Hans-Ola Ericsson
Encyclopedia
Hans-Ola Ericsson is a Swedish organist
and composer
.
at the Royal College of Music
in Stockholm, and continued his organ
and composition
studies at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
in Germany
. He also studied privately with Luigi Nono
and Olivier Messiaen
. Most influential among his composition teachers have been Klaus Huber
, Brian Ferneyhough
, and Nono.
In 1988, Ericsson was appointed professor of organ repertoire playing at the Piteå School of Music
, a department of the Luleå University of Technology
. In the summer of 1990 he was instructor at the summer course for new music in Darmstadt
and was awarded the prestigious Kranichsteiner Musikpreis. In 1996 Hans-Ola Ericsson was appointed permanent guest professor at the Hochschule für Künste
in Bremen, Germany. In the spring of 2000 he was named a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
and he received the Swedish Society of Composers interpretation prize in 1999. He was from 2002 until 2006 Principal Guest Organist of the Lahti Organ Festival in Finland. From 2005 he is artistic consultant for the Bodø International Organ Festival in Norway.
Ericsson has given concerts throughout Europe as well as in Japan and the USA and Canada. He is probably most known for his interpretations of contemporary organ literature, and a notable interpreter of the music of Messiaen. He has made numerous recordings including a highly acclaimed complete recording of Messiaen's organ music, being awarded the Swedish Gramophone Prize annually between 1985 and 1988.
Hans-Ola Ericsson is also engaged in organ-restoration projects as well as holding courses in Europe and the USA. He served as the project leader of the ”Övertorneå-project”, an exhaustive documentation, reconstruction and restoration of the most important instrument of the Swedish Baroque, the organ of the German Church in Stockholm
. He has held guest professorships in Riga, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Amsterdam, as well as lectured and performed at a large number of leading organ festivals and academic symposia world wide, persistently campaigning for the quality of new music and its right to be heard.
, Stade
, Norden
, Cappel
and Lüdingworth. The style refers to older organ works, such as those of Frescobaldi
or Buxtehude
, but with all of the organs overlapping in such a way that everything is blurry. The second movement changes completely in style, concentrating on sounds created by the wind chest of the organ. Some of the later movements of this work focus on differences in tuning between some of the organs that we heard in the beginning.
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Career
Ericsson studied church musicChurch music
Church music may be defined as music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclestiacal liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. This article covers music in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. For sacred music outside this...
at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music, Stockholm
The Royal College of Music, Stockholm is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music...
in Stockholm, and continued his organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
and composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
studies at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
Hochschule für Musik Freiburg
The Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Freiburg is a public music academy subsidized by the State of Baden-Württemberg for academic research and artistic and pedagogical training in music.-History:The Hochschule was initially founded as a municipal institution in 1946 under the direction of Gustav...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He also studied privately with Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...
and Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
. Most influential among his composition teachers have been Klaus Huber
Klaus Huber
Klaus Huber is a Swiss composer.Huber was born in Bern, Switzerland. One of the leading figures of his generation in Europe, he has written extensively for chamber ensembles, choirs, soloists and the orchestra as well as the theater...
, Brian Ferneyhough
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...
, and Nono.
In 1988, Ericsson was appointed professor of organ repertoire playing at the Piteå School of Music
Piteå School of Music
Piteå School of Music is a music school located in Piteå in northern Sweden. It is a part of the Department for music and media of the Luleå University of Technology.The school was founded in 1978....
, a department of the Luleå University of Technology
Luleå University of Technology
Luleå University of Technology or Luleå tekniska universitet of Sweden is Scandinavia's northernmost university of technology. It has four campuses, located in Luleå , Kiruna , Skellefteå and Piteå .-History:The university was founded on 1 June 1971 at Porsön in Luleå as...
. In the summer of 1990 he was instructor at the summer course for new music in Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
and was awarded the prestigious Kranichsteiner Musikpreis. In 1996 Hans-Ola Ericsson was appointed permanent guest professor at the Hochschule für Künste
University of the Arts Bremen
The University of the Arts Bremen is a publicly funded university in Bremen, Germany and one of the most successful ones whose roots in music, arts and design date back to 1873...
in Bremen, Germany. In the spring of 2000 he was named a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
Royal Swedish Academy of Music
The Royal Swedish Academy of Music or Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...
and he received the Swedish Society of Composers interpretation prize in 1999. He was from 2002 until 2006 Principal Guest Organist of the Lahti Organ Festival in Finland. From 2005 he is artistic consultant for the Bodø International Organ Festival in Norway.
Ericsson has given concerts throughout Europe as well as in Japan and the USA and Canada. He is probably most known for his interpretations of contemporary organ literature, and a notable interpreter of the music of Messiaen. He has made numerous recordings including a highly acclaimed complete recording of Messiaen's organ music, being awarded the Swedish Gramophone Prize annually between 1985 and 1988.
Hans-Ola Ericsson is also engaged in organ-restoration projects as well as holding courses in Europe and the USA. He served as the project leader of the ”Övertorneå-project”, an exhaustive documentation, reconstruction and restoration of the most important instrument of the Swedish Baroque, the organ of the German Church in Stockholm
German Church, Stockholm
Tyska kyrkan , sometimes called St. Gertrude's Church , is a church in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden....
. He has held guest professorships in Riga, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Amsterdam, as well as lectured and performed at a large number of leading organ festivals and academic symposia world wide, persistently campaigning for the quality of new music and its right to be heard.
Compositional style
Ericsson's earlier works were closer in style to those of Klaus Huber or Luigi Nono, but this compositional approach became restrictive, and Ericsson went through a period of compositional silence in between 1984/85 and 1999. Ericsson's more recent music draws more freely from various styles, and concentrates, to a certain extent, on musical timbre and space, as well as referential ideas in music. For example, his work "The Four Beast' Amen", for organ and electronics, begins with the organ in dialogue with recordings of organs from HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Stade
Stade
Stade is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region . It is the seat of the district named after it...
, Norden
Norden, Lower Saxony
Norden is a town in the district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the North Sea shore, in East Frisia.-External links:* *...
, Cappel
Cappel, Lower Saxony
Cappel is a municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany.-History:Cappel, a town in the Land of Wursten, for long periods a rather autonomous peasant republic, had long been claimed by the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, which finally subjected the Land of Wursten in 1524. In...
and Lüdingworth. The style refers to older organ works, such as those of Frescobaldi
Frescobaldi
The Frescobaldi are a prominent Florentine noble family that have been involved in the political, sociological, and economic history of Tuscany since the Middle Ages;. Originating in the Val di Pesa in the Chianti, they appear holding important posts in Florence in the twelfth century...
or Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services...
, but with all of the organs overlapping in such a way that everything is blurry. The second movement changes completely in style, concentrating on sounds created by the wind chest of the organ. Some of the later movements of this work focus on differences in tuning between some of the organs that we heard in the beginning.
Works
- Musik för en sjuk värld (Niemandsland II) (Music for a Sick World) for solo viola and chamber orchestra (1980–1981)
- "... and all that remains is silence ..." for choir (1984)
- Melody to the Memory of a Lost Friend for organ and electronics (1985)
- The Four Beasts' Amen for organ and electronics (1999–2000)
- Canzon del Principe - An intabulation on an intabulation for organ and electronics (2002)
External links
- Profile Mode Records
- Profile Presto Classical
- Review - Hans-Ola Ericsson: The Four Beasts' Amen, etc / Hannus by Dominy Clements for MusicWeb International on Arkiv Music website
- Preview by Seattle Times of the concert Bach and More
- Presentation at the website of Luleå University
Further reading
- Hambræus, Bengt; Broman, Per F.; Engebretsen, Nora A.; Alphonce, Bo Harry. 1998. Crosscurrents and counterpoints: offerings in honor of Bengt Hambræus at 70, p. 282. Göteborgs universitet. ISBN 9185974455
- Snyder, Kerala J. 2002. The organ as a mirror of its time: north European reflections, 1610-2000, pp. 21 and 341. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 0195144147