Byström’s Dazzling Interpretation of Gunnel Wåhlstrand is the Best Classical Album of the Month
Britta Byström often draws inspiration from film or visual art in her music. On Byström: Ink-wash on Paper, the composer interprets seven paintings by artist Gunnel Wåhlstrand. DN’s Camilla Lundberg hears a musical artistry where bright, shimmering tones dominate.
This is art music in the most literal sense! Ink on paper transformed into musical notation on a computer. Britta Byström is a colorist in sound, a storyteller as a composer. Even though her music can be perceived as “absolute” – music about music – it often finds its spark in film, art, or literature.
Super-violinist Malin Broman, who has frequently performed Byström’s works, had the good taste to connect Byström with Gunnel Wåhlstrand – the artistic genius who transforms old photographs into hypnotically beautiful, large-scale ink washes.
Seven such paintings were chosen chronologically to correspond with as many movements, written for eight carefully selected instruments: violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano. Like all viewers of Wåhlstrand’s art, Byström is fascinated by the virtuoso whiteness – the untouched paper itself. In her music, bright, shimmering tones often dominate over darkness. There is no false, murky profundity here.
Ink-wash on Paper is at times a melancholic study, at times a playful interplay of sounds and patterns. Byström does not intend a tonal translation of visual motifs, yet one can still sense an outdoor atmosphere in Wåhlstrand’s archipelago images, or a romantic woodland feel in Walk.
Together with the piano trio By the Window – one of the "whitest" ink washes – Ink-wash on Paper is now available on exclusive vinyl, featuring photos of Wåhlstrand’s works. Naturally, this is the optimal way to experience Byström’s music. But her compositions also stand firmly on their own.
Best track: Långedrag
Byström’s Dazzling Interpretation of Gunnel Wåhlstrand is the Best Classical Album of the Month
Britta Byström often draws inspiration from film or visual art in her music. On Byström: Ink-wash on Paper, the composer interprets seven paintings by artist Gunnel Wåhlstrand. DN’s Camilla Lundberg hears a musical artistry where bright, shimmering tones dominate.
This is art music in the most literal sense! Ink on paper transformed into musical notation on a computer. Britta Byström is a colorist in sound, a storyteller as a composer. Even though her music can be perceived as “absolute” – music about music – it often finds its spark in film, art, or literature.
Super-violinist Malin Broman, who has frequently performed Byström’s works, had the good taste to connect Byström with Gunnel Wåhlstrand – the artistic genius who transforms old photographs into hypnotically beautiful, large-scale ink washes.
Seven such paintings were chosen chronologically to correspond with as many movements, written for eight carefully selected instruments: violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano. Like all viewers of Wåhlstrand’s art, Byström is fascinated by the virtuoso whiteness – the untouched paper itself. In her music, bright, shimmering tones often dominate over darkness. There is no false, murky profundity here.
Ink-wash on Paper is at times a melancholic study, at times a playful interplay of sounds and patterns. Byström does not intend a tonal translation of visual motifs, yet one can still sense an outdoor atmosphere in Wåhlstrand’s archipelago images, or a romantic woodland feel in Walk.
Together with the piano trio By the Window – one of the "whitest" ink washes – Ink-wash on Paper is now available on exclusive vinyl, featuring photos of Wåhlstrand’s works. Naturally, this is the optimal way to experience Byström’s music. But her compositions also stand firmly on their own.
Best track: Långedrag
https://www.dn.se/kultur/bystroms-blandande-tolkning-av-gunnel-wahlstrand-ar-manadens-basta-klassiska-skiva/