[…] “Lysning is by far the most enigmatic … The title translates to “glade” or “clearing”, yet if anything the music’s continual tilting between light and shadow suggests walking beneath the denser forest canopy as the sunlight continually changes overhead. … In 2013, Kullberg adapted Nørgård’s viola concerto Remembering Child for the cello; since then, Kullberg has … returned to the work a second time to create the Three Nocturnal Movements, now spun into a double concerto. … throughout the work the violin and cello are absolutely in the foreground, while the orchestra is at most an accompanying or atmospheric presence. In the context of nocturnal music, this is absolutely no bad thing, lending the piece an extreme intimacy that’s gently expanded, answered, elaborated and couched by the orchestra. … Herresthal and Kullberg sound absolutely magnificent, both in their own right, following their respective melodic trajectories, and as a tightly-bound duet. … The highlight of the disc, though, is Symphony No. 8 … to be plunged into the maelstrom of the opening movement, with its multitude of simultaneous ideas, is thrilling, giving a sense not of densely packed but broadly dispersed material, made easier to negotiate through a tendency to oscillate back and forth from chamber-like reductions, even dropping to a lone voice two-thirds through. … Symphony No. 8 isn’t about clarity or order, it’s music at the edges, at the extremes even, flying by the seat of its pants unafraid of whether or not we’re able to keep up with its endless invention and unstoppable pace. Storgårds and Bergen capture and stay true to that exhilarating sensibility from start to finish.” [reviewed in October] […]
Unlock with Patreon
[…] “Lysning is by far the most enigmatic … The title translates to “glade” or “clearing”, yet if anything the music’s continual tilting between light and shadow suggests walking beneath the denser forest canopy as the sunlight continually changes overhead. … In 2013, Kullberg adapted Nørgård’s viola concerto Remembering Child for the cello; since then, Kullberg has … returned to the work a second time to create the Three Nocturnal Movements, now spun into a double concerto. … throughout the work the violin and cello are absolutely in the foreground, while the orchestra is at most an accompanying or atmospheric presence. In the context of nocturnal music, this is absolutely no bad thing, lending the piece an extreme intimacy that’s gently expanded, answered, elaborated and couched by the orchestra. … Herresthal and Kullberg sound absolutely magnificent, both in their own right, following their respective melodic trajectories, and as a tightly-bound duet. … The highlight of the disc, though, is Symphony No. 8 … to be plunged into the maelstrom of the opening movement, with its multitude of simultaneous ideas, is thrilling, giving a sense not of densely packed but broadly dispersed material, made easier to negotiate through a tendency to oscillate back and forth from chamber-like reductions, even dropping to a lone voice two-thirds through. … Symphony No. 8 isn’t about clarity or order, it’s music at the edges, at the extremes even, flying by the seat of its pants unafraid of whether or not we’re able to keep up with its endless invention and unstoppable pace. Storgårds and Bergen capture and stay true to that exhilarating sensibility from start to finish.” [reviewed in October] […]