Sebastian Fagerlund
(b.1972) www.editionpeters.com/modern.php?composer=FAGERLUN&modern=1
studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under the guidance of
Erkki Jokinen. He attended composition masterclasses led by Michael Jarrel,
Magnus Lindberg and Ivan Fedele.
He now lives in Helsinki where he works as a freelance
composer creating music that has been described as ‘flowing, fast-moving and
rich in sound… with a highly virtuosic instrumental feel… creating musical
dramas in which powerful expression is combined with intensity and
communicativeness.’
Fagerlund’s compositions include an opera, Döbeln (2008–2009), vocal and choral
works as well as orchestral, chamber and instrumental works. In November 2013
the BBC Symphony Orchestra gave the UK première of Fagerlund’s Guitar Concerto,
recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Afternoon on 3.
In 2011, Fagerlund was awarded Finland's most renowned music
prize, the Teosto Prize, for his orchestral work Ignite. The same year Ignite
was also selected as a recommended work at the International Rostrum of
Composers 2011 in Vienna.
Recent orchestral works include a Violin Concerto for violinist Pekka Kuusisto commissioned by the
Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and premièred in 2012; and a Concerto for Guitar
and Symphony Orchestra commissioned by The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, première
in 2013. Since 2013 Fagerlund has been artistic director of the RUSK Chamber
Music Festival in Jakobstad, Finland.
A new release from
BIS Records www.bis.se/index.php features
two of the works mentioned above, his Violin Concerto and Ignite for orchestra.
Pekka Kuusisto www.harrisonparrott.com/artist/profile/pekka-kuusisto
is
the soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra http://yle.fi/aihe/rso conducted by Hannu Lintu www.hannulintu.fi
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| BIS-2093 SACD |
The Violin Concerto
‘Darkness in Light’ (2012) is in three movements played without a break. The
title refers to the narrative style of the Japanese author Haruki Murakami
(b.1949) www.murakamibooks.co.uk which mixes reality with the surreal. Timpani thunder in the distance as the
first movement, Energico opens, the
orchestra slowly rising full of energy. When the soloist enters the orchestra
is reduced to a lighter accompaniment with occasional outbursts underpinned by
timpani. The violin rapidly develops the music through staccato lightly bowed
phrases and many intricate, fast moving passages with beautifully scored
instrumental details. The music rises to a number of little peaks before
arriving at a sudden outburst before falling back. There are passages of subtle
virtuosity from Pekka Kuusisto as well as a lovely static passage where the
violin hovers over a constantly shifting quiet orchestra.
Part way through, the music rises through some beautifully
coloured orchestral passages, always with a sense of movement before falling
through an exquisitely hushed passage with the violin hovering over the
orchestra. The music develops some fine textures before leading through a
cadenza full of fine timbres and colours. This leads to a finely hushed moment
when the soloist produces pizzicato and other shifting patterns with more hushed
violin phrases that use many individual techniques to provide strange little
sounds, before percussion gently signal the return of the orchestra, leading
the listener into the second movement.
In the opening of the Lento
intenso the orchestra is underpinned by timpani as it falls to a hush,
ruminating gently before the violin slowly enters in one of the finest of many
lovely moments in this concerto; quite magical. A repeated descending
orchestral theme is set against a slowly winding violin melody before the music
slowly rises in the orchestra, with timpani, full of drama and power. The music
falls back as the violin enters, working a subtle little motif against the
hushed orchestra, slowly leading upwards in little figurations that grow bolder
and increase in volume to lead into Bruscamente
where the violin sets off at a pace against a dynamic orchestra, full of light
textured passages with an attractive rhythm in the staccato phrases from the
orchestra over which the solo violin weaves its theme. The music rapidly
scrambles forward increasing in dynamics as the orchestra builds to a pitch,
falling again as the soloist is heard in a kind of accompanied cadenza. There is a short rise in the orchestra’s
dynamics before the music fades to a quiet end.
This is a very fine concerto indeed full of invention,
colour and energy. It receives a terrific performance from Pekka Kuusisto with the
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu.
Ignite for orchestra
(2010) is in four sections each divided by a short interlude and is built
in a structure that circles around a central point that is embodied in the
opening eruptions.
Brass dominate the sudden outburst of fast and furious music
that opens the Presto, furioso. Fagerlund
creates a terrific weaving of orchestral textures before suddenly reducing to a
quieter section with scurrying woodwind rising and falling over a gentle
orchestral motif. Timpani lead the orchestra up as it again finds momentum and
dynamics. There are passages of wonderfully woven sounds with outbursts before
a quiet coda that takes us into the Interlude
I. Espressivo with a gently rising and falling orchestra over which
individual instruments bring outbursts before moving into the next section.
Energico, molto ritmico
opens with a rather syncopated rhythm and scurrying strings before a longer
breathed passage where the strings lead over the rhythm of the brass and
woodwind. Timpani join as the motoric rhythm now pushes forward with great
energy. There are moments of quieter, spiky rhythms as well as many fine
individual instrumental moments. The music builds in intensity until a chime is
heard to bring a hushed variant of the fast moving theme as we arrive at
another of Fagerlund’s magical moments. The strings then rise, pointed up by
brass and little woodwind motifs in a quite beautiful passage. Timpani continue
to beat as the music leads inexorably forward, before falling to a hush as we
are led into Interlude II. Espressivo
where a bassoon plays a theme over hushed timpani beats with little woodwind
motifs that take us into the third and longest section.
Timpani beats can be heard for a short while as the Lento misterioso, molto calmo arrives, before
hushed strings lead forward albeit with a rather static theme out of which
rises a clarinet. The music lightens with further woodwind passages before the hushed
opening theme re-appears. Little orchestral surges gently appear as do brass
and woodwind passages, adding some lovely colour to the music. The music continually
returns to the opening hushed theme, though developing new colours and textures.
Slowly the music rises as though trying to haul itself up. Low brass ruminates
in a distinctive passage before the woodwind weave a lovely theme. The strings
rise in a faster motif but the brooding hush is maintained as we move into Interlude III. Intenso where brass
scurry around, percussion lighten the texture with woodwind joining before we
move into the final section.
Brass, woodwind and timpani, thundering out full of energy, introduce
Esaltato. There are rasping brass
phrases before pizzicato lower strings underpin a forward moving theme over
which woodwind and brass weave a theme. When the music falls to a hush, deep
timpani rolls can be heard along with the lower strings. Soon the music rises,
full of energy, scurrying forward with woodwind arabesques, just a little reminiscent
of Rautavaara, in another terrific section before we are led to the dynamic
coda.
This is a really terrific orchestral work brilliantly played
here by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu.
Here is a composer well worth exploring. Both of these works
are accessible in the best possible sense, full of interest, beauty and energy.
They receive an excellent recording from the Helsinki Music Centre, Finland and
there are excellent booklet notes.
I will be exploring more of this composer’s music.
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