Alfvén: Festival Overture Op. 26

The Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces is one of the most highly regarded military orchestras on the international scene. On this new album entilted “A Tribute to the Northern Winds” the band performs a collection of pieces by Scandinavian composers. It includes a trumpet concerto by Jukka Linkola which features the critically-acclaimed young soloist Tine Thing Helseth, as well as music by Sallinen, Hovland, Alfvén, Thommessen, and Schmidt.

In recent years the trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth has become one of the most sought after instrumental soloists in Europe, following her previous CDs for Simax, and . This winter she gave her debut recital in Carnegie Hall. On this new album she joins the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces in a performance of the Trumpet Concerto No. 2 by composer and jazz pianist Jukka Linkola. The music is playful and virtuosic, and is strongly influenced by the blues.

Renowned Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen incorporates his nation’s passion for the tango in a piece entitled ‘The Palace Rhapsody’. ‘Stabsarabesque’ was written for the Staff Band in 1974 by Norwegian composer Olav Anton Thommessen and has become one of his breakthrough pieces. Egil Hovland was also born in Norway and his ‘Fanfare and Choral’ is well known both in the version for symphony orchestra and in this original version for wind band. Hugo Alfvén is one of the most influential Swedish composers, and his Festival Overture is an elegant and heartfelt declaration of his love for the folk music of his homeland. Olé Schmidt was born in Denmark and is best-known for his work as a conductor. His ‘Homage à Stravinsky’ is a short three-movement piece written in 1985.

"I suspect that it is very possible for an uninspired orchestra to make this work sound boring, and am glad to report that the Royal Scottish National plays it with much musical conviction. I shall like to hear this played by a Swedish team, but for now, this Naxos album is a revelatory encounter for me, and I'm sure it will be for anyone interested in the music of Scandinavia, circa the time of Sibelius. Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, the sound is very truthful, capturing many details among the winds, giving due prominence to the combined brass sections and laying the heavy drums in its rightful place in the whole picture. I eagerly await Volume 2."

The Flying Inkpot