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NEOS 10831CD
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Anders Eliasson, born in 1947 in Borlänge in the Swedish province of Dalarna (died in 2013 in Stockholm), found in the early 1970s -- after a long, intensive and often desperate search, with the study of traditional and current musical languages and techniques -- the key that opened up in him that uncharted, unlimited space which he explored thereafter, sharing it with each listener who opens himself to it. Andreas Skouras has now recorded the complete works of Eliasson for solo keyboard instruments. What the work group Sequenza signifies for Luciano Berio and the solo series for Kalevi Aho (NEOS 10915CD), is for Anders Eliasson the Disegno ("drawing"): a series of mostly solo pieces for various instruments that run through his (chamber music) oeuvre like a red thread. The enormous Suolo is doubtless the climax of Eliasson's piano oeuvre. Disegno per clavicembalo is striking in its close relationship to J. S. Bach. The choice of instrument underlines this relationship, but it is the motif B-A-C-H that forms the compressed motivic center of the composition. Personnel: Andreas Skouras - piano, harpsichord.
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NEOS 10813CD
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Performed by Acros Chamber Orchestra, conducted by John-Edward Kelly. Stereo/5.1 multichannel hybrid CD/SACD release that can be played on any CD player. "'Music was the only way I could survive in this world.'Even as a young boy, Anders Eliasson used to arrange his toy soldiers into an orchestra, sit in front of them and sing, imitating the sounds of the instruments. The earliest music he can remember is 'my own singing.' At the age of nine he was given a trumpet, received some lessons from experienced jazzmen, and soon became the leader of his own combo (two clarinets, trombone, drums, guitar and trumpet). Listening to the three works on this CD, it becomes obvious that Eliasson's style has changed over the years. It is a long way from the vehemence and timbral extremes of 'Desert Point' to 'Ostácoli,' which has become a sort of classic for string orchestras, or the broadly reverberant introspection of 'Sinfonia Per Archi,' circumscribing a huge, delicately gossamer arc of tension. Yet no one can foresee what will come next, for each piece is a self-sufficient entity that poses its own demands."
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NEOS 11301CD
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2012 release. Anders Eliasson shines as a brilliant light among the hundreds of composers I have worked with. There is no composer whose music I have performed more frequently, nor whose music has touched me more deeply. I had never even heard the name before the summer of 1984. While discussing Swedish music with Sven-David Sandström at Stockholm's Cafe Opera, I asked whether he might suggest any outstanding Swedish composers. He became unusually introspective and penciled Anders' name and number on the back of a paper napkin, saying "This is the best composer in Sweden." I was so surprised by his comment that I stopped at the next payphone to call Anders. An hour later, I was in front of his door in Stockholm's Gamla Stan. Anders Eliasson's music speaks of a vast, multidimensional inner tone world, at once intricately complex and sublimely translucent. It is a musical microcosm whose myriad structures are distilled from and support the whole, in which no single element is left to chance. The rich culture and energy of each moment circumscribe an inner sphere which is intrinsically intimate, even when starkly dramatic. Anders Eliasson lives for and through his music. He expects his audience not to celebrate him, but to listen. I have seen Anders storm out of a rehearsal because the conductor failed to correct a wrong note, and refuse acknowledgment after a poor performance; but I have also seen him moved to tears by heartfelt playing, no matter who wrote the music. He is innately warm, but can also be unpleasantly direct; and he lacks -- even disdains -- today's conspicuous skills of self-promotion. Indeed, he has stated often that "It is about the music, not me". I once witnessed him composing, and his total immersion into his work -- as though driven by a great spiritual force -- was both touching and inspiring. His labor of love is an ongoing wellspring of creativity, the fruits of which have joined the greatest treasures of my heart. I know that the listener able to open his heart's ear to this extraordinary music shall find himself drawn into the magnificent corridors of Anders Eliasson's musical world. It is a very special place. Performed by: Arcos Orchestra, John-Edward Kelly (conductor, alto saxophone), Bob Versteegh (piano), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leif Segerstam (conductor).
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