Music of Torbjorn Lundquist
From the collection of Karl Millerhttp://www.mediafire.com/download/m0m8emi4p3m42p8/lundquist.zipSymphony 2 "For Freedom": Swedish Radio SO/Stig Westerberg
Symphony 4 "Sinfonia Ecologica": Goteborg SO/Sixten Ehrling
Additional Lunquist works from Youtube: Symfoni nr 3, Sinfonia dolorosa (1975)Kungliga filharmonikerna, Stockholm,Peter Maag.
Source LP: Artemis ART 50-104. LP cover reproduced below.
From Youtube (posted by Robt0007)Duell: Duet for percussion and AccordionVan Burka-percussion, Dragan Mirkovic-accordion (Gallery of Matica srpska, Novi Sad-Serbia, February the 7th, 2007.)
Posted on Youtube by Dragan Mirkovic Bewegun: For Accordian and String QuartetPeformed by the Fandango Band
Maxim Fedorov, bayan (Accordian)
Ivan Subbotkin violine
Simeon Denisov, violine
Artem Valentinov, viola
Vasily Ratkin, cello
Posted on Youtube by Simon DenisovBlurb from eClassical.com: Swedish composer Torbjörn Iwan Lundquist (1920-2000). Lundquist represents to a far greater extent than his predecessors Cowell and Cage the traditional view of percussive instruments as a source of sound expressive of power, hardness and incisiveness. He blended the great European orchestral tradition with neomodernism and jazz.Conductor and artistic director at the Drottningholm Caste Theatre between 1949 and 1956. Hugo Alfvén Prize 1992.
Bio from AccordeonWorld: Lundquist Torbjörn Iwan (1920 - 2000)
Torbjörn Lundquist was born in Stockholm on 30th of September 1920. He was a Swedish composer, conductor and musicologist.
After military service in 1945, he studied musicology at the University of Uppsala, with Issai Dobrowen, and composition with Dag Wirén. In Salzburg and Vienna he studied conducting with Otmar Suitner.
In 1947 he founded his own chamber orchestra, which he also conducted. From 1949 till 1956 he was conductor with the orchestra of the Royal Theatre Drotteningholm. Since that time he was guest conductor with orchestras in Sweden and throughout Europe.
From 1963 till 1971 Lundquist was member of the administrationof the Swedish Federation of Composers. From 1969 till 1971 he was their second president.
In 1956 his symphony no 1 was premiered, but it was followed by a period of experimentation and studies in different styles, genres and traditions. From 1970 Lundquist decided to stop composing symphonical works. Only the financial support of the Swedish government allowed him to restart composing symphonical music.
His Symphony no 3, Sinfonie Dolorosa, was a pioneering work. His relationship with nature is shown in Symphony no 4, Sinfonia Ecologica and also in Symphony no 6, Sarek.
Lundquist used different forms of expression and style in order to reach the synthesis he was looking for: traditional music, modern avant-garde and jazz elements are confrontated with each other. The various elements merge together into a personal and rich palette, that the composer refined to a strong expression over the years.
The works of Torbjörn Lundquist reflect a strong acceptance of life and love for freedom, with feelings that range from thoughtful sincerity to great eruptions. Lundquist lived close to nature, but also close to what happened in the outside world. He was looking for the key of living, not to escape reality, but for being able to recover.
In 1989 he was rewarded the Atterberg Prize for his engaged musical works. In 1992 he got the Hugo Alfvenprize.
From the Swedish Music Information Center:Torbjörn Iwan Lundquist
Born in Stockholm on the 30th September, 1920, died in Grillby on the 1st July 2000. After school and military service he went to Uppsala University in 1945 to study musicology. At the same time he studied composition with Dag Wirén and, during the 70s, conducting with Otmar Suitner in Salzburg and Vienna. In 1947 Lundquist founded a chamber orchestra of his own, which led to his appointment as conductor and artistic director of the Drottningholm Court Theatre from 1949 to 1956. He also appeared as guest conductor with symphony orchestras in Sweden and Europe.
The years as a symphonist, from the first symphony in 1956 and particularly since 1970, have not excluded works in other genres: songs, music for percussion, concertos, chamber music, choral works and two operas. Symphony No. 3, “Sinfonia Dolorosa“, was Lundquist’s breakthrough as a symphonist. He often emphasised the importance of nature and its imprint is noticeable in Symphony No. 4, “Sinfonia Ecologica“ and Symphony No. 6, “Sarek“. His strong commitment to universal issues is also evident in Symphony No. 2 “... for freedom“, Symphony No. 7, “Humanity“, dedicated to the memory of Dag Hammarskjöld, and Symphony No. 9, “Survival“. The subtitles of the symphonies – which should not be interpreted programmatically but only as an indication of a basic idea or source of inspiration – give us a hint of Lundquist’s manifestations of will.
Lundquist made use of many different expressive and stylistic means in his compositional technique in order to achieve the synthesis he was aiming for, which juxtaposes traditionally constructed music, modern avant-garde elements and jazz-influenced outbreaks. Although the composer himself emphasised influences from other cultures – the Indonesian gamelan orchestras with their distinctive percussion sounds, for example, and the Saami vuolle (often wrongly called “yoik“) – his symphonies are essentially a part of the European orchestral tradition. The different elements blend together to form a personal, rich palette which the composer refined over the years to suit his strong need to express himself. His works reflect a profound obsession with life and a passionate desire for freedom. He expresses emotions that range from meditative serenity to violent eruptions in a musical language that is basically tonal.
He lived close to nature, but was also keenly aware of the world around him. In times of rapid change and environmental pollution, Torbjörn Iwan Lundquist was trying to find life’s innermost core, “not to flee from reality, but to restore it". In 1989 he was awarded STIM’s (Swedish Performing Rights Society) Atterberg Prize and the motive of the jury mentioned his “absorbing and unpretentious musical art with its profound humanistic spirit.“ He was awarded the Hugo Alfvén Prize in 1992 for his "rich compositional achievements founded on idealism and naturalistic lyricism”.
Tony Lundman (rev. 2001)