Fantasia and Toccata

Item details

Description +
- Duration: 15 min.
  
  As a young percussionist I played timpani with S:t. Matteus Symfoniorkester (SMSO) in Stockholm. During a production we played among others Gloria by Francis Poulenc, for choir and orchestra. The music, and above all the harmony, had a big impact on me. I was immediately inspired to study more music from Poulenc together with other French composers like Oliver Messiaen. Fantasia and Toccata is strongly inspired by the harmonies of both Poulenc and Messiaen which I have tried to adapt through the marimba.
Instrumentation +
- Marimba
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About the composer +
- Daniel Berg is a Swedish composer, musician, and professor in classical percussion at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and at the Academy of music and drama in Gothenburg.
  
  In his passion to promote the marimba as a solo- and chamber music instrument, Daniel has worked intimately with a number of composers who have written original music for the instrument. This includes more than 300 world premier for solo and chamber works. Daniel Berg is a marimba artist of Bergerault and Elite Mallets.
  
  As a composer Daniel has written a lot for solo marimba like Mistral (for Michael Burritt), Phoenix (for Robert van Sice) and Yán Jiâng (for the Taiwan World Percussion Competition). His music for percussion ensemble have been appreciated and often performed like Kroumata (for sextet) and Arctic Nights (for quintet) - all published by Edition Svitzer.
Reviews +
- Review (Percussive Notes, May 2013)
  
  Indeterminacy in music provides the performer with a sense of liberation. Using this technique, the first of this work’s two movements presents the marimbist with 12 boxes. Similar to a painter, the performer now has a color palette of chords to serve as inspiration. Yet, the interpretive possibilities are essentially a blank canvas. Through improvisation and experimentation, the marimbist now has a chance to create his or her masterpiece. With a few exceptions, the performer is granted the freedom to organize the boxes, choose the tempo, and change the dynamics.
  
  I appreciate Daniel Berg’s ability to emulate the character and harmonic content used by Francis Poulenc and Oliver Messiaen, yet fluidly adapt them to the marimba. The second movement, “Toccata,” has three distinct qualities. The opening presents an intense, flourishing character with virtuosic lateral strokes that resemble the beginning of Poulenc’s “Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra.” Moving to a smooth, dreamy section, this portion is notated through a series of repeated cells. Lastly, he includes a slow, “melancholy,” chorale that eventually eliminates the rolls and transitions to song-like flourishes.
  
  Requiring all four standard stroke types in four-mallet technique, this piece includes intervals up to an octave. With the amount of diversity and freedom, advanced marimbists will enjoy adding this piece to their repertoire.
  
  —Darin Olson
Credits +
- Front Cover graphics and layout: Ronni Kot Wenzell
  Enamel painting: Bengt Berglund
  Engraving: Johan Svitzer
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright © Edition SVITZER
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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