Rigmore Gustafsson

In 1989, after working as a freelance singer in Sweden, Rigmor Gustafsson left her homeland to try the New York City scene. There she started working in local jazz clubs, performed with Fred Hersch, and recorded alongside Randy Brecker and Bob Mintzer. But most of her activity was with her own quintet of New York players, with whom she recorded two albums. Returning to Sweden in 1996, she continues to perform and teach at the Royal Academy of Music.

In musical history, the most pioneering collaborations were often the least obvious. Calling You will probably also be a surprise for most, as Swedish singer Rigmor Gustafsson joins forces with the radio.string.quartet.vienna. Both parties are certainly capable of surprises: Gustafsson has gained considerable attention with her interpretations of artists ranging from Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach to Michel Legrand, very different in style to the originals, whilst the radio.string.quartet.vienna succeeded in “changing the rules and prospects for the traditional string quartet” (The Guardian) in 2006, with Celebrating The Mahavishnu Orchestra…

World-renowned horn player Mats Gustafsson teams up with Joachim Nordwall to create Their Power Reached Across Space and Time-to Defy Them Was Death-or Worse – an avant-garde masterpiece. Gustafsson and Nordwall push their instruments to the limit, almost mirroring the title of the record by “reaching across space and time”. The duo creates a sense of vast, three-dimensional auditory expanses.

This recording revives long-forgotten sonorities that once would have been very familiar: the sound of piano and organ being played together. It also presents a Sibelius premiere: the arrangement by Sigfird Karg-Elert of the suite from Pelléas and Mélisande. As the popularity of domestic music-making grew through the nineteenth century, it brought first the piano and, then, often the harmonium into well-off living-rooms across the western world. Composers naturally responded, with original works and arrangements: Sibelius Andante cantabile was written after a visit to relatives who had both instruments in their salon.

On this newest endeavour, the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Joachim Gustafsson, turns its attention towards Danish composer August Enna (1859-1939) with renderings of two of his charming orchestral works. Traces of several elements from Enna’s musical life converge in the Violin Concerto: his background as a violinist and his deep connection to opera meet the tradition of Nordic national romanticism. While Symphony No. 2 may be considered conservative for its era, it is abundantly rich in its continuous melodic flow, creating an immediately impactful experience.