Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra - Bjørn Kruse: Chronotope (Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra) (2017)

The title Chronotope is a term used by the Russian literary philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) to describe how an awareness of time and space (chronos and topos) is represented in language and discourse. I find that the term also naturally applies as a model to the experience of temporal and spatial dimensions in musical "discourse", where the immediate memory of events in the past, and the expectations of events in the future, fills and enriches the moment of listening. Music creates its own chronotope, a spacious ‘now’, colored by the sensory perception of a past, present, and future.

The collaborative efforts of soloist Fredrik Fors, conductor Christian Eggen and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra excellently work in bringing out the work’s conceptual intention and musical character. Fredrik embodies all that I could ever wish for in a soloist. He possesses a perfect virtuoso technique along with a beautiful, lyrical clarinet sound; he fuses these qualities into a powerful and intense expression that elevates the work beyond my dreams and creates a convincing ownership to the performance. Truly a co-creative music artist!