Rolf Martinsson - Presentiment (Lisa Larsson; Andrew Manze; Sakari Oramo)

Information

Composer: Rolf Martinsson

• (01) Open Mind, Op. 71
• (02) Orchestral Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson, Op. 82a
• (12) A.S. in Memoriam, Op. 50b
• (13) Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 81

Lisa Larsson, soprano (2-11)
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Sakari Oramo, conductor (13-15)
Andrew Manze, conductor (1-12)

Date: 2018
Label: BIS Records
https://bis.se/conductors/oramo-sakari/rolf-martinsson-presentiment-orchestral-works

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Review

Yet again we are faced with recurrent questions surrounding stylistic ethics and the exclusivity of music about music. Rolf Martinsson’s AS [Arnold Schoenberg] in memoriam (1999) aims to reflect the ‘style, gesture and musical character’ of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, written exactly 100 years earlier. As a pastiche, it’s a triumph of fluid, convincing mimicry. To listen to, it’s gorgeous, calorific and disorientating. As an artwork, it’s somewhere between questionable and pointless.

In his Concerto for Orchestra, Martinsson quotes the three other works included on the disc (and many more from his own pen) as well as making extensive use of Golaud’s theme from Schoenberg’s Pelléas und Mélisande. On the former point, fair enough: the piece was written for one of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s immersion weekends when lots of other Martinsson scores were played. But beyond Sweden and indeed that weekend, doesn’t the gesture freeze us out?

As for Pelléas, Golaud’s music pings out of the texture with such wondrousness – with its burdened harmonies, raging angst and intoxicating melodiousness – that when it departs again you notice the comparative lack of character. Despite some wondrously skilful orchestral writing, it’s a problematic piece when so much of its supposedly personal feelings are filtered through another person’s. If the idea is to listen more technically, Pelléas’s presence makes that impossible.

Martinsson’s Orchestral Songs on Poems by Emily Dickinson sit somewhere between Sondheim, Korngold at his most syrupy and Disney songs. Even if you’ve little regard for any of those stylistic reference points, it’s hard to deny that these are the most intriguing works on the disc – orchestrated with true subtlety and delivered with a delectable feline poise by Lisa Larsson that proves their ‘singability’. Martinsson reacts as directly as the punters would expect when faced with words like ‘squirrel’ and ‘thunder’. But he throws in the odd non sequitur too, as on the word ‘harmony’. Otherwise, there is no question of Martinsson ever taking a hard route when he can take an easy one – the songwriter’s art, if not the composer’s. The concert overture Open Mind is a thrilling showpiece and a great advert for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic’s slick virtuosity. But its central, slow section really reminds you of someone else … yes, that’s it: early Schoenberg.

-- Andrew Mellor, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Jun/Martinsson_presentiment_BIS2133.htm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martinsson-Presentiment-Stockholm-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B07CMMMQGF

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Rolf Martinsson (born 1 May 1956 in Glimåkra, Skåne, Sweden) is a Swedish composer. Martinsson studied composition at Malmö Academy of Music, Lund University 1981-85 under Brian Ferneyhough, Sven-David Sandström, Hans Eklund, Sven-Eric Johanson, Jan W. Morthenson and Sven-Erik Bäck. Since 1987 he has taught composition and arranging at the same academy. Since 2002 he has been artistic director (for new music) of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. Martinsson has written pieces in many different genres such as orchestral music, solo concertos, choral music, chamber music and music for radio theatre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Martinsson
https://www.rolfmartinsson.com/

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Lisa Larsson (born 14 February 1967) is a Swedish classical soprano singer. Larsson studied in Basel and since 1993 appeared in the Internationales Opernstudio of the Zurich Opera House. She has performed at La Scala Milan, Opera de Lausanne, Komische Oper Berlin and with the Basel Opera Company, as well as many European festivals such as the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Salzburg Easter Festival and The BBC Proms. As a concert singer, Larsson has appeared with orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Larsson
https://www.lisalarsson.info/en_biografie.php

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Andrew Manze (born 14 January 1965 in Beckenham, United Kingdom) is an English conductor and violinist. Manze studied violin and worked with Ton Koopman. He began his musical career as a specialist in Early Music, and has recorded commercially as a soloist. From 2003 to 2007, he was artistic director of The English Concert. Outside of the UK, Manze was principal conductor and artistic director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra (2006-14), and has been principal conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie since 2014. He has recorded for harmonia mundi, Hyperion, cpo, Onyx and PentaTone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Manze
https://andrewmanze.com/

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Sakari Oramo (born October 26, 1965 in Helsinki) is a Finnish conductor. He started his career as a violinist and concertmaster of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO), and studied conducting with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy. From 1998 to 2008, Oramo was Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with which he championed the music of John Foulds in concerts and recordings. He was Principal Conductor of the FRSO (2003-2012), and is currently Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2008) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (since 2013).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakari_Oramo

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