Gehrmans Music Publisher 💛 Mikaeli Chamber Choir = #swedishchoralmusic
Do you love Swedish choral music like we do?
We have been publishing Swedish Choral Music since New Zealand introduced female voting rights (Yes, first country in the world to do so - in 1893!). In the 125 years since then, Swedish Choral Music has evolved and expanded. We are proud to be part of this rich tradition.
As a part of our celebrations for our 125th anniversary in 2018, we are launching the project #swedishchoralmusic. In collaboration with Mikaeli Chamber Choir and its conductor, professor Anders Eby, we record twelve short films about choral pieces we love, one for each decade since 1893.
On every last Sunday of the month during 2018 we will release a film on the Facebook page Svensk körmusik / Swedish Choral Music (please like and follow the page!).
Our forth film is out now! In April we give you a piece from the 1910s. You can read more about each film below!
Would you like to join us? If you like the films on the Facebook pages of Gehrmans or Mikaeli Chamber Choir, you will have the chance to win two tickets for our Jubilee Concert in Stockholm in October, or a gift card for a dinner for two worth 1.000 SEK (close to you if you are not in Stockholm). If you like our Facebook pages, you will of course get a notification when each film is released.
The films are produced by Janna Vettergren and filmed by Pär Fridberg. Do you have questions about the project? Please contact janna.vettergren@gehrmans.se
If you are interested in Swedish choral music, Gerhmans has a new subscription: SweChoral, with music selected for non-Swedish speaking choirs. The SweChoral subscription presents 3–5 new high quality choral works in two mailings a year and includes works suitable for both the intermediate as well as the advanced choir.
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FILM 1 - january 2018: the 2000s. Mattias Skölds We know not where the dragons fly (Bhu Zhi Long Qu Chu) (2004). A rhythmically challenging but harmonically uncomplicated Swedish choral piece in Chinese! Mattias Sköld is born in 1976 and is one of the most interesting young choral composers today. In the film, the composer Mattias Sköld tells conductor Anders Eby how he came to write a piece with Chinese words. The film is recorded in the Stockholm church Årsta kyrka, a beautiful, interesting and prize winning building from 2011 by Swedish architect Johan Celsing.
More information about We know not where the dragons fly is available HERE.
...and there is more to read in english about the composer Mattias Sköld on his own webpage.
FILM 2 - february 2018: 1990ies. Gabriella Gullins Tyst är det rum, from Tre Miniatyrer (1994). The words by 1951 Nobel Prize laureate Pär Lagerkvist are delicately put to music in a composition built on long pauses. The film is recorded at the Swedish Museum of Performing Arts.
Read more about the composer Gabriella Gullin and see parts of the score for Tyst är det rum.
FILM 3 - March 2018: 1930ies. Hildor Lundvik: Verlaine-Stämning (In the mood of Verlaine) (1937), text Vilhelm Ekelund. “It is raining in the town, raining silently and slowly…” In In the mood of Verlaine, Swedish melancholia meets French 19th century poetic “spleen”. Paul Verlaine’s poem “Il pleure dans mon coeur” (“In my heart it weeps”) inspires Ekelund; thus Lundvik’s music is born. “My heart silently weeps” sing the tenors, accompanied by the sopranos’ and altos’ gentle rain on the roofs. This film is recorded at the Swedish Museum of Performing Arts.
Read more about the composer Hildor Lundvik here!
FILM 4 - April 2018: 1910s. Wilhelm Stenhammar: Vårnatt/Lenznacht (1912), text Oscar Levertin. Piano: Carlos Murakami.
“The spring is a life-giving force that, given enough faith, grants ‘the hearts all that they desire’, but that also contains broken strings and thwarted plans that yearn to ‘be ash in urn’”, writes Erik Wallrup at The Swedish Musical Heritage. Vårnatt (Spring night) by Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927) brings the beauty and pain of the Nordic Spring to life in harmonics that choirs have loved to sing since 1912. Vårnatt was written for choir and orchestra, but it is the piano version that has been performed the most. The film is recorded at Årsta Church.
Read about Wilhelm Stenhammar here!
...and the score is available in piano version at Gehrmans and for orchestra at The Swedish Musical Heritage.
All films will appear on our Facebook page - follow and like!