TERJUNGENSEMBLE with soloists Håkon Stene and Rolf-Erik Nystrøm

Two works take centre stage in the evening’s programme: Ning by Rolf Wallin and RobotComplaints by Øyvind Torvund, both adaptations of earlier works. Wallin writes: ‘The title and concept behind the piece Ning come from David Grossman’s novel See Love, in which he describes, amongst other things, a man who joins a school of salmon as they make their way through the oceans. He swims, eats and sleeps alongside them, and gradually comes to understand the forces that enable this vast group of fish to swim almost as a single body. One of these forces is a unifying force called ‘ning’. The musicians perform much like fish or birds in a flock: at times they move swiftly and closely together, with a single clear direction; then the group dissolves into separate individuals, who find their own paths within a larger area, yet remain dependent on one another.”

Torvund writes: ‘Robot Complaints seeks to explore minor-key lamentations, the idea of archaic, mournful folk music combined with mechanical and noisy sounds from percussion. Occasionally, the string phrases are synchronised with a robotic mechanism, to heighten the tension between the emotional string melodies and the mechanical. There is a celebration of the misunderstanding that can arise between these elements.”

Gorecki, Wallin, Åm, Torvund