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Ragnar Soderlind(1945-)

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Dundonnell
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« on: November 26, 2012, 02:51:33 pm »

Amongst all the recent discussion-some of which I initiated-about the health of the Symphony as we progress into the 21st century and whether or not there are any great modern symphonists there has been mention of British composers(like Maxwell Davies, McCabe and David Matthews) and Finns(like Rautavaara, Sallinen, Aho and other younger composers) but we may have forgotten two Norwegian composers of symphonies, both of whom I regard as of enormous ability: Soderlind and Halvor Haug.

Neither has received anything like the exposure which they so richly deserve.

Haug has only written 2 symphonies in the last twenty years and I have been totally unable to hear either :(

Soderlind is probably more of a "neo-romantic" and is now up to-I think-eight symphonies(the Symphony No.8 "Jean Sibelius in memoriam" was written in 2004-05). This last symphony, like its big predecessors, Symphonies Nos. 6 "Todesahnung" and No.7 "La Campane dell'Atlantico" have not been recorded (which is an absolute disgrace in my opinion). Aurora recorded Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 4 but seem to have abandoned Soderlind since then.

I wrote lengthy posts about both composers in another place and I am not going to repeat myself here but if you doubt my word please give Symphony No.5 "Kvitsunn" a listen. I am going to put a link in the UC Reposts section :)

Not only is it a splendidly neo-romantic and eminently accessible work but it has one of the most magical last six minutes of any modern symphony I know. After 22 minutes of anger and turmoil the symphony concludes in blissful peace and tranquillity, albeit an somewhat uneasy and maybe even troubled peace.

Anyone who admires the modern but essentially tonal symphony should be impressed. It is at least as good as anything written by Rautavaara....yet the Finn has been lauded to the skies and is recorded by Ondine whereas Soderlind has been shamefully neglected on disc.

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relm1
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« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2013, 01:37:57 pm »

I too very much like these composers.  Note that Ragnar Soderlind has 9 symphonies and Halvor Haug has retired and probably won't compose another major work for some reason.  Perhaps he has entered into a Sibelian great "silence".
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« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2013, 05:22:18 pm »

Indeed Soderlind now has composed a Symphony No.9 "Il grand enigma" for tenor, chorus and orchestra, op.108, lasting 55 minutes.

Unfortunately our chances of actually hearing it are not great :(  Norway appears to ignore his music. Norwegian Radio does not appear to broadcast it. If we have any Norwegian members they have not been able to provide any such recordings.

What a shame about Halvor Haug :( I always wanted to hear his Fourth and Fifth symphonies....but-again- no luck :(
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« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2015, 10:04:16 pm »

I just found a performance of (what I think is) Soderlind's Violin Concerto, Op 46. The violin soloist is Isaac Schuldman, and I think that the orchestra is the Minsk Chamber Orchestra, with some Norwegian musicians filling out the other chairs.


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« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2015, 10:08:22 pm »

This is the only information that I can find about this orchestra:

http://www.aktivioslo.no/hvaskjer/konsert-med-klassisk-musikk/
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« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2015, 11:57:59 pm »

This may be of interest re Sodellind...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLM__kf1SvnnHVv6MzIHPKZa1zPRY-OnB-
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« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2015, 01:48:13 am »

Thanks Jolly Roger, it is of interest to me as I am a fan of his.  I am surprised more of his music isn't available. 
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« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2015, 05:54:03 pm »

Amongst all the recent discussion-some of which I initiated-about the health of the Symphony as we progress into the 21st century and whether or not there are any great modern symphonists there has been mention of British composers(like Maxwell Davies, McCabe and David Matthews) and Finns(like Rautavaara, Sallinen, Aho and other younger composers) but we may have forgotten two Norwegian composers of symphonies, both of whom I regard as of enormous ability: Soderlind and Halvor Haug.

Neither has received anything like the exposure which they so richly deserve.

Haug has only written 2 symphonies in the last twenty years and I have been totally unable to hear either :(

Soderlind is probably more of a "neo-romantic" and is now up to-I think-eight symphonies(the Symphony No.8 "Jean Sibelius in memoriam" was written in 2004-05). This last symphony, like its big predecessors, Symphonies Nos. 6 "Todesahnung" and No.7 "La Campane dell'Atlantico" have not been recorded (which is an absolute disgrace in my opinion). Aurora recorded Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 4 but seem to have abandoned Soderlind since then.

I wrote lengthy posts about both composers in another place and I am not going to repeat myself here but if you doubt my word please give Symphony No.5 "Kvitsunn" a listen. I am going to put a link in the UC Reposts section :)

Not only is it a splendidly neo-romantic and eminently accessible work but it has one of the most magical last six minutes of any modern symphony I know. After 22 minutes of anger and turmoil the symphony concludes in blissful peace and tranquillity, albeit an somewhat uneasy and maybe even troubled peace.

Anyone who admires the modern but essentially tonal symphony should be impressed. It is at least as good as anything written by Rautavaara....yet the Finn has been lauded to the skies and is recorded by Ondine whereas Soderlind has been shamefully neglected on disc.


I do not own anything by Soderlind.  I will investigate Symphony 5. Thanks for that.  I will say I adore Haug's Symphony 3 "The Inscrutable Life".  What a pleasure.....

Robert
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Jolly Roger
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« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2015, 12:12:34 am »

Thanks Jolly Roger, it is of interest to me as I am a fan of his.  I am surprised more of his music isn't available. 
Excuse the my spelling of his name please..I was in a hurry but very happy it was useful..
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Alex Bozman
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« Reply #9 on: January 22, 2015, 08:05:24 pm »

Thanks Jolly Roger, it is of interest to me as I am a fan of his.  I am surprised more of his music isn't available. 
Excuse the my spelling of his name please..I was in a hurry but very happy it was useful..

That's interesting. I've got the first 3 Haug symphonies on cd and no 3 The Inscrutable Life is the one, I've found it hardest to get to grips with.

I agree that there ought to be recordings of the later Soderlind symphonies available.
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Jolly Roger
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« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2015, 04:54:20 am »

Thanks Jolly Roger, it is of interest to me as I am a fan of his.  I am surprised more of his music isn't available. 
Excuse the my spelling of his name please..I was in a hurry but very happy it was useful..

That's interesting. I've got the first 3 Haug symphonies on cd and no 3 The Inscrutable Life is the one, I've found it hardest to get to grips with.

I agree that there ought to be recordings of the later Soderlind symphonies available.

perhaps the title(The Inscrutable Life) of the piece is the most compelling feature of the piece..it does provoke more of an interest
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magmasystems
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« Reply #11 on: April 20, 2015, 02:59:03 am »

An upcoming event featuring the music of Soderlind:

https://www.facebook.com/events/465831480238807/


Komponistportrettet: Ragnar Søderlind
Torsdag 23. april kl 18.00, Nasjonalgalleriet

Espen Langvik, baryton
Oslo Trio (Stig Nilsson, Aage Kvalbein, Jens Harald Bratlie)
Jon Sønstebø, bratsj

Harald Herresthal intervjuer komponisten

Ragnar Søderlind Klaverkvartett opus 107 (2010)
(*1945) 1. Nøkken – en innvielse (Näckens polska)
2. Gutten og Huldra – en fortryllelse (Huldre aa'n Elland)
3. 18 Variasjoner og Coda over en finsk gjetervise

"En konstnär i norr" opus 119 (2015)
for baryton og klaverkvartett (urfremføring)*
Basert på et dikt om Edvard Grieg av Tomas Tranströmer
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magmasystems
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« Reply #12 on: April 20, 2016, 12:21:23 pm »

Two pieces of Soderlind-related news.

1) Someone just posted a live radio broadcast of Soderlind's 4th symphony on YouTube. here is the link:



I am hoping that Mr. Stuart will consider making an MP3 or FLAC available to the Soderlind fans here.

2) Looks like the Bergen Philharmonic released a CD with a new Soderlind composition on it. The composition in called "Horns in Landscape", and is for 6 horns and orchestra.

Here is a link where you can listen to some samples and buy the tracks:

https://shop.klicktrack.com/musikkonline/460162
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relm1
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« Reply #13 on: April 20, 2016, 11:29:38 pm »


2) Looks like the Bergen Philharmonic released a CD with a new Soderlind composition on it. The composition in called "Horns in Landscape", and is for 6 horns and orchestra.

Here is a link where you can listen to some samples and buy the tracks:

https://shop.klicktrack.com/musikkonline/460162


Great!  I will buy this when I get some cash. 

Does anyone have a recording or more info about Soderlind's opera, Saga King?  This is very intriguing but it is from 2002 and internet searching turns up nothing:
Ragnar Søderlind’s score is for a full orchestra without electronic elements or Viking-type buck horns. “There are enough problems without that,” he says. But he allows the Wagnerian tuba to represent the pagan element and the organ to represent Christianity. The musical contrasts are extreme, in the characterisation, too. While Olav begins melodiously, he ends in a more modernist, abrupt style that expresses his hubris.

The tonality is modern, but the format is more in the Puccinian than the Wagnerian tradition. There are arias and monologues that promote the action, passionate love scenes and theological debates, a seamen’s choir, storm and calm, battle and prayer, pagan dance at the sacrificial site, fire and sea battles – as dramatic and violent as any action film.

“Can the audience hum anything as they leave the auditorium?”
“Thyra’s cradle song for Harald is hummable. It must be the first cradle song to be written by a classical composer in Norway since World War II!” responds Søderlind with a smile.
http://www.listento.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2002092014173851392996
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« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2016, 06:40:53 pm »

There are around a dozen living composers who have written a number of symphonies which appeal to me and for whom I have great respect-I would name Kalevi Aho, Einojuhani Rautavaara and Aulis Sallinen in Finland, Kryzsztof Penderecki in Poland, John Harbison, Christopher Rouse and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich in the USA, Sir James MacMillan and David Matthews in the UK, Valentin Silvestrov in Ukraine and Halvor Haug and Ragnar Soderlind in Norway.

Of these some have probably no more symphonies to write (for different reasons). All the Rautavaara, Sallinen, Penderecki, Harbison and Rouse symphonies are on cd. Only the most recent symphonies by MacMillan (his 4th), Matthews (his 8th), Zwilich (her 5th) remain unrecorded. Two of Aho's sixteen are still to be recorded-Nos. 6 and the recent No.16.
That leaves Silvestrov and the two Norwegians, Haug and Soderlind. We could certainly do with Silvestrov's more recent 7th and 8th symphonies on disc.

But the neglect by the Norwegians themselves of Haug (who largely seems to have fallen silent) and Soderlind (who does not!) is both mysterious and a matter of profound regret.
Soderlind has written nine substantial symphonies over the last forty years. But only three of them have been commercially recorded: Nos. 2 and 3 in 1988 (in London) and No.4 in 2000 (in Moscow), both by Aurora. Over the last twenty years Soderlind has added Symphonies Nos. 5-9 but not one of these has appeared on disc. We are fortunate enough to have off-air recordings of Nos. 5 "Kvitsunn", No. 6 "Todesahnung" and No.8 "Jean Sibelius in memoriam" but each of these deserves a commercial recording. No.7 "La Campane dell'Atlantico" and No.9 "Il grande enigma" may not even have been performed in Norway.

Accepting the neglect in Sweden of composers like Hilding Rosenberg or Hans Eklund I still feel that Soderlind would have had more exposure if he had been born in one of the other Baltic countries. Why the Norwegians should be so unlike the Danes or Finns in failing to give such a fine composer proper acknowledgement is a sad mystery. Three recorded symphonies out of a total of nine is throughly unsatisfactory. Hans Eklund-sadly-is dead, Soderlind is not. Unlike Haug he is still very active and composing. He deserves better!
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