|
|
26 October 2011
For the Sleeping with Sara Munters
Tonight Jörgen Dafgård's For the Sleeping – Dream Sonata for viola and electronics is played live at club Ambush in Stockholm, with Sara Munters on viola. Earlier this year Sara Munters also performed For the Sleeping on a concert at the Royal College of Music in February, as well as on her graduation concert at Edsberg on May 25. For the Sleeping has now been performed on at least eleven concerts i Sweden, and has also recently been in demand by for example Scottish and Norwegian musicians.
9 October 2011 Mahler Revisited back on Composer's Radio
9 August 2011 Esprit – new work for 11 instruments completed
Esprit, the commission from The Nordic Chamber Ensemble, is now completed. The work has a duration of around 24 minutes and contains fast music throughout. It is written in one movement but is structured in several continuous but contrasting sections and can formally be described as a sinfonietta. There is a dramaturgical thread running through the whole work. It starts playfully, but gradually the course of events gets more and more adventurous and filled with excitement and drama, to finally reach a euforic ending. The rhytmic and gestural movement is a key element in the work and has on the whole a lively and impulsive character which supports both the playfulness and the thrill. Esprit will be premiered by The Nordic Chamber Ensemble later this season (no details are known yet). The work will be published by Gehrmans.
More music by Jörgen Dafgård on Composer' Radio
Jörgen Dafgård's Mahler Revisited, which has newly been released on CD in a recording with The Peärls Before Swïne Experience, can now be heard on Composer's Radio, which is The Society of Swedish Composers' web radio.
At the end of May the CD recording of Jörgen Dafgård's String Quartet I by The Aniara Quartet was also once again broadcasted by Composer's Radio. Henrik Frendin's CD recording of Dafgård's For the Sleeping - Dream Sonata for viola and electronics has also recently been broadcasted by Composer's Radio .
19 May 2011
Mahler Revisited on CD
Jörgen Dafgård's composition Mahler Revisited from 2010 is now available on CD in a recording with the well-renowned ensemble The Peärls Before Swïne Experience. "Communication - Perspectives 2002 - 10" is the title of the CD which is published by Chamber Sound and features music by different composers. Mahler Revisited was commissioned by the leading Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter and is a free recomposition of material from the second movement from Gustav Mahler's fifth symphony.
16 May 2011
Through Fire and Water – new score published by Gehrmans
The score to Jörgen Dafgård's well-received work Through Fire and Water for large orchestra is now available through the publisher Gehrmans. It is an optimized score with carefully designed notation and good readability. It has also been updated somewhat in connection with the first performance.
6 April 2011
Through Fire and Water on Swedish Radio P2 and more
The concert featuring the first performance of Jörgen Dafgård's Through Fire and Water for large orchestra can be heard in its entirety on Swedish Radio P2 on Thursday April 7, at 7:30 p.m. Through Fire and Water, which comes as the third work in the concert, will be heard around 50 minutes into the broadcasting.
On the same day at 10:48 a.m. P2 is also airing Jörgen Dafgård's String Quartet I, as it sound in a recording with the Aniara Quartet released on CD.
After the broadcastings the programs can be listened to again for a month on Swedish Radio's web radio. They can be found in "Sändningsarkiv" under P2 Live Klassiskt and Klassisk Förmiddag on the P2 section of Swedish Radio's homepage.
String Quartet I can also be heard on the Society of Swedish Composers' web radio Composer's Radio, as the starting work of this year's first new show. One of last year's shows also featured Henrik Frendin's CD recording of Jörgen Dafgård's For the Sleeping - Dream Sonata for viola and pre-recorded part.
20 February 2011
"New Smash Hit for Jörgen Dafgård"
Praise after the first performance of Through Fire and Water
On Thursday February 17 Malmö Symphony Orchestra premiered Jörgen Dafgårds newly written Through Fire and Water for large orchestra under the direction of Daniel Raiskin. The premiere was very successful and led to much positive response from the audience, from the musicians and from the press.
"New Smash Hit from Jörgen Dafgård" was the headline on Lars-Erik Larsson's review in Skånska Dagbladet, where he writes: "It is a work with a clear and interresting melodic writing, intelligently cultivated with a clear line and skilful if heavy orchestration. From the impressionism in Mosaïque Vibrante Jörgen Dafgård has now travelled towards a forceful expressionism that almost takes the breath out of the listener. Like many of Jörgen Dafgård's earlier compositions Through Fire and Water will with all probability take place on the standard repertoire of contemporary Swedish orchestral music."
"Yesterday I don't think anybody was disappointed… This was absolutely no one-off work." Ulf R Johansson writes in Kvällsposten under the headline "Dafgård's successful baptism". "Promising, not least because Dafgård works with the orchestra, not against it" Matti Edén writes in Sydsvenskan. "Through Fire and Water is yet another work that whets the appetite" Johanna Paulsson from Dagens Nyheter writes in her review "Ordeal Whets the Appetite". More extensive excerpts from the reviews can be found among the concert reviews under the heading Press.
14 February 2011
Through Fire and Water soon to be premiered
Jörgen Dafgård's new work Through Fire and Water for large orchestra will be premiered by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Raiskin on Thursday, February 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the Malmö Concert Hall. The concert will be recorded by the Swedish Radio for broadcasting on P2 at a later occasion.
Jörgen Dafgård has here been working a lot with musical characterization and the work can be described as a story about development. The optimistic theme that the clarinet presents rather early has a lot of energy but also something naive about it. It is put to a serious test in a section that depicts the title word Fire, but after having come in contact with a complementary element – Water – it finds its way back and is born again with greater maturity and assurance. This constitutes a musical storyline that probably most people can relate to.
The title also alludes to the antique theory that the world is constructed from four elements: earth, air, fire and water. The developmental process that is depicted in the work can be likened to the process of refinement that the alchemists strived for (in their quest for gold) and where the four fundamental elements of antiquity have important roles.
7 October 2010 Veils to be performed again at Berwaldhallen on October 14 and 15 2010
Jörgen Dafgård's prize-winning work Veils (Slöjor) will be performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Xian Zhang at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm on Thursday, October 14, at 6:00 p.m. and on Friday, October 15, at 7:30 p.m. The program also includes Beethoven's Piano Concerto Nr 3 and with Lars Vogt and Elgar's Enigma Variations. The concert on Friday will be broadcast live on Swedish Radio P2 and can be heard again on P2 on Sunday, October 24, at 9:30 p.m.
Veils has been played before at Berwaldhallen, on April 7 and 8 2000, when the work had its first performance as the winning contribution in the composition competition of the Swedish Radio and Berwaldhallen. The first performance was broadcast in many countries around the world. In 2003. several millions of readio listeners could hear Veils broadcast by the British Classic FM and the American NPR, when Veils among a thousand contributions reached the top ten in the world's leading composition competition Masterprize.
SInce its first performance Veils has been played a lot by leading Swedish orchestras, most recently at two concerts in May 2008 by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Sakari Oramo. At Berwaldhallen Veils will now have its eighth and ninth concert performance. After the concert on Thursday there will be a release party in the foyer of Berwaldhallen for a CD with music from the series of remixes of classical masterpieces recently published on leading Swedish news site dn.se, to which Jörgen Dafgård has contributed withMahler Revisited, a recomposition of the second movement from Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony, performed by the quartet The Peärls Before Swine Experience.
1 July 2010
Mahler Revisited on dn.se and YouTube
Jörgen Dafgård's new piece Mahler Revisited, a "remix" of the second movement from Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony is now published on leading Swedish news site dn.se as well as on YouTube. The quartet performing Dafgård's free adaptation of the Mahler movement is the well renowned The peärls before swine experience. Welcome to listen to the recording, read the interview (in Swedish) and write a comment on dn.se! You can of course also listen and comment on YouTube.
The recording is made in CoMA's studio in Växjö by Mattias Petersson and Martin Jonsson-Tibblin and will be released on a CD published by CoMA (shortly before the sad termination of their activities due to lack of subsidiaries).
1 July 2010
My Garden – Like the Beach on Swedish Radio P2
On Saturday, July 10, at 3.49 p.m. Swedish Radio P2 will broadcast Jörgen Dafgård's My Garden – Like the Beach in a recording from a concert in the radio building in Stockholm with the Mikaeli Chamber Choir under the direction of Anders Eby. The program can be heard here until August 9.
1 June 2010
Through Fire and Water to be premiered with MSO
Malmö Symphony Orchestra has just released their general program for the next season. Jörgen Dafgård's new work Through Fire and Water for large orchestra will be premiered on February 17 2011. It will be conducted by Daniel Raiskin, who made a fine interpretation of Dafgård's Mosaïque Vibrante with MSO in February this year. There is a midi simulation of Through Fire and Water here to the left. Through Fire and Water will be published by Gehrmans.
29 March 2010
Veils on Swedish Radio P2
Today Jörgen Dafgård's prize-winning work Veils for orchestra can be heard on Swedish Radio P2. It is the recording from the first performance in 2000 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Manfred Honeck that is broadcast around 11 a.m. in Klassisk förmiddag. The emission can be heard for a month on the program's home page.
17 March 2010
Malmö Chamber Orchestra performs Volo
Jörgen Dafgård's Volo for string orchestra will be performed by the Malmö Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Einarsson on Tuesday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. at Palladium. This will be the fifth performance of Volo since the premiere with Musica Vitae in Autumn 2004, but it will also be the premiere of the revised version of the work which has recently been published on Edition Suecia. In addition to Volo there is among other works on the varied program of the evening a first performance by Peter Bjuhr where also the ContemporarY Ensemble performs.
16 February 2010
Successful new premiere
The Malmö Symphony Orchestra made a committed performance of Jörgen Dafgård's Mosaïque Vibrante under the direction of Daniel Raiskin on Thursday, February 11, at the concert hall, and the audience gave the work a warm and enthusiastic reception. Nothing but praise came from musicians as well as from composers and others in the audience after the concert, and the press was also positive. "It was extremely enjoyable: a refined sparse tone language with a certain Gallic-impressionistic touch and a distinct thread throughout the entire composition", Lars-Erik Larsson wrote among other things in his review in Skånska Dagbladet.
12 February 2010
For the Sleeping on Composer's Radio
From today on Jörgen Dafgård's For the Sleeping - Dream Sonata for viola and tape can be heard in its entire length on the Society of Swedish Composers' web radio channel Composer's Radio. The recording with Henrik Frendin is from on the CD Viola con forza(Phono Suecia PSCD 151) which was nominated for a Grammis (the Swedish Grammy award) in 2004.
29 January 2010 Mosaïque Vibrante with MSO
Jörgen Dafgård's Mosaïque Vibrante will be performed by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Raiskin on Thursday, February 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Malmö Concert Hall. This will be the premiere of a revised version of Mosaïque Vibrante. The concert starts with Tchaikovsky's symphonic ballad Vojevoden, after which the world pianist Sergio Tiempo performs with the orchestra in Rachmaninov's Rhapsody over a theme by Paganini. Dafgård's Mosaïque Vibrante is played after the break and is followed by Stravinsky's long suite compiled in 1945 from The Firebird.
29 January 2010Program change
According to the season program, Jörgen Dafgård's new work for large orchestra Through Fire and Water should have been premiered on February 11 by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. However, in order to save money, the financially troubled orchestra will instead give a concert with works for a somewhat smaller orchestra this night. In the program for February 11 MSO has replaced their commissioned work Through Fire and Water, which was completed some time ago, with Jörgen Dafgård's Mosaïque Vibrante. Through Fire and Water will be premiered by MSO on a later occasion.
6 November 2009Essay on Volo in Nutida Musik
In the latest issue of the periodical Nutida Musik Jörgen Dafgård tells about how Volo came into being in his essay "Flyktförsök. Om den kreativa processen bakom Volo". Dafgård tells personally about the creative process behind Volo from idea to performance and analyses at the same time the work's formal development seen as a dynamic interplay of forces.
Volo published on Edition Suecia
Jörgen Dafgård's Volo for string orchestra is now available in a new revised edition on Edition Suecia. The score is the first to be given the publisher's new semi-transparent cover. The both playfully and wildly rhythmical work got good reviews throughout and was very appreciated during the tour that the commissioner Musica Vitae made in connection with the first performance in Autumn 2004.
7 April 2009
New work for orchestra completed
A new work for large orchestra by Jörgen Dafgård titled Through Fire and Water is now completed. The work, which has a duration of thirteen minutes, was presented at the beginning of February for the commissioner Malmö Symphony Orchestra, who intends to perform it for the first time at the beginning of next year. If you want to know how it sounds, you can already listen to a computer-simulated version here to the left under the heading Listen. Through Fire and Water will be published by Gehrmans.
31 March 2009
Revision of Volo completed
Shortly Volo for string orchestra will be published by Edition Suecia. Before the publication the work has gone through a thorough revision. The notation has been improved, some completing indications have been added and some passages have been reworked for practical reasons or to create better transitions. The revision is based on experiences during rehearsals and concert performances of the work. Moreover, especially the transitions have been overlooked in order to work out certain original compositional ideas in a more full-bodied way.
11 March 2009
New work for orchestra arouses interest in Germany
A new work for large orchestra by Jörgen Dafgård titled Ad Astra was completed in a first version at the beginning of January. The six minutes long raw version was sent in to a composition competition preceding Pyromusikale, a large festival with music accompanying fireworks at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin on 9-11 July. According to the jury's chairman Achim Schwarze a large number of highly qualified contributions from all around the world had been sent in to the competition. In a letter to the composer he tells that Ad Astra has reached a good place in the competition, sends an invitation and free tickets to the festival and hopes that the composer will participate in the next competition. Even if Ad Astra wasn't among the three winning contributions, Dafgård is satisfied with the result, especially when keeping in mind that, since January, a lot of details in the instrumentation and dynamics of the piece has been added. Ad Astra can be seen as an offshoot of the larger work Through Fire and Water, which is commissioned by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. More about the latter shortly.
23 February 2009
New homepage
Welcome to my new homepage! As before, the web design is made by my daughter Emilie. Here you can find sound clips, work notes, reviews and a lot more. If you want to know more you are very welcome to get in touch by e-mail or phone!
Jörgen Dafgård
20 November 2008
New bagatelle for piano premiered
During the publisher Gehrmans' Autumn Concert on 19 November at Forum in Stockholm, the pianist Niklas Sivelöv premiered Jörgen Dafgård's newly written Bagatell for piano. The short piece was part of a longer joint composition to which many of Gehrmans' composers had contributed. As usual the Autumn Concert was followed by a party where many well-known profiles from the Swedish music scene were present. At the same event in 2008 the conductor Aders Eby led the Mikaeli Chamber Choir in Jörgen Dafgård's My Garden - Like the Beach.
28 October 2008
Inspirational meeting with the Nordic Chamber Ensamble
On October the 28th Jörgen Dafgård met the Nordic Chamber Ensemble to discuss the new commission. Starting from music examples played by the composer and the ensemble, the discussion concerned form, expression and practical conditions. The new work will be around twenty minutes long and have its first performance in 2010.
15 September 2008
Veils with Oramo and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Reviews (in Swedish) from the performances of Jörgen Dafgård's Veils by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Sakari Oramo in May can now be found among the concert reviews under the heading Press. Veils was throughout very well received by press and audience alike. Musicians, conductors, composers and others expressed themselves very enthusiastically about the work after the concerts.
12 May 2008
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra performs Veils on the 15th and 17th of May 2008
Soon it is time for the new Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo to conduct the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in two performances of Jörgen Dafgård's Veils. The performances take place at the Stockholm Concert Hall on Thursday the 15th of May at 19.30 and on Saturday the 17th of May at 15.00. Both concerts end with Sheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. Before the intermission violinist Lisa Batiashvili is featured as soloist, on the 15th May in Magnus Lindberg's Violin Concerto and on the 17th May with Lawrence Power in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra. With these concerts Veils gets it's sixth and seventh concert performance.
28 April 2008
New commission
The Nordic Chamber Orchestra in Sundsvall has received a larger amount from the Swedish Arts Council to commission a new work from Jörgen Dafgård. The work will be written for the Nordic Chamber Ensemble, who plans to perform it in 2010 and possibly tour with it on the Swedish west coast and in Denmark.
28 January 2008
Volo to be published by Edition Suecia
Jörgen Dafgård's Volo for string orchestra will be published by Edition Suecia. The decision was made at the meeting of the publishing committee on 14 December. Volo was written in 2004 as a commission from the string orchestra Musica Vitae and was well received by audience and critics alike during the orchestra's tour in November the same year.
21 January 2008
Sinfonia No 1 published by Gehrmans
The music publisher Gehrmans has now published Jörgen Dafgård's Sinfonia No 1. Gehrmans has previously published Veils for orchestra and My Garden – Like the Beach for mixed choir a cappella by Dafgård. Sinfonia No 1 was first performed in Sundsvall on October 2004 by the Nordic Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Christian Lindberg.
14 January 2008
My Garden – Like the Beach and Veils in Swedish Radio P2
On Saturday 12 January 15.49pm Swedish Radio P2 broadcast Jörgen Dafgård's My Garden – Like the Beach in a recording from a concert in the radio building in Stockholm with the Mikaeli Chamber Choir under the direction of Anders Eby. The program can be heard here until 11 February.
On Thursday 23 August 10.03am Swedish Radio P2 broadcast Jörgen Dafgård's Veils in a recording from a concert at the Berwald Hall in Stockholm with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Manfred Honeck. More information about the program here.
26 August 2007
New étude for choir to be premiered at the Nordic Music Days
In February this year all Nordic composers were invited to compose short études for girls choir. Jörgen Dafgård´s newly written Fortuna is one of the five contributions which has now been chosen for a workshop with the Adolf Fredrik´s Girls Choir and their leader Bosse Johansson. The workshop, with the headline Youth Choir Unlimited, will take place during the Nordic Music Days in Norrköping, Sweden, on Thursday August 30 between 13.30 and 17.00 in Viran, Louis de Geer Concert and Congress. The aim of the workshop is to broaden the choir´s venues for expression and to find new collaborative ventures with composers. Moderator is the composer Karin Rehnqvist.
14 May 2007
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra to perform Veils twice in 2008
New Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo will conduct the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in two performances of Jörgen Dafgård's Veils on the 15th and 17th of May 2008 at the Stockholm Concert Hall. Both concerts will end with Sheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. Before the intermission violinist Lisa Batiashvili is featured as soloist, on the 15th May in Magnus Lindberg's Violin Concerto and on the 17th May with Lawrence Power in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra. With the concerts in May 2008 Veils will be given it's sixth and seventh concert performance .
14 May 2007
Eighth performance of For the Sleeping – Dream Sonata soon
On Tuesday the fifth of June the Romanian viola player Elena Urdea will perform Jörgen Dafgård's For the Sleeping – Dream Sonata for viola and tape at a concert starting at 19.30 in Lilla Salen at the Malmö Academy of Music. This will be the eighth time For the Sleeping is played live at a concert. For the Sleeping has previously been performed many times by, among others, Henrik Frendin, who has also recorded the work on CD for Phono Suecia.
21 April 2007
The homepage is now redesigned. Moreover a collection of reviews is now available under Press.
25 February 2007
An agreement with the music publisher Gehrmans has now been reached concerning publication of Jörgen Dafgård's Sinfonia No 1. Gehrmans is also since earlier the publisher of Dafgård's My Garden – Like the Beach for mixed choir a capella and Veils for orchestra. Sinfonia No 1 was first performed in Sundsvall in October 2004 by the Nordic Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Christian Lindberg.
17 January 2007
Music by Jörgen Dafgård in German and Swedish radio
Monday 22 January 8.05-10.00pm Radio Bremen Nordwestradio will send a program about string quartets, where the CD recording by the Aniara Quartet of String Quartet I by Jörgen Dafgård is one of the features. The program is part of the series Musica Nova, which is dealing with contemporary art music. More information about the program here. Saturday 3 February 3.00-4.20pm Swedish Radio P2 will broadcast My Garden – Like the Beach by Jörgen Dafgård in a recording from a concert on the theme of love given by Mikaeli Chamber Choir under the direction of Anders Eby. The concert took place in the radio building in Stockholm on the14th of October 2006. More information about the program here. Mikaeli Chamber Choir and Anders Eby also performed My Garden – Like the Beach during the music publisher Gehrmans annual autumn concert in the Church of Adolf Fredrik in Stockholm on the 29th of November. The next day you could once again hear My Garden – Like the Beach, this time in an interpretation by Musikhögskolans Vokalensemble under the direction of Bernard Schmidt during a concert at the Royal College of Music.
|
|
|
