SVEN-DAVID SANDSTRÖM (1942-2019)
professor of music, 1999-2008
visiting professor of music, 2012-2018
Biography
No composer has made such an impression on contemporary Swedish musical life as Sven-David Sandström. His catalogue of works, which includes some 500 compositions, gives proof not only of an impressive productivity, but also contains an amazingly wide range: everything from magnificent operas and oratorios to intimate choral and chamber music. With his unlikely combination of creativity and diligence in the craft of composition, restless curiosity and firmly-rooted mastery of form, Sandström alternates, to all appearances unconcerned, between a sophisticated orchestral texture and musical melodies, film music and music for the church. In the 2000s he has focused especially on sacred choral music.
Sven-David Sandström had his breakthrough in 1972 with Through and through, an orchestral work that was met with international response when two years later it was performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Sandström quickly established himself as a leading modernist in the younger generation of Scandinavian composers, not seldom with scores of a terrifying degree of difficulty. Pierre Boulez chose, for example, to conduct his piece Utmost with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Around 1980 a decisive turning point occurred in Sven-David Sandström´s tone language. Without abandoning the high demands on his executants his musical form of address became simpler, more emotional. The epoch-making Requiem De ur alla minnen fallna, a mighty fresco over the infanticide of the Holocaust, stands out today as one of the most prominent works in 20th-century Swedish music. A number of choral works began to pour from Sandström´s pen, all of them eagerly sought after by Sweden´s many elite choirs. At the same time his interest in the stage was aroused and resulted in, among other works, six original ballet scores.
High Mass (1994), a monumental work for five female vocal soloists, large choir and orchestra, modelled on J.S. Bach´s Mass in B minor, was received with high acclaim. With the Mass text laid out in 25 movements, just like the model, the tone language is nonetheless Sandström´s own throughout. This powerful Mass was also performed ten years later in Bach´s city of Leipzig with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under the baton of Herbert Blomstedt, and a recording was issued on Deutsche Grammophon.
Already in the 1980s Sven-David Sandström had composed a couple motets for choir after baroque models: a kind of homage to Henry Purcell and Dietrich Buxtehude. After High Mass he started to feel an affinity with the old masters, especially Bach. Sandström has expressed the wish to link himself to the tradition. He has therefore given us Ordet (The Word) (2004), a large-scale "passion" with the evangelist part tailored for Anne Sofie von Otter. For the librettist he chose the poet Katarina Frostensson, with whom he had collaborated already in the successful opera Staden (The Town) (1996). Further, he composed a Christmas Oratorio (2004), the cantata Wachet auf (2008) and, commissioned by Helmuth Rilling´s Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, a Magnificat (2005) with an orchestral texture for baroque period instruments. Rilling and the Oregon Bach Festival are also behind the commission of the colossal Messiah (2009), set to the exact same text as Handel´s well-known version.
The series of six motets after Bach´s originals occupies a special position. The initiative was taken by choir professor Stefan Parkman and resulted in Lobet den Herrn. This inspired Ingemar Månsson, who was once the conductor of the Hägersten Motet Choir where Sandström had sung with the tenors for many years, to place an order for
Singet dem Herrn, a work for double choir. In 2008 Sandström was able to conclude this unique collection of motets, each one dedicated to a capable Swedish choir leader.
Also in his occupational role Sven-David Sandström has been inspired by the great cantor of St. Thomas. In 2008, when his ten-year professorship in composition at the prestigious Bloomington University in Indiana came to an end, he was able to realise a long-cherished dream: to compose, like Bach, for all the feast days of the ecclesiastical year. He gladly took upon himself to deliver music on a regular basis: one work every other week, all in all 66 works, for the choirs and ensembles of the Stockholm Cathedral and the Hässelby congregation.
The last decade has seen the premieres of a number of large scale sacred vocal works, including his second Requiem, the monumental St. Matthew Passion and the Passion of St John. In addition he has also composed four new solo concertos – for flute, violin, piano and trombone, two symphonies, two chamber operas, and a series of chamber music works, songs and choral works. On top of that he has composed a “gigantic” opera, The Book, built on Niklas Rådström’s comprehensive poetical interpretation of the Biblical narratives.
Camilla Lundberg
Biographical dates and awards
- Born in Borensberg, Sweden, 1942
- 1968–1972 Studies in composition with Ingvar Lidholm at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and with guest professors György Ligeti, Per Nörgård and others
- 1974 The Little Christ Johnson Prize for Through and Through
- 1984 The Nordic Council´s Prize for Missa da Requiem
- 1985–1995 Professor in composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm
- 1995 The Big Christ Johnson Prize for High Mass
- 1995–1998 Deputy vice-chancellor at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm
- 1999–2008 Professor in composition at the School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
- 2001 The Hugo Alfvén Prize
- 2008 The Swedish Music Publishers´ Award for Lifetime Achievement
- 2009 The Medal for the Promotion of Music from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
- 2012–2018 Professor in composition at the School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA
- 2013 The Swedish Music Publisher’s Award for Requiem
- Died in Stockholm, Sweden, 2019
Selected Compositions
Opera
Staden (The Town) (1995)
Jeppe: The Cruel Comedy (2001)
Batseba (2008)
Orchestra
In the Meantime (1970)
Culminations (1976)
Through and Through (1972)
Soloist and Orchestra
Concerto for Flute and Orchestra (1980)
Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (1985)
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (1988)
Six Pieces for Piano Trio and Orchestra (2010)
Concerto for Flute and Orchestra No. 2 (2015)
Large Ensemble
Chained (1986)
Utmost (1975)
Vocal Music
Requiem Mute the Bereaved Memories (1979)
De ur alla minnen fallna
High Mass (1994)
Christmas Oratorio (2004)
Ordet (The Word) (1986)
Wachet auf (2008)
Magnificat for soloists, choir and chamber orchestra (2005)
Messiah (2009)
Requiem for soloists, choir and orchestra (2011)
Matthäuspassion for soloists, choir and orchestra (2011)
Selected Discography
Nordic Sounds - Music of Sven-David Sandström, Channel Classics, 2011
The High Mass - Deutsche Grammophon, 2005
Concertos for Flute/Guitar/Cello - Caprise
Baltic Voices 1 - Harmonia Mundi Fr., 2003
Scandinavian Contemporary A Cappella - Chandos, 1994