HENRIK HELLSTENIUS

BY THE VOICE A FAINT LIGHT IS SHED

Concerto for violin and ensemble

The concerto was written for the violinist Peter Herresthal and is the third piece coming out of a collaboration between him and the composer Henrik Hellstenius. The first project between them was music for the world premiere of a play by the Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, and the second was a piece for violin and tape, Dream of Late, premiered at the Ultima festival in Oslo in 2000. This concerto is a result of this long collaboration in the sense that many elements in the violin part are from the exploration the violinist and the composer have carried out.

The structure of the piece is based on the reoccurance or cycling of harmonic and sonic shapes and figures both in the violin part and in the ensemble. In one sense the piece has the form of four spiral with reoccuring harmonic elements. In between the four main sections there emerges shorter sections in the shape of trios and duets which are of a freer harmonic and gestic nature. The idea of a spiral development is a central element in this piece as in much of Hellstenius’ music, and gives a picture of the fundamental themes this piece and many other pieces of Hellstenius attempts to adress: the simultaneous co-existence of the contrasting elements of stagnation and movement.