Bridging the World

Item details

• Description +

  • Duration: 7 min.
    
    Based on Chaconne in D minor by J.S. Bach

• Instrumentation +

  • Percussion Trio
    
    Player 1:
    Wood-Block
    Cymbal (Suspended)
    Tuned Gong (c#1)
    Marimba (5-octave)
    
    Player 2:
    2 Wood-Blocks
    Tuned Gong (h)
    Marimba (4 1/3-octave)
    
    Player 3:
    2 Wood-Blocks
    Tuned Gong (a)
    Crotales (c#, d#, e, f#, g#, a, h)

• Watch+

  • Performing Artists: Malleus Incus & Eriko Daimo
    
    

     

    Performing Artists: Lúcia Silva, Malin Sjökvist and Rasmus Osbeck "Academy of Music and Drama, Gothenburg-Sweden"
    
    

    
    Performing Artists: Leonardo Pagani, Thiago Oliveira, Rommel Monteiro, Vicente Pinheiro and Marcio Gomes
    
    

    
    Performing Artists: Sacha Perusset, Camille Cossy and Mathis Pellaux
    
    

    
    Performing Artists: Malmö Opera Percussion Ensemble
    
    

• About the composer +

  • Tobias Broström was born in 1978 in Helsingborg, Sweden. Following four years of percussion studies at the Malmö Academy of Music, he embarked on the pursuit of a Master’s degree in composition, studying with the Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson and the Italian composer Luca Francesconi.
    
    Broström has composed chamber opera and various chamber music, but during the last years he has mainly focused on orchestral writing in works such as La Danse, Transit Underground, Crimson Skies, Crimson Seas, Kaléidoscope, Violin Concerto, Arena – Percussion Concerto No. 1, Piano Concerto – Belle Epoque, Samsara, Cello Concerto and Lucernaris – Concerto for Trumpet, Live Electronics & Orchestra, which was composed for Håkan Hardenberger. Numerous soloists, conductors, ensembles and orchestras, including, Robin Ticciati, Michael Sanderling, John Storgårds, Anna Larsson, Karen Gomyo, Thomas Søndergård, Andrew Manze, Dima Slobodeniouk, Johannes Gustavsson, Per Tengstrand, Colin Currie, Mats Rondin, Tõnu Kaljuste, Simon Preston, Johan Bridger, Hugo Ticciati, Jaime Martín, BBC Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Dresdner Philharmonie, BBC Philharmonic, Komische Oper Berlin, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Estonian National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Wales, Gävle SO, Helsingborg SO, Trondheim SO, Malmö SO, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Vogtland Philharmonie, Oviedo SO, NorrlandsOperans SO, Aurora Chamber Orchestra, Brooklyn Rider, Musica Vitae, Third Coast Percussion Quartet, Malleus Incus, Essens:1 and Gageego have performed his works. Tobias’ music have been performed throughout Europe, the USA and Asia.
    
    Between 2006 – 2009 Tobias was Composer-in-Residence with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra under principal conductor Robin Ticciati, resulting in two new orchestral works each year. Two of these, Crimson Seas & Lucernaris were selected by Swedish Radio to represent Sweden in the European Broadcasting Union’s International Rostrum of Composers in 2007 & 2009. In autumn 2008 his Arena – Solo Version was picked out to be performed at the 52nd International Festival of Contemporary Music at the Venice Biennale and his orchestral piece Transit Underground was nominated for best orchestral piece of the year by Swedish Music Publishers’ Association. In 2010 Lucernaris was nominated for best orchestral piece and in 2012 La Danse was nominated.

• Reviews +

  • Review (Percussive Notes, March (58) 2012)
    
    Based on J.S. Bach’s “Chaconne in D minor” and composed on commission for the Rotary International’s Centennial Celebration, Tobias Broström has beautifully set Bach’s theme in a contemporary context and created an outstanding new trio for college or professional percussionists. Each performer is responsible for one keyboard instrument, one tuned gong, and a few accessories in this musically sophisticated, six-minute work.
    
    Each player holds four mallets throughout the piece, and while there are no specific advanced techniques within the keyboard writing, the challenge of simultaneously playing vibraphone and crotales, or multiple woodblocks and marimba, will provide an extra level of interest for the audience and some extra choreography work on the part of the performers. The piece opens softly and slowly, transitions into a sparse 7/8 passage that gradually builds in activity and texture, and eventually relaxes into the final 3/4, which contains the most overt presentation of Bach’s original theme.
    
    Throughout the work, the orchestration of the vibes and crotales beautifully shimmers over the resonant warmth and forward motion generated in the marimba and woodblock voices. The sparse use of tuned gongs and suspended cymbal adds a subtle, exotic flavor, and Broström effectively utilizes rolls, dead-strokes, and a wide range of dynamics and textures. A unique combination of the historical and the contemporary, this trio would be a welcome addition to literature for college recitals or professional chamber programs.

    —Josh Gottry
    
    
    
    "Bridging the World" for three Mallet players: The musical theme based on the Chaconne in d-minor of J.S. Bach. There is a fascination sound from the melody of the Vibraphone completed by the accompaniment of the two Marimbas. A special magic colour is arising with some tuned gongs and crotales sounds a few and fare between. The score and the parts printed by Edition SVITZER are like all the scores of this company perfect . It is an aesthetically special treat to work with this material.
    
    Cornelia Monske, Prof. at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Germany

• Credits +

  • Front cover graphics and layout: Tobias Broström
    Copyright © Edition Svitzer
    Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark

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