year of production 2008/2013

dedicated to my mother Harriet Staern Cronström;

commissioned by Helsingborgs Symphony Orchestra

awards recommended works among top-ten composers of 
International Rostrum of Composers 2014

duration 30‘ 

first performance 
April 6th 2014
Anna Larsson, alto
Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra
Stefan Solyom, conductor

Ängslan
Svek, svek --
annat var aldrig mitt liv.
All min skam,
penna, stackare, skriv.
Skriv om vägar långt, långt
bort från mitt sanna,
skriv om en mur kring allt som var bäst...
Nej, stanna.

Outredda mörkers hot
fyller mitt sinn.
Åskdiger knoppningstid
än är min.
Jag vill vara stilla,
bida och se,
vänta på solen,
sakta le.

Vad sker i mörkret,
medan jag ler?
Dör min själ?
Hittar jag hem ej mer?
Gud, Gud, behåll
en glimt allen
av mitt allvar
ren, ren!

Sånger om bländvit kärlek: 4 Ängslan

Benjamin Staern (b. 1978) started his musical experience with studies in cello, piano and percussion in his youth. Studies in musicology at Lund University and subsequently studied composition at the Malmö Academy of Music during 1998-2005 with Rolf Martinsson, Hans Gefors and Luca Francesconi, and made an early breakthrough, while still a student at the Malmö Academy of Music, with the symphonic work The Threat of War (1999). 

From this point on, Staern has developed a deeply personal style with an output including orchestral and chamber works, solo pieces and electroacoustic music. An interesting aspect of his work as a composer is his unusual ability to associate tones and timbres with different colours and tints. This is a variant of a phenomenon called synaesthesia which is fundamental in his perception and the creation of his music, and which is reflected in his sound world as well as in many of his work titles (Yellow Skies, Colour Wandering etc.) 

Today Staern receives commissions on a regular basis. Looking into the near future, he is commissioned to write a major work for Malmö Symphony Orchestra and song cycle for alto Anna Larsson and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. From September 2010 he is composer-in-residence with New European Ensemble for them he composed works from this collaboration such as Tranströmersånger (selected poems from the Sad Gondola - collection by Nobel-prize author and poet Tomas Tranströmer) and Bells and Waves (Chamber Symphony), winner of the SMFF Award 2011 in the category ”most important work in chamber music/smaller ensemble”.

Works by Benjamin Staern is today performed not only by all the major Swedish orchestras but also internationally by orchestras such as the MDR Sinfonieorchester, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Staern has collaborated with ensembles including New European Ensemble, Sonanza Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble Aspekte and Stockholm Chamber Brass. Soloists include Håkan Hardenberger, Anna Larsson, Johannes Möller, Karin Dornbusch, Carina Vinke, Gitta-Maria Sjöberg, Philippe Cassard and conductors Michael Christie, Daniel Raiskin, Christian Karlsen, Mats Rondin, Mika Eichenholz and Stefan Solyom.

Sånger om bländvit kärlek: 4 Ängslan

Benjamin Staern Composer