Orkesterdialogar, Knut Vaage - Study Score

KNUT VAAGE: Orkesterdialogar

KNUT VAAGE: Orkesterdialogar (Orchestra Dialogues) Dialogue and collaboration is a fundamental theme in «Orchestra Dialogues». The focus on dialogue manifests itself in a desire to create various forms of binding collaborations between the forces involved; it also manifests itself in the shaping of the music. In the course of the work, brief dialogues arise between the soloists and between different groups within the orchestra. Concise ideas and delimited harmonic and rhythmic material change under various influences throughout the piece, yet there are elements of that material recognizable to an active listener.

The work is dedicated to conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen on whose initiative I composed «Orchestra Dialogues», with a view to programming it with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in April 2018. After two concerts in Stavanger, the work returns «home» to the Stord arts centre near the place where we both grew up.

Eivind and I have collaborated on performances of my music with various orchestra in and outside Norway. After several years of working together, a mutual wish arose to collaborate on a new work, with a close dialogue between the two of us throughout all phases of the creative process. Our dialogue focused on how to develop ideal methods of musical notation, bearing in mind the short rehearsal time available: how to achieve optimal effect with greatest economy of means.

Our dialogue went beyond purely practical matters to embrace aesthetics and style. We examined selected works from the orchestral canon, considering them in the context of tradition, discussing how to nurture a distinct, personal idiom in a new work. I have not used any direct quotes while working on the score, but tried to find underlying ideas (for example in the works of Sibelius) to influence the process, in order that a dialogue with tradition could become a part of the whole.

«Orchestra Dialogues» was commissioned by Norsk Musikforlag and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra with financial support from Arts Council Norway.

KNUT VAAGE: Orkesterdialogar: Conductors score and orchestral material available on hire.