Songr by Norwegian composer Jan Erik Mikalsen and Cancro by young Slovenian composer Matej Bonin are the works selected by radio music producers participating in the 62nd International Rostrum of Composers (IRC) held in Tallinn, from May 12 to 15. A flagship programme of the International Music Council, this year’s IRC edition was for the first time in the history of the IRC co-organised by Estonian Public Broadcasting.
The 2015 Rostrum gathered representatives from 28 national radio networks from four continents, which presented 55 works.
Songr for Orchestra (2014) by Norwegian composer Jan Erik Mikalsen (born 1979) was presented by Norwegian Radio. Jan Erik Mikalsen is currently living in Oslo, Norway. He has studied at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, Norway, and at the Royal Danish Music Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark. Songr for Orchestra was commissioned and world premiered by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra the 30th of October 2014 in Oslo. In his words, “the essence of the piece is to try combining all of Norway’s history with an old Norse title (Songr means song), nature sounds, the open fifth, folk music and melodic elements and repetitive (that might represent today). I also wanted to bring in Indian harmonium witch was exported from the west to India. This I do without actually using real folk music melodies, but rather using elements that resemble folk music.”
Cancro, for symphony orchestra, by young Slovenian composer Matej Bonin. Was composed in 2015. Born in 1986 in Koper, Bonin graduated in composition from the Ljubljana Academy of Music. He is currently continuing his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz in the class of Prof. Beat Furrer. “For the point of departure of the composition Cancro, I used the flux or musical flow that is released by an outburst of the entire orchestral body and is based on the intensive rhythmic pulsing of the wind and the brass. I wanted to create a long, unbroken dramaturgical arc from the initial aggressive impulse all the way to the concluding section of the composition, when the sound is gradually reduced to mere noises and individual solo interjections before finally dying out altogether.”
OTHER RECOMMENDED WORKS
João CEITIL (Portugal), ChacoN
Sampo HAAPAMAKI (Finland), Conception
Liisa HIRSCH (Estonia), Ascending … Descending
Katharina KLEMENT (Austria), Drift
Martin MATALON (France), La Carta
Jorge SANCHEZ-CHIONG (Austria), Salt Water
László SANDOR (Hungary), Et transfiguratus est
Branka POPOVIC (Serbia), Lines and Circles
Vito ZURAJ (Slovenia), Runaround
Mikołaj LASKOWSKI (Poland), The tiger left me unsatisfied
Igor C. SILVA (Portugal), You Should Be Blind to Watch TV
