Hans-Henrik Nordstrm

Fair Isle
(Friarey)
(2002)
for Violoncello, 12 Wood Winds & 4 French Horns

Flauto 1

Flauto 2/Flauto piccolo

Oboe 1

Oboe 2

Clarinetto in Do

Clarinetto 1 in Sib

Clarinetto 2 in Sib

Corno di bassetto

Clarinetto basso in Sib

Fagotto 1

Fagotto 2

Contrafagotto

Violoncello solo

Corno 1 in Fa

Corno 2 in Fa

Corno 3 in Fa

Corno 4 in Fa

Fair Isle is an island in the middle of the great sea, situated between the Orkney and the Shetland Isles. Friarey was the name of the island in the old norse tongue and it appears e.g. in the Orkney Saga.

Calling this piece of music after the island should not be taken literally as a kind of  description of the area. But in fact the music was composed during a summer on Fair Isle and for sure it carries along the delightful North Atlantic mood which thrills you while living there. Isolation, solitude and an overwhelming nature.

But Fair Isle is in no way a seascape although it is painted with a broad brush and the presence of nature is a constant in the piece. Maybe it might rather be dealing with the idea of the loner versus the power of nature. In the piece the soloist versus the big wind band. The two opposite forces are interacting and challenging each other and there seems to be no winner in this struggle. The fundamental mood of nature, weather, sea and sky is just as unavoidable as the loner insisting on his own worth.

Hans-Henrik Nordstrm
 

Hans-Henrik Nordstrm was born in 1947. He was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Nordstrm has composed music since he was 13 years old, but it was first in 1988 that he stepped forward as a composer at a workshop with the Esbjerg Ensemble. In 1990 he had his official professional debut at a DUT concert in Copenhagen with the piece The Mountains of Monestis.

Since then he has made his mark as a composer and has received numerous commissions and his works have been performed by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists. He has received working bursaries and travel grants from the State Foundation for the Arts every year since 1990, Hans Peter Nielsens Grant 1991 and Danish Composers Societys Grant 2001.

 Since 1991 he has worked exclusively as a composer. He has been the artistic leader of the Contemporary Music in Sus festivals since 1993. From 2000 manager of Edition A.

Nordstrms works have been performed at numerous festivals,  concerts and in radio broadcasts both at home in Denmark and abroad.

In 1994 he made a working spent stay in the Faroe Islands, in 1995 to Britanny (Carnac), 1996 to Iceland, 1997 to Hirsholmene, 1998 to Northern Norway, 1999 to The Hebrides, 2000 to the Faroe Islands (Mykines) 2001 to Ireland and 2002 on Fair Isle, Shetland.

Nordstrms works comprise primarily instrumental music: pieces for orchestra, sinfonietta, ensembles and soloists. There are also some vocal pieces. The music often takes its inspiration impressions from nature, both at a local and a cosmic level, and from the literary world. In other instances the pieces arise from pure musical ideas and structures. It is often very emotive music, sometimes of a contemplative character, which speaks not only the listeners intellect but also to his or her emotions. In Nordstrms successive works a development can be perceived from a relatively simple but expressive structure to more equivocal, multi-layered and refined expressive forms. These are, however, still firmly rooted in emotional aspects, where the music develops in more complex and plastic directions. The music becomes more pulsating and variable in its gestures while at the same time developing further a preference for delicate work with timbre and the special characteristics of the individual instruments.

Hans-Henrik Nordstrms music is often described as being markedly Nordic in its tonal quality. It is also true that the music owes much to Nordic music and Nordic nature, a fact which is underlined by Nordstrms  annually recurring visits abroad, primarily to the North Atlantic area. Here he searches for unspoiled nature, clear skies, primeval fells, birds, wide open spaces, the simple life and loneliness.

Among his most important works from recent years the following can be mentioned: String Quartet no 4 ("Hebridean" - "Bho Innse Ghall"), Night Glow and Dawn Frosting (Soprano and guitar), Mykines (chamber ensemble), Mouvements (Piano Trio), Land of Shadows (Bassclarinet and percussion), Light (flute and guitar), Fluctuations (Guitar Quartet), Chac (Organ), Lost Traces (Saxophone and percussion), The Twelve Bens (String Trio), In the Woods (violin and sinfonietta), Nada y todo (Recorder quartet), Growth (Brass Quintet) and Fair Isle (vcl, 16 Wind Instruments).

Untill now 21 works has been published on CD, mainly in the portrait-CDs Hans-Henrik Nordstrm 1, 2 & 3 and more portraits are to come in the following years. Nordstrms works does also appear on other CD publications.