2023/10/22 @ 19:30 – 20:45
Gageego! participating during the Göteborg International Organ Festival is a tradition. This year, the concert is dedicated to the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, who passed away this summer.
After her breakthrough in the 1980s, Saariaho came to be regarded as one of today’s most respected composers. In a survey this year, the BBC asked 174 composers to state which living colleague they had the most respect for. Saariaho topped the list.
Much of her music is inspired by the sounds and sights of nature; Finnish lakes and summer forests meant more to her creation than the strict serialism that dominated her studies at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. She has since commented on the limitations of the then popular mathematical structures:
– You were not allowed to use pulse, or tonally oriented harmonies, or melodies. I don’t want to write music through negations. Everything is allowed as long as it is done in good taste.
A grand Gageego!
To do the repertoire justice is Gageego! augmented by a number of eminent musicians. Tonight’s crew:
Fredrik Burstedt conductor Jan Lehtola organ Anna Maria Friman-Henriksen soprano Charlotta Grahn Wetter violin 1 Helena Frankmar violin 2 Laura Groenestein-Hendriks viola Johan Stern cello Thomas Allin double bass Anders Jonhäll flute Mårten Landström piano Erik Groenestein-Hendriks harp Martin Ödlund percussion Linus Andersson electronics
Programme
Chamber Music and music for soprano, cello and organ
NoaNoa (1992), flute and electronics Offrande (2014), cello and organ Changing Light (2005), soprano and flute Spins and Spells (1997), cello Kolme preludia (Three preludes) (1981), soprano and organ Lichtbogen (1986) – for flute, percussion, harp, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass and electronics
