Magnus Lindberg
Feria / Corrente II / Arena (Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra feat. conductor: Jukka-Pekka Saraste)

A lot of water has passed under the bridges (or music through the ears, if you prefer) since the days of "Kraft", an orchestral piece completed in 1985 which brought the then 27-year-old Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg to general attention. The style of "Kraft" was so impetuous, adrenaline-filled, and tempestuous, right from the title, that subsequently Lindberg's music would calm down a bit, while still remaining brilliant and full of vibrant colors. You know, the calm after the storm…

Thus, on this CD, we find three orchestral pieces where the Finn, in certain passages, does not forgo the melodiousness of themes. Indeed, the music opens with "Feria" written between 1995 and '97, lasting 17 minutes, in which the orchestra aims to evoke the exuberance of folk festivals and fanfares. The soundscape is always varied; rather than trying to define a monolithic acoustic world as many composers do in some of their pieces, Lindberg seeks to vary the timbres and densities as much as possible, as if to accompany the listener on a short but intense journey.

And "Corrente II", the second piece on the CD, confirms the good impressions received so far. A solid piece for a large orchestra (a reworking of "Corrente" for ensemble, both works from 1991-92), it presents large sound masses that shift powerful volumes of sound, interspersed with pauses of greater relaxation and serenity: 16 minutes of perfect mastery of the orchestral texture.

The third and final piece on the CD, "Arena" from 1994-95, lasting 15 minutes, organizes melodic cells that periodically emerge from the instrumental magma, in a deliberate alternation between light and dark. (Lindberg will create a revised version from this, "Arena II" for 16 instruments, doing the reverse of the path seen above for "Corrente").

Magnus Lindberg's music uses the most uncompromising language of modernity without easy concessions: yet it is a "classical" writing, with great respect for the tradition and the performance practice of the various instrumental families. You will not find neo-dada gestures, provocations, or off-key sounds in Lindberg that seem so avant-garde (amateurish, of course). His music stands out with the rigor of conception, which does not exclude the variety and richness of the sonic outcomes.