On the 21. August 2008 I preformed a seris of piano sketches called “Urban Portraits” at Malin Kjelsrud & Kristin Rasmussens exhibition opening at the Stadtbibliothek Schwerin/Germany.

I’ve selected three sketches and made the pieces from them.

The paintings (acrylic on canvas) painted by Malin Kjelsrud has the following titles: (Click on the pictures to see larger versions, click on the titles to go to Malin Kjesrud’s home page.)

1. Ketil J. Zahl “Der Scharfrichter” 

2. Malin Kjelsrud “Selbstportrait”

3. Dietrich Cassube “Storeblink”
 

Pesni i tanzi (Songs and dances in bulgarian) was written in 1999  -  ten years ago (…), and first performed as ballett music with musicians from the Manuell de Falla Orchestra Cadiz/Spain and Jose Biondi coreography. The composition contains thirteen pieces: Four solo pieces, three duets, three trios and three quartets. The order, and which pieces to play is free. The material is abstractions of bulgarian folk music, and one of the most complex works I’ve written so far; and difficult to play. Pesni i tanzi is dedicated to Bojidar Spassov. Go to scores and/or click on the thumb nail to look at the music!

Short Rhapsody was written in 1998 but got its first perforrmance on the 26. January this year (2009) during a work shop with the  Marinierskapel der Koninklijke Marine (Royal Navy Millitary Band) Rotterdam/Netherlands with Bjørn Sagstad conducting.

…it’s a fabulous song by Thomas Dolby.  But I’m not going to write about him but myself. As I moved back from Germany in  2005 I had a lot of boxes with scores and books that I knew would not have a enough space for in an over expensive one room flat in Oslo; so I decided to put some  of the scores that fitted in a suitcase and the rest in a store house. So the nominees are. Torstein Agaard-Nilsen, Luciano Berio, Rolf Wallin, Arne Nordheim, Igor Stravinsky, György Ligeti, Jonathan Harvey, Bernt Sørensen, Sir Michal Tippett, Anton Webern, Paul Hindemith. Ludvig van Beethoven, Béla Barók,  Charles Camille Saint-Saëns and Arnold Schoenberg.

“Versuch über Schatten, Farben und Licht” was commissioned by Manger Musikklag and was first performed during the  BrassWind Festival in Bergen/Norway on the 30. September 2006 with Bjørn Sagstad conducting.

“Schatten” is dedicated to my colleague Jon Øyvind Ness, “Farben” to my colleague Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen and “Licht” to my colleague Asbjørn Schaathun. The material is generated from their names!

I’ve reduced the file size, but it’s still 1,7 MB, so be patient. The thumbnail is a screen shot of page 7 “Schatten”.

On 24. April 2008 Finnischer Tango Fragments and Finnischer Tango was giving its first performance by the soprano Valentina Kozhanova and the pianist Irina Koslesnikova at  the opening of Malin Kjelsruds (paintings) and Kristin Rasmussens (ceramic objects) exhibition in the hunting castle Gelbendsande in Germany (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). The composition is dedicated to Dieterich Cassube, a friend of mine, who organized the exhibition. 

“Finnischer Tango - Fragments”

“Finnischer Tango”

It might take some time before the PDF (732 kB) opens. The thumbnail is a screen shot of page 20.

The material used  in Urban Rhapsody II is the same as in Urban Rhapsody for Bb clarinet solo from 1997 (revised 1999), but with the necessary transposition to match the tuba.

The piece is built around two complementary scales both containing all 12 tones spread/fixed over/within two octaves.

Urban Rhapsody is to be played in an “urban way”; quasi jazzy with huge contrasts and with a slightly touch of rubato. It is the composer and friend of mine Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen who suggested for me to make a version for solo tuba!

The piece is dedicated to Sergio Carolino principal tuba with the Oporto National Orchestra, Porto, Portugal.

This ist the second composition I´ve finished this year! It’s a pre-study for the Richard III Monologes for Baritone (Vocal) and Brass Quintet.

From bar 22 to 30 I’ve used the main five note chord from “Farben” taken from 
“Fünf Orchesterstücke” opus 16 by Arnold Schoenberg. I’ve also used this chord in my brass band 
composition “Versuch über Schatten, Farben und Licht” (2001-2005), and as in the case of Turmmusik, my “Farben” is 
dedicated to Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen, who has shown me the way, and given me the opportunity to
write for the brass medium. 

The “Transition from bar 66 to 74 contains two super imposed processes. 

1. Transition from “Farben” Chord  to its transposed  version a minor second down. 

2. The “Psalm” (bar 81-89) is gradually revealed.

The composition’s finale is build around a “psalm/choral” I wrote on the 9. of November 2004 in Lübeck/Germany. 
Later on it was used as a “deep structure” in “Translucence” (2004-2006) for 
Brass Band. On the 18. of October in Oslo/Norway 2006 my lyricist Malin Kjelsrud 
wrote lyrics to the melody, and we plan to make a pop tune out of it!

“Bar 75-77 is the “Farben-Chord” is the same transition as point 1, but within a short time frame.

Click on the image to see the score in PDF (260 KB)