The Lustful Mother's Heart

for solo viola

Outi Tarkiainen

2020

Tarkiainen writes: The Lustful Mother’s Heart is a solo work that plumbs the depths of one of the most fundamental human instincts – the tie between a mother and her new-born child that, as day follows day, becomes less part of its mother’s body. The work develops themes from my song cycle The Lustful Mother in which long solo viola passages strike to the very heart of down-to-earth, natural womanhood. The Lustful Mother’s Heart was born at a very special moment in my life when my second child was spending his first weeks in this world. The viola song kept company with us night and day, dark and deep-rooted, at times broadening out into a hymn, weaving into our fate as through a dream. The Lustful Mother’s Heart is dedicated to violist Ellen Nisbeth, who also commissioned it..

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World premiere: February 14 2020, Konserthuset Stockholm Sweden

Viola
for viola and electric guitar
Susanna Risberg

2020

Ellen Nisbeth viola, Susanna Risberg electric guitar

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World premiere February 14 2020 Konserthuset Stockholm

Ur ÆDNAN

Viola Concerto - Concerto for Viola, Yoiking Voice and Orchestra

Andrea Tarrodi

2020

Ellen Nisbeth viola

Maxida Märak yoiking voice

Rolf Gupta conductor

Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra

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World premiere: February 6 2020 Helsingborg Concert house Sweden

Ur ÆDNAN Solo Cadenza

for solo viola and tape

Andrea Tarrodi

2020

World premiere: 14 February 2020 Konserthuset Stockholm Sweden

Tales of Lost Times

for solo viola

Katarina Leyman

2017

Comissioned by the European Concert Hall Organisation for the Rising Star tour

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World premiere: Müpa Concert hall Budapest 2017
German premiere: Elbphilharmonie 2018
Dutch premiere: Concertgebouw 2017

Premiere in France: Cité de la Musique 2018

Premiere in Belgium: BOZAR Brussels 2018

Premiere in Luxemburg: Luxembourg Philharmonic 2018

Premiere in Great Britain: London Barbican 2018
Premiere in Portugal: Lisbon, Gulbenkian hall 2018

Premiere in Sweden: Konserthuset Stockholm 2018
Premiere in Spain: L'Auditori Barcelona 2018

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A Walk After Dark
Viola Concerto
Britta Byström

2014

Britta Byström writes: Just before A Walk After Dark, I wrote a solo piece for viola called Dream Day – a Sigmund Freud term referring to the day prior to a dream, from which the dream collects its material. The concerto thus became "the dream", a journey away from everyday life, where disparate elements meet in a logic of its own. It is written in six movements, with small "bridges" in between. The soloist – the "dreamer" – leads the music in the movements, while the orchestra takes command in the "bridges" and moves the soloist to a new stage of dreaming.

I have used a West-african melody, often played on the string instrument n'goni, in the "bridges". In the movements, there are references to the Swedish composer Anders Eliasson, who passed away 2013. There are also traces of a Swedish hymn, "Bereden väg for Herran" ("Prepare the Way, O Zion!"), which I discovered resembled the n'goni-melody. The piece is dedicated to the memory of Anders Eliasson.

Comissioned by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

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Ellen Nisbeth viola

Daniel Blendulf conductor

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

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World premiere: Berwaldhallen Stockholm 2014
German premiere: 6th Brandenburg Biennale Da-capo Price, Brandenburg 2016

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Dream-Day

for solo viola

Britta Byström

2013

World premiere: Rauma Festivo Finland 2013 

Swedish premiere: Olofström 2014
Norwegian premiere: Tromsoe 2016

Tenebrae

Viola Concerto

Arne Nordheim

2013

Comissioned by Arne Nordheim Senteret

Ellen Nisbeth viola

Thomas Rimul conductor

Ensemble Ernst

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Version for viola, world premiere: Oslo Norway 2013 

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