Håkon Thelin. Double Bass composer    

Anmeldelser av Håkon Thelin: a p)reference to other things

Det er mildt sagt utrolig hva man kan få ut av en kontrabass, denne kjempen blant strykeinstrumentene.
 
Håkon Thelin (28) viser med denne innspillingen et talent helt utenom det vanlige. De musikalske og teknisk krevende verkene "Valentine" (1969) av Jacob Druckman og "Theraps" (1976) av Iannis Xenakis viser hvilken eminent utøver han er.
 
Likevel er det Bent Sørensens litt melankolske verk "The hill of the heartless giant" som for undertegnede blir et høydepunkt. Her finner man klanger og små melodisnutter, som Thelin på en vakker måte klarer å fremheve med sin spill-teknikk.
Trond Erikson    
 
Kontrabassen har et lydunivers så omfattende rikt, at selv en cd som denne ikke strekker til som katalog for den som måtte være opptatt av mulighetene. Thelin har allerede en stund utmerket seg som del av en relativ ny generasjon heftige musikere som med hjelp av egen skapende virksomhet utfordrer nåtidskomponister på en helt annen måte enn de mer etablerte ensemblene Cikada, BIT 20 og Oslo Sinfonietta.
-  Glenn Erik Haugland, Bergens Tidende, Klikk HER for hele anmeldelsen
  
This CD may at first, superficially, appear as one of those contemporary recordings that you listen to once and then put on the shelf, as the case is with so many modern releases… but there is more here, and simply Thelin’s choice of musical material makes listening interesting and revealing for anyone with some experience of modern art music.
 
Thelin handles the situation like a master, and a master of his instrument he is, which this Albedo CD has proven to me – and to further develop what I said in the beginning, this CD is more than a mere demonstration of technical skills and a show-off of avant-garde art music, because I’ve found a lot of high-end listening pleasure here, many surprising moments of incalculable combinations of musical ingredients and an astonishing richness of artistic ingenuity and musical creativity. Praise be!
Sonoloco Record Reviews, Klikk HER for hele anmeldelsen

This fine album by the Norwegian double bassist Håkon Thelin opens with his own Introduction: Minuet in C, a delightful rococo pastiche which is gradually submerged in domestic-sounding noises by percussionist Ingar Zach. Valentine (1969) by American composer Jacob Druckman, in contrast, is highly theatrical and demanding. The soloist yells, whispers, sighs, and treats the bass as a percussion instrument, knocking and caressing the body. Flashy? Perhaps, but the effects are dazzling and the sound is wonderful.  

The level of virtuosity required by Xenakis’ Theraps (1976) is of an altogether different order, and Thelin’s flamboyant interpretation meets the challenge head-on. His performance is enhanced by the vivid recorded sound. Thelin’s dizzying glissandos plus see-sawing yet beautifully controlled crescendos and diminuendos project and recede, and rise and fall in musical space. The “beating” effect of near-unison double-bowed lines constitute a further visceral assault – not to be listened to if you’re feeling a little queasy, as I was on the first playing. This is probably the most memorable interpretation since Barry Guy’s legendary performance, which to my knowledge has not appeared on CD.

The humorous Intermezzo: Sonate in B by Thelin and Zach segues into their entertaining Heartbreak Motel, which incorporates part of Øyvind Torvund’s A dog named garage. Bent Sørensen’s The hill of the heartless giant (2001) is, as Thelin writes: “lyrical and pulsating” and magically meditative, while Xenakis’ brief Charisma (1971) for bass and saxophone is coruscating.

A beautifully-conceived release.

- Double Bassist   

Virtuost tänjer Håkon Thelin på kontrabasens möjligheter på denna debutskiva.
Konstmusikens ibland något sterila estetik ges liv och färg när han varvar djupa toner
med slag av stråken, knäppningar på
instrumentkroppen och ett och annat gnissel. Verk skrivna och spelade tillsammans
med slagverkaren Ingar Zach känns lika nyanserade som de av Xenakis och
Druckman.
- Magnus Olsson, Svenska Dagbladet

[tilbake til forsiden]

 
Amarcord
Håkon Thelin
Oskar Braatens gt 4
0474 Oslo

Telefon 95247305
Epost thelin_h@hotmail.com
 
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