2nd mov.: Scherzo - Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Mikko Franck.
(Commissioned and first performance: 6th Feb. -98 by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Joseph Swensen)
There was a time when I regarded the symphony as my musical form of expression with some sceptisism. However, things turned out to be different and the way my music developed through the years seemed to be logical towards the moment I was starting on composing my first symphony. Gradually approaching epic forms, I have already written music within this form in ¨Sinfonietta¨and in the Organ Concerto, which is also titled Sinfonia Concertante.
What also seemed to be attractive to me by the symphonic form was the possibilty to work with large scale musical form, almost like architecture in music; to balance different musical ideas, energies, stretched out in musical time and meaningful context.
And the challenge? The challenge was to believe in the strength of the most important symphonic element - the melody. The melody has been regarded almost as taboo in musical modernism and therefore something exciting to re-explore. It was a long path to reach the insight of the need to have courage enough to write melodies which can carry the musical forms and ideas to symphonic arches.