Jesper Nordin: Emerging from Currents and Waves

by Martin Froest, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Overview

Contemporary works, especially those that break ground in some way, tend to be short so as to lay out new ideas in clear form prior to their further development. Composer Jesper Nordin's Emerging from Currents and Waves (the title is a pretty good summation of the general dynamic, with the work built on large sweeps of motion) is the exception, clocking in at nearly 70 minutes and recorded live here in its premiere performance by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2018. The work is in five movements, all but one quite large, and enclosing a kind of clarinet concerto in the central three. Its most novel feature is the presence of a new musical device, the Gestrument, whose name is derived from the words "gesture" and "instrument" and which is operated both by conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and clarinetist Martin Froest. It is something like a video gamer's motion sensing input device, connected to sampling and looping machines that are operated in real time. The result is that there are several layers of dialogue, not only between soloist and orchestra but between each of those and "virtual" orchestral sounds. The Gestrument may be applied to the full orchestra or any part of it. In the long and troubled history of rapprochement between human and electronic music-making, this represents a genuinely new idea. It is deployed here in the service of dense, elemental textures that lovers of Kaija Saariaho's music may well take to. In its original performance, the work was accompanied by a visual element, and that is probably preferable in terms of teasing out the individual strands; one hopes that a video release is planned. BIS' live engineering work at the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm excellently surmounts difficult challenges. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	06/03/2022
Label:	Bis
UPC:	7318599925592
Rank:	19481

Tracks

1. Emerging from Currents and Waves, for clarinet, orchestra & live electronics~1. Currents
2. Emerging from Currents and Waves, for clarinet, orchestra & live electronics~2. Emerging, for clarinet, orchestra & gestrument - I.
3. Emerging from Currents and Waves, for clarinet, orchestra & live electronics~2. Emerging, for clarinet, orchestra & gestrument - II.
4. Emerging from Currents and Waves, for clarinet, orchestra & live electronics~2. Emerging, for clarinet, orchestra & gestrument - III.
5. Emerging from Currents and Waves, for clarinet, orchestra & live electronics~3. Waves

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Martin Froest   Primary Artist,Clarinet
Esa-Pekka Salonen   Primary Artist,Conductor
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra   Primary Artist,Orchestra

Technical Credits

Robert Suff   Executive Producer
Jean-Pascal Vachon   Liner Note Translation
Jesper Nordin   Composer,Producer,Liner Notes,Post Production
Andrew Barnett   Typesetting
Staffan Schoeier   Balance Engineer
Horst A. Scholz   Liner Note Translation
Anna Hedelius   Original Liner Notes
Martin Froest   Digital Sound Effects
Matthias Spitzbarth   Mixing,Editing,Post Production
Manuel Poletti   Computer Design
Freddie Sandstroem   Photography
David Saulesco   Original Liner Notes
Tomo Keller   Leader
Martin Antiphon   Engineer,Cover Photo
Jan B. Larsson   Producer
Esa-Pekka Salonen   Digital Sound Effects