A Desperate Light
Gisle Kverndokk (b. 1967)
Three Pictures (2013/2021)*
Symphonic Suite from Around the World in 80 Days (2010)
A Desperate Light (2021)
Trondheim Symphony Orchestra/Peter Szilvay/Aage Richard Meyer*
rec. 2023, Olavshallen, Trondheim, Norway
Reviewed from a download
LAWO Classics LWC1359 [68]
Gisle Kverndokk is a Norwegian composer who has a large output of symphonic works. His Concerto for Harp and Orchestra was premiered by the Symphony Orchestra of Maribor, Slovenia in 2024. The Crystal Cabinet, a double concerto for violin and piano, had its premier with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003. Kverndokk has also written a number of solo concertos for oboe, flute and violin, among others. Symphonic Dances, premiered in 2014 by Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, was released by SSO Recordings in 2018 and nominated for a Grammy.
Kverndokk has collaborated with all the major Norwegian orchestras. He served as composer in residence with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in 2000. In 1992 he won the Juilliard Composers’ Competition for his orchestral work Selene, and in 1993 First Prize in the category “Composers Under 30” at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris for his work Initiation for violin and orchestra.
Three Pictures was originally a trio for trumpet, violin and piano, commissioned by Tine Thing Helseth for her chamber music festival at the Munch Museum in 2013. Kverndokk thought for a long time that the piece would be exceedingly well suited for orchestra, so as one of his pandemic projects this suite was orchestrated in 2021. In this work Kverndokk finds inspiration in three Munch paintings: “Rue Lafayette”, “Night in Saint-Cloud”, and “At the Roulette Table in Monte Carlo”. It is not the first time his music depicts the works of a painter.
On this album it is conducted by Aage Richard Meyer who is one of Norway’s young conducting talents coming from the talent program “Dirigentløftet”. From 2020 to 2022 he served as assistant conductor for the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and their chief conductor Edward Gardner. He was chosen in 2020 as the winner of Dirigentløftet top program “Opptakt” which saw him work with all of Norway’s professional ensembles through 2021-2023. He has worked with ensembles such as the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Royal Norwegian Marine Band, Royal Norwegian Army Band, and the Royal Navy Band Bergen. Aage had his international debut in 2018 with the Moravian Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum, Prague.
In 2001 Kverndokk premiered a musical based on the life of the painter Vincent van Gogh, at the Schlossfestspiele Ettlingen, and a clear line of association runs between the hero of that musical, Vincent van Gogh, and the tonal depiction of Munch’s paintings. The CD booklet advises the listener to “find the paintings online and study them as Trondheim Symphony Orchestra plays. The paintings expand on the music and the music illuminates the paintings”. So I did just that.
Rue Lafayette is an impressionist work painted in 1891 by Edvard Munch (1863 – 1944); I didn’t have to search hard for this image online as it is the image on the CD booklet. Munch, just like Kverndokk was Norwegian. In 1889, when Munch received a bursary from the Norwegian state, he went to Paris, where he familiarised himself with the period’s contemporary painters, the big city and modern life, rhythm, pulse and movement. Kverndokk himself has strong ties to Paris. A lot is packed into this short piece; to start with, the music is overpowering, as a big city can be on a first visit, the bustling crowds, traffic, noise, immensity and chaos. The musical expression then becomes impressionist, observing, contemplative with an expressive longing, as the man leaning over the balcony railing perhaps ponders the lives of those he can see in the street below him.
Night in Saint-Cloud can be linked to the memory of the artist’s father, who died one year earlier. In the same way, as in the painting, that the enigmatic figure of the man across the room by the window catches our eye, Kverndokk’s tonal language through eerie motifs draws our mind into the darkest corners of the same room. There is a nostalgic tenderness in the music suggesting longing for a time already past.
Legend has it that as soon as Munch had won a round at the roulette table, he made straight for Café de Paris to celebrate with champagne until he had drunk up his winnings, then returned to roulette. At the Roulette Table in Monte Carlo is an atmospheric which piece has tension, expectation, uneasiness, excitement, all woven into it; I guess that these would be the emotions associated with a gambling session.
The Symphonic Suite from Around the World in 80 Days is conducted by Peter Szilvay who began his career as a violist. He spent three years with the Oslo Philharmonic, where he met Mariss Jansons, for whom he served as an assistant conductor for three years. This was followed by a position as assistant conductor in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra until Szilvay took over as conductor on his own. Szilvay has conducted orchestras and opera in Norway and abroad. In his home country, he has led the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, The Norwegian Opera, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) and military wind-bands.
The Symphonic Suite from Around the World in 80 Days has been on a long journey itself. It began as a commissioned work for the opening of the Norwegian National Opera at Bjørvika in 2008, after which it was rewritten as a musical commissioned by the Linz State Theatre in Austria and premiered in 2016. The musical is one of Europe’s most award-winning musical theatre works. This symphonic suite is based on the themes of the opera. The composition is described as “musical drama without words”; Kverndokk in the CD brochure is quoted as saying “for it is the music alone that describes both the inward and outward journey on which the story’s protagonist, the pedantic and somewhat callous Phileas Fogg, embarks in the hope of becoming a more well-rounded human being”. It’s the story of a man in search of himself in which Fogg is transformed through his encounters with different women and different aspects of love. Certainly a fascinating idea, so does he pull it off?
It opens with a theme of seven notes, which are the notes of Fogg’s creed: “All things are numbers and numbers are everything!” – an idea that has perhaps gains new relevance in today’s world through Artificial Intelligence. Gisle Kverndokk sprinkles themes from operas throughout the various movements and allows new musical constellations to emerge, not always in chronological order. An observant listener may try to spot how many operas fit into Kverndokk’s seven-movement suite. It isn’t an easy task, as the old and the new are woven together here with utmost care and discretion.
The first movement, London – Phileas Starts His Journey Around the World, is characterised by contrasting melodies, sometimes dark and urgent, other times light and jolly. Finally we hear Rule Britannia before the music slowly fades away. The first woman who Fogg encounters is the famous courtesan Violetta, who lives on the proceeds of love, rather than for it. The movement is called Paris – Violetta’s Seduction; Violetta is, of course, the heroine from Verdi’s La traviata. The first few bars could be from the prelude to the opera; the music is lively and we can hear the music of “Un di felice eterea…Si ridesta in ciel l’aurora” (One day, happy and light as air… Dawn is breaking in the sky) the duet sung by Violetta and Alfredo. The mood changes several times, perhaps reflecting the turbulence of the relationship between the two, ending in a stormy finale, again exhibiting various emotions.
The next heroine Fogg meets is the passionate Tosca, from Puccini’s opera, who is willing to kill and die for love. The movement is called Rome – Tosca’s death. It starts slowly with a melody reminiscent of the love scene in Act 1 between her and Mario; its tempo and dynamics build, then we hear the final bars before Tosca leaps to her death which is followed by music of peace suggesting perhaps a release, whereas the figure of Strauss’ Salome, Suez – Salome’s Dance exposes love as betrayal through The Dance of the Seven Veils. The movement begins with mystical music, eyrie, enchanting, then it becomes more rhythmical, the tension and dynamics build, but a repetitive sense to the music remains. It rises again to a thrilling climax.
Beijing – Phileas Fogg heroically escapes the claws of Turandot is of course from another Puccini opera; Turandot executes suitors who offer her love and fail the riddles test. This movement begins with slow music with an oriental mystic feeling, then we hear a lovely harp tune. The soloist is Ruth Potter, complemented by the flute; more urgent music begins in short bursts, then it’s loud and dramatic whilst keeping its humour, with a suggestion of Rule Britannia – a great mix of motifs and moods, leading to a triumphant ending. Romance in the Pacific Ocean portrays the final encounter with a lady that Fogg has on his journey. It has a gentle, wistful, Romantic start but towards the end becomes more desperate and sinister before returning to more nostalgic music. The final movement is Phileas Fogg’s victorious return to London. Fogg has won the wager; we have a light, jaunty piece with once again strains of Rule Britannia played in the background.
For the final piece on the album, A Desperate Light, Kverndokk takes his inspiration from two lines of a poem by Pablo Neruda:
Today is that day, the day that carried
A desperate light that since has died …
The source of inspiration here is stated by the composer himself: “it is a tribute to Leonard Bernstein, inspired by maestro Bernstein’s symphony The Age of Anxiety”. It uses themes from West Side Story, such as Mambo and The Rumble, given a new lease of life by Kverndokk. It begins with a tense, urgent mood slowly changing to become more reflective. There are frequent changes in colour and atmosphere. At about four minutes we can begin to hear an echo of Maria and Tonight; it’s a melodic passage but soon chaos cuts loose in a jagged section, then another lovely melodic part follows before a fast moving motif and it all ends peacefully. The conductor for this performance is Peter Silvay.
I had not heard any works by the composer before reviewing this CD, but what I realise now is that Gisle Kverndokk uses imaginative sources for his inspiration which enable him to compose engaging, and accessible narrative music. It’s certainly a pleasing recording, peppered with lots of emotions and moods. The CD brochure contains extensive notes by Øystein Wiik, a Norwegian actor and singer, who gives us his own inciteful interpretation of Kverndokk’s music.
Ken Talbot
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