Rodrigo, Coll & Harden: Guitar Works Jacob Kellermann & Christian Karlsen

• Joaquín Rodrigo (1901 - 1999):
• 1 Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez: I. Allegro con spirito 06:03
• 2 Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez: II. Adagio 11:32
• 3 Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez: III. Allegro gentile 05:07
• 4 Coll: Turia: I. Quarter Note = 82 05:55
• Francisco Coll (b. 1985):
• 5 Coll: Turia: II. Quarter Note = 120 02:13
• 6 Coll: Turia: III. Quarter Note = 52 03:30
• 7 Coll: Turia: IV. Quarter Note = 60 04:35
• 8 Coll: Turia: V. Dotted Quarter Note = 60 02:24
• Manuel de Falla (1876 - 1946):
• 9 Falla: Homenaje (Le tombeau de Debussy) [Version for Guitar] 03:20
• Isaac Albéniz (1860 - 1909):
• 10 Albéniz: Iberia, B. 47, Book 1: No. 1, Evocación (Arr. C. Karlsen for Chamber Ensemble) 06:12
• Pete Harden (b. 1979):
• 11 Harden: Solace & Shimmer 12:25
• Total Runtime 01:03:16

Info for Rodrigo, Coll & Harden: Guitar Works

Inspired by Miles Davis’s legendary album Sketches of Spain, this project intends to conjure up Spain ‘as if through a prism - as a concept rather than a place’. Guitarist Jacob Kellermann and conductor Christian Karlsen worked with hyped young composers Francisco Coll and Pete Harden, who have each contributed a concertante work for guitar and ensemble. With Turia, Coll has returned to his roots – the dried-out river that once flowed through his (and Rodrigo’s) hometown Valencia. He has described it as his most ‘flamenco-colored’ work so far, intended to ‘evoke the light and the respective shadows’ of Spain. Turiais followed by two classics of Spanish music: Manuel de Falla’s Homenaje for solo guitar and Evocaciónby Isaac Albéniz, here in Karlsen’s atmospheric arrangement for ensemble. The last word on the album goes to British composer Pete Harden. His affinity to jazz and non-classical tradition shine through Solace and Shimmer, which is based on the same chords that underpins Rodrigo’s Adagio. Kellermann enjoys strong support by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (in Conciertode Aranjuez) and the seven members of Norrbotten NEO.

The recording of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Swedish guitarist Jakob Kellermamnn and under the direction of the Swedish conductor Christian Karlsen is one of the most interesting that has come out in recent years. This becomes particularly noticeable in the magnificent BIS recording, which perfectly reproduces the transparent orchestral playing. The sound is well balanced, perfectly three-dimensional in width, depth and height. The soloist’s richly ornamented performance is just as striking as the great colourful accents, especially of the woodwinds in the orchestra. The Rodrigo Concerto has definitely not often been heard in such colourful form.

Francisco Coll named his four-movement guitar concerto Turia after the dried-up river that once flowed through his home town of Valencia. In the Pizzicato/ICMA interview he described it as his most flamenco-coloured work to date, which is said to evoke the light and corresponding shadows of Spain: « I discovered flamenco by rebelliousness towards a solfeggio teacher. I instinctively related it to the use of popular music as did Bartok or Ligeti. But I didn’t manage to integrate it into my work until the Four Iberian Miniatures. Then I used it again in my Concerto grosso (2016), which I wrote for the twentieth anniversary of the Casals Quartet with the National Orchestra of Spain. And again, in Turia (2017), for solo guitar and ensemble, perhaps my most flamenco-coloured work, although it is a transfigured flamenco mixed with very different aspects. (…) only in 2017 I have I been able to write a work like Turia in homage to an almost surrealist river, which has no water. You walk through it, it has gardens and even an opera house. Anyway, the work is a tribute to the light of Valencia, like Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida painted it, and that I wanted to capture in my music.»

Turia is an exciting work, very demanding both soloistically and orchestrally, and immediately gripping in its rhetoric. Two atmospheric interpretations of de Falla’s and Albeniz’s pieces lead to Pete Harden’s Solace and Shimmer which the British composer describes as an impressionistic ode to the dry heat of southern Europe. Similarly flickering sounds have been heard in Western film soundtracks describing the vast desert steppes of western America. In any case, Harden’s music is very evocative and kind of a musical film scene. (pizzicato.lu)

Jacob Kellermann, guitar
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Norrbotten NEO
Christian Karlsen, conductor

Jacob Kellermann
(born 1984) has established himself as one of the most active guitarists of his generation. Born in Stockholm, he began his guitar studies at the age of eight.

​Regularly performing in major Swedish venues, he has appeared internationally in venues including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Prinzregententheater and Gasteig Munich, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Seoul Art Center and Brucknerhaus Linz. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras such as Gävle Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), Querétaro Philharmonic Orchestra (Mexiko) and Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra (South Korea). Future engagements during season 20-21 include solo appearances with Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia (Spain) and Israel Contemporary Players.

Equally in demand as a chamber musician, he regularly performs with string players and singers all over Europe and have made critically acclaimed appearances and tours in Germany, France, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, China, Japan and South Korea.

With an extensive repertoire that often features his own transcriptions, he constantly searches for new expressive possibilities for the guitar. Close collaborations with numerous composers including Sofia Gubaidulina, Jose M. Sanchez-Verdu, Francisco Coll, Jersper Nordin and Benjamin Staern has resulted in numerous works and concertos written directly for him. He has premiered new guitar concertos with major Scandinavian new music ensembles BIT20 Bergen and Norrbotten NEO. Jacob Kellermann is also a member and co-founder of the Dutch-based New European Ensemble.

Jacob Kellermann has recorded two critically acclaimed CD:s on BIS records (S. Gubaidulina “Repentance” – 2014 and Schubert Sonatas - 2018). His third album, focusing on Spanish guitar concertos, is to be the released on the same label in the fall 2020, presenting Rodrigos famous Concerto de Aranjuez together with London Philharmonic Orchestra aswell as new concertos dedicated to him.

​Jacob Kellermann has studied in Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany. He received his "Meisterklasse Diplom" under prof. Franz Halasz at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich in 2011. He plays on an instrument by the German luthier Matthias Dammann.

On December 4 his CD from BIS is released.Recorded with London Philharmonic and Christian Karlsen as conductor. Works by Francisco Coll and Pete Harden.

Christian Karlsen
Having begun his career as assistant to Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christian Karlsen has rapidly established himself as one of the most gifted and innovative conductors of his generation.

He has worked with orchestras including the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony, the Hague, Eindhoven, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestras, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He is also a regular visitor to many leading new music ensembles like the ASKO|Schönberg Amsterdam, ICE International Contemporary Ensemble (New York), Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (most recently on their Mexico tour), Norrbotten NEO and BIT20 Bergen. Coming season he is conducting the London Sinfonietta at the Festival Presences in Paris.

Stage work includes Stockhausen MICHAELs REISE at the Netherlands Opera, Djuro Zivkovic’s BOGOLUCHIE at the Bergen Autunnale, Benjamin Staern’s SAIYAH and Kaija Saariaho’s NOX BOREALIS at Norrland Opera and Beat Furrer’s FAMA with ASKO|Schönberg in Amsterdam, as well as concert performances of Schönberg’s ERWARTUNG in Amsterdam and Vienna. He is this year making his debut ta the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Having always been a strong advocate for the music of our time, he has led numerous world premieres and collaborated with leading composers as Kaija Saariaho, Salvatore Sciarrino, Sofia Gubaidulina, Steve Reich, Harrison Birtwistle, Magnus Lindberg, Anders Hillborg, Thomas Adès, Oliver Knussen and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

He was 2015-2017 artistic leader the Hague’s Festival Dag in de Branding (Residentie Orchestra and the Royal Conservatoire) yearly presenting four editions. Highlights included Scenes from Stockhausen’s opera LICHT, Salvatore Sciarrino’s Studi per l’Intonazione del Mare and major works by Edgar Varèse. His multimedia production of Fausto Romitelli’s Professor Bad Trip was selected as one of the 2016 top-5 music events of the year by NRC Handelsblad.

He was artistic director of the New European Ensemble 2008-2014 as well as the 2011 Kaija Saariaho festival in the Hague (with Residentie Orkest, New European Ensemble and the Royal Conservatoire).

In 2018 he founded of Gränslandet – Symfonisk Fest in Stockholm together with pianist David Huang, a festival with classical music for young adults that reached nearly 6000 visitors in its first edition in 2018.

He studied at the Royal Conservatoire the Hague.

Booklet for Rodrigo, Coll & Harden: Guitar Works