Five Movements For Brass Quintet

Samer Massaad, bassoon
Brusk Zanganeh, violin
Kalle Stenbäcken, piano

Trio No. 2 for Violin, Bassoon and Piano

Six movements for orchestra is an aphoristic piece which largely builds on the the idea of object changing shapes of great contrasts. Some things will never really change despite the mood swings that objects undergo. The six short movements creates a dramatic, but not necessarily chronological whole. 

Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.
Crhistopher Nobin, Conductor

Six Movements For Orchestra (Variations on a gesture by Kurtág)

FUGATO

För symfoniorkester.

Norrköpings symfoniorkester
Mikael Bartosch, dirigent.

Fugato

Performed by Ensemble Nordlys in 2015.

Fritt efter Robert Azars dikt "Jakten på vändpunkter".

Läs mer, www.tidskriftenstaden.com

Vändpunkter

Composed in 2015. Jonas Olsson, Piano.

This piece explores the feeling of finiteness

Morendo

Gycklarmusik 10 (Joker Music 10)

A short summary of important works composed and performed 2018.

Fugato (Brussels Philharmonic, excerpt)

As a composer in residence this year (2018) at Lövstabruk Chamber Music Festival in Sweden, this piece was commissioned due to the centenary of the end of the First World War. The work is built on the one hand as an hommage to composers and musicians who were affected in various ways by the circumstances of this war, on the other hand as a narrative of the war. A quote from the second movement from E.W. Korngolds op. 23 is somewhat prominent throughout the work, almost as a theme. Korngold composed the work in close collaboration with pianist Paul Wittgenstein who served in the Austrian army where he lost his right arm, later started a new career as left-handed pianist. Korngold, who during the turbulent time between the wars fled to the United States and Los Angeles, later became associated with Hollywood and film music. Furthermore, Lili Boulanger, who died in 1918 only 24 years old, is also quoted. The quote is from her piece Pie Jesu, one of her last works. Lili, who towards the end of her life turned back to religion, opened at the outbreak of war a home and a foundation in Paris for injured French soldiers, together with her sister Nadia. In more abstract and hidden ways, a number of other works from the same era are also quoted. There is for example a twelve-tone serie from Alban Berg's opera Wozzeck that pops up here and there, an opera where the story itself take place during a time of war. In spite of the very heavy background of this piece, I have tried to find a playfulness in the narration of the music, where sounds from marching armies and alarms are also mixed with sensations of tranquility and peace. A certain measure of expressionism typical for the time of the war and the turn of the century has been difficult to avoid.

Simon Söfelde June 2018

Linnea Andersson Meilink, Violin
Eriikka Nylund, Viola
Antonio Hallongren, Cello 
Thomas Rudberg, Piano

Korrespondenser

Korrespondenser (live at Lövstabruk Chamber Music Festival)

Joker Music No. 16 for String quartet.

Performed at Archipel Genève by Quatuor Béla

Gycklarmusik 16 (Live in Genève)

Lika for accordion and guitar is a musical short story about two very different characters trying to obtain a common ground. In their attempt, they sometimes manage to act or sound (a)like each other but they are never really equal and never really the same.

Janne Valkeajoki, accordion
Alvi Joensen, guitar

Lika (live at Connect Festival)

Live at mise-en music festival in New York City, June 2018.

Ensemble mise-en
Conductor Moon Young Ha

Fanfar (live in New York City)

Fugato for orchestra

Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Brad Lubman

Popular tracks by Simon Söfelde