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...a musical spectrum of extraordinary quality
and breadth. The common denominator: virtuosity and melancholy...
...enormous commitment, perfect ensemble playing. They master the violin
technic from the most brutal bow strokes to the sweetest harmonics.
Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, Benjamin Schweitzer,
1/21/02
...das komplexeste Musik mit der Intensität
von Folkgeigern darbietet, immer wieder, Störfaktor und Partner in
einem zu sein.
Der Tagespiegel, Berlin, Carsten Niemann, 10/9/06
Absolutely formidable, instrumentally
volcanic like an earth quake.
La Nazione, Italy, Stefano Ragni, 8/21/01
Dieses Violin-Duo brachte die Komponisten
auf die abenteuerlichsten Ideen, wie zwei Geigen mit einem Chor zu verbinden
wären... Das Duo Gelland passte sich den unterschiedlichen Konzepten
mit chamäleonischer Einfühlung an, spielte aggressiv oder mild,
stets aber mit erstaunlicher Intensität.
Berliner Zeitung, Peter Uehling, 10/09/06
The energy loaded playing, united as
had they sworn an oath, is worth an extra notice. Håkan Larsson
has dedicated his double concerto to this Swedish violin duo. The music
is about communication and the disability of communication. In the first
movement they seem to play away from each other in a most grunty manner.
They aim for each others’ heads with egocentric fury. The weapon
is series of notes quick as a lightening. With time comes the true dialogue. Extraordinary
musical occurrences...
Berliner Morgenpost, 1/7/03
It was with captivating warmth, Cecilia
and Martin sketched a colourful portrait of the Swedish musical landscape...
...these intensely communicating and absolutely equal duo partners
Kieler Nachrichten, cmü, 3/6/99
Sonorously carried off into the vast
sweep of the North
Who cares, that composers like Olof Lindgren and Lille Bror Söderlundh
are entirely unknown in our country. So much more immediate was the effect
of their music in the engaging hands of Cecilia and Martin Gelland...
At the end it was undeniable: this Pettersson was a broken romantic. His
modern, harsh musical language did by no means attempt to hide this fact
Rheinische Post, Reinhold Breil, 2/24/99
...melodies like temperature curves played
with virtuosic intensity scattering the bow hairs...
Der Tagespiegel, Berlin, Carsten Niemann, 1/7/00
With their absolutely vivid realization
of the music and their formidable violin technical control, they keep
the listener constantly captivated.
Vestmanlandstidningen, Stellan Moberg, 10/24/01
Truly impressive, how Duo Gelland, with
a glorious violin playing, lead us deep into the darkness of the questions.
And, remarkably enough, with the singing gleam of hope, they guide us
out into ever regenerating life.
Västerbottens-Kuriren, Per-Inge Planefors,
4/19/99
The Gelland partners played... with
almost dancing ease and intensity. You just forgot the merciless demands
of virtuosity... The two violinists employed the possibilities to a maximum,
both in regard to dynamics and tone colour...
Borås Tidning, Rolf Haglund 3/12/99
They made it clear with the program,
that music for two violins is a genre which deserves much more attention
than it usually gets. With intense feeling and insight in the expression,
conscious articulation and the closest communication in the sound production,
Duo Gelland creates music which feels urgent.
Falukuriren, Seth Karlsson, 12/09/98
That was the climax. High points are
difficult to surpass, but the recital went from climax to climax.
Arvika Nyheter, Sverker Magnusson, 4/14/01
Great music doesn’t necessarily
have to come from a full Wagnarian orchestra. Actually two violins can
be plenty enough. That’s what Duo Gelland showed most convincingly.
Eskilstuna-Kuriren, Dag Lundin, 3/20/01
The secret of the great north resounds
through the bows of Duo Gelland.
La Nazione, Stefano Ragni, 8/21/01
The composers who get Duo Gelland as
interpreters of their music, are most fortunate indeed.
Vestmanlandstidningen, Stellan Moberg, 10/24/01
The contact with the audience had an
unflinching flow. Their serious attitude didn't bear down, but was full
of warmth and openness. It enabled our senses to follow them to at times
dizzy heights where the mountain winds caress our solitude’s solitude.
Arvika Nyheter, Sverker Magnusson, 4/14/01
Assolutamente formidabili, strumentalmente vulcanici,
tellurici La Nazione, Italy
Melodien wie Fieberkurven,
mit virtuoser Intensität gespielt,
dass die Bogenhaare flogen Der
Tagesspiegel, Berlin
The
two violins embrace each other in a tight, enclosed dance Norra
Västerbotten, Sweden
Duo Gelland
Duo Gelland, a leading ensemble
for contemporary art music, continually receives international acclaim
for its passionate and profound interpretations.
This eminent European ensemble with its unique profile has revived an
18th century concept - the violin duo - and turned it into a driving force
of contemporary exploration.
Duo Gelland was founded in 1994 and has since then received over 100 dedications.
Duo Gelland performs extensively at international festivals, records for
CD, radio and television, gives master classes and lectures on Contemporary
Music.
Among the many awards and grants Duo Gelland received one can mention the internationally prestigious Annual German Record Critics' Award / Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2008 for James Dillon's Traumwerk on DVD and the Interpreter’s Prize of the Society of Swedish Composers. The inscription of the latter reads: They take on the new music with an overwhelming empathy and a virtually feverish intensity, catching the audience in a bubble of absolute presence. Duo Gelland received world-wide acclaim with the recording (Swedish label, BIS 1028) of Allan Pettersson’s utterly dramatic cycle of Seven Sonatas for Two Violins (Stockholm/Paris 1951). If I were a forward-thinking impressario, I would hire the Gellands to play all these works faster than you could say ”Sju sonater för två violiner”. Fanfare, USA Cecilia and Martin Gelland play this forbiddingly harsh music with blazing virtuosity and a fierce conviction of its worth. Formidably performed. Classic CD, London Duo Gelland premièred a number of double concertos. 2003 in Berliner Philharmonie Duo Gelland gave the world première of Angesicht in Angesicht, a double concerto by Håkan Larsson, inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s films. It was commissioned by the Swedish Concert Institute. October 2006 Duo Gelland was invited to the Berliner Philharmonie again - this time as soloists with the RIAS Kammerchor and Hans Christoph Rademann (their newly assigned chief conductor) in five works, four of which were world premieres. The concert was broadcast on Deutschlandradio Kultur. Through their close collaboration with composers of today Duo Gelland is in demand when it comes to extremely complex notation, graphic notation, improvisation resulting from verbally communicated structures and guidelines and music employing live electronics, tape or video. |
For me, Cecilia and Martin Gelland belong to the most engaged and charismatic interpreters of contemporary music on the European arena. In common projects, their extremely professional attitude and their intelligent transformations of compositorial structures impressed me again and again. To this comes an unbelievable balance between clear analysis of the parameters at hand and an existentialistic power of interpretation which one very rarely experiences. Bernd Franke, composer (Edition Peters) I was so impressed by your grasp of Traumwerk in particular the fantasy of the work. It was chamber music playing as it should be, disciplined and spontaneous, intimate and yet generous. Your formal grasp of the work displayed an intricate sense of line and tone and an instinctive feeling for shape. James Dillon, composer (Edition Peters) Summer 2004 Duo Gelland held a one week composition workshop together with composer Bernd Franke (Edition Peters). The course ended with Duo Gelland's public world première of the participating composers' many layered, composite work, Parallel Worlds, for violin duo and tape. Further their captivating stage presence allows Duo Gelland to perform compositions involving movement and acting, as in John Cage’s Theatre Piece from 1960 and Paula af Malmborg Ward’s Pas de Deux (world première, Gothenburg Art Sounds Festival 2003). Duo Gelland participated as violin duo and actors in Etienne Glaser’s staging of Dante’s Divine Comedy in 30 performances at the City Theater of Gothenburg spring 2004 - playwriter: Niklas Rådström. |
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Duo Gelland as Paulo and Francesca, playing on one violin while speaking, in Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Duo Gelland keeps experimenting with the synthesis of sound, motion and word in a context of meaning and emotional structure. August 2005 they presented an experimental performance at the Kalv Festival and International Venue for New Music. Here they had worked closely together with Birgitte Alsted, composer and Britta Hanssen, choreographer. The surrealistic text by Albanian author Kasëm Trebeshina added to the many layered texture, evoking strong political and existential reflections with a presence of wit. The project was funded by the Nordic Music Committee, the National Council for Cultural Affairs and the Swedish Concert Institute. A present project premièred February 2006 at Stockholm New Music is EPIDEMIC. This is a collaboration between Duo Gelland, composer Ole Lützow-Holm, stage director Jon Tombre, electronic noice artist Lasse Marhaug and video artist Gisle Frøysland. |
The history of the violin duo is as long as the history of the violin. Duo Gelland has a keen interest in the earlier repertory and often invites a dialogue between present and past in recital programs. Like in no other time the history of chamber music in the second half of the 18th century is dominated by just three names- Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. During their life time this was hardly the case. They were themselves involved in and interested in a great output of works by fellow composers which now exist in a black hole of sorts. During this period the violin duo flourished. It gained a vast and rich repertory. The violin duo composers were mostly concert violinists composing for their own needs. At this time great violinists frequently met on stage in works of their own. Many of them only composed for the violin. These violin duos were often well crafted and serious "Sturm und Drang" creations. Violin duos of this era have inspired Duo Gelland to search through archives, libraries and vintage music shops throughout Europe for a forgotten pool of works. Duo Gelland received a national grant for this purpose. Duo Gelland finds that working with music of this time with its rich articulation enhances the interpretation of contemporary music. At the same time the in depth work with contemporary music focused on the versatility of sounds and textures, opens the ears for interesting interpretational aspects of this late 18th century repertory. Roy Goodman has played a vital role in Duo Gellands lively, articulate and improvisatory approach to the historic repertory. |
Cecilia and Martin Gelland never were satisfied only to meet the audiences of the recital halls. They play in mines, industries and remote churches. Speaking to the audience about the music is natural to them. They have met children in classrooms all over Sweden, in Norway, Finland, Central Europe and in the United States. For Duo Gelland, the contact with audiences outside of the concert hall is more than a mission. It is a matter of personal artistic growth. Between tours they keep up a unique position as cultural ambassadors and Artists-in-residence in Strömsund, Jämtland. This is a sparsely populated community in the midst of untamed northern nature. Here Duo Gelland meets young and old with art music of our time. And here many of the composers they collaborate with come to work with them in their home. All these northern meetings are central to the inspiration of Duo Gelland. At the Royal College of Music at University of Stockholm, University of Cincinnati CCM and Musikhochschule Köln/Aachen, Cecilia Gelland studied with Josef Grünfarb, Walter Levin and the other members of the LaSalle Quartet as well as Kurt Sassmannshaus and Ingeborg Scheerer. In Cincinnati Cecilia Gelland’s mentor was the composer Allen Sapp (student of Copland, Piston and Nadia Boulanger). Martin Gelland’s teachers in Germany (Musikhochschule München, Musikhochschule Stuttgart) and Switzerland were Gerhart Hetzel (former first concert master of the Vienna Philharmonics), Ricardo Odnoposoff and Max Rostal. Other teachers in recurrent master classes were Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Franco Gulli and Valery Klimov. |
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Duo Gelland: We are engrossed in the dialogue about the dialogue, its endless, intricate forms and dramatic adventures of gestures and structures. We are inside the discourse about the outer world in the inner world and the inner world in the outer world and how those two poles form their complex relationship to creative processes. We go a long way to organize the music to its utmost. Yet at the last moment we turn around and refuse to subdue to the final consequence of our own long work, in order to relish the moment and the warmth of the audience. |
Martin: I see spontaneity as a most vital catalyst in life. It helps dissolving hardened structures, built like fences around our flowing thoughts. To let the inspiration come creates moments of surprise. I want to share these liberating feelings with the audience. I would rather not call this Concert, originally meaning trial of strength or competition. A more suitable term would be Convent - a coming together.
Cecilia: In music making I seem to combine an act of love with a political statement. In the consuming of newly produced art music I see a constructive and humane alternative to consumerism / materialism - one of our world’s greatest threats. I wish to leave an ever so slight mark behind of greater urge to expand and deepen thought, to create out of nothing and to take part in dialogue. |
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Duo Gelland - Excerpt from the German encyclopedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Kassel, 1994-2008)
Stefan Drees:
Engagement im Dienste einer vernachlässigten Gattung, Porträt des schwedischen Duo Gelland
in: Dissonanz Nr. 93, März 2006
Bibliography:
Stefan Drees, Experimentierfreude und Repertoireerkundung. Zur Arbeit des Duo Gelland, Die Tonkunst 4, 2008
Stefan Drees, until the singing of the spheres brings us together, Die Tonkunst 3, 2008
Anna Rudroff, Ästhetische Erfahrung als Ziel von Musikunterricht - Fragen an ein musikpädagogisches Praxiskonzept aus Schweden, Leipzig 2008
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG), Kassel 1994-2008: Duo Gelland
Cecilia Gelland, Tystnaden är utrotningshotad, Coniunctio 2008
Jonas Asplund, ...det rör om i hjärnan på något sätt: En beskrivning av en interpretationsprocess inom samtida konstmusik ur ett kommunikationsperspektiv, Örebro Universitet, Örebro 2007
Stefan Drees, Engagement im Dienste einer vernachlässigten Gattung, Dissonanz 93, März 2006, 43f
Ylva Nyberg, Duo Gelland, Nutida Musik 47, 2004, H. 1
Gustaf Jilker, Kulturambassadörer, Samefolket 2002, H. 9
Henrik Martén, Duo Gelland - en färgstark ensemble, Kammarmusik-Nytt 19, 2002, H. 2
Stefani Ragni, I violini del grande nord, Studi e documentazioni 20, 2001, No. 41
photo credits: Britta Hanssen, Aorta, Staffan Mossenmark