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Steingrímur Rohloff's Concerto Grosso is tailored for distinguished solists

Steingrímur Rohloff's Concerto Grosso is tailored for distinguished solists

Steingrímur Rohloff's music is full of beauty, colourful harmonies and finesse. On 6 January 2023, a digital album with his Concerto Grosso will be released, in a recording with brass solists from the Berliner Philharmoniker.

New release
15 December 2022

Storytelling is hardwired into the Icelandic/German composer Steingrímur Rohloff’s music. He is acknowledged for his colourful harmonies, refinement and emotionally acute works. Rohloff's new Concerto Grosso for four brass solists and orchestra is full of beauty and finesse with a strong emphasis on the nuances of texture and timbre.

On 6 January, the first recording of Concerto Grosso will be released as a digital album on Dacapo Records. Pre-save the album to your preferred streaming service via this link.

Tailormade concerto

In March 2022, hornist Stefan Dohr, trombonist Jesper Busk Sørensen, trumpeter Gäbor Tarkövi and tuba player Jens Bjørn-Larsen gave the first performance of one of Rohloff’s most spectacular works, his Concerto Grosso, with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra in the north of Denmark.

It could only have happened because of what went before that night. Each of the soloists had already taken principal roles in brass concertos by Ole Schmidt, released on Dacapo Records in March 2022. Rohloff's Concerto Grosso was designed to end the concert by uniting all four distinguished soloists in a single work.

The work is composed specifically for the four distinguished solists. Before writing, Rohloff visited the soloists in Berlin (Busk Sørensen, Tarkövi and Dohr are members of the Berliner Philharmoniker) to familiarize himself with their style and allow him to tailor his music to it.

In the video below Rohloff and the four solists talk about the work and their collaboration.

Lyrical brass notes

The new Concerto Grosso consists of four movements. Loosely speaking, each solo instrument gets a movement to itself where Rohloff takes them to their expressive boundaries, while also capturing something of the artistry and spirit of the individual brass players. At the same time, the whole work is pervaded by dialogue between all solo instruments and the ‘tutti’ ensemble, so there are constant connections between them and places through which they can meet.

The four movements are organized traditionally according to a slow–fast–slow– fast pattern. We get to hear both the playful and acrobatic solo horn, and the rhythmically insisting trumpet, but contrary to our clichéd view of soloists and their tendencies towards virtuosic display, Rohloff discovered that among the most remarkable skills offered by these four high-level orchestral musicians was a common ability to play very slowly and quietly.

This can be heard in the first movement, in which the tuba slowly unfolds the music through long, legato lines, or in the third movement which is a soothing aria for trombone, draping its sond over the orchestra. ‘One should never forget how beautifully, quietly and lyrically they can play,’ Rohloff says.

About the composer

Steingrímur Rohloff (b. 1971) is born in Reykjavik to Icelandic and German parents, and has lived in Denmark since 2003. He studied composition in Cologne and Paris and is today one of the most prominent Scandinavian composers, having had works performed in more than 25 countries. 

In 2021, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation selected Rohloff as the representative of Denmark at the International Rostrum of Composers. His work Die 4 Himmelsrichtungen received an impressive fourth place in the competition.

Steingrímur Rohloff has previously released the album Medea/Lysistrata with beautiful, sonorous settings of the Greek myths. The four brass solists on the new Rohloff recording have previously recorded brass concertos by Ole Schmidt.
  • Steingrímur Rohloff

    Concerto Grosso

  • Steingrímur Rohloff

    Medea/Lysistrata

  • Ole Schmidt

    Brass Concertos

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