Press - Work Notes

A. S. in Memoriam (1999) - Rolf Martinsson

A. S. in Memoriam was written in 1999, in memory of Arnold Schönberg and his string composition Verklärte Nacht, composed a hundred years previously, in 1899. In A. S. in Memoriam I have sought to mirror the vocabulary, gesture and musical characters present in the works of Schönberg. A. S. in Memoriam is often performed and has been on tour to Japan with both Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert.

A. S. in Memoriam was originally composed for 15 strings (5-4-3-2-1, op50a) but also exists in a version for string orchestra (op50b). The smaller version was commissioned and premiered in 1999 by the Lund New Chamber Orchestra under Sören Nilzén. The larger version is dedicated to Neeme Järvi, by whom it was premiered in May 2001 with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra at the Gothenburg Concert Hall. Bar 49 features a musical quotation from Verklärte Nacht, as a sounding acknowledgement of that work's influence on A. S. in Memoriam.

A. S. in Memoriam is recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1022) by Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Christoph König. Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Bridge, Trumpet Concerto No. 1 (1998) - Rolf Martinsson

Bridge was premiered in Göteborg April 29, 1999, by Håkan Hardenberger/trumpet, Göteborg Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Järvi/conductor. After the premiere Mr Järvi immediately decided to perform the piece the following week on a tour with Göteborg Symphony Orchestra to England. The performance took place in Birmingham Concert Hall. One year later Järvi performed Bridge four times together with Hardenberger and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Bridge has been performed and broadcasted numerous of times both in Europe and in USA. The piece was selected to be played at the Nordic Music Days 2000 in Helsinki, Finland by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and in 2002 Bridge was selected for ASCAP Awards in USA. Bridge has been on tour several times. In 2001 Hardenberger, Malmö Symphony Orchestra and B. Tommy Andersson performed Bridge on tour to Scotland and during spring 2003 Bridge was on tour to Germany for 13 performances with Hardenberger, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Leif Segerstam. The tour ended with a successful performance in Philharmonie in Berlin.

Bridge is devided into three larger parts which are held together with two solo trumpet cadenzas, one lyric and one dramatic. The first part is held in a moderato tempo, the second moves very slowly and the third part is written in presto. During the first two minutes, the soloist challenges all the instrumental groups in the orchestra one by one and after this section the piece starts to grow in larger musical forms. The composer says: "Håkan Hardenberger's remarkable trumpet sound and musicality has been a great inspiration to me during my work with Bridge." The solopart contains a musical cipher from Håkan Hardenberger's name.

Bridge is recorded at BIS (CD-1208) with Hardenberger, Göteborg Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Järvi and the piece was commissioned by Göteborg Symphony Orchestra with economic assistance from the Rikskonserter (Swedish Concert Institute). Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Cello Concerto No. 1 (2005) - Rolf Martinsson

When, one day in October 2003, Mats Lidström phoned out of the blue to ask if I'd write a Cello Concerto, I wondered if someone was playing a trick on me. But it wasn't a joke and the sincere invitation became the starting-point of our co-operation. Mats's spontaneity, wonderful sense of humour, brilliant musical intuition, his feeling for the cello's emotional range, his astonishing playing and his never-ending energy and flow of ideas, has from the very first moment inspired me immensely to write this concerto. Our many discussions about the instrument, that have been enormously informative for me, have been intensely coloured by questions about the cello's dynamic range, character and technical possibilities and limitations, but also by a mutual curiosity for testing various alternatives and solutions. All this has made it possible for me to really work thoroughly with the cello part as well as the orchestral part. On one occasion during our correspondence, I e-mailed a computer file with my music to Mats. Ten minutes later he called from London and shouted: "Listen to this...!" and he played the music of the solo part right off the computer screen! An hour later he called again and asked me to change the fingering in one bar of the solo part. When Mats called that day in October 2003 he also said that it would be nice if the cello concerto could be called just Cello Concerto without any extra name given to it. So it was, and the cello is allowed to sound like a cello.

The lyrical and expressive characters of the solo part alternate throughout the piece, giving it a slightly improvised and unpredictable form. The singing quality plays a central part but it is emphasised by strongly dramatic sections as well as rapid lighter ones. There is for me a special, personal side to writing for the cello, since the instrument is played daily at home in the hands of my 14-year-old daughter, Louise. This may be one of the reasons why the music sometimes has an explicitly emotional and naive language.

Cello Concerto No. 1 was commissioned by From-Sweden.com in co-operation with The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Malmö Symphony Orchestra. World Premiere: Mats Lidström/The BBC Symphony Orchestra/Mario Venzago, London 20 April 2005. Swedish Premiere: Mats Lidström/Malmö Symphony Orchestra/Christoph König, Malmö 2 June 2005. Recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1029) and published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Cello Concerto No. 1 (2005) - Rolf Martinsson

Martinsson had a very productive year in 2005, when two solo concertos and a short orchestral piece first saw the light of day. Cello Concerto No. 1, written for Mats Lidström, was premiered in the spring. Jointly commissioned by the BBC and Malmö Symphony Orchestras, it was written on the initiative of Mats Lidström and the "From-Sweden.com" festival. In this, as in the flute concerto, the solo part evolved in close partnership with the performer it was being written for. In this way the musicians can feel that they have been able, through their musical personalities, to influence the composition process. Martinsson himself gives the following description of how Cello Concerto No. 1 originated: "One day in October 2003 the phone rang, I picked up the receiver, said my name and heard a voice saying: 'Hi, my name's Mats Lidström and I'm a cellist living in London. I've heard your trumpet concerto and I'd like to commission a cello concerto from you to be premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra here in London in spring 2005. Do you think you'd have time?' 'Mmm ...ye-e-e-es,' I said, wondering the while who was pulling my leg. But it was a serious enquiry and that was the beginning of our partnership." (...) "Mats' spontaneity, his wonderful sense of humour, marvellous musical intuition, his feeling for the full expressive range of the cello, his entrancing playing and his unfailing energy and flow of ideas inspired me from the word Go in the writing of this cello concerto."

In the concerto Martinsson highlights the instrument's wealth of expressive potentialities, from romantic cantilenas to virtuoso frenzy. Together with Violin Concerto No. 1, written in 2007, it is one of the solo concertos by Martinsson entitled "concerto" pure and simple. This is not to imply and lack of poetical or narrative character - on the contrary! Could it be, rather, that because this work contains so many possible associations, a descriptive title would be too much of a constraint on the listener's own imagination? It is written in one movement, comprising several parts pulled together by common motifs. The concerto opens with a slowly emerging grand crescendo from the full orchestra from which the cello breaks free in an initial prolonged cadenza. By this time several of the main ingredients have already been introduced. A further central motif is presented by the cello when the orchestra re-enters. From this motif there emerges a long, sustained arch leading to the first great culmination. This is followed by several contrasting sections, some dramatic - notice, for example, the savage outbursts from the timpanist! - and others lyrical. These eventually lead into a fast, rhythmically impetuous helter-skelter.

Coloured Flames (2004) - Rolf Martinsson

Flames was written in 2003 for woodwind quartet. Later, to further enrich the sound picture, a part was added for oboe d'amore or alternatively cor anglais. The composer calls this new version Coloured Flames. In the present recording, Bengt Rosengren plays the oboe d'amore. The "flames" in the title, the composer explains, allude to the expressive, sometimes ecstatic nature of the music. The work is written in four sections. The first movement opens with a flute solo, the other instruments joining in one by one, often with slight, descending melodic movements. Part 2 is lively and discordant, while the third movement is tranquil and chordal with certain sharp accents, some of them choral-like. The swift rhythms of the final movement resume and heighten the dramatic expression of part 2.

Coloured Flames is recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1019) by The Amadé Quintet and was premiered by them at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm in November 2004.

Dreams (1995) - Rolf Martinsson

Akira Kurosawa's film Dreams made a hugely powerful impression on me when I saw it in a Malmö cinema at the beginning of the 1990s. I went back the very same evening to see it a second time and later I bought my own copy in a video store. The film includes a succession of concentrated dream scenes which create imaginative, clearly contrasting rooms. The play of images and colour and the tempo and drama from a complex whole replete with musical associations. A year or so later, on receiving an orchestral commission from the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, I didn't hesitate to use this film experience as an inspiring starting point of both form and plot. At no time did I intend writing film music. Rather I wanted, in my own particular way, to reflect and interpret my experience of seeing the film. This was greatly facilitated by having a full symphony orchestra, complete with percussion, celesta and two harps, at the disposal of my imagination and instrumentation.

Dreams was premiered by the MSO under Hannu Lintu at the Malmö Concert Hall in August 1995.

Dreams is recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1022) by Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Christoph König. Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Fairlight, Trombone Concerto No. 1 (2004) - Rolf Martinsson

The title refers to the famous Fairlight synthesizer which I used for improvisations in 1989 when writing for the Swedish Radio Theatre. Some of these musical ideas and improvisations I didn't use at the time, but still had in my mind when starting to compose Fairlight in 2003. The piece is created in close cooperation with Christian Lindberg. Our inspiring discussions about mutes, how to use the voice when playing, quality of lowest and highest register, form, tone colour and glissandos were enormously exciting and gave me a lot of creative ideas. During the composition process I had many opportunities to hear Christian play from different sections of the solo part which gave me detailed information about the trombone sound and good ideas about how to finish the piece. Fairlight, including a music quotation from David's trombone concerto, is devided into nine major parts: Opening section - Tranquillo - Energico - Choral - Furioso - Euterpe - Cadenza 1 - Cadenza II - Caccia.

In October Fairlight got The Swedish Music Publishers Award 2005: "The Most Significant Contemporary Music Work of the Year"

Fairlight is commissioned by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and was premiered in Stockholm Concert Hall 7 April 2005, by Christian Lindberg and The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Alan Gilbert. Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Garden of Chimes (1992) - Rolf Martinsson

Garden of Chimes was composed in 1992, commissioned by the Swedish Concert Institute. Rolf Martinsson wishes to bring out light timbres, and this has influenced his choice of instruments. Unusually, he also approached the poet Rabindranath Tagore in this order; he was looking for texts that matched the instrumentation instead of the other way round. He has said that he "finds the idea of a garden of sounds very beautiful", and the title is in fact a reference to Tagore.

Rolf Martinsson likens his method of working to improvisation, which allows opportunities for spontaneous ideas. However, where the formal construction is concerned his ambition has been to adhere to the structure of the texts as closely as possible. Like the text, the work is in a vaguely ternary form.

The first section - if one accepts this division into three parts - consists of three excerpts. The first excerpt ends "You are my own, my very own, Guest in my endless dreams" while the second excerpt ends with "...lonely dreams" and the third with "...eternal dreams", which Martinsson embellishes with melismas. This first part is an homage, a declaration of love, while the excerpt which has been given pride of place in the work portrays the ego: "My heart, the bird of the wild, has found its freedom in your eyes". Like the introductory text, the two verses of the final section are written in the first person, tinged, however with a feeling of transience and uncertainty: "I am afraid of losing you, while I sleep. Do not leave, my beloved, without first asking my permission!"

The choice of instruments - soprano (+ triangle), piccolo, cor anglais, celesta (+ glass wind chimes) vibraphone (+ crotales, glockenspiel and Chinese temple blocks), tam-tam and cello - is an indication of how the music sounds: light and delicate. But besides this, the instrumentation is also sparse and airy, which emphasises the transparent character of the music. The celesta functions as a central focus and provides a chordal backbone to the music. In the soprano part the strophes are often linked with passages of vocalises, and many of the soprano's entries are shadowed by one of the instruments: a phrase on the glockenspiel, an upbeat on the vibraphone or a rhythm that sweeps past in the cello.

The third section of the work differs somewhat from the rest of the music through its generally faster tempo, its even semiquavers and brighter atmosphere. However it ends with a soft landing which leads into a ritardando played softly. A short forte fortissimo note marks the last exclamation and the music finally dies down to the lingering sound of the crotales cymbal.

Garden of Chimes was premiered by an ensemble from Musik i Syd in September 1992, Kristianstad/Sweden.

Garden of Chimes is published by Edition Suecia.

Kalliope, (2004) - Rolf Martinsson

The Muses - goddesses of song - were all daughters of Zeus, born at the foot of Mount Olympus. They are nine in number, and in Kalliope I have given each one a movement of her own, making their contrasting characters my imaginary starting point in a process of improvisatory composition. The movements are divided into groups of three, for maximum variation and contrast of tempi and characters throughout the composition. Each of the nine Muses presides over a particular genre of the arts. Calliope (intrada), the foremost of the nine and mother of several of Apollo's children, presides over epic poetry and science. Urania is the muse of astronomy, Terpsichore the muse of choral poetry and dance, Euterpe of flute-playing, Polyhymnia of dance, sacred poetry and mime, Melpomene ("the Songstress") of singing and tragedy, Clio of epic poetry, rhetoric and history, Erato of love poetry or hymnology, and Thalia ("the Flourishing") of comedy and dramatic art.

This composition was commissioned by Jan Stigmer and the Kristiansand Chamber Orchestra, by whom it was premiered in March 2004 at Music House, Kristiansand, Norway.

Kalliope is recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1022) by Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Christoph König. Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Libra (1996) - Rolf Martinsson

Rolf Martinsson's Libra, (The Scales), is the fourth piece in a series of twelve piano works composed after the twelve signs of the zodiac. "The tone B (H), as in Hans, is a natural starting point for the piece," writes the composer.

Libra balances between two temperaments: one lively, active and mastery; the other a repeating part of contrasting polyrhythmic expressionism."

Libra was premiered by Hans Pålsson in October 1996, Malmöhus Museum, Malmö/Sweden.

Libra is recorded at Chamber Sound (CSCD 00032) by Hans Pålsson and at Daphne Records (Daphne 1018) by Anders Kilström.

Open Mind (2005) - Rolf Martinsson

Open Mind is an introductory piece, an overture for orchestra. The title refers to the fact that the work is meant to be a short opening piece in a concert programme but also to an openness in the composers free choice of expression with an open mind to musical ideas, gestures and stiles, and with a strong wish to communicate. Harmonic structures, melodic lines and ideas of a colourful instrumentation are fundamental to the composing of Open Mind. A nine tone scale forms the musical basis of the piece but is still contrasting with form parts that are more freely treated with regard to musical material.

The work is comissioned by Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (SRSO). World première 10 August 2005, SRSO/Manfred Honeck, Estonia Concert Hall, Tallin/Estland and Swedish première 15 August 2005, SRSO/Manfred Honeck, Berwaldhallen, Stockholm/Sweden. Recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1029) and published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Open Mind (2005) - Rolf Martinsson

During 2005 Rolf Martinsson received a commission from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for the Baltic Sea Festival. The result, Open Mind, is a concentrated, attractive ten minute composition which makes a first striking item for a concert programme - in every way a modern concert overture. The title, according to Martinsson, alludes "to an openness allowing the composer a free choice of expression with an open mind about musical ideas, gestures and styles and with a strong determination to communicate". Perhaps too, the piece demands the same "open-mindedness" on the part of the recipient, whether listener, musician or reviewer?

Open Mind was premiered by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, under Manfred Honeck, at the beginning of August 2005 in the Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn. Its Swedish premiere followed a fortnight later, on 15th August, at the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm.

Reflexer (1985) - Rolf Martinsson

Reflections (Reflexer), Opus 15, is composed for and dedicated to Gunnar Spjuth. About his first work for the guitar Martinsson says: "Reflections mirrors contradictions. Atmospheres are reflected, mixed and renewed. Only the more intimate expressions, still live on - the piece is dissolved into a reverberation of its own, faintly, in a brittle manner still with relentlessness."

The introduction is a kind of modern Tiento. From the six open strings the music is rapidly built up into a concentrated drama around the contradictory sides of the guitar: the virile and aggressive side as against the dreamlike and meditative. The piece fades out into a poetical morendo in subtle flageolets and extremely high notes in pianissimo.

Reflexer was premiered by Gunnar Spjuth in February 1986, Malmö Academy of Music/Sweden.

Reflexer is recorded at dB Productions (dBCD69) by Gunnar Spjuth.

Scorpius (1987) - Rolf Martinsson

The piano work Scorpius can be interpreted as introvert, even contemplative music but at the same time it is designed to attract attention. The music also has stories to tell from the piano repertoire and can even joke about the mannerisms of national romanticism. In astrology, Scorpio, the sign of the scorpion, stands for a forceful temperament with sudden outbursts and abrupt changes and this has been one of the starting-points of the composition.

Scorpius resembles an improvisation that has been meticulously polished and put down on paper. The piece is one of twelve that Rolf Martinsson plans to write corresponding to the signs of the zodiac. His idea is to compose a suite of twelve character studies that can be combined freely by the pianist, either as a complete recital programme or for separate performance.

Scorpius was premiered by Marianne Jacobs in October 1987, Mexico City University/Mexico.

Scorpius is recorded at SMIC (INFOGRAM/INFO-010) by Marianne Jacobs and the piece is published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Shimmering Blue - Flute Concerto No. 1 (2005) - Rolf Martinsson

In autumn 2005 came the premiere performance of the flute concerto accorded the poetical sobriquet Shimmering Blue. In it Martinsson makes use, among other things, of an exciting development in instrumental technique, created by flautist Magnus Båge, which opens up the possibility of advanced glissando playing. In places one seems to be hearing an entirely new instrument. This new technique also gave rise to the title of the piece.

"...Shimmering Blue alludes partly to these solo glissandi on the flute, because the glissando playing is reminiscent of a kind of 'Blue Notes' occurring in jazz. But Shimmering Blue also refers to a shimmering timbre which is constantly changing throughout the piece, and which I have endeavoured to keep alive though constant variation and through meticulously detailed instrumentation", Martinsson writes in his own commentary on the piece.

This concerto too is in one movement. It uses a much smaller orchestra than the cello concerto, which makes it more like chamber music. It also evokes thoughts of a "Nordic tone", indefinable as that concept may be. The very commencement of the piece, with its open sounds, can put one in mind of naturalist tone poetry after the manner of Sibelius. And then when the flute appears, with its expressive sustained melody, is it not as though a latter-day Syrinx were seated against a Nordic sunrise? At about the midpoint of the piece the glissando technique is introduced on the solo flute against a background of string glissandi - an almost magical moment. This part spreads throughout the entire orchestra, culminating and opening out into a solo cadenza. The open sounds of the introduction then return, but this time embellished with fast-moving figurations. Last of all, just as in the cello concerto, comes a short, rapid, rhythmically insistent rush-finale - the shimmer of dawn bursting into full sunlight?

Shimmering Blue, jointly commissioned by the NorrlandsOperan and Värmlandsoperan Sinfonietta, was premiered in September 2005 at the Norrland Opera in Umeå by Magnus Båge, to whom it is dedicated. Recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1029) and published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

String Moments (2001) - Rolf Martinsson

String Moments is a commission from Musica Vitae composed for string orchestra (15 strings divided into groups of 5-4-3-2-1). The work was premiered by Musica Vitae in Växjö with a following tour during March 2000 under the baton of Jerzy Maksymiuk, founder of The Polish Chamber Orchestra. Since then, String Moments has been performed several times, for instance with Huaröd Chamber Orchestra led by Mats Rondin. The tonal world of String Moments is bordering on atonality. A stagnant middle part dominated by sound shades and specific playing methods, is surrounded by more flowing music with gestures from a more romantic tradition. The music wanders improvisingly between these two worlds representing a way of composing that appeals to me. Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Symbiosis (2003) - Rolf Martinsson

The title Symbiosis refers to the relationship between the two violin parts. Instead of using opposite elements I have focused on balance and unity and the piece moves forward in mutual ambition. Symbiosis is divided into three sections without intermission. The first section combines motion with static parts. The second section explores the static character of the first and shows a colourful side of the instruments. The third section re-establishes the motion of the first one. It explodes in dynamic eruptions and expanding ambitus before it ends in silence and weakness where only sul ponticello and harmonics remain.

Written in 2003 for Duo Gelland, Symbiosis had its première in Halmstad, Sweden in 2004. Apart from other Swedish performances, Duo Gelland has performed Symbiosis in Vienna in May 2006. Symbiosis was commissioned by the Swedish Art Grants Committee. Recorded at Nosag Records (nosag CD 152) and published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Tics (1997) - Rolf Martinsson

During my work with Tics, I began to model each melodic line separatly from the others but into the global form of the piece, in order to shape the individual character of each instrument. Then I put the different parts together into the score and adapted each instrumental line to the musical entirety, with regard to the span from maximum contrast to strong unity. When the contrast intensifies the piece "boils over" into convulsions and "tics". The form of the piece brings the music from a long energetic introduction through a staccatissimo part into a gradually improvised Shakuhachi part. The piece ends in silent echoes with special instrumental effects as key slap (flute), behind the bridge (viola) and tapping (guitar). The piece is written to the Malmö ensemble HOT3.

Tics was premiered by HOT3 in June 1997, Waldemarsudde, Stockholm/Sweden.

Tics is recorded at Phono Suecia (PSCD 148) by HOT3.

To the Point (1999) - Rolf Martinsson

The relation to a mutual tone and the play around it is a fundamental idea in To the Point. The two instruments are passing tones to each other. They are covering each others entries and initially acting as starters for one another. Non moving parts are followed by very quick tempos and the relation between the instruments is tightened through increasingly intense cromatic. The composition was made for a collaboration project between composers and musicians, financially supported by Konstnärsnämnden.

To the Point was premiered by Johannes Lörstad (violin) and Francisca Skoogh (piano) in October 1999, Nybrokajen 11, Stockholm/Sweden.

Triptyk (1987) - Rolf Martinsson

The title alludes only to the piece's three movements. It's not based on any special form or composition technique, it's simply improvised. I had an important discussion with Tommie Lundberg about the multiphonics in the second movement of the piece, which helped me to make my final decisions about which sounds to use.

Triptyk was premiered by Tommie Lundberg (bass clarinet) and Olle Sjöberg (piano) in June 1990, Sjörup/Sweden.

Triptyk is recorded at Fylkingen Records (FYCD1001) by Tommie Lundberg and Olle Sjöberg and also on Alea Recording and Tacoma New Music (6/2000) by Michael and Kimberly Davenport. Triptyk is published by Universal Music Publishing AB - Hans Busch Musikförlag AB, distr. Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Variations for Orchestra (2007) - Rolf Martinsson

Variations for Orchestra on Themes from Dietrich Buxtehude gets its melodic material from the organ production of Dietrich Buxtehude, from Klag-Lied (BuxWV 76) and Canzonetta (BuxWV 171), to be precise. The work was commissioned by Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra to be performed in the Concert Hall of Helsingborg in November 2007 for the 300 anniversary of the death of Buxtehude in 1707. Buxtehude worked some years as an organ-player in the Maria Church in Helsingborg in the middle of the 17th century, and that's why it seemed natural to base my thematic choice on his organ music. Variations for Orchestra is a free arrangement of Buxtehude's themes, in which I, through orchestrations, harmonizations, fugations and other techniques, have varied the music in different ways, and the result is music written with a glint in the eye. Different parts are abruptly tumbling into each other and groups of instruments are exposed against each other. The melancholy Klag-Lied that opens the work, emerges several times and finishes the work as well, always with the cor anglais as a sad melody leading instrument in the beautiful theme. In the finishing bars the music disappears in a mist, where the accompanying instruments stop playing one by one and finally, when the melody has faded away, only a broad chilly string chord remains, a chord that has sneaked into the piece and established itself. Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Vid tidens slut (At the end of Time), (2002) - Rolf Martinsson

The text poem At the End of Time, is written by the poet Jacques Werup. In 1999 I had to set music to a shorter text of Werup's, adapted to the tune As Time Goes By, but we agreed that I was to write a new "hit", taking the newly written "evergreen" as my starting point. This promise, so easily made over a glass of wine, proved unexpectedly hard to keep when I actually got down to the task of replacing a "classic". With As Time Goes By ringing in my ears, quite a number of diversionary tactics were called for before I was able to unravel a worthy alternative. Gradually the composition evolved, profoundly influenced by the gravity, the sentimentality and the subtle, precise detail characterising Werup's texts. The entire composition is one long pilgrimage to the concluding "hit". Initially the role of the orchestra is to highlight shades of meaning, accentuate moods and provide a setting for the reading of the text, and it is not until the end that the orchestra steps forward, as it were, to play THE TUNE, which it then proceeds to accompany as the reading gives way to singing.

At the End of Time was premiered by Jacques Werup, Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Peter Sebastian Szilvay in October 2002 at the Malmö Concert Hall, Sweden.

Vid tidens slut is recorded at Daphne Records (DAPHNE 1022) by Jacques Werup, Malmö Symphony Orchestra and Markus Lehtinen.

Violin Concerto No. 1 (2007) - Rolf Martinsson

The violin concerto is my fifth solo concerto. Each concerto is influenced by the collaboration with the soloist I have written for, but also by the instrument itself and by my earlier solo concertos. In this particular violin concerto I have made an extra effort to emphasize the solo part in my instrumentation of chosen parts. In other parts the violin plays tutti together with the orchestra. This focusing is of course a striving not to drown the dynamically somewhat weak violin, but it also expresses a wish to orchestrate more transparently than I have done in earlier orchestral works. Doing so, I have also been able to expose the intimate expressions and nuances of the violin. The form of the work is, if anything, the result of an intuitive and improvised work, a growing progress rather than a structured model made up in advance. This gives the form an unpredictability that I like very much. The work contains solo cadenzas and distinct solo parts exposing the entire register of the violin's range and expression. It is a great challenge to write a violin concerto, especially considering all the masterpieces of the genre in music history. But this has incited me to try to find the best for the instrument and for my soloist, Jan Stigmer, who has supported my work in all ways through the whole process, from the first note on! Published by Gehrmans Musikförlag.

Whiz (1992) - Rolf Martinsson

Some of the music of our time might be naturally born out of the growing interest on sound colour, but to Rolf Martinsson melody seems to be a very important ingredient - it is not difficult to recognize melodic motives when repeated. But Martinsson rather claims to give priority to the sound parameter. The title of the piece, Whiz, refers to a certain "extended technique", a kind of whistling, which towards the end of the piece is combined with vibraphone and crotales in uncommon, extraordinary beauty.

Whiz was premiered by Terje Thiwång (flute) and Roger Svedberg (percussion) in September 1992, Kristianstad/Sweden.

Whiz is recorded at dB Productions (DBPCD24) by Terje Thiwång and Roger Svedberg.