Karin Dornbusch - clarinet Emil Eliasson - conductor Gavle Symphony Orchestra WORRIED SOULS Benjamin Staern: The Threat of War Benjamin Staern: Worried Souls - Clarinet Concerto Benjamin Staern: Polar Vortex Symphony no. 1 Swedish Society and The Gavle Symphony Orchestra present the first full orchestral CD of composer Benjamin Staern's music. This release features 2 works for large orchestra and his Clarinet concerto all of which are inspired by social issues and environmental forces as well as the challenges of human relations and conflict painting a very actual picture of the world we live in. Staern's music reflects global issues, drawing from Kosovo and Congo's conflict images, fueling the urgent intensity of The Threat of War. His clarinet concerto, Worried Souls, channels the fraught emotions of an industrial, dystopian society, inspired by classic works like Modern Times and 1984. Finally, Staern's Polar Vortex symphony sonically explores global weather extremes through vibrant inner imagery, from frozen cities to intense polar vortices. Artists: Renowned Swedish clarinetist Karin Dornbusch winner of the Swedish Soloist Prize, a celebrated figure in Swedish music and a highly sought artist internationally, joins the Gavle Symphony Orchestra for the performance of the multi instrumental and virtuosic clarinet concerto. The Gavle Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Emil Eliasson, a popular guest conductor across major Nordic orchestras and esteemed opera houses and current Music director of the Swedish Wind Ensemble.
The concepts of Romanticism and Late Romanticism steer our thoughts towards musical epochs, but the selection on this CD is based on a word art that encompasses romantic notions and experiences such as sorrow, joy, love, anxiety, despair, expectation, and longing that have existed in all times. This CD features, for the first time, recorded works by the young composer Alvin Vikman's five-movement piece The Japanese Seasons, Agneta Skold's Dar blaklinten slog en bro, and a bouquet of songs by composers active from the mid-1800s, Laura Netzell and Valborg Aulin. For over two hundred years, the interest in choral singing has inspired choral compositions of many different kinds. It has laid the foundation for the utilization of words and tones for the human voice, which has fostered cohesion, community, and musical innovation. Therefore, the compositions of Ludvig Norman, Jorgen Jersild, and Alvin Vikman show a continuity in humanity's need for words and tones to collaborate, regardless of the epoch, giving us n
It is definitely stimulating and challenging for an arranger to create unity between a folk trio and a chamber orchestra; let alone between different styles of music and instrumental playing. The Nordic Symphonic project; with its meeting of the Nordic trio and a classical orchestra; is a great example of the kind of musical cross-fertilisation one can only dream of. In this collaboration Nordic’s intricate swing-based style is set against the broader sound palette of the orchestra: the trio sets off on a whirlwind adventure; with sounds from across the whole planet; and the orchestra follows along.
Fjellhaim, Barruk, Märak: Sápmi (Boundless) / Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble
Swedish Society
CD
$18.99Jul 01, 2022
The source of inspiration for this album originates from collaborative projects between the Sami artists Frode Fjellheim, Katarina Barruk, Johan Märak and the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble. Frode Fjellheim is best known as the composer of the theme from Disney’s Frozen and through his band Transjoik. This album includes his cinematic A Sister from the North and the sweetly beautiful Mov aalhtere vaerine tjuavka (My Altar is the Mountain that Shines). He composed Bidám vuolle for the 400th anniversary of the town of Piteå. Jan Sandström has carefully created several choral works around traditional joiks. The release begins with the rhythmically charged Jiegaffo, based on a joik by Johan Märak. Suv Dehte (Due to Her) is a three-part work where Katarina Barruk touches the listener with her unique vocal expression. In Min Eallin the Swedish composer Kristin Boussard has set texts by several Sami poets, the youngest of whom is eight years old. The last part of the piece is about those who choose to leave behind a traditional Sami life style and the fear experienced by those remaining,Conductor:will those leaving forget their heritage Mia Makaroff writes of her work Spes (Hope): ”The text from Ecclesiastes explains how humility and wisdom change a person: her face softens and she is no longer dogmatic or violent. This humility and understanding is the key to hope for humanity.
Lindstrom + Mozart / Emil Jonasson, Solyom, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra
Swedish Society
CD
$18.99Feb 12, 2021
This new release, recorded at the Helsingborg Concert House in 2019, features Emil Jonasson performing works by Mozart alongside the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stefan Solyom. Emil Jonason (b. 1983) was born and raised on Värmdö outside Stockholm. He started playing clarinet in the municipal music school at the age of 10 – the instrument which back then had the shortest waiting list. With a father who was an amateur jazz clarinetist, he listened early on to world-famous names such as Benny Goodman, Sidney Bechet, Kenny Davern and especially the notorious Spike Jones and his City Slickers. At the age of 17, he was accepted to the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, and has since studied for Hermann Stefánsson, Martin Fröst, Kjell-Inge Stevensson and Yehuda Gilad. He won the Solofoni competition in Helsingborg at the age of 21, performed Nielsen’s clarinet concerto with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, and at his diploma concert in 2008 he played John Corigliano’s clarinet concerto together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm.
Dalasinfoniettan, formed in 1988 and with 28 full-time musicians, is based in Falun in central Sweden and has a mission to cover the whole region of Dalecarlia with annual concerts in a variety of venues with repertoire spanning from baroque to contemporary music and jazz. Occasionally they also join forces with other orchestras to perform large-scale symphonic works, and sometimes the orchestra divides into smaller chamber ensembles. Dalasinfoniettan regularly invites internationally acclaimed soloists and guest conductors such as Janine Jansen, Benjamin Schmid, Daniel Raiskin, Vilde Frang, Torleif Thedéen, Malena Ernman, Michael Schønwandt and Leif Ove Andsnes to perform with the orchestra. Since 2006 Dalasinfoniettan hosts the international chamber music festival Vinterfest. This release features the ensemble performing works by Poulenc, Ligeti, and Mats Larsson Gothe.
It's traditional, and brand new!It is bound, and free! It's heavy, and easy! It is music that goes in through your ears but does not stay in your head, or even your heart without rushing right into your feet and setting your musical world rocking. Get ready for a magical encounter between Gävle Symphony Orchestra and national fiddler Görgen Antonsson - with music arranged by Karl-Johan Ankarblom.
Linnékvintetten has since 1986 been a dynamic element in the Swedish music scene. Ever since it's inception, the ensemble has gone in to renew the Swedish repertoire for brass quintet, which meant about 40 premieres of Swedish music. On this release of joyful and evocative music associated with Advent and Christmas in Sweden the listener will find 16th c. variations on the hymn 'There is a rose in flower' alongside carols, hymns and a new Swedish 'classic', the theme-music from the TV-program 'Karl-Bertil Jonssons Christmas'. Recorded in Hagby church February 2013 during a howling blizzard.
