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Bernt Kasberg Evensen - Sonata op. 7 for piano
(b. Tønsberg, 2. February 1944)
First performance: Munch Museum (Oslo) March 1967 Jarle Sørå, piano
Score engraved by Rune Boutroue Bekkhus
Bernt Kasberg Evensen is essentially self-taught as a composer.
He has travelled widely and has lived and worked in several countries in the course of his life: Mexico, Scotland, Germany and, of course, Norway.
Evensen has, by and large, lived a life of service, always putting the welfare of others (family, friends and associates) before any concern for his own success. His years in Scotland established his competence and passion for working with the disabled and with psychiatric patients, as well as his close association to the Camphill and Anthroposophist philosophy and community, which continues to this day.
Evensen is also an excellent baritone singer and has performed extensively as such. He is almost certainly the only singer to have performed Schubert's Winterreise and Pettersson's Barfotasånger side by side. A recent, very moving performance of the latter (from November 2014) can be enjoyed on YouTube.
All the same, he knew that composition was his true vocation from a very early age. The Norwegian Music Information data base lists over 100 works by Evensen in many genres: symphonic, chamber, vocal, stage music, music for children...
For many years Evensen worked closely with the School Concert Department of the Norwegian Concert Institute (Rikskonsertene). This prompted him to compose several musical fairytales, which he performed at schools throughout Norway between 1976 and 1988.
His concert music includes some of the most fascinating material written by any composer in Norway.
Evensen has a very personal and unique tonal language. He has a keen awareness of the intrinsic tension of intervals and, although his music is often harmonically and contrapuntally complex, rare is the composition where he does not include one or several unison passages where intervals are allowed to stand starkly, creating a dramatic play of tension and release. Since the 1980s Evensen has experimented with scales derived from the writings of theosophist Anny von Lange. He has also used twelve-tone techniques in a free, personal way. Ravel has remained a favourite composer through Evensen's life, an influence the essence of which he has assimilated into his music without ever resorting to idle imitation.
Evensen’s first piano Sonata op. 7 shares its opus number with Grieg’s only piano sonata. Both are youthful works. Evensen was 21 years old when he composed it. His first documented work, also for piano, comes from his 18th year. This sonata is, therefore, a very early work in Evensen’s output. As such, it is strongly marked by the exuberance of youth. There is a deep-rooted earnestness about it; an apparent desire to make a mark in the world. It is music that, for the most part, expresses itself in an overt and often highly stentorian manner. The language is uncompromising, dominated by harsh dissonances. The work also is, in a way, typical of a self-taught composer in that it adheres to strict formal rules. The young Evensen seems keen to show that he can write contrapuntally and that he can base an entire work on very reduced material. The essence of this material can be narrowed down to the four-note motif that opens the piece: C – F# – G – C# (two consecutive falling tritones). This motif, in various transpositions, permeates the practical totality of the piece in the manner of a motto. This is less apparent in the relatively light third movement - one of Evensen's many charming waltzes
- but the intervals of the four-note motif are also to be found in several figurations there.
The first movement opens with a fortissimo statement of the motto, followed by a slow introduction of very affecting, almost mournful character. The dense three-part writing, with the octaves in the left hand, suggests the sound of the organ. The introduction closes with the same four notes before giving way to a nervous whirlwind of an allegro. It hardly gets going, with its wild sonic waves and Sacre-
like accents, before coming to a halt in measure 62. Eight bars of the sombre introduction music make themselves heard, before the allegro resumes, this time more extendedly, much in the same manner as before. Congenial melody seems to make an effort to make itself felt through several sequences in this inscrutable music - see, for instance, mm. 148-157 and 195-202. The earnestly doleful music of the introduction makes its final appearance here before the movement closes with a feral downward flourish.
The second movement is a slow fugue that grows in density, eventually creating an almost impenetrable four-part texture. The fugue subject uses the four-note motif as its head. In this movement one experiences a sense of poly-melody, rather than polyphony, bringing to mind the music of the Dutch Matthijs Vermeulen. In Evensen's case, though, the unstoppable urge to sing displayed by all the voices seems to stem from unrest rather than joy. In spite of the inscrutable tonality or lack thereof, the movement ends, ponderously, on a minor triad, bringing to mind a similar practice in Hindemith's music.
The outer sections of the third movement offer the only respite from the emotional severity of the work. On top of simple triadic left hand figurations, the right hand weaves a highly ornate melody - tonally unrelated to the left hand harmonies - before allowing the texture to again become opaque. Measures 42-43 present an elaboration of the four-note motif, with illogical accents disguising its natural form. The music of the beginning re-emerges organically and plays exactly as before except for one note. The movement ends, without ceremony, on a diatonically altered C major chord.
In the finale, the four-note motif seems to be hiding. Instead, the bulk of the movement is based on the more melodic material of the first movement. Amidst occasional but potent outbursts, the melody that only got two brief airings in the opening movement seems intent on taking over the work with its insistent reappearances. Ultimately, it does not succeed. Instead the more abrasive material gains the upper hand, eventually reintroducing the four-note motto most vigorously, forcing the music to slow down and allowing the sombre music of the work's introduction to appear one last time. It finally merges with the earlier insistent melodic material, now finally allowed to express itself calmly and unencumbered. The end, however, only offers partial release, with a C sharp rebelliously hovering on top of a C major chord.
Evensen's Sonata op 7 is a powerful work that does not give itself easily. There is a human heart beating at the centre of it but its outer appearance protects it from casual engagement.
It is worth mentioning that in this work, as in so many others, Evensen favours the use of "back to front" accents (<). This is a curious practice that has a possible application in string and, partly, wind instruments, in the form of a sudden surge of energy. For a pianist, it may be an encouragement to strive towards a sound of singing, rather than percussive quality in spite of the apparent roughness of the music.
We present this edition in celebration of Evensen's 80th birthday.
Much gratitude to the pianist and composer Rune Boutroue Bekkhus who has engraved this score. Bekkhus is one of the foremost interpreters of Evensen's music.
Ricardo Odriozola 10. January 2024
German preface not available ...
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