Ulf Ellervik

Ulf Lundell (born November 20, 1949 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish writer, poet, songwriter, composer, musician and artist.
Lundell made his debut in 1975 with the LP "Vargmåne" and was immediately hailed as "Sweden's Bob Dylan". In 1976 his first novel, the autobiographical "Jack" was published. Lundell was influenced by musicians such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and writers such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other beat poets.

"Melody is the heart of music - and you can’t construct melodies. They are the essence of a musical gift”. This was the firm belief of Erich Zeisl, who in the 1930s was considered one of the most promising musical talents in Austria.

Martin Plüddemann was a pivotal figure in the revival and modernisation of the art of ballad composition. He revered Carl Loewe and Richard Wagner and this confluence of influences allowed him to explore the close relationship between ballad, opera and "music drama", not least through the use of Leitmotifs, quasi-orchestral accompaniment or in the piano anticipating or recalling the vocal line.

Martin Plüddemann was a pivotal figure in the revival and modernisation of the art of ballad composition. He revered Carl Loewe and Richard Wagner and this confluence of influences allowed him to explore the close relationship between ballad, opera and "music drama", not least through the use of Leitmotifs, quasi-orchestral accompaniment or in the piano anticipating or recalling the vocal line. He set the finest poets - Uhland, Müller, Goethe, Heine and Burns among them - and shows a comprehensive mastery of the genre, whether in themes of medievalism, nationalism, the supernatural or in his delightful essays in humour.

The protagonist of Saint-Saëns’ Proserpine, premiered at the Opéra-Comique on 14 March 1887, is no reincarnation of the ancient goddess, but a Renaissance courtesan well versed in culpable amours. According to the composer, she is ‘a damned soul for whom true love is a forbidden fruit; as soon as she approaches it, she experiences torture’. Yet for all the innocence of her rival Angiola, the unexpected happens: ‘It is the bloodthirsty beast that is admirable; the sweet creature is no more than pretty and likeable.’ Visibly enraptured by this delight in horror, Saint-Saëns indulges in unprecedented orchestral modernity, piling on the dissonances beneath his characters’ cries of rage or despair. He concluded thus: ‘Proserpine is, of all my stage works, the most advanced in the Wagnerian system.’ The least-known, too, and one which it was high time to reveal to the public, in its second version, revised in 1899.

The organ played an important part in the changing musical climate of nineteenth century Sweden. Despite this, its repertoire of the time has remained largely forgotten.

Another Beatles album?! When Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius initially proposed the idea of recording a homage to Paul McCartney,

Between 1934 and 1949, Allan Pettersson, one of Sweden’s foremost composers of symphonies, wrote chamber works that differ greatly from his later production. With his Two Elegies, composed at the tender age of 17, Pettersson drew the enthusiasm of his teacher, who saw in him the makings of a composer.

Whether father Ulf did actually place a guitar in the crib of his baby son Eric or not, here they now are unite as a guitar duo on "Father and Son", a personal album and a virtuoso conversation in the art of contemporary jazz guitar. They can swing or play gentle ballads together, go extrovert and percussive, they can tell stories from far-off lands, or sometimes from their Swedish homeland. Ulf and Eric Wakenius have a sensitivity and a sense of atmosphere which creates magical guitar moments.