Gehrmans - The Link Between Composers and Performers

Work note by the composer:
"Concert Fantastique is my sixth solo concerto since the trumpet concerto Bridge (1998). Whenever I start working on a new concerto it is always a challenge not to repeat any form or idea, and instead to be continually searching for new paths and forms of expression. Looking back on my earlier concertos, I can find many similarities such as varied tempi, high and low points in dynamics, solo cadenzas, orchestral episodes and a tone language that fluctuates between tonality and atonality. But none of these musical components is an inherent guarantee for a good solo concerto or a work with a personal stamp. It is rather in the combination of these components, in their mutual consecutive order and relationships of tension that the unique and personal elements take shape. There are two additional and entirely decisive elements that help make Concert Fantastique unique on its own merits among my solo concertos: that the solo instrument is the clarinet and that the soloist is Martin Fröst. I have studied the clarinet and listened to clarinet concertos for a long time, but above all I have had a very creative dialogue with Martin. Our discussions, my note examples, his comments on my note examples, the impressions that all his CD recordings have made on me and the impressions that my earlier works have made on him, our understanding of one another as composer and soloist respectively, all that is there in the background and has in a decisive way influenced me to compose Concert Fantastique just as I have done.
My collaboration with Martin was intense and very inspiring during the whole period when the work was coming into being. At the outset we discussed all sorts of ideas for the concerto but in the end Martin said - Why not just write a fantastic concerto? Yes, of course, easier said than done, I thought; but I got started anyway. The title of the work alludes of course to our conversations, but is above all an homage to the fantastic musician and artist Martin Fröst.
At one of our get-togethers Martin suddenly started playing the clarinet with lightning rapidity, softly and flightily. This immediately made me think of how a humming bird flies around in the air, comes to a standstill and sucks nectar, and in the next second hastens on to a new flower. I have inserted such a section just after the solo cadenza at the end, but before the final fast passages, and given this part the name Humming Bird.
The structure of the concerto is divided into five distinct sections. The introductory part, which is mobile and starts out very resolutely, is followed by a short orchestral episode that thematically foreshadows the extensive, slow, lyrical part of the work. In the second section the soloist plays only one tone, but the longer for that, without taking a breath. The technique for executing this is circular breathing, and in this case the soloist is required to hold the same tone for more than a minute without a break. The third section is the work's lyrical peak. A long, beautiful melodic sequence gradually creates more tension in the harmonies and then changes into an exotic part, full of contrasts, which later returns to the theme of the melodic sequence. The fourth section is a dizzy solo cadenza that leads into the fifth and final section in a brisk and whirling tempo."

Rolf Martinsson

The work is a joint commission by Malmö Symphony Orchestra, The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm and The Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra in Tromsö, Norway.