Tales From the North, reviews

Per Nørgård’s works for the guitar holds a unique position in the litterature for the instrument and in the composer’s output. It is rare with such a rich production for this ”little” instrument by such an important composer. Nørgård’s music for the guitar also holds an exceptional position in his compositional work in the past decades. Ever so often a guitar piece has become the offspring of a large-scale work, as a concentrate of novel ideas or further exploration of a material’s potential. In this work, the inherent dynamic limitations of the guitar has been a paradoxical but logical source of inspiration, that so far has given birth to a repertoire that is more than required for a double CD. And this double CD has now been offered to the world by the indefatigable Stefan Östersjö. It would not be a Stefan Östersjö album if it wasn’t accompanied by an extensive and very readable with deep sounding reasoning about the origin and intepretations of the music and not the least on the transcriptions of works for 6-string guitar to 10-string guitar that ha has made. Libra, for instance, that opens the first CD, is originally written for singing guitarist. Here, Östersjö chose, instead of opening his own mouth (which he on the other hand does on other tracks on the album) to integrate the tenor part as a melodic layer. Returns is another example of Nørgård’s fine and somewhat naive sense of melody. The core is a pentatonic riff, an idiomatic cliché that feels fresh in this piece with it’s connections between gamelan music and american folk-rock music.
This concept is like a red thread through the album – a terse tonal/modal motif that is surrounded by quasi improvised ornamentations with a characteristic multi-layered, swinging rhythm derived from Fibonacci-series and the golden section. This could have been a mannerism if the motifs were not so strikingly different from one piece to the other; from expressionistic wide melody to sailor’s song. Altogether, Nørgård’s method of writing sequences of miniatures or short movements makes this a much more varied album than one could fear with such a great dosis of music for a single instrument by only one composer.
In the German cult book Papalagi – the white man the fictif (?) South Sea chieftain Tuiavii recounts his impressions from a journey to civilisation. In the piece Papalagi Nørgård creates a highly ironic ”meta-music”, a somewhat bluesy programmatic account of how the westerner divides time in separate parts as you, according to Tuavii, “might cut a ripe coconut in many pieces with a knife”. The piece is recorded in its two version, a “natural” and one with obligato clockwork.
The second CD is dominated by the crown among Nørgård’s guitar works, Tales From a Hand or Lad kortene fortælle. It is a series of four suites made up of short character pieces around the symbolics of playing cards. The connection between the mythical characters of the figurers of the playing cards and their traditions in earlier music feels ingenious. The Queen of Hearts is afforded a dance suite of her own. Clubs is immersed with symbolism around the figure 3. It gets the most entertaining in the fourth suite – en existential account of Jack of Diamonds as a Don Juan-like character, a ”player”, and his way towards catharsis. This suite has an extrovert, eruptive quality, in contrast to the sparse structures and meditative mood, only interrupted by the Joker’s cadences with fast chromatic runs.
I believe that the somewhat tricky notation has deterred guitarists from embracing this music, which is a shame. There are many real pearls here that should be played more often. Apart from the already mentioned works I’d like to point to the five dreamy preludes in the suite Early Morn.
The main part of Nørgård’s guitar music is the result of his over 30 year long collaboration with the Danish guitarist Erling Møldrup. Last year he made a new recording of Tales From a Hand, a piece he had documented earlier on on different labels while the suites were finished, for the 75th anniversary of the composer. In this new recoding is also a bonus track in the form of a nice extra version of Queen of Hearts with obligato cello part. Östersjö’s recording on the other hand, a sounding part of his research project on interpretation, performance practice and authenticity, which has now rendered him a doctor’s hat. This inevitably brings us to the question: who is most authentic? Is it the compatriot and first performer Møldrup who has aged with dignitity and with Nørgård always on the repertoire list. Or the young intellectual Östersjö, who in an almost deconstructivist manner has put the music under the magnifying glass and through his transcriptions for 10-string guitar has adopted an even more co-creative role? This is of course an open question, just as whether Nørgård himself would like to answer it.
Both guitarists have prepared the music in close dialogue with the composer. With this in mind it is striking how great diversity the different versions display, especially in the choice of tempo. Only in three out of the in all 18 movements of the cycle of suites is Östersjö above Møldrup in duration. Also elsewhere, he has, sometimes drastically, fresher tempi, which, especially in the introductory suite on Spades does the music well. At the same time, Nørgård’s music is moulded in open forms, with a given frame for improvisation and an implicit agreement between composer and performer to agogically make the notation alive. In this manner one can regard both versions as two suggestions of results of a flexible formula. Møldrup has a fuller tone and more singing harmonics, but is on the other hand more monotonous in his sound. I like the way in which Stefan Östersjö almost over-explicitly differentiates parts and layers with dynamics, accents and timbre. Östersjö is also more excessive when it comes to rubato.
The slender-limbed researcher or the musical man of action? Both are good guitar albums, good views into the special universe of Nørgård’s music, and strong arguments for Östersjö’s thesis that the notation is merely the beginning of a piece of music.
Mårten Josjö, Nutida Musik


Solo guitar with a sense for sound
Performance practice is what is not in the score but what the interpreter needs to be know in order to make an interpretation in line with the composer’s intentions. The classical guitarist Stefan Östersjö has been searching for this knowledge of the hand and the ear together with several composers, among them the Danish composer Per Nørgård ”who has has lent more attention to this instrument than any other Scandinavian composer” as a research project since 2002. Nørgård’s output for the guitar from 1973-2001, as well as Östersjö’s transcriptions for 10-stringed guitar of two pieces by Nørgård, Libra and In Memory of..., are now recorded on a double CD and thoroughly analyzed in the program book. Nørgård’s most extensive guitar work is the cyclic Tales from a Hand (1985-2001), with fyra suites where playing-cards and the days of the week symbolize both human life and creative processes. All sorts of dramatic, reflective dancing, erotic and naive modes of expression are found in these contemporary character pieces. A highly substantial music in ”authorised” interpretations by a guitarist with a sense for timbral nuances.
Lars Hedblad, Svenska Dagbladet

The Danish composer Per Nørgård (b. 1932) is one of the most influential composers of his generation. His music tends to be described as intellectual. This does not imply that it is difficult, only that it is music that demands time and deep listening to do it full justice. The guitarist Stefan Östersjö, a specialist in the performance of contemporary music, plays the complete guitar works of Nørgård on a consummate double CD. Two hours of brilliant solo playing, immersed with impressive feeling for timbral nuance. An excellent guide to the composer Per Nørgård in general, and to his guitar works in particular, is included in the highly informative and extensive model booklet.
Mikael Bengtsson, Norran

Apart from the pieces in the player on my site, you can also hear a couple of more performances on other sites on MySpace. At present you will find Mike Edgerton's 'Tempo Mental Rap' in a live recording from a tour in the US 2004 on his site (http://www.myspace.com/michaeledwardedgerton). Parts of Kent Olofsson's guitar concerto Corde can be found on his site (http://www.myspace.com/kentolofsson). The entire piece is released with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/Mario Venzago on Swedish label Phono Suecia. There is a recording of Fredrik Österling's Embla for 11-stringed alto guitar on his site (http://www.myspace.com/fredrikoesterling). This piece is part of an upcoming project with works composed to be played in between some of the lute works by J S Bach to which Swedish video artist Josef Doukkali is making a minimalist video-scenography. A touring project coming up in 2010.

Kent Olofsson: Corde for guitarist and orchestra (2002-2006)

 Presentation and press cutting. 

Corde (2002–06), for guitarist and orchestra, is a work in three parts: 1) Fascia  (BMW kompositionspreises der Musica Viva 2002) for charango, midi-electric guitar, electronics, and orchestra 2) Collagene/Fascia II for Glissentar, 11-stringed alto guitar and orchestra 3) Colloide/Fascia epilogue for 5-stringed banjo and ensemble.   The first part of Corde, Fascia, was premiered in 2004 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lothar Zagrosek. I have played Fascia with the Icelandic Symhony and Franck  Ollu and at the 100th anniversary of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under their chief conductor Mario Venzago. The final three-movement version was recorded with Mario Venzago and the Gothenburg Symphony in August and released on Phono Suecia in January 2008. I played the full three  movement work, Corde, with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and maestro Venzago in April 2008. The next scheduled performance is in October 2008 at the Gaida Festival in Vilnius with Peter Eötvös.   Kent Olofsson's Corde is a multi faceted work, at the same time uncomprimising contemporary music and extravagant entertainment: presented side by side with Ravel's La Valse at the 100th anniversary of the Gothenburg Symphony, it made the critic of Stockholm paper Dagens Nyheter simply  exclaim "Wow!"


The full concerto, once it was finished in summer 2006, is a work in three movements using five different solo instruments: the charango, MIDI-electric guitar, 11-string fretless guitar,11-string alto guitar and banjo. Fascia (2002) is music that melds different genres, cultures, and epochs. In medical
terminology, 'Fascia' means the tissue that holds the muscles together. The title refers to the way that the orchestra is connected with the solo instrument, but also to the way in which elements from different musical cultures are united. The solo instruments represents different musical cultures and parts of the world, and the way in which these are connected with a complex contemporary orchestral music is the mystery of the piece. Thomas Millroth reflects on this aspect of the piece in his review of the CD in the internet review sound of music:

The five solo instruments are an important component in the surface structure and dramaturgy of the piece. This is reflected both in matti Edéns review in Sydsvenska Dagbladet of the Malmö performance as well as in Margaret Myers review of the performances in Gothenburg in 2005:


Ingvar Loco Nordin's review of the CD-recording highlights the role of the electric guitar:


Corde is certainly quite a unique piece of music, considering how it draws on a rich variety of different folkloristic and classical guitar techniques and sound worlds and perhaps most of all how these traditions are intertwined with new technology and material from popular music and Western musical
modernism in quite an intriguing way.


During a number of years composer Kent Olofsson and myself have had a continuous collaboration
resulting in several first performances and CD-recordings. On my first solo CD (Swedish Grammyaward winner in the category of best classical album 1997) I recorded Kent Olofsson's "Treccia" for solo guitar and "Garden of Earthly Delights" for guitar chamber ensemble and tape. In these works
several new approaches toward the instrument are tried out that are brought together in the large scale work "Il Liuto d'Orfeo", (for charango, 6- and 10-string guitars and tape) first performed during Stockholm New Music in March 1999. In June the same year it was awarded 1st Prize in the category of
works for instrument and tape in Bourges. I have since then played the piece at new music festivals such as Warsaw Autumn 2001 and NYYD in Tallinn, MAGMA in Berlin 2002, at the GAS-festival in Gothenburg, at Elektrisk Helg in Malmö, in Copenhagen at the Danish Radio, in Odense (DK), at the
Time of Music festival (FIN), at Ny Musikk in Oslo etc. Kent Olofssons new concerto appears to me as one of the most innovative and creative solutions to the most problematic form of guitar music – the concerto with orchestra. A work for guitar(s) and orchestra with electronics makes the use of amplification an integrated electroacoustic aspect of its sound world, thus dispensing with balance problem already in its conceptual state. The instrumental novelties that the piece exposes, and its connotations with the guitar cultures of folk music and popular music, gives Olofsson's Concerto several distinct interpretative layers: The surface structure provides exciting entertainment, despite of the complexity and density of the
music on a deeper level. One fascinating part of this work is the way it integrates the manifold manifestations of guitars in diverse cultures around the world, and the continuous development of playing techniques and constructions both in Western popular music as well as Art Music and in folk
music traditions around the world.


So the piece is on the one hand a show off of newly invented instruments and techniques and on the other hand orchestral music with great complexity and range of expression. In the first movement, Fascia, the span is between virtuoso charango techniques and the exploration of new playing
techniques with the e-bow. The range of the charango is extended through the use of MIDI-guitar technique, building a bridge between the electric guitar material and the acoustic sound world of the charango. The most impressive quality in the work is perhaps how it abridges the diversity of the
material into an original and novel orchestral sound world of apparent continuity and coherence.




In Collagène/Fascia II and Colloïde/Fascia Épilogue (2006), three more stringed instruments are added to the solo part: the glissentar and the 11-stringed alto guitar as well as a 5-stringed banjo. The 11-stringed alto guitar (1966) was developed by Professor Per-Olof Johnsson and the guitar maker Georg Bolin as a guitar containing the same technical capabilities as the Italian arch lute of the early baroque period. Godin's glissentar is a later creation: a fretless, double course solid body guitar with 5 double string pairs and a single lowest string, like a hybrid between an Arabic oud and an electric guitar. Thanks to the double string sets, the harmonic material from the differently tuned strings of the charango can be taken into the second movement. As in the first movement, the instruments in themselves, and their specific characteristics, contribute substantially to the identity of the music.
Collagène functions as a sort of afterimage of Fascia. Gestures and events return here, both in the solo part and the orchestra, transformed into a more low-keyed and fluid state. This movement is dedicated to György Ligeti, who passed away while Kent was working on the orchestral score, and whose orchestral music can clearly be seen as a source of inspiration. There are several layers of esthesic processes behind the composition of Collagène. Apart from these "transcriptions" of material from Fascia, the glissentar part is a reinterpretation of an earlier solo work for the same instrument,
Alambic II (2004), which was written as a kind of early study for the concerto, the material from which is here expanded and varied. In the epilogue, for banjo with E-bow and small ensemble, some motives
are again taken from Fascia: a rasgueado chord from the opening
measures that quickly diminishes, a "col legno" with the E-bow, some
campanella figures á la charango, fragments that lead to a long
glissando and a cadenza for the banjo and E-bow like a diminutive aria.
The denouement of the work, with a chord in the harp, viola, and banjo
followed by hands rubbing on the lid of the banjo, is the final memory
from Fascia, set to the landscape provided by rattling maracas taken
from the introductory measures.

Stefan Östersjö