Per Norgard:
Between — Cello Concerto No. 1
Remembering Child - Viola Concerto No. 1 (adapted for the cello by Jakob Kullberg)

Kaija Saariaho:
Notes on Light

On Remembering, the Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg continues his collaborations with two of the foremost Nordic composers: Per Norgard and Kaija Saariaho. Praised internationally for his performances of the modern cello concerto, Kullberg regards the concerto form as the encounter of an individual soloist with the sound world of a composer. With living composers this approach often results in an unusual degree of collaboration, as the works gathered here bear witness to. Since 1999, Kullberg has enjoyed a close and unique partnership with Norgard which has resulted in a large number of works.

Between, the opening work on the disc, hails from a time before this, but Norgard’s viola concerto Remembering Child in its version for the cello is very much an example of Kullberg’s process. He has not only transferred the concerto to his own instruments, but has also – in consultation with the composer – written his own cadenza as well as added details to the score. Likewise, at a climactic point exactly halfway through Saariaho’s concerto Notes on Light, Kullberg creates an expressive space of his own, with a two-minute cadenza he has composed himself. In this work, as well as in Norgard’s Between, Kullberg is supported by the BBC Philharmonic, with Sinfonia Varsovia appearing in the closing concerto.

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Recordings: Philharmonic Studio, MediaCityUK, England, 17.12.2015 (Between), 06.11.2016 (Notes on Light); Lutosławski Concert Studio, Warsaw, Poland, 01.09.2015. Cello: the 2012 Michael Stuerzenhofecker cello named ‘Kaija’ after composer Kaija Saariaho.