<\/p>\n
Debut from Troms\u00f8 Chamber Orchestra: Webern, P\u00e4rt, Kurt\u00e1g, H\u00f6gberg and Lutos\u0142awski<\/p>\n
The works on this recording embrace ninety-nine years of European music history and are balanced by paradoxical opposites; the programme is dominated by moods of the long, arctic winter night \u2013 grief, longing, absence \u2013 and the midnight sun\u2019s unceasing orgy of light and life. Kolbj\u00f8rn Holthe and his inspired orchestra display both playful virtuosity and extreme serenity in their interpretations of this repertoire.<\/p>\n
The first three works definitely belong in the darkness of the polar night. Webern’s F\u00fcnf S\u00e4tze is his first atonal work, originally written for string quartet. The Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten by P\u00e4rt is a mourning piece over the death of Britten in 1977. Kurt\u00e1gs captivating Aus der Ferne III from 1991 closes the section. Offering the greatest contrast to the rest of the repertoire is the world premiere recording prize-winning Swedish composer Fredrik H\u00f6gberg\u2019s double bass concerto Hitting the First Base, with soloist Dan Styffe. Lutos\u0142awski considered Musique fun\u00e8bre to be a turning point in his career even as early as the first performance in 1958.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The base and identity of the orchestra are given in the coordinates for the town of Troms\u00f8 (69\u00b042\u2019 north | 19\u00b000\u2019 east). It is from this vantage point their perspective on five European composers is applied; five composers who in turn exist in mutual contrast and perspective.<\/p>\n
The first three works definitely belong in the darkness of the polar night. Webern’s F\u00fcnf S\u00e4tze is his first atonal work, originally written for string quartet. The Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten by P\u00e4rt is a mourning piece over the death of Britten in 1977. The work is one of the earliest examples of P\u00e4rt’s tintinnabulation-style where minimalism embraces the extreme, much like the perspectives in the polar landscapes. Kurt\u00e1gs captivating Aus der Ferne III from 1991 closes the section.<\/p>\n
With Kurt\u00e1g\u2019s work the arctic night is definitively behind us, and offering the greatest contrast to the rest of the repertoire is the prize-winning Swedish composer Fredrik H\u00f6gberg\u2019s double bass concerto Hitting the First Base (2008). It does just what the double meaning of the title\u2019s baseball metaphor promises: it hits our senses in a postmodern explosion of audible photons, a rhythmic, lively midnight sun storm of vibrant musicianship. The work was composed for and is dedicated to double bass player Dan Styffe who also assisted the composer in shaping the highly virtuosic, physically demanding and dynamic solo part.<\/p>\n
Lutos\u0142awski considered Musique fun\u00e8bre to be a turning point in his career even as early as the first performance in 1958, the beginning of a new period of self-found freedom to move around the musical twelve-note terrain, emancipated both from tonality and from more rigid versions of dodecaphony. Musique fun\u00e8bre was \u201cthe first, and most certainly not the last word I will utter in what to me is a new language,\u201d wrote Lutos\u0142awski.<\/p>\n
Troms\u00f8 Chamber Orchestra is the only full-time professional chamber orchestra in Norway. The orchestra has become well-known as a modern and versatile ensemble of high international standard. The orchestra gives weekly concerts in Troms\u00f8, and the musicians also serve regularly as a part of the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, through the organisation NOSO AS.<\/p>\n
The orchestra presents some of the most sought after soloists and artistic leaders from all over the world. Musically their range is from chamber ensembles and chamber orchestra to bigger symphonic productions. In addition to this, the orchestra has a high reputation in crossover repertory, through several co-productions with some of Norway’s most demanded pop- and jazz-artists. Kolbj\u00f8rn Holthe has been the artistic leader since 2006, and under his leadership the orchestra has evolved into an ensemble that inspires and engages both the audience and the musicians passionately. Henning Kraggerud will follow Mr. Holthe as artistic leader from autumn 2012.<\/p>\n
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