Great idea of yours, Harry, to rummage around in the archive and discover the many threads about Scandinavian, Finnish, et al, composers. We had a multitude of lengthy, interesting, informative and challenging discussions about this group of extraordinary composers. Nice to have it back!
My first contribution is - what else? - an opera! Gunner Møller Pedersen wrote the opera Rottesken, Die Rättin, based on a novel by the Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass - Die Blechtrommel, The Tin Drum.
Rottesken is about the miracle experienced by Noah after The Flood when the dove brought him the olive twig, but also very gently, deposited a rat turd in his palm. No living creature was supposed to have survived The Flood, where did this turd come from? Anybody who is familiar with Grass is also familiar with his sense of humour, covering serious thoughts, and it's all there in Pedersen's music.
The music part I copy from the booklet: "The music of "Die Rättin" will sound familiar to most people, some of it even very familiar. The music, just like the dreaming man, is orderly organized: traditional, tonal and designed to carry the pain of the lyrics". The six member Ensemble Domino provides lovely sounds accompanying the two singers, mezzo Helle Hinz, the rat, and Ulrik Cold, bariton Noah.
Altogether a different opera, but one worth listening to.
