The title of Catherina Palmér’s composition as well as the album
title is apt since this is music one can see through. This doesn’t
imply that it is lightweight. It isn’t, but it comes as a blessing
after having listened to some newly written music where layer
upon layer of compact sounds threaten to suffocate the listener.
This music breathes.
Ironically
the work that came closest to giving a feeling of strangulation
was the oldest piece: Frank Martin’s Sonata da Chiesa.
This is so intense that there is hardly any resting point.
The flute etches the notes relentlessly into the listener’s
brain. But even here there is transparency.
Palmér’s
composition opens with a phrase in the organ that recalls
the first prelude from Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier.
It is repeated and sometimes developed and returns again at
the end of the composition. The work is both melodious and
colourful and grows to a dramatic climax with a long-held
organ tone and then follows a kind of meditation.
Hungarian-born
Miklós Maros, who has lived in Sweden since 1968, has been
one of the most important advocates for modern music, not
least through the Maros Ensemble which has frequently championed
newly-written music. Gorg, was originally for guitar
and organ, hence the name, but here it is played on marimba.
There is also a version for guitar and accordion. After a
slow opening the middle section is rhythmic, boogie-woogie
inspired, until it concludes as it started.
Staffan
Storm’s Tre canti opens rhythmically while the second
movement is more meditative. Is it a night scene or do we
hear birds?
Ole
Lützow-Holm is a colleague of Daniel Berg and was asked if
he could write something for marimba. He did but not as a
finished piece. Over a period of three years he dropped small
musical fragments into Daniel’s letter-box and these fragments
can be played in any order, or repeated, or omitted, which
means that there are innumerable permutations in performance.
The
recording of the marimba is superb and the version played
here is immensely fascinating. During a number of bars I got
the impression that was hearing Milt Jackson improvising on
vibraphone.
Barry
Guy is a bassist and founder of the London Jazz Composers’
Orchestra and Whistle and Flute was commissioned by
flutist Rachael Brown who is also heard on the eight-track
tape that is the backdrop for Michael Pettersson’s solo. This
is an impressionist work with shimmering sounds and fascinating
counterpoint. This is music I have returned to on more than
one occasion. Victoria Borisova-Ollas wrote Serenade for
Twins as a tribute to Bengt Tribukait and his brother
Arne on their 40th birthday. It is a miniature
- a kind of impromptu.
Henrik
Strindberg’s Model 2 was created as a model for composition
technique. It has distinct jazz flavour. The concluding piece,
Trio, by the Lithuanian composer Remigijus Sileika,
was written for the Tribukait/Pettersson/Berg Trio and is
dynamic, vital and inspiring.
“Vital”
and “inspiring” are two words to apply to the disc as a whole.
This should be an ideal introduction to people who are fighting
shy of contemporary music, showing that there is accessible
modern music that is still honest and professional. The liner-notes,
in English and Japanese, are very helpful.
Göran
Forsling
Bengt Tribukait
(organ and piano); Michael Pettersson (flutes), Daniel Berg (marimba
and percussion) 
