BIS Records have released a new album of orchestral works by Sebastian Fagerlund currently Composer in Residence with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded by Tapiola Sinfonietta with conductor John Storgårds, the album features Fagerlund’s new flute concerto with Sharon Bezaly, and two other orchestral works.
Terral concerto for flute and orchestra is dedicated to flutist Sharon Bezaly. It was commissioned by the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Sharon Bezaly, and premiered in September 2021 in Espoo, Finland.
“The word ’Terral’ brings to mind the earth and ground, but it’s also the name for the warm desert wind that occurs in southern Europe,” Fagerlund says. “The name came to mind along with the shaping of the work’s sound world. I thought of the material’s imagery, in which the soil or sand reveals new surfaces in the wind. It’s about constant change.”
Strings to the Bone for string orchestra is an intense and virtuosic work, where the music moves between minimalistic movement and large expressive sound worlds. “I have been very inspired by the sound and intense playing of the Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra and although the work does not contain direct references to folk music, the region of the orchestra and also my own relationship with folk music have influenced some of the musical events.”, says Fagerlund.
The work was commissioned by Ostrobothnian Chamber orchestra and premiered in February 2016 by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo.
Chamber Symphony, commissioned by Tapiola Sinfonietta and the NAC Orchestra, was premiered in March 2022 with Tapiola Sinfonietta conducted by John Storgårds.
In this composition, Fagerlund is interested in a slow, almost imperceptible transformation, whereby the music begins to grow out of its stillstand into new relationships between the fundamental materials - in the composer's words, "like musical components floating and rearranging themselves in a new order." It seems like each movement reaches deeper into the world of the work, as if the inner essence of the music could be seen more closely.
