Arctic Nights

Item details

Description +
- My good friend, the artist Peter Christensson, one day showed me some of his new artwork. The pictures were abstract but got the form of early expeditions to the Arctic. Peter told me, everything started with a dream about a polar swimmer and the world this person met on his journey to the North Pole.
  
  With my music, I want to enhance mood, pulse, nuances in the art and poetry of Peter Christensson. The irregular rhythm reinforces the feeling of unease, and the music ultimately aims upwards in the harmonics – a symbol for survival.
  
  At horizon or below, a poem begins.
Instrumentation +
- Required Instruments
  
  2 Vibraphones
  2 Marimbas (4 1/3 and 5.0)
  1 PJ Theater Lightning or China Cymbal
  1 Brake Drum
  2 Bongos
  2 Tom-Toms
  1 Floor Tom
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, June 2024)
  
  “Arctic Nights” is a groovy-sounding quintet for four keyboard percussionists and a multiplepercussion player. The piece was inspired by the composer’s friend, visual artist Peter Christensson, who showed Berg some of his recent work that was based on a dream about a polar swimmer and the world this person encountered on a journey to the North Pole. The composer states, “With my music, I want to enhance (the) mood, pulse, (and) nuances in the art and poetry (of Christensson). The irregular rhythm reinforces the feeling of unease, and the music ultimately aims upward in the harmonies — a symbol for survival.”
  
  Set in frequently shifting meters of 4/4, 12/16, 2/4, 9/16, and others, “Arctic Nights” begins with a brief opening section before launching into a theme in the vibraphone (supported by the rest of the ensemble), which is fragmented and passed around the orchestration throughout the piece. Both of these ideas return after a brief feature for the multi-percussionist approximately halfway through the piece. The melodies and harmonies evoke a jazz-fusion style, making it a satisfying listen for both academic and casual audiences. While Daniel Berg speaks of creating a sense of unease, based on the inspiration, I interpret it as portraying a sense of calm; to each their own!
  
  The most impressive aspect of “Arctic Nights” is the way in which the multiple-percussion part is scored, allowing rhythmic support but never threatening the balance. Berg achieves this by alternating between brushes (both on drums and brake drums) and finger-playing indications. One instrument with which I am unfamiliar is “PJ Theater Lightning,” which seems to be a sound effect created to imitate the sound of lightning for the Percy Jackson musical The Lightning Thief. The composer indicates that a China cymbal could substitute, and an online recording seems to also use a suspended cymbal for this voice. While three of the four keyboard percussion parts require four-mallet technique, the writing is idiomatic and accessible by intermediate undergraduate percussionists.
  
  While the amount of time our swimmer spent at the North Pole seems to be up for debate, I believe most will agree that this piece would be a quality addition to a college percussion ensemble program.
  
  —Jason Baker
Credits +
- Artwork/photo: Peter Christensson
  Photo (Daniel Berg): Jon Liinason
  Front Cover: Nicola Lee
  Copyright © Edition SVITZER
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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