Andrea Tarrodi and her Concerto for 2 Violins "Acanthes"

[Toni Bernet]

   The young Swede Andrea Tarrodi, born in 1981 into the well-known Lindberg family of musicians, already has a successful track record as a composer. The broad international reception of her works takes centre stage in her biography: Her works have been performed at various venues in Sweden and abroad, including the Royal Albert Hall at the BBC Proms 2017, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Musikverein and the Barbican Centre in London. In 2018, Tarrodi's CD 'String Quartets', performed by the Dahlkvist Quartet, was honoured with a Swedish Grammy for the best classical album of the year.

  The double violin concerto Acanthes was premiered in 2017 by the two important Nordic violin virtuosos Malin Broman (Sweden) and Pekka Kuusisto (Finland) and has since been recorded on CD. It is therefore not surprising that the Nordic folk violin tradition can be heard in this concerto. According to the artist, the violin concerto is influenced by the decoupage technique of the painter Henri Matisse, a creative technique in which paper is cut out and then glued to a surface and painted over several times. Tarrodi applied this technique to the music in this violin concerto. Tarrodi was particularly inspired by Henri Matisse's Papier-Découpé series, which depicted stylised acanthus leaves on a white background. At the composer's request, Malin Broman and Pekka Kuusisto each contributed a melody from their own country to Tarrodi's acanthus series: Broman the Swedish melody Brudmarsch efter Larshöga Jonke and Kuusisto the Finnish melody Kopsin Jonas.

Here you find a listening guide to this concerto:

https://unbekannte-violinkonzerte.jimdofree.com/e-5/tarrodi-andrea/