Ellen Ugelvik - Just for You (2019)

The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the violinist Ingerine Dahl, the pianist Ellen Ugelvik and the master conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen exude and sparkle in this release with solo concerts by Jan Erik Mikalsen - new concerts that allow both orchestra and soloists to fiddle with.

violin Concerto
At the beginning of the play, the strings of the orchestra grow imperceptibly around the violin voice's long, light tone, before the first of a series of large, swelling sound blocks in the orchestra strides in. The interplay between these two elements - a sleek, shiny violin tone and a dense primeval forest of an orchestra that exudes and outright shadows for the soloist, is the main architecture of the work. The violin voice works in long, light central tones with small variations at the start or end, open intervals and a consistently high pitch. This helps the violin voice to remain unaffected by everything going on around it. Violinist Ingerine Dahl and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra commissioned the violin concerto from Mikalsen, performed for the first time in 2017.

Liberace - Just for You
As a young man, Liberace (1919-1987) was a promising classical pianist, eventually developing what he called 'classical music without the drilling party' as the basis for a long show career. Mikalsen's piano concerto 'Just for You' addresses the special mention that this iconic artist has received, with the term titles Introduction, Birth, Liberace & Mom and Scott - the latter's unofficial partner for a few years. In the opening, the pianist plays exclusively with his left hand. There are a number of left-hand concerts in the classical piano literature, and in Mikalsen's case, the grip is also a greeting to 'the slice'. The concert was commissioned by Ellen Ugelvik and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and was premiered during the Ultima Festival 2017.

Strong artists
Jan Erik Mikalsen has been performed at festivals such as Presencés, Huddersfield Contemporary, Ultima, Pablo Casals festival and others. In 2017 he released the album 'SAAN', with three major orchestral works performed by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Broadcasting Orchestra and the soloists POING. Ingerine Dahl (alt. 2nd Concertmaster SSO) has been a soloist with several orchestras at home and abroad and is often immersed in repertoire from all eras. In the 2019 season, she is a soloist in the Solitude performance organized by DNKO and Sentralen UNG. Ellen Ugelvik has won the Spellemann Prize three times and was named the Norwegian Composer Association's Player of the Year in 2016. This season she will perform piano concerts by Kristine Tjøgersen and Therese Birkelund Ulvo with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Trondheim Sinfonietta / BIT 20 Ensemble. Highlights of Eivind Gullberg Jensen's 2019/20 season include Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex with Finnish National Opera, Puccini's Tosca with Opera Rouen, and his debut with Minnesota, Odense Symphony and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. Stavanger Symphony Orchestra is one of Scandinavia's most successful orchestras and has in recent years had a significant artistic development and large audience growth. The orchestra has made a number of recordings and been touring in eg. a. Japan, USA, Germany, Russia, Finland and the Netherlands. SSO was nominated for Spellemann 2018 for Gisle Kverndock's Symphonic Dances and won two Hedda Awards for The Mute in 2019.

Tracklist:

01. Violin Concerto: I Movement, Lontano
02. Violin Concerto: II Movement, Cadenza
03. Violin Concerto: III Movement, Lontano
04. Violin Concerto: IV Movement, Tenebre
05. Just for You: I Introduction, Affettuoso
06. Just for You: II Birth, Lontano
07. Just for You: III Liberace and Mom, Misterioso
08. Just for You: IV Scott, Largamente