infotext:
ANDERS ELIASSON – A PERSONAL PORTRAIT Among the hundreds of composers I have worked with, Anders Eliasson holds a special place. There is no composer whose music I have played and conducted more often, and no one whose music touches me more deeply. Before the summer of 1984 I didn't even know his name. At Café Opera in Stockholm, I chatted with Sven-David Sandström about music from Sweden and asked him about the outstanding Swedish composers. Then he became unusually quiet and finally wrote the name Anders Eliasson and his phone number on a paper napkin. All he said to that was: »This is the best composer in Sweden«. I was so surprised by his comment that I called Anders Eliasson from the nearest public payphone. An hour later I was standing in front of his apartment door in Gamla Stan, Stockholm's old town. The first meeting with Anders is unforgettable for me. As he scrutinized me, I got the impression of someone who had a hard time with the world and his fate. His pale complexion and dark circles under his eyes made him look tortured. However, his eyes shone with confidence and made it clear that he was determined to fight against the ills of our time. We talked late into the night and I was given recordings of a number of his compositions that still resonate with me: turns, bassoon concert, Canto del vagabondo, the Symphony No. 1. I was mesmerized by the energetic beauty of a great new musical world. After that first meeting, I often visited Anders Eliasson. Despite great admiration for his music, I had never asked him to write anything for me. "He must have more important things to do," I thought to myself. So my surprise was great when Anders unexpectedly opened up to me one evening: "John-Edward, I'm going to write you a concerto!" Just the thought of playing his music made me very happy. We didn't talk any further about his intentions, but apparently the first ideas were already beginning to emerge: a small motif that he whistled to himself while walking appears as the nucleus of the 3rd movement (free) of the symphony. Two years later, when he started composing, Anders said to me: "I'm not sure if it's going to be a real concert - it's something bigger". In 1988 he had that for me Poem written, which I have played frequently - more than 200 times to date - and so I eagerly awaited the new work, no matter what it was called. On my birthday he called me: "Your symphony is finished!" At the end of October 1989, barely two weeks before the premiere, I received the score and I was immediately aware that it was an exceptional work. The musical substance grows from the saxophone, but the aesthetic focus is deeper than in a concert, while the poetic five-part form completely defies the traditional scheme of a concert: a masterpiece in which every detail reflects the whole, originality in the truest sense of the word , a music whose emotional spectrum ranges from deep inwardness to ecstasy. It was amazing to me that I was able to memorize the score almost overnight, but I now know that much of this was due to the sheer clarity of Eliasson's musical language. Anders Eliasson's music refers to an immense, multidimensional, both diversely complex and crystal clear inner world of sound, a musical microcosm in which the smallest detail is derived from the whole and at the same time supports this whole and in which nothing is left to chance. Enormous variety of expressions and energy surround an inner area that retains its deeply intimate character at every moment, no matter how dramatic. In the Symphony No. 3 this is particularly evident. Their musical arches unfold from the introverted movements 2 and 4, which they absorb again. Everything is thematic, even the fateful "steps" of the Solitude-sentence. Eliasson's titles for the five movements say everything about the music: Search / Solitude / free / Dismal / nebbie. It is striking that the work begins with searching, but ends questioningly with the same theme... Another personal note: I have never found two tones that work as magically as this one E-It Entry of the saxophone in the 4th movement (Dismal). I have the score of Symphony No. 3 showed two other composers I knew well, Tristan Keuris and Witold Lutosławski. Both were visibly moved and impressed. Tristan Keuris, a very close friend and expert on contemporary music, was almost outraged that he had never heard of Eliasson: "Hoe kann het dat ik die man ken?" ("How can it be that I still know about this man never heard of it?") It's true: we live in a time when fame is confused with greatness; a time when a genius like Anders Eliasson, who lives a very reclusive life, completely escapes public notice. In a normal world, the name Anders Eliasson would be familiar to everyone. Another fruit of my friendship with Anders Eliasson was the acquaintance with Juha Kangas, whom I met after the premiere of Eliasson's Ostacoli met. Anders was convinced that Kangas and I would go together musically. With Juha and his Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra I premiered the saxophone concertos by Nicola LeFanu ( NEOS 10910 ), Osvaldas Balakauskas, Pehr Henrik Nordgren and, 2003, by Anders Eliasson. I will never forget a scene with Anders and Juha, shortly after Anders A quick glance… a brief glimpse had completed. Even though he commented on the score with a casual "Just a little piece..." I was immediately intrigued. Eliasson's language was recognizable from the first bar, but it had become simpler, more concise. There are traces of Swedish ›folk-fiddling‹ in the 1st and 3rd movements – perhaps a reminiscence of its origins – giving the music a lightheartedness like none of his previous works. I made up my mind on the spot to perform Eliasson's four works for string orchestra: Desert Point, Ostacoli, Sinfonia per Archi and A quick look. It is probably no coincidence that his music has been a focus of the programs since the Arcos Orchestra was founded, that the first CD of the Arcos Orchestra is dedicated to his music ( NEOS 10813 ), or that Anders became Arcos' first composer-in-residence in 2008. Anders lives through and for his music. He doesn't want to be celebrated, he wants to be heard. I have seen Anders storm out of a rehearsal because the conductor refused to correct a wrong note and refused applause after a poor performance of his music. But I've also seen him, no matter who wrote the music, be moved to tears after a heartfelt performance. He is exceptionally warm, but can also be uncomfortably direct. What he lacks, and what he deeply despises, is the nowadays ubiquitous ability to 'self-promote'. "It's about the music, not about me," as he often says. Once I was able to watch him compose – his complete immersion in his work was both touching and inspiring. The fruits of this dedicated work are among the most valuable things in my life. I am convinced that anyone who opens their hearts and ears to this truly unique music will be drawn into the spaciousness of Anders Eliasson's musical world. It really is a world unto itself. John Edward Kelly, November 2012
A quick glance… a brief glimpse (2003) was premiered by the Camerata Roman on November 15, 2003 in Ronneby (Sweden). The Poem for alto saxophone and piano (1988) was premiered by John-Edward Kelly and Amilcar Zani on December 12, 1988 in São Paulo (Brazil). It is based on the poem Längsradien (»Along the Radius«) by Tomas Tranströmer and is dedicated to John-Edward Kelly. The Symphony No. 3 for alto saxophone and orchestra (1989) was premiered by John-Edward Kelly on November 16, 1989 in Trondheim (Norway). The conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra was Ronald Zollman. The work is dedicated to John-Edward Kelly. |
program:
John Edward Kelly plays Anders Eliasson
A quick glance… a brief glimpse (2003) 16:27
(A Brief Glance...a Fleeting Vision)
Live recording
[01] I Allegro moderato 05:40
[02] II Tranquillo 06:55
[03] III soon 03:54
Arcos Orchestra
John Edward Kelly, conductor
[04] Poem for Alto Saxophone and Piano (1988) 11:01
Dedicated to John Edward Kelly
Re-release of the world premiere recording (col legno, 1991)
John Edward Kelly, alto saxophone
Bob Versteegh, piano
Symphony No. 3 for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (1989) 26:59
“Sinfonia concertante”
Dedicated to John Edward Kelly
World premiere recording
[05] I Cerca 05:03
[06] II Solitudins 08:12
[07] III Fremiti 06:31
[08] IV Lugubre 05:23
[09] V Nebbie 01:53
John Edward Kelly, alto saxophone
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Leif Segerstam, conductor
total time: 54:51
Press:
07 / 08 2013
03.05.2013
LOOK INTO THE GAP OF THE PURE PRESENT
Among the composers of our time, the Swede Anders Eliasson is an absolute exception. He not only does not belong to any categorizable direction. It is even the case that the roots of his work, his tonality, his style, his spiritual orientation cannot be located anywhere. If perhaps the supreme goal of "progressive" composers since the end of World War II at least has been and still is to manifest something genuinely new (whatever the meaning of that endeavour), Eliasson has it like no one we know Goal realized - and this really incidentally, without directing his will to it, and unrecognizable for the superficial observation.
Trained as a child on the trumpet and quickly grew into a jazz crack, it was above all the encounter with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach that shaped his artistic attitude and his claim to what music had to give us. The priority: the music must always be in flux, it is fundamentally movement, in all essential parameters, and it never becomes static. It works out of the powers within it, which the composer unleashes while listening, and it is a complete failure of his task if he tries to control the music with his will. He just sets the beginning that inspiration gives him, willingly, so to speak, and then he implements what the musical dynamics command him to do - as Jean Sibelius so aptly put it, he is "the slave of my themes".
The essential parameters, says Eliasson, like the great protagonists of the musical traditions, are no more than three, and their interaction creates the procedural energy that seeks its form: "H2O - melody, harmony, rhythm." secondary parameters that cannot be structured independently, even if the organization on paper may appear to theorists. And the tempo results from the structure as a whole, and is at the same time the condition that we can experience relationships within the whole.
Eliasson's work is predominantly instrumental, but we also owe him great vocal works, such as the symphonic oratorio 'Dante Anarca', the oratorio symphony 'Quo vadis', the monologue opera 'Karolinas Sömn' and a few others. Of course he also lets the instruments sing, the relationship here is quite analogous to that in Bach's works. Eliasson is the leading symphonist of this epoch, which has not only largely forgotten what 'symphonic' means (sounding together, in space AND time), but above all celebrates a traditional form in an attempt to 'revive' it.
Wanting to revive the dead is, of course, a pointless undertaking, if you ask biologists and physicians. It must be received alive. The great discovery that Eliasson made for subsequent generations could be characterized as follows: The 20th century's obsessive search for a new valid tonal system that would lead the organization of polyphony out of its dependence on the old, exhausted major-minor tonality , was decisive until the 'anything goes' resignation of postmodernism came to the fore.
Schönberg behaved like a new Moses who wanted to use the twelve-tone method to lead a guarantee system for 'atonality' to musical world domination, which in its basics was anything but atonal and was brought to hermetic perfection by his pupil Anton Webern. Others, such as Messiaen or Boulez, continued to look for a sound organization that would negate the old connections and form new, artificially arranged formulas.
But all speculation should not lead to a fundamentally new discovery, but to nothing but concocted special cases against the well-established tonality. Eliasson simply discovered a gap through which he caught a glimpse of another world in which, based on the same laws, relationships are built up in alternative kinships, a kind of 'triangulatory harmonics' which, past the closest kinship via the fifth and the minor third attracts as the primary link.
The result is a completely natural music that no longer comes to rest in any existing gravitational center, which is always in a floating state or, if the composer has the strength to bundle the forces, in a flying state, which usually finds it between three simultaneously acting, navigated through constantly changing fields of attraction.
It is really the experience of completely different energies and spaces that the listener has in this music as soon as he has found the 'entrance'. And getting started here means: absolute presence, letting go of all sentimentality, i.e. that laziness that tempts me to want to linger in certain states, feelings, moods. Be an active receiving listener! Follow the now! The opening string orchestra work 'A quick look ... a short appearance' in one movement, which is divided into three movements (fast - slow - fast), was written in 2003.
By Eliasson's standards, it is a rather light work with simpler details, yet of the highest standard for concentrated listening, and brilliantly performed live by the New York Arcos Orchestra under John-Edward Kelly. Like the Finnish orchestra leader Juha Kangas (founder of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra), Kelly is one of the musicians who recognized the singular importance of this music decades ago and have been committed to it ever since.
Kelly plays the Poem for alto saxophone and piano (1988) in perfect symbiosis with his longtime duo partner Bob Versteegh, with a slag-free, noble intonation and characteristic expression.
The third symphony from 1989 was originally also entitled 'Sinfonia concertante' and is expressly not a disguised solo concerto for the alto saxophonist, but a five-movement work for orchestra with solo saxophone as a continuous actor on the scene. For most listeners, this symphony can be experienced directly as a dramatically stirring work of extreme contrasts, powerful, yet irregularly surprising build-ups and escalations, intensely intimate lyricism, frenetic exuberance, always ready to jump "off the cliff". , and phenomenally orchestrated. And there is no composer whose orchestra sounds “better” than Eliasson's.
The performance by dedicatee Kelly and the Finnish RSO under Segerstam is of great power, precision and intensity. The five movements of the Third Symphony are titled: Cerca (Search), Solitudine (Solitude), Fremiti (Tremble, Shiver), Lugubre (Sad) and Nebbie (The Mists); the climax of the work lies in the border-crossing transition of the excited Fremiti to the inner pain of Lugubre, whose theme shows a wondrous affinity to the death theme of Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony - at this moment an apparently archaic expression of a kinship of mental states.
This music transcends its material, and therefore the question of the material used is secondary, while the question of 'how' is of the greatest interest. The listener does not need any previous knowledge, but all the more presence.
Christopher Schlüren
08.03.2013
Par Frederique
J'ai écoute
Le suédois Anders Eliasson, a compositeur contemporain meconnu
Anders Eliasson, compositeur suédois contemporain, est peu connu en France, ce qui n'est pas le cas en
Scandinavia. Cet homme secret et réservé dont la musique semble austere au premier abord cache une personnalité entière et généreuse. Ce très bel album du label Neos (prize de son et presentation soignées comme à l'habitude), est an occasion interesting de le découvrir.
La musique d'Anders Eliasson est inclassable. Venu du Jazz, il a refusé de se laisser enfermer dans les carcans imposés par certains courants musicaux du 20e siècle. Trompettiste de formation, il a beaucoup écrit pour les instruments à vents comme ici pour son ami le saxophonist John-Edward Kelly à qui il a dédié ce Poème for sax alto and piano as well as the 3rd Symphony for alto saxophone and orchestra (ici en premiere mondiale).
Anders Elliasson est un homme tourmenté, sa musique aussi. L'écriture en est complexe, les oeuvres sont le fruit d'un travail très profond sur la forme, la structure mais aussi sur le message que le musicien souhaite faire passer, ce qui leur donne une grande charge émotionnelle et les rend en fait très accessible.
La premiere piece, A quick look, est an example d'écriture pour cordes où le travail sur les couleurs est poussé à l'extreme. Intercalé entre les deux pieces orchestrales, le Poème for saxophone alto and piano est, de part son effectif, de facture plus dépouillée, mais le discours est toujours aussi dense. The saxophone de John-Edward Kelly s'élève comes une plainte, une interrogation qui peine à trouver des réponses, parfois soutenu, parfois tourmenté, parfois agace par le piano. la Three symphonies for alto saxophone and orchestra est une oeuvre monumentale à tous points de vues. Si malgré la présence d'un instrument soliste, cette pièce est une symphonie, c'est justement à cause de sa dimension et de la façon dont le soliste fait corps avec le reste de l'orchestre. Les titles des movements annoncent la couleur : Solitudine, Lugubre. La tonalité générale est plutôt sombre mais l'oeuvre n'est en rien austere grace à la grande richesse de l'écriture.
Si Anders Eliasson compose for des formations très diverses, les pièces pour orchestra me paraissent les plus attractives et celles où sa personnalité, son travail minutieux du contrepoint transparaissent le mieux. S'il faut a priori plus d'une écoute pour entrer dans son universe, une fois la porte franchie on découvre des merveilles et on ne regrette pas le détour.