[TUTL FKT 19] 2003

Avaliable online from TUTL

Music written today is normally termed modern or post-modern. Modern meaning a mirror picture of the environment and times. Music described as post-modern is said to sound of the past and present intertwined. We hear old melodies and harmonies in a new style or old forms with new material. Concertino for Ten Players (1998/99), is by the American composer Hsueh-Yung Shen (b.1952) of Chinese descent. Concert in Italian, means to play together and the Latin word concertare means to compete. All the musicians in Aldubaran have their own specific role to play in this piece. The music constantly changes colour with several opposing melodies, at times the group plays as a romantic ensemble, sometimes as a jazz bigband. Concertino for Ten Players has its roots in the American music genre, romantic music with significant inspiration from jazz and film music. Mjøllhvít (1996) (White as new fallen snow) is Kristian Blak’s (b.1947) third composition for solo violin and is, as were the two previous, inspired by a female character in a folk ballad. The melodic material and inspiration for this piece come from the Faroese ballad “Brúnsveinsvísa” The music of Sunleif Rasmussen (b.1961) is normally based on old melodies. However, they cannot always be heard as such as the connection between the melody and the work is hidden or abstract. The Fantasy on the theme “Tivilsdøtur” (1991) for clarinet and french horn distinguishes itself as we can clearly hear the melody of William Heinesen that the fantasy is based on. In the beginning we hear the theme in canon as it is usually sung, then it is broken down and changed so that nothing of the original is left at the end of the work. Here we can hear how the conventional music of Heinesen gradually becomes the music of Sunleif Rasmussen. Within the Fairy-Ring – and out of it! (1999) for solo clarinet is written by Per Nørgård (b.1932), one of the leading Danish composers of our time. This music is built on a distinctive idea which is subject to constant change. We can hardly call the idea a melody, more a movement or motion that ties the listener to the work for the duration. This motion is characterized by the possibilities within the clarinet; range, playing two voices, harmonics etc. The composer has written that the listener can imagine themselves in a dance ring, feel the closeness, sense the claustrophobia and the freedom when the dance is finally over. Trauer und Freude (1999) for wind quartet, string quartet, piano, harpsichord and guitar is the second work by Sunleif Rasmussen on this CD. The music is built on the melody of a Kingo psalm, Sorrig og glæde. The first movement goes under the pseudonym Trauer-Freude, the second Trauer and the third Freude. The music moves with regard to the contradictions in the text; there are two different ideas in the work, one of sadness yet gentleness and the other, lively and fast moving. The sound is characteristic of old instruments and ensembles; string quartet, harpsichord etc. and the music travels using the two ideas in sonata form. These conventional features are an integral part of the modern musical style of this composer. Hans Pauli Tórgarð.

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