Violin solo. Strong, direct and personal. Sølve Sigerland shapes his music with natural authority and generosity. Written in Sand is his second solo album, presenting brilliant Nordic music for violin. A rewarding release from the outstanding violinist of Grieg Trio.
Haflidi Hallgrimsson
The title of this release is from the first movement of Haflidi Hallgrimsson’s Offerto, an elegy inspired by and dedicated to the memory of the Icelandic artist Karl Kvaran, a close friend of the composer. Each movement has been given titles from paintings, and frequently the movement of the bow across the violin strings might seem to echo or reflect the movement of the artist’s brush across a canvas. The violin concerto Poemi is tightly connected to another visual artist, namely Marc Chagall and his paintings with themes from the Old Testament.
Salonen and Ruders
Esa-Pekka Salonen is of course one of the most sought after conductors today, and he first studied conducting so that he could conduct his own music, which he has composed throughout his career. Lachen verlernt was composed in 2002 and premiered in August of that year by the violinist Cho-Liang Lin at the La Jolla SummerFest in California. Poul Ruders is by now generally recognized as one of the most significant contemporary Danish composers, and his works are performed both in and outside of Denmark more frequently than those of any other. Variations emerge as a melancholic but deeply-felt monologue, which only possibly finds its quietus in the soft final bars.
Sølve Sigerland
Sigerland has been soloist with orchestras like the Oslo Philharmonics, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra to great critical acclaim. As a founding member of the highly successful Grieg Trio he has performed in venues like Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall and Concertgebouw. The Strad magazine made the following comment to Sigerland’s solo debut: «Sølve Sigerland is a first-rate apostle for these forgotten gems, combining a strong sense of line with an awareness of the possibilities for colour.»
