{"id":42484,"date":"2026-03-06T20:28:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/?post_type=product&p=42484"},"modified":"2026-03-06T20:28:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:28:58","slug":"lars-anders-tomter-1b1-wallin-part-hallgrimsson","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/albums\/simax-classics\/lars-anders-tomter-1b1-wallin-part-hallgrimsson\/","title":{"rendered":"Lars Anders Tomter \/ 1B1 – Wallin, P\u00e4rt, Hallgr\u00edmsson"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

1B1 and Lars Anders Tomter release new album of Nordic works for viola and string orchestra. <\/strong>A musical journey through Nordic landscapes \u2013 from the pulsating surface of the city to shadowed terrains and the quiet song of grief.<\/em><\/p>\n

On March 13, 2026, Simax Classics releases a new album featuring four major works for viola and strings, performed by Lars Anders Tomter and the string orchestra 1B1 under the direction of Jan Bj\u00f8ranger. The release brings together music by Rolf Wallin, Hafli\u00f0i Hallgr\u00edmsson, and Arvo P\u00e4rt, presenting the viola as an instrument with a singular voice: introspective, warm, and deeply human \u2014 a quality that has increasingly drawn contemporary composers to its sound.<\/p>\n

Tomter reflects: \u201cThe composers are of different generations, but all vibrantly alive.
Over the past decades, I have commissioned and premiered numerous concert works for viola and orchestra \u2014 a challenge many composers have approached with both curiosity and some hesitation.
The fundamental character of the viola may be more inward than declamatory; it carries more of a Mona Lisa smile than theatrical gestures. This has made it a less frequently used solo instrument historically, yet perhaps all the more attractive to today\u2019s composers \u2014 its possibilities do not feel exhausted.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Two Major Viola Concertos<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rolf Wallin:\u00a0Under City Skin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Medieval zoological textbooks make for strange reading. Mermaids and centaurs appear as naturally as lions and horses, and one might learn that \u201cthe blood of a male goat dissolves diamonds\u201d or that \u201ca dog crossing the shadow of a hyena loses its voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In our modern age, we know better \u2014 or do we? Might we humans still be mythological at heart? Might the world we experience daily contain hidden layers of power, fear, longing, and ecstasy?<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Under City Skin<\/em>, Wallin interweaves viola, strings, and urban soundscapes into a mythological journey through the modern sonic jungle, where town hall bells, a locomotive, a woman\u2019s high heels, and a skidding Mercedes are transformed into strange mythic creatures.<\/p>\n

Hafli\u00f0i Hallgr\u00edmsson:\u00a0Ombra<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Where Wallin depicts the metropolis, Hallgr\u00edmsson opens another landscape: barren, mist-laden, and timeless.\u00a0Ombra<\/em>moves from dark, rough textures toward a more virtuosic and luminous expression \u2014 like a dream reaching toward clarity.<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson, himself a cellist and composer with a keen sensitivity to the physical resonance of string instruments, writes music in which the viola becomes both shadow and voice, solitude and song.<\/p>\n

Two Shorter Works in New Arrangements<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rolf Wallin:\u00a0Elegi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Wallin\u2019s sister Erna died at a young age in 1979, he composed\u00a0Elegi<\/em>\u00a0for trumpet and organ, performing it himself at her funeral in Lom Stave Church. Since then, the work has been performed countless times around the world. Wallin has expressed how deeply moved he is by this \u2014 that Erna, in a sense, continues to be present among us.<\/p>\n

Arvo P\u00e4rt:\u00a0Fratres<\/em>\u00a0(arr. Tomter)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fratres<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cBrothers\u201d) is among P\u00e4rt\u2019s most renowned works and an early cornerstone of his tintinnabuli style. With its crystalline stillness and timeless pulse, the music creates a space between moment and eternity.<\/p>\n

Tomter\u2019s arrangement allows the viola to emerge as a vulnerable and searching solo voice.<\/p>\n

A Nordic Release in the Sign of the Viola<\/strong><\/p>\n

The album brings together four works that, in different ways, connect what we know with what we can only sense: city and wilderness, grief and silence, the body and the beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a powerful experience to witness the unveiling of a work of art in real time,\u201d says Lars Anders Tomter. \u201cI hope listeners will find joy in this music, and that violists will take up these works and make them their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

The orchestra 1B1 has been a young and inspiring partner throughout the project, and the recording is produced by Sean Lewis.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

1B1 and Lars Anders Tomter release new album of Nordic works for viola and string orchestra. <\/strong>A musical journey through Nordic landscapes \u2013 from the pulsating surface of the city to shadowed terrains and the quiet song of grief.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":42485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[180],"product_tag":[8144,8148,8147,8145,8146],"class_list":{"0":"post-42484","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-simax-classics","7":"product_tag-1b1","8":"product_tag-arvo-part","9":"product_tag-haflidi-hallgrimsson","10":"product_tag-lars-anders-tomter","11":"product_tag-rolf-wallin","12":"product_shipping_class-cddvd-shipping","13":"uni_artist_tag-1b1","14":"uni_artist_tag-lars-anders-tomter","15":"uni_main_artist_tag-1b1","16":"uni_main_artist_tag-lars-anders-tomter","17":"uni_artist_genre-klassisk","19":"first","20":"instock","21":"taxable","22":"shipping-taxable","23":"purchasable","24":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/42484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=42484"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=42484"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=42484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}