69°42’ north - 19°00’ east represent the map coordinates of the town of Tromsø in Norway, and therefore also of the orchestra featured on Perspectives. It is from this vantage point that its perspective on five European composers is applied, five composers who in turn exist in mutual contrast and perspective. The varied works by Webern, Pärt, Lutoslawski, Kurtág, and Fredrik Högberg embrace 99 years of European music history and are balanced by paradoxical opposites. The programme is dominated by moods of the long, arctic winter night - grief, longing, absence - and the midnight sun’s unceasing orgy of light and life.
Tromsø Chamber Orchestra is the only full-time professional chamber orchestra in Norway. It has become well-known as a modern and versatile ensemble of high international standard. The orchestra gives weekly concerts in Tromsø, and the musicians also serve regularly as a part of the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, through the organisation NOSO AS. They appear with some of the most sought after soloists and artistic leaders from all over the world. Musically their range is from chamber ensembles and chamber orchestra to bigger symphonic productions. In addition to this, the orchestra has a high reputation in crossover repertory, through several co-productions with some of Norway's most in demand pop and jazz artists.
2nd August 2012
***
“Högberg's concerto is a jokey, hyperactive affair that demands an unexpected agility from its double-bass soloist, Dan Styffe, while the performances of the other works generally favour assertiveness and vigour over refinement...the Mahlerian influences on Webern's miniatures emerge much more strongly than usual.”
November 2012
“this is a release whose perspective on the Tromso Chamber Orchestra is both enlightening and impressive.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
