In Memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren

John Storgårds · Lapland Chamber Orchestra · Raschèr Saxophone Quartet · Pehr Henrik Nordgren

2011 · ABCD 322

Credits

Performers: John Storgårds — Conductor, ViolinLapland Chamber OrchestraRaschèr Saxophone Quartet
Composers: Pehr Henrik NordgrenArvo PärtÁskell MássonKalevi Aho
Conductors and other contributors: John Storgårds — Conductor

About this release

Nordgren - Pärt - Másson - Aho
In Memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren
Raschèr Saxophone Quartet
John Storgårds
Lapland Chamber Orchestra
Novelty disc in memory of Pehr Henrik Nordgren
The new album by the world-famous Raschèr saxophone quartet, the Lapland Chamber Orchestra and John Storgårds features four great works in memory of the composer Pehr Henrik Nordgren.
The record begins with Pehr Henrik Nordgren's one-movement Concerto for Saxophone Quartet, String Orchestra and Gong, completed in 2000, dedicated to the Raschèr Quartet. The work belongs to the best of Nordgren's concertos with its velvety saxophone parts and delicately beautiful string parts.
Arvo Pärt's Fratres (1977) is one of the most played works in contemporary music. The renewed chamber orchestra version heard on the album was edited by the composer in 2007 and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra plays a handsome Finnish interpretation of it.
Áskell Másson is one of Iceland's most important contemporary composers. His intense one-movement Quatrain for the Raschèr Quartet is from 2005. The work has two dominant themes: a folk song developing from the bass line and an old melody sung in the popular story of Ása ('Ásu kvaedi') in 17th-century Iceland.
The solo violin composition In memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren is one of Kalevi Aho's best solo works. The work, composed in 2009, has a dramatic background:
The solo violin work was originally commissioned from Pehr Henrik Nordgren in April 2008 for the Siuntion Lux Musicae festival at the initiative of John Storgårds. According to Storgårds, Nordgren was very enthusiastic about the task. However, the composer was already very ill at this point, he died on August 25, 2008 before he could start the work. After hearing about Pehr Henrik's death, Storgårds immediately called Kalevi Aho, suggesting that the order be transferred to Aho so that he would compose a violin solo for Storgårds' Siuntion concert under the title In memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren.
John Storgårds premiered the work in Siuntio on November 15, 2009. He plays it on this record with devout sensitivity and internalized intensity.

Tracks

1.Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and String Orchestra with Gong Op. 108 (2000)comp. Pehr Henrik Nordgren (1944-2008)ISRC FIABA110001722:36
2.Fratres (1977/2007)comp. Arvo Pärt (b.1935)ISRC FIABA110001811:04
3.Quatrain (2005)comp. Áskell Másson (b.1953)ISRC FIABA110001919:08
4.In memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren (2009)comp. Kalevi AhoISRC FIABA110002010:29

Reviews

Finnish composer Nordgren was originally to have composed the work for unaccompanied violin which closes this program, but he died in 2008 before being able to complete it, and Kalevo Aho stepped in with the memorial work, which also led to the assembly of this entire disc program.
Nordgren was big on writing concertos, and this was a major part of his output. Shostakovich was a spiritual influence and Ostobothnian and Ingrian folk music is often quoted in his works. Echos of his time in Japan…
Audiophile Audition · John Sunier · December 1, 2015
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I fully expect to hear a more sweetly lyrical performance someday, but this one is definitive and a moving conclusion to this highly recommendable program.
Fanfare · Ronald E. Grames · August 8, 2012
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Nordgrenin kaunis muistolevy
”Raschér-saksofonikvartetti ja Lapin kamariorkesteri ovat levyttäneet John Storgårdsin johdolla säveltäjä Pehr Henrik Nordgrenin muistolevyn. Kokonaisuus on vaikuttava.
… julkaisulla kuullaan yksi hienoimmista Nordgrenin konsertoista, Konsertto saksofonikvartetille, jousiorkesterille ja gongille . … Pehr Henrik Nordgrenia on muisteltu useissa tilaisuuksissa, mutta tämä käsillä oleva levytys on yksi vaikuttavimmista. Levyllä ollaan vahvasti Nordgrenin…
YLE Uudet levyt · Miika Lauriala
”… levyä hallitsee maailmankuulun Raschèr-saksofonikvartetin muhkea, monikanavaäänen elähdyttämä sointi. Nordgrenin ritualistisesti kumahtelevassa konsertossa (2000) se kohoaa jyhkeänä, ääriviivoiltaan pehmeänä seinämänä, ellei se sitten huoju valittavina mikrointervalleina tai värise trilleinä. Áskell Mássonin Quatrainissa (2005) saksofonit vilkastuvat nopeisiin toistoihin. Viime vuosikymmenien suosituimpia teoksia on Arvo Pärtin Fratres, jonka kamariorkesteriversion John Storgårdsin johtama Lapin kamariorkesteri esittää liikuttavan hartaasti.”
Jukka
Helsingin Sanomat · Jukka Isopuro
The Finnish composer Pehr Henrik Nordgren was certainly prolific,
with more than 140 works to his name, 32 of them concertos.
In his liner-notes Timo Ruottinen makes the point that the latter
are more accurately described as ‘concerto-like’, as they don’t
always follow the traditional pattern of soloists pitted against
a larger ensemble.
MusicWeb International
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