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Duo Gelland
Reviews by composers,
colleagues and critics
The interpreter’s Prize of
the Society of Swedish Composers, December 2003, with the inscription
They take on the new music with an overwhelming empathy and a virtually
feverish intensity, catching the audience in a bubble of absolute presence.Their
fifty some first performances show them as a dynamic power in the renewal
of the repertory in an instrumental field heavy with tradition. Their
enthusiasm on the classroom floor is well documented. As touring ambassadors
of music they contribute fundamentally to children’s development
of musicality and imagination.
James
Dillon, composer (Edition Peters, London)
Thank you for such a magical concert. It was such a pleasure for me to
hear the concert in Stockholm and one that will stay in the memory. 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.
Bernd Franke,
composer (Edition Peters)
I find that 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 compositorical 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.
Rolf
Martinsson, composer and professor of composition at Malmö
Musikhochschule
The first performance of my duo Symbiosis belongs to one of the very best
performances of any of my chamber music. While working on it Duo Gelland
has shown deep understanding and dedication, forming each phrase with
musical sensitivity to perfection. It has been a true pleasure and joy
for me to collaborate with them. Their standards as executers and interpreters
as well as their strong will to work for art music of our times make them
a leading ensemble in Sweden. They are an explosive, highly interesting
and controversial duo. The audiences bring down the house at their concerts
and media gives them the greatest approval.
Birgitte Alsted, composer, Copenhagen
My relationship to Duo Gelland has been a great
surprise, - and the fascination with the unexpected remains. They combine
the ability to enter into the music with expressive powers and technical
abilities to a degree I never before came across. In addition the duo
is capable of keeping a full hall captivated throughout a concert of most
differing new works, some of which are so complex, they would normally
be hard to take in the first time. Duo Gelland prepare new works at length
with greatest enthusiasm. As a result the listening experience always
holds something special for you, and it makes you happy too.
Peter Schuback, composer and cellist, president of the Stockholm Contemporary
Chamber Music Society
To compose for Duo Gelland is particularly stimulating. Their great skills
as instrumentalists and their deep understanding of the musical content
allows the composer to trust them as interpreters all along the way. It
gives the composer freedom. Duo Gelland tend to the music, they communicate
it. Though I am the composer, my duo positively surprised me, when I heard
them play it. Can it get better! As a composer and musician I want to
work more with this violin duo ensemble.
Alan Green, composer, Head, Ohio State University
Music and Dance Library, Assoc. Prof.
Before the concert, I had no idea what it would be like to listen to an
entire concert of music by two violins. Would there be enough variety
of sound without a contrasting instrument? Well, there certainly was in
your concert, and much more than I could have previously imagined! A good
part of the credit, of course, lies in the hands of the composers who
have written for you. The simple technique of having one violin muted
and the other not muted was a fresh sound for me (Birgitte Alsted, Zweigeigen).
Many more exciting combinations and special techniques helped to accentuate
the underlying musical and artistic ideas. However, I believe these compositions
on your Columbus program vibrantly came to life through your intense personal
connection with the music, and each other! All through the concert I was
marveling at the rhythmic and harmonic precision you maintained, forming
the foundation of the artistry you built above it, to make each composition
vibrantly present to the audience. I could tell you both were "connected"
to the music by your appearance, or "stage presence," for which
I cannot find the right words to describe: well beyond "exciting,
electrifying, engaging, vibrant ..." but also "right and true."
Soloists in Berliner Philharmonie with RIAS Kammerchor
under Hans Christoph Rademann
Hölle und Harmonie
Jeder Künstler wünscht sich, etwas Eindrückliches zu Leben
und Tod zu sagen...im Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie gelang dies ...
höchst eindrücklich. Fünf Motetten aus Johann Hermann Scheins
... die zu kostbar sind, um sie direkt aufeinander folgen zu lassen. Zwischen
den Sätzen bot das Duo Gelland Ole Lützow-Holms brandneue Improvisationen
... Nach Scheins Kriterien ein teuflischer, chaotischer Kontrast –
und doch gelang es dem schwedischen Violinduo, das komplexeste Musik mit
der Intensität von Folkgeigern darbietet, immer wieder, Störfaktor
und Partner in einem zu sein.
Der Tagesspiegel, October 2006
The Kalv Festival 2005,
International Venue for New Music Development
Duo Gelland's project focused on the artistic exploration of emotions.
They had chosen texts by an Albanian author previously imprisoned
for 17 years (Kasëm Trebeshina). The performance combined an almost
Kafka or Beckett-like darkness with the momentary slap stick humour of
a Dario Fo. All of it breathed great intensity and intimacy.
Borås Tidning, August 2005
The Festival Neue Horizonte, Allan Pettersson:
7 Sonatas
Für die Musiker Martin und Cecilia Gelland war der Abend Schwerstarbeit.
Gewaltige dynamische Steigerungen waren zu bewältigen. Von säuselnden
Passagen bis im Fortissimo aufkreischenden Klangkasskaden - Geigenspiel
als Disziplin für gestählte Bodybuildermuskeln, und das in bestechender
Perfektion.
Holsteinischer Courir, October 2004
Achingly beautiful. I can’t find a better way
of describing the Wednesday recital at Kulturverket with Duo Gelland.
For us who love the expressive powers of the violin, it really was a feast.
... Martin and Cecilia are also known to use theatrical components in
their performances. This time they presented what one might call an acoustic
sculpture, an interplay between their bodies in search of our endurance
of stillness.
Hallandsposten, September 2004
The Kalv Festival 2004, International Venue for
New Music Development
It was an almost religious experience, further intensified on the next
evening in Duo Gelland’s concert. With their somewhat farfetched
concept - a mixture of humble, almost free church-like attitude and absolutely
unreal performances - they received standing ovations which never seemed
to cease.
The Magazine Nutida Musik, 2004 vol. 2
The Music Festival of Pite Älvdal
Intensiv, suggestiv und ätzend
Duo Gelland lockt suggestive Töne aus ihren Geigen hervor, Töne,
von denen man nicht erahnen könnte, dass sie einem Instrument errungen
werden könnten. Duo Gelland spielt abwechselnd hauchdünn und
aggresiv, dabei enorm schwebend über den leisesten Passagen.
Dann war es Zeit für Duo Gellands eigene Komposition. Ein ausserordentlich
ausdrucksvolles und suggestives Stück. Duo Gelland lebt sich mit
seinen Violinen aus und verwendet sein eigenes Stimmorgan, um des Erlebnis
zu verstärken. Man wird fast überwältigt von dem gefühlsgeladenen
Erlebnis.
Piteå-Tidningen, June 2004
Duo Gelland ist ein ungewöhnlich gutes Beispiel von zwei Musikern,
die eigentlich keinerlei Begrenzung haben, solche Musiker, die alle Musik
ernst nehmen, ungeachtet ob es sich um Minimalismus handelt, extreme Notation
à la Ferneyhough oder darum, ein Geräusch eines Skiliftes,
genau wenn er einen Pfosten passiert, nachzuahmen.
The Magazine Nutida Musik, 2004 vol. 1
Das Duo Gelland hat wieder einmal unter Beweis gestellt, dass es zu den
besten Interpreten zeitgenössischer Musik überhaupt gehört.
Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, July 2004
ILIOS-Festival, Norway 2004
Duo Gellands Musizieren hatte eine Präzision und eine Intensität,
welche ausserordentlich imponierend waren. Es ist nicht umsonst, dass
dieses Ensemble grosse Aufmerksamheit in seinem Land gefunden hat und
ich erwarte mir, mehr von diesem Duo in Norwegen zu hören.
Aksel Korbøl, Ballade
Deutsch-Skandinavisches Orchester, Berliner Philharmonie
Bemerkenswert ist das energiegeladene und aufeinander eingeschworene Spiel
der beiden Solisten Cecilia und Martin Gelland. Hakan Larsson hat sein
Konzert für das schwedische Violinduo geschrieben. In dem Stück
geht es um Kommunikation - und die Unfähigkeit dazu. Kratzbürstig
spielen die Solisten im ersten Satz aneinander vorbei. Mit egozentrischer
Wucht werfen sie sich rasante Tonketten an den Kopf. Erst nach und nach
finden sie zu einem Dialog. Das Auftreten des Duos mit Zipfelkleid und
blauglänzendem Hemd wirkt erfrischend unkonventionell.
Berliner Morgenpost, January 2003
Enormes Engagement, perfektes Zusammenspiel und alle geigerischen Fähigkeiten
vom ruppigen Zugriff bis zu den zartesten Flageoletts ließen die
monochrome Besetzung niemals einförmig klingen.
Benjamin Schweitzer, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten,
January 2002
Absolutely formidable, instrumentally volcanic like an earth quake.
Stefano Ragni, La Nazione, Italy, August 2001
Nordische Tage Berlin
Duo Gelland, das Petterssons Sonaten für zwei Violinen in all ihrer
kraftvollen Schroffheit darbot: Melodien wie Fieberkurven, mit virtuoser
Intensität gespielt, dass die Bogenhaare flogen und sich manisch
gezupfte Saiten während des Spiels verstimmten.
Berliner Tagesspiegel, January 2000
In allen vier eingespielten Werken überzeugen Cecilia und Martin
Gelland gleichermaßen durch ihren technisch versierten wie klanglich
außerordentlich ausgefeilten Vortrag, dem sich eine intensive, in
einigen Momenten sogar fast greifbar plastische Umsetzung der recht unterschiedlichen
Klanggebilde verdankt.
Stefan Drees
Positionen, August 2004
Radikale Expressivität! ... Nicht minder radikal ist die Interpretation
von Martin und Cecilia Gelland, die die Werke hörbar in allen Nuancen
verinnerlicht haben. Geradezu draufgängerisch ist ihr technisch perfektes
Spiel, selbst auf dieser unbarmherzig direkten CD-Produktion. Genau dort,
wo Klangschönheit ganz bewusst zur Nebensache wird, dringen sie zum
Kern vor und zeigen, welches schöpferische Potential bereits in diesen
frühen, verqueren Kompositionen steckt. Die Interpretation hat Referenz-Charakter.
Fono-Forum, Germany,
September 2000
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, September 2000