A Desperate Light: Orchestral Works by Gisle Kverndokk Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera, Peter Szilvay & Aage Richard Meyer

• Gisle Kverndokk (b. 1967): Three pictures Suite for Orchestra:
• 1 Kverndokk: Three pictures Suite for Orchestra: I. Rue Lafayette 03:01
• 2 Kverndokk: Three pictures Suite for Orchestra: II. Night in St. Cloud 07:55
• 3 Kverndokk: Three pictures Suite for Orchestra: III. At the roulette table in Monte Carlo 03:07
• Symphonic Suite from "Around the World in 80 Days":
• 4 Kverndokk: Symphonic Suite from "Around the World in 80 Days": I. London - Phileas starts his journey around the world 06:16
• 5 Kverndokk: Symphonic Suite from "Around the World in 80 Days": II. Paris - Violettas seduction 07:16
• 6 Kverndokk: Symphonic Suite from "Around the World in 80 Days": III. Rome - Toscas death 05:39
• 7 Kverndokk: Symphonic Suite from "Around the World in 80 Days": IV. Suez - Salomes dance 09:21
• 8 Kverndokk: Symphonic Suite from "Around the World in 80 Days": V. Beijing - Phileas Fogg heroically escapes the claws of Turandot 09:14
• 9 Kverndokk: Symphonic Suite from "Around the World in 80 Days": VI. Romance in The Pacific Ocean 07:14
• 10 Kverndokk: Symphonic Suite from "Around the World in 80 Days": VII. Finale, Phileas Foggs victorious return to London 05:13
• A Desperate Light:
• 11 Kverndokk: A Desperate Light 12:27
• Total Runtime 01:16:43

Info for A Desperate Light: Orchestral Works by Gisle Kverndokk

The album Gisle Kverndokk: A Desperate Light with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera, conducted by Peter Szilvay and Aage Richard Meyer presents three of Kverndokk's orchestral works: Three Pictures, Around the World in 80 Days, and A Desperate Light. This album takes the listener on a musical journey and highlights Kverndokk's ability to create colourful, dramatic and evocative orchestral works. The release marks a milestone in Kverndokk's career and is a must for anyone who appreciates new Norwegian classical music.

The piece opens as a cry for help. It is the struggle and despair of being locked up, wings clipped, denied access to life, without knowing when it will all be over. Relations, isolation, the longing to meet others again -- everything we experienced together during the COVID lockdown.

This is a work tailor-made for a choreographer, and once again I am struck by how visually Kverndokk composes, and with what agility.

The source of inspiration here is stated by the composer himself: it is a tribute to Leonard Bernstein, inspired by maestro Bernstein's symphony "The Age of Anxiety".

But what is impressive and fascinating is this: despite the nod to his hero in his themes that touch upon scenes in "West Side Story, such as "Mambo" and "The Rumble", it is Kverndokk through and through, and not Bernstein.

When all is said and done, I would like to quote Stephen Sondheim, who also wrote the lyrics to "West Side Story", and the protagonist of his musical, "Sunday in the Park with George": Finishing the hat, mapping out the sky! That is always what it's about.

The work was written during the pandemic, but it would be inappropriate to associate it with this period, for the dramatic scope of the work is larger than what the lockdown of the country gave us.

The contemplative theme, which is introduced after barely four minutes and which also contains an echo of "Maria" and "Tonight", is a melodic passage you can spend all day with, play over and over, drink wine to, letting your thoughts wander. Linger there, for soon desperation will really cut loose, before fading away and ending with an open question: will the world ever be the same again?

How does an idea originate? In Kverndokk's universe two lines from a poem can give rise to an entire work: Today is that day, the day that carried

A desperate light that since has died ... Pablo Neruda

Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Opera
Peter Szilvay, conductor
Aage Richard Meyer, conductor

Peter Szilvay
began his career as a violist. He spent three years with the Oslo Philharmonic, where he met Mariss Jansons, for whom he served as an assistant conductor for three years. Years as a musician were quickly supplanted by constant demands to conduct. This was followed by a position as assistant conductor in the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra until Szilvay took over as conductor on his own.

Szilvay has conducted orchestras and opera in Norway and abroad. In his home country, he has led the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, The Norwegian Opera, The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) and all the military wind-bands.

He has also worked with the sinfoniettas of Oslo, Trondheim, BIT20 Bergen, as well as the Arctic Sinfonietta and the Bodø Sinfonietta. Szilvay has conducted productions at the Norwegian Opera Ballet and Opera South.

Internationally, he has conducted the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia, the Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Umeå, and Malmø symphony orchestras in Sweden, the radio orchestra in Paris, the Royal Danish Orchestra, and at the opera in Würzburg, Germany.

Early in his career, he made an impressive contribution to contemporary music and performed more than 150 original works with the best ensembles at home and abroad. However, his interest in classical and romantic music has grown steadily. Szilvay is passionate about working with singers and puts the art of opera high on his priority list.

Szilvay is a distinguished communicator, and his pretalks at performances set the mood for the crowd. Contact with the public, in Szilvay’s opinion, is one of the most crucial things we can give priority to. It is impossible to stress the importance of attracting audiences and sharing our amazing cultural legacy.

Aage Richard Meyer
(b. 1994) Is one of Norway’s young conducting talents coming from the talent program “Dirigentløftet”. From 2020 to 2022 he served as assistant conductor for the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and their chief conductor Edward Gardner. He was chosen in 2020 as the winner of Dirigentløftet top program “Opptakt” which will see him work with all of Norway’s professional ensembles through 2021-2023.

He has already worked with ensembles such as the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Royal Norwegian Marine Band, Royal Norwegian Army Band, and the Royal Navy Band Bergen. Aage had his international debut in 2018 with the Moravian Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum, Prague.

Aage had his Opera debut at the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in April 2023, conducting Guiseppe Verdi’s “Un Ballo In Maschera”. Previously he has assisted several of Bergen National Opera’s production during his assistantship with the orchestra. In spring 2022 assisted James Gaffigan at the Palau De La Reina Sofia, Valencia in their production of Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck”.

Gisle Kverndokk
studied composition at The Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo and at The Juilliard School in New York City.

He has an extensive production of musical theatre. With librettist Øystein Wiik, he has written 14 musicals and operas performed extensively in Norway, Germany, Austria and the USA. Their first collaboration was “Sophie’s World”, premiered at The Ettlingen Schlossfestspiele in 1998. “Martin L.” (2008) was nominated for The Nordic Council’s Music Prize. The opera “Around the world in 80 days” was commissioned for the opening of the new Opera House in Oslo and premiered there in May 2010. A new version was presented at Landestheater Linz, Austria, in 2016, and won 6 awards at the German Musical Theatre Awards, including Best Musical. The musical “The Name of the Rose” was a big success at The Domstufen Festspiele, Erfurt, in 2019. “Trolle unter uns” was premiered at Luisenburg Festspiele in 2021, and “Fanny und Alexander” was premiered at Landestheater Linz in 2022. “Soga om Sol” was premiered at Opera Nordfjord, Norway, in October -23.

With librettist Ivar Tindberg, Kverndokk wrote the radio opera “Bokken Lasson – stumbling success”, which won the Prix Italia in 2000. Their opera “The fourth Watch of the Night” premiered at The Norwegian National Opera in 2005, and was awarded the Edvard Prize. It was revived in 2012 and was presented at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Finland.

With librettist Aksel-Otto Bull, Kverndokk has written several operas and musicals. The opera “Easter”, premiered in 2014 at Opera Sør in Kristiansand, and in 2017 their church opera “Upon this handful of earth” was premiered at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York. The musical “Letters from Ruth” (2015) has been workshopped in New York and Oslo, and had a semi-staged performance by New York Opera Society in Washington DC in 2017. The world premiere was at Musical Frühling in Gmunden, Austria, in 2023. This production won several awards at The German Musical Theatre Awards, including best composer and best musical.

Kverndokk’s children’s opera “Purriot”, libretto by Bjørn Rørvik, premiered at The Norwegian National Opera in May 2018, and won the Norwegian Critics’ Prize for Music in 2018.

All the major orchestras in Norway have performed his works, among them The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. In the 1999-2000 season he was “Composer of the year” with The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. In 1992 he won The Juilliard Composers Competition, and in 1993 the 1. prize for composers under 30 at the Paris ROSTRUM.

His Harp Concerto was premiered in January 2024, by the National Symphony Orchestra of Maribor, Slovenia, with Ursula Ascic as soloist.

Kverndokk has also written music film, theatre, church music and chamber music. His CD “Fuge der Zeit”, with the vocal ensemble Nordic Voices, was nominated for two Spellemann Awards in 2016. “Symphonic Dances”, written for Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in 2014, was released by SSO Recordings in 2018, to rave reviews, and nominated for Spellemann and Grammy Awards. An album of his songs, “Så kort ein sommar menneska har”, was released in 2021 by LAWO. They released his wind octet “The Silk Road” in 2023.

Kverndokk was awarded “Composer of the Year” at the Norwegian Publishers’ Awards, 2019.

This album contains no booklet.