Maurice Karkoff has given a voice to his impassioned, very engaged artist’s nature through an impressive array of works. His great capacity for form and constructions has also helped, rather than hindered, his natural sensitivity for the impulsive and spontaneously powerful.
Maurice Karkoff often spoke of color and expressiveness as the strongest facets of his art, and these characteristics have had ample room to bloom in his many orchestral works and large vocal production. Among his chamber works are several string quartets and many pieces with both a lyrical character and great feel for musicianship.
Karkoff was one of the strongest and most versatile symphonic composers in Swedish music. The critic Carl-Gunnar Åhlén once wrote that his symphonies, taken together, form a canon in the genre that is comparable to that of Allan Pettersson’s. His symphonies vary in character from pointed to pregnant drama, a melodic language where the introverted goes hand in hand with a strong feeling for the lovely and beautiful; this is something that also characterizes the rest of his orchestral music. His musicality was complemented by his lyricism; he was a master of vocal writing, the tonal language of which sets up dialogues with poets such as Nelly Sachs, Paul Celan, Gunnar Ekelöf, and Tomas Tranströmer.
Hans-Gunnar Petersson/Source: Swedish MIC
