Theatre

Bomullsängeln – Fabrik

Bomullsängeln (the Cotton Angel) is the dramatised version (by Annina Enckell) of Susanna Alakoskis book of the same name. The play at Wasa Teater did in fact have it’s premiere before the book was released. It mostly takes place on the factory floor at Vasa bomull but differed from the book in that it was very stylised and non-naturalistic. This is especially true when it comes to the  music which used natiralistic factory sounds but in a heavily manipulated and edited manner. For exaple; the simple melody that is Ro, ro barnet (Alice Tegne’r) is almost the only memory main character Hilda has of her mother who used to sing it to her. The melody turns up again in this scene where the factory pipes and alarms chime in on it making the illusion that the factory is singing to her.

Bomullsängeln – Liljekonvaljskogen

When the hard work in the factory becomes too much for Hilda she makes her escape by dreaming herself back to the lily of the valley forest of her childhood. Sometimes she goes there to meet her mother. At other times it’s the place where she goes to see Arvo whom she has recently met. This is the music for the dance scene where the two becomes lovers.

Mor Kurage (composers demo vocs)

I wrote new music for Mor Kurage, Ulrika bengts take on Bertholt Brechts famous play (Mother Courage and her children) at Wasa Teater. You have to get clearence if You wish to do so. Appearently I got the sign of approval and away I went. Here’s the main theme with composers demo vocals.

Den Langerhanska öarna – Dance Macabre

I’ve often worked with poet and playwright Susanne Rngell. In this case, De Langerhanska öarna (the Islets of Langerhans), the play was written with sisters Stina and Ylva Ekblad in mind. The music in this example is for a absurd and somewhat acrobatic dance scene. At the performance the music started from a litte music box in front of the stage and slowly grew til it was at full volume accompaning the actresses having a sword fight.

Den Langerhanska öarna – Badminton

Latte Igelkott reser till Baffricut – Krokodilernas sång

This is from a radio play for children based upon the book of the same name written by Sebastian Lybeck. It had lots of music and lots of songs. The actors had recently attended a course on throat singing and wondered if this specific technique could come to use. That’s when i came up with this song. Dasser is king of the crocodiles and lead his army to battle.

Simma näck – Döden spelar vackert

Once more it’s a play by Susanne Ringell directed by Ulrika Bengts. The people I have worked most often with. A woman living by herself is one night visited by a peculliar stranger. He might just be death himself. Making use of the actors musical knowledge (clarinet and violin) I wrote this duet which became the end scene.

Simma näck – Döden dansar

Lutherska leken – Degenererad konst

There’s music in the way actors speak and use their voices. Nowhere is that more obvious than when it comes to the discipline of radio drama. Here’s Birthe Wingren in Lutherska leken.

Blue Room – Skör i sin trädgård

For Blue Room, in the style of grek antique theatre, we used chorus singers that commented on what went down. For the music I made drastically new arrangements of rock standards. Here’s a version of Safe in My Garden sung by Jennie Storbacka and Markus Nykänen.

Blue Room – Vitt rum

Here’s a version of Creams classic White Room. The scenography (by Erik salvesen) was inspired by the lyrics of White Room.

Det hjärta man har – Allt går till som i en dröm

Author Kjell Westö knows his music. When writing the play Det hjärta man har for Svenska Teatern he incororated the songs into the text and also translated/wrote/rewrote the lyrics (from enlish and french). For the covers wellknown songs as well as more obscure ones were used. Here’s how tim Hardins How Can We Hang on to a Dream with my arrangement and Emma klingenberg vocals turned out.

Herr Arnes penningar

Herr Arnes penningar (Sir Arnes Treasure) was premiered at Kungliga Svenska Teaterns in christmas 2004. The fairytale/ghost story perspective as well as the foreboding of something that’s about to happen was what I paid closest attention to when writing the music. The origins of the story is largely the same that was used in Ingmar Bergmans Jungfrukällan (the Virgin Spring) It can be traced back to the medieval ballad Herr Töres döttrar. This melody came about when I set new music to the original lyrics for that song.

Herr Arnes penningar – Varsel

Den långa långa resan – Intro

Den långa långa resane was a production by swedens Riksteatern. It builds on Ilon Wiklands illustrated book of the same name. Music played a big role in this production as dialoge was kept to a minimum due to the fact that the production would tour in the baltic states (besides sweden) and had to be understood by children with no prior knowledge of swedish. It is the story of a artistically gifted girl who uses her imagination to survive when times are hard. To underline this I used samples of real sounds which I manipuletad and edited into a musical and rhythmic whole. Listen in this example how the train passing by slowly mutates into a rhytmic foundation for the tune that follows. Also, in the tune, all sorts of train sounds are incorporated (and tuned) into the song.

Jungfru Anna – På kyrkogården

This is from my firsta assignment writing music for a play. Jungfru Anna is set in a unspecified past in the archipelago. In this scene strange things are taking place on a cemetary.