Jostein Stalheim - Jordiske Makter for violin and cello (1984)
(b. Voss, 23. July 1960)
First performance: Korskirken, Bergen, 2. February 1992
Ricardo Odriozola (violin), Jane Goodwin (cello)
Jostein Stalheim was born in Voss, Norway in 1960 and started composing at an early age. When only 17 years old, his first works were broadcast on both radio and television. He studied composition and accordion at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen, Sibelius Academy and at the Norwegian State Academy of Music. Stalheim appears regularly in European festivals as soundpainter, performer and composer.
Stalheim has written music for orchestra, chamber-ensembles, solo, multimedia and also site-specific productions. Stage music comprises a considerable part of his production; a.o. the opera “Professor Warrant's Progress” and the ballets; “Watch”, “Volatile”, “Alrekr” and “Kast”. He has worked in theatres both as composer and musician, among others The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Hordaland Teater, Den Nationale Scene, The Norwegian National Ballet and Danseteatret/Carte Blanche in Norway. He has received commissions from ensembles both in Norway and abroad.
Stalheim is internationally recognized as an accordion soloist and performs at festivals and with several international orchestras. He had his breakthrough in 1984 in Nordic Solistbiennale were he performed with Esa Pekka Salonen and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. He appears in numerous recordings, both as soloist, as chamber musician and with orchestra; for example Broderfolkonsert, the double concerto by Lasse Thoresen with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
He received a Grant from Norwegian Art Council 2014-2015 to compose music for the opera La Peur et les Soins with libretto by Astrid Luisa Niebuhr. He has composed the music for Watch with premiere in Dansens Hus, Oslo.
Stalheim also contributed as a composer to the science opera Rosetta`s Stone; a cooperation between the two librettists Oded Ben-Horin, John F. McGrew and the co-composer John Bilotta with premiere August 12th 2016 in San Francisco. In the same year he had several large projects including Soundpainting with the contemporary ensemble BIT20 and Performance Artist Bergen.
Stalheim’s music has many endearing qualities. It often embraces the absurd and the illogical from an almost childlike perspective. There is never a hint of pretension in it and, with its deadpan delivery it often leaves the listener in doubt as to whether it is meant to be taken seriously or not seriously at all. In common with the music of Messiaen (a composer Stalheim deeply admires) Stalheim’s compositions tend, with their disarming honesty, to have a cleansing effect on the listener. His compositions often feel like suggestions rather than statements. They are never intrusive or imposing and are always entertaining, thought-provoking, surprising and permeated with a fundamental lightness.
(Source: https://www.josteinstalheim.no/)
Jordiske Makter is one of Stalheim’s earliest available works.
The composer writes:
Jordiske Makter was inspired by a novel of the same title (original title: Earthly Powers 1980) by Anthony Burgess. The book deals with, among other things, the ways humans relate to sin and virtue, desire, politics, hypocrisy and double standards. The three movements are inspired by dance forms such as Pavane (a slow, processional dance), Ciaccona (a dance with erotic movements) and Follia (a noisy celebration)
(Email to R.O. –12. January 2021)
In the first movement, Pavane, the instruments seem to be testing the ground with their probing intervals and polite interjections. They soon coalesce into a dance of sorts (mm- 27-39) before finding themselves in an echo chamber (mm. 41-58). A short silence brings back a distant echo of the dance before eight vanishing pizzicato notes end the movement without ceremony.
The ensuing Ciaccona is the most extensive of the three movements. Whereas the first movement welcomed the illogical and the unexpected, the Ciaconna seems to wholeheartedly embrace organic development. The opening 22 measures, while they present the ground material for the movement, seem to look back at the Pavane, while measures 23-88 offer a wholly satisfying build-up of not so much erotic but rather stately character. The music does become more outwardly expressive from m. 68 onwards: the instruments seem to be trying to impress one another with their wide, gesticulating intervals. Eventually the energy wanes and the music becomes fragmented; at which point (m. 98) a musically logical, yet unexpected and remarkable pizzicato passage occupies the next 30 measures. Again the music goes into fragments with only soft wisps of melody left to conclude the movement.
The wild Follia that concludes the work seems to gather the thematic threads from the two previous movements, while expressing itself in a much more outgoing manner. Passages of repeated notes with unexpected accents alternate with sensuous legato syncopations. The "con anima" section (beginning m. 38) harks back to the character of the Pavane, but now both instruments play uninterruptedly and together, creating a passage of dense two-part polyphony - already underway from m. 23. A dotted, fanfare-like motif in m. 53 indicates that the end is in sight. The music, however, becomes calm, even melancholic before the energy is restored in the exhilarating last 23 measures of the piece. The two final measures are a very brief reminiscence of the first movement's echo chamber, ending with a staccato full stop.
Although this work expresses itself in a more unequivocally serious manner than is usually the case in Stalheim's music, there is an elemental joy in the music. The beauty of its sonorities, searching melodies and unstable rhythms make for a very attractive work that deserves a place in the repertoire.
Ricardo Odriozola - 21. March 2021