Trondheim Symfoniorkester, Marianne Thorsen, Goran Sjolin, Daniel Reuss - Kleiberg: Treble & Bass (2009) [SACD]

Marianne Thorsen is widely known for her recording of MOZART violin concertos with TrondheimSolistene. Now she demonstrates what beauty that lies in the Violin Concerto of our classical contemporary composer Ståle Kleiberg. Göran Sjölin brings the sonic qualities of the double bass into new light, and both solo concertos are supported by a widely staged Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in an exceptional surround sound recording.
Ståle KLEIBERG:
- Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
- Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra
If we seek a stylistic reference point for Kleiberg's music, it is perhaps not fanciful to refer to its recovery of certain qualities that we associate with northern Europe during the first half of the twentieth century. Composers as different as Sibelius, Nielsen and Vaughan Williams all established unique dialogues with central European and French modernists, but in ways that allowed for a tone of lofty idealism, even at times of frank romanticism that was unavailable to the modernists themselves. Kleiberg seems to continue and to extend dialogues of this kind. He has never been a slave to fashion, but it is striking that the neo-romanticism that is his most natural mode of expression, has once again become a part of our general culture.