Henning Kraggerud MUNCH SUITE

Munch Suite is a unique recording from acclaimed violinist Henning Kraggerud being released to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the painter Edvard Munch. It features 15 new solo pieces, every one directly inspired by a specific painting by the great Norwegian artist. Each piece has been written by a different composer, in this case some important figures on the international contemporary music scene including Aaron Jay Kernis, Alissa Firsova and Laurent Petitgirard. The CD is presented in a de-luxe edition box that includes reproductions of each painting depicted in the suite.

The idea to let contemporary composers interpret Edvard Munch's iconic artworks came from the director of the Vestfold International Festival. Violinist Henning Kraggerud immediately saw the artistic potential of the project and the result is a solo suite that reflects the unique position of Munch's work as musical inspiration. The Munch Suite features premiere recordings of 15 pieces specially written by leading contemporary composers including Aaron Jay Kernis, Naji Hakim, Olav Anton Thommessen and Rolf Martinsson. The list includes English composer Peter Seabourne and the British-Russian composer Alissa Firsova, daughter of Elena Firsova.

The work was first heard during the exhibition 'Love's Beach' in 2010 at the Haugar Art Museum near the Åsgårdstrand shores, the place where Munch found motifs for many of his paintings. A small gallery able to accommodate an audience of only 60, each piece was performed in front of 'its own' painting. In connection with the release of the Munch Suite on CD, Kraggerud has developed an exclusive concert performance in which images of the paintings are projected.

ALISSA FIRSOVA Fantasy

Alissa Firsova may be the mature side of 30 but this album radiates youth in all its wonder, complexity and heartening naivety. Any caveats implied by that observation are largely blown away by the ferocity of Firsova’s expression and there are countless moments on this disc where you feel her writing in the white heat of total inspiration.

Many of them come in Bride of the Wind for two pianists, a reflection on the love between Oskar Kokoschka and Alma Mahler that obviously yet transcendentally captures the idea of two souls so wrapped up in one another that their relationship is as fraught, precarious and charged as is its ecstatic. There are many levels on which Firsova harnesses that feeling: one pianist knowingly completing another’s thoughts; one instrument rubbing against the other like a huge, grinding hulk in an act that could almost prove fatal.

Much of the music here is explicitly linked to beautiful experiences in Firsova’s life. In Loss for clarinet quintet, we hear the gargantuan frustration of bliss: the idea that paradise knowingly excludes realities both mundane and horrific. Clarinettist Marc van der Wiel’s playing is hypnotic. In Tennyson Fantasy for string quartet, Firsova uses contradictory elements to temper the music’s gush, though there are moments here when romantic idealism gets the better of her.

Not, however, in the extraordinary passacaglia, which twists itself on to a single F natural and again speaks of the fragility of beautiful things and feelings. Masterly constructed, too, is Eternity for clarinet and piano, an expression of the eternal that Firsova was determined should last no more than two minutes. Ellie Laugharne’s striking delivery in ‘Here in Canisy’ is a little grand for the sense Firsova conveys – surely awestruck rather than striking awe – and it’s hard to discern the words. The Brittenesque augmented fifths and miniature blossoming episodes of this song and ‘Unity’ (for baritone) are highly evocative yet it’s remarkable that, despite using established forms and often rooting her music tonally or modally, no figure looms over Firsova’s shoulder to tell you any of this is received, learnt or overly influenced. A striking composer from whom I look forward to hearing more – especially, I hope it’s not too cynical to say, when life has given her more than the residual tragedy of paradise to reflect upon. (Andrew Mellor / Gramophone)