Web comment by the composer:
"Even before working on the chamber concerto, I had decided to write the piece in several short movements. I wanted the opportunity to concentrate on a single expression, a character for each movement, unlike my previous orchestral works and solo concertos, composed in a single long piece. The starting point was now to create strong contrasts between the different movements and I decided to write a total of five movements. I worked in parallel with movements one and two. The opening movement developed into a powerful, rhythmic and sometimes chordal one tutti movement in strong dynamics while the second movement became more and more stripped down until only the strings remained and also coordinated and in weak dynamics.
The third and fourth movements similarly formed a contrasting pair where the third movement took up the opening movement's powerful expression but at a faster tempo, while the fourth movement received clear thematic feedback to the second movement. The fifth and final movement looks back at the third but has a significantly faster tempo and a more fleeting than heavy character. Of the five different characters that I originally planned, only two remained when I finished the entire work. Movements one, three and five belong together with their powerful expressions, harsh tone and distinct rhythmic patterns and there is a clear progression from slow to fast tempo between these three. Acts two and four are clearly connected through the more introspective, cautious, tender and almost sad characters. The tempo is slow in these two and the tonal approaches found in the second movement fully blossom in the fourth, which also provides purely stylistic contrasts in one and the same work.
All these contrasts, not least the stylistic ones, appeal to me a lot because they are illogical, unexpected and "forbidden" historically. Stylistic unity has been an invisible traditional law of the great masters, regardless of style. Therefore, it is tempting to reverse the stylistic concepts in one and the same composition and thereby influence the conditions for predictability within the framework of one and the same work. The piece was commissioned by the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, the Västerås Sinfonietta and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra."
Rolf Martinsson Sound samples:
Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, conductor. Paul Mägi
(live recording)
