”It all happened in the north around the turn of the millennium. Different circumstances and coincidences made our paths cross. And so we met six intriguing composers having little in common besides a Nordic connection and being born in the early 70s. At SubArcticOpen in Piteå 2001 on the north Swedish coast, a composer couple caught our attention. Two years later we met again on the Faroe Islands at the Music Festival Summartónar, Komponistmøte Nordkalotten (Cap of the North). Sanna Ahvenjärvi and Tapio Lappalainen were then students at the Mozarteum. We were attracted to their individually very different musical voices, but also to the dynamics between them. It excited us to hear, that they would like to compose a duo each for us.”.
Since its inception in 1994, Duo Gelland has revived an 18th-century concept, the violin duo, and turned it into a driving force of contemporary exploration.
The ensemble has received more than 100 dedications - mostly violin duos, but also several concertos for violin duo and orchestra or choir. It has given the first performance of a handful of these compositions in the Berliner Philharmonie. Parallel to this work, the Gellands research and revive the vast forgotten violin duo repertory of the 18th century. That fruitful interplay between new and old is central in how Duo Gelland operates.
nosag records proudly earlier with Duo Gelland released Vol 1 - Vol 3 of Violin Duos on nosag CD 075, nosag CD 121 and nosag CD 152, Vol 6 nosag CD 181 as well as the experimental art music DVD Traumwerk nosag CDVD 142 - awarded "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik" 2008, a price given after the votes from around 140 well-known critics, journalists and musicologists from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and also a CD with music by Swedish composer Olof Lindgren, nosag CD 141.
Already during 2011 the remaining two CDs in the Violin Duos series will be released by nosag records.
(Check all Gelland nosag CDs)
